Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle with another board game design brain dump. I’m still submitting designs to various publishers. I’ve received a couple of rejections. Brotherwise Games gave me a prompt response. I’ve given up on a handful of publishers (like Lucky Duck Games), marking them down as “never responded” in my spreadsheet. Seriously, I wish there was a submission tracker like Duotrope for board games, so designers could share notes on which publishers are more responsive than others. I guess I can do that here. While I don’t particularly care for Brotherwise Games’ submission manager (they use Google Forms and pics), I do like how prompt they were with a response. And that’s another thing the board game community could use, a more standardized online submission manager program like Submittable.
Anyway, I’ve made tweaks to Spill the Beans. My goal is making Spill the Beans more enjoyable at lower player counts, and I think I’ve accomplished this by having players “bust” if they spill too many of the same bean type. Love it! Spill the Beans is still a party game at its core, but I’ve playtested multiple smaller player count games at designer meet-ups and received good feedback. You would think a player may get lucky, pushing their luck by spilling out more beans and not busting, and that does occur, but the game evens out over time. And smaller player count games take little time at all. Spilling out more beans per turn means that the game concludes a lot faster at smaller player counts (a problem the game had before this change). Players are just as likely to run out of beans as they are to fill two jars.
Enough about Spill the Beans, I’ve also been submitting Whirligig Pets to various publishers. I’ve had fewer responses for Whirligig Pets than Spill the Beans. I may be submitting to the wrong publishers. Or I may need to submit games during conventions. Or it could be something else entirely. Again, board games need a submission tracker and submission manager program like Duotrope and Submittable.
I wrote the Monster Chef rulebook. It’s up for review with multiple design groups. I’m getting close to submission with this title. I can’t wait. Monster Chef has plenty of theme and could tie in well with the upcoming season of Delicious in Dungeon (2027). I’m also exploring expansions for this title. Monster Chef is a joy to develop.
The same isn’t always true of Rustbucket Riots. I’m still playtesting this game’s shift from dice placement to bag builder. I like what I’ve seen so far, but balance has become an issue. If I can unknot Rustbucket Riots’ balancing issues, it could proceed to a similar state to Monster Chef.
And we come to two newer designs that don’t even have names–yet–and I may want to help a fellow game designer get one of their title’s published. I won’t name her design here, but I love the game’s quilting theme. One of my new titles doesn’t have a theme. Well, I don’t care for the theme of flowers that it currently has. Too many games use a flower theme, so I may need to shake up a few things. My second title is fallout shelter game includes multi-use tetrominoes and spinners. Oh, yeah. We’re gonna get freaky.
That second title has been on the backburner for over a year. I wanted to get Spill the Beans, Whirligig Pets, and Monster Chef to good states before starting another project. I can’t wait to take the fallout shelter game to conventions. Woo hoo!
That’s all I’ve been working on over the past month. I should have more updates next month. Nuke-Con (in Omaha) is on the horizon. I’ll be attending with Spielmasons. If you’re going, stop by and say hi. Thank for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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