The Board Game Design Course

I used several different methods to bring more attention to my first successful Kickstarter campaign Relics of Rajavihara, which funded 4 years ago. How time flies!

I used Facebook ads, demoed the game at in-person and online events, posted about the game on social media, talked about Relics (as well as other games I enjoy) in solo gaming Facebook groups and the Board Game Design Lab community, as well as any other opportunity that I could find to showcase my game.

Given all the options available, you can probably appreciate that there is no one magical silver bullet that’s going to make your campaign successful. There are many different things that you will need to try to get eyeballs on your game.

It is a combination of many different approaches plus a lot of hard work that will lead to getting your game funded.

Today, I’m going to talk about something that is crucial though: what your game looks like.

People DO judge a book by its cover

Whether a potential backer continues to scroll down your campaign page once they discover it or move on to the next game quite often depends on whether they like the look of your game. This all comes down to the art and graphic design.

Your game has to be eye-catching. People need to stop when they see the art and say “wow, that looks cool!”, then continue to scroll down your page to find out what your game is all about.

That’s not to say that beautiful art can save a bad game. Your game absolutely has to play well. But then again, you already knew that. 🙂

The first step, of course, is to make a game that plays really well and people love. Players should be asking if they can play your game again or where they can buy your game. These are the real signs you’re looking for.

But a player won’t necessarily be able to tell that they like your game if they haven’t played it before. That’s where beautiful art and clean graphic design can get people’s attention. Then you can use this to show them how cool your gameplay is!

How much should I spend on art?

“How much should I spend on art?” This is a question that I’ve been asked a lot. It’s a great question but also one that’s very hard to answer.

So much depends on how many individual pieces of art you need for your game, how intricate it is, and the artist or artists that you choose to work with.

But the first question I always ask is “Are you 100% sure you want to self-publish your game?”

This is an important question to ask, as you should only ever invest in any art or graphic design if you are planning on publishing your game yourself.

If you’re even considering pitching your game to a publisher, you’ll want to leave all the art and graphic design to them. Just make sure that your prototype uses easy-to-understand language and icons so that a publisher will get a good sense of the gameplay and understand the rules clearly. Any free placeholder art should convey what you’re trying to get across in the theme and gameplay but will still be subject to change.

It will be the publisher’s choice as to what artist(s) they wish to work with and what art they want to commission. They could also change the theme. So, you can see how your time, money, and effort would be wasted in this situation.

But if you are sure that you want to self-publish your game, you’ll want to have at least a representative sample of the art completed for your game, if not most or all of it. After a time, I knew for certain that I was going to self-publish Relics of Rajavihara before I approached my illustrator. I also decided to get all of the art done in advance so that I could move quickly from campaign to production.

So, how much should you spend on art for your game?

Again, it depends. Does your game have 100 different cards, each requiring their own piece of art? Is it an 18-card game that will require only a few different changes on each card?

For a simple game with only a few pieces of art, you might be able to get this done for under $1,000. However, bigger projects can easily cost thousands of dollars to complete. It’s been my experience that between art, graphic design, and rulebook design, you’re looking at a budget of $5,000 – $10,000 plus. Again, it really does depend on a lot of factors and the more art you need and the more intricate it is, the higher the cost will be.

My advice is to start by finding a few potential artists you’d like to work with. You can do this by looking in Facebook artist groups, looking up the artists for games you have on your shelf or have seen on Boardgamegeek or elsewhere that you find really compelling, checking out Deviant Art, or searching online for board game artists.

Let the artist know a bit about your project and ask them about their availability and rates. Some artists charge by the hour, whereas others charge by the piece or for the whole project.

Also, make sure to make the distinction between artist and graphic designer. While an artist can make you some beautiful images, they may not understand how to design a card or board to fit manufacturing specs. Likewise, a graphic designer may fully understand bleed lines, iconography, and other design details, but may not be able to create the kind of art you want for your game.

If you can find one of the rare people who is amazing at both art and graphic design (like I was fortunate to find in the incredible Tristam Rossin), then you’re really lucky!

Are you considering running a Kickstarter? What questions do you have?

Hit the comment button below and let me know!