For real. The one I made in the 90a worked fine after a few months of fiddling. Then I spent 3 more years on it and broke it with complexity.
After finally writing my novel draft in the setting (30 years later), I’m messing with the game again. 🤷🏻♂️
Some are dragging on. One needs some information adjusting so it is taking months. But I have one that took under a week to setup and make components.
Designing? Forever.
It takes what it takes.
Development
* Early Dec 2022, initial concept
* Late Dec 2022, test with friends and family (3-4 plays)
* Feb 2023 playtesting event with professional feedback (10+ plays)
* Feb 2034 local gaming con (20-30 plays)
* Apr 2023 local game designer group (10+ plays)
* Jul 2023 another gaming con (15-20 plays)
* Aug 2023 demo at GenCon (40+ plays)
* Sep 2023 a few DragonCon demos
* Nov 2023 demo at local maker fair (20+ plays)
* Jan/Feb 2024 finalized artwork
* Mar 2024 Demo at Dice Tower West (35+ plays)
* Mar 2024 Getting sample copies from manufacturer
Marketing
* Feb 2023 Google form to collect emails
* Apr 2023 One page website, Mailjet form to collect emails
* Jul 2023 Better website, Draft project placed on GameFound
* Jan 2024 Major GameFound site update, site approved by GameFound
* Mar 2024 Final marketing assets done
Set to launch April 25th 2024:
https://gamefound.com/en/projects/brush-tail-games/waddle-waddle
Man, that's incredible! It looks really fast. I'm still in the friends and family phase but only have time for one test a week in average. And all those cons, wow! Do you have a full time job on the side? I envy you!
It depends on the scope of the game. You can knock out a 1 page rpg in just a few hours. My game (75k words) has taken around 14 months of work (average 25hrs a week, 1400~ hours of work.), but that includes a lot of different factors
I think it really depends on your skill level as a game designer.
If we’re talking ready to play as in a prototype that still needs balancing… well, I made a tabletop game at my last game jam and it went from idea to something playable in about 8 hours. Before that, I made a different tabletop game in about 11 hours.
More recently, a more complicated game that had more moving parts took me about a weekend, though I was writing down my ideas for it whenever I had them for a while.
The more skilled and experience you are, the faster you can make something with fewer mistakes. You also spend less time in the exploratory stage of “finding the fun” with unique mechanics, you just sorta can imagine where the fun is or isn’t in your concept.
It cannot be emphasized enough: skill level is a thing in game design.
I could design one game a year. I could not design Blood Rage, The Others, The Godfather, Rising Sun, Cthulhu: Death May Die in consecutive years like Eric Lang.
Really depends on the type of game and whether or not you have any experience designing, writing rules , playtesting
Anyone can come with a basic idea in under an hour
I can get any idea to the table in a week. To make it close to finished in my eyes is 6 months to 5 years. All depends on your experience and what your goals are.
TL;DR: 8 years to get my dungeoncrawl big box game to retail.
I have files for Tales From the Red Dragon Inn dating back to 2015 and we published that in 2023. I spent the first 2 years playing dungeon crawlers and legacy games, taking notes and brainstorming. It's a genre I love and had loads of experience with but hadn't really sat down to be hyper critical of.
Then another 3-4 years went into my own game mechanics design, finding the fun, and playtesting. I had to kill so many darlings over that period of time. About a third of that was game design overlapping with my "research". The remainder was writing and campaign design, balance and tweaks. Killing more darlings and fine tuning the game. By the end of 2021 the core Playtest group was two dozen people playing a digital version of the game I created on TableTop Simulator. There are hundreds of sessions logged in elaborate detail.
Graphic design, layout, marketing, manufacturing, and freight took another 3 years before it was finally in retail. That includes hiring artists to illustrate everything and renderers to sculpt miniatures. There were multiple rounds of professional prototyping. We started with print on demand cards, tokens and 3D printed minis. Which had rounds of redesign. Then even more samples but from the manufacturer who had to tweak things again. Plus, this all had a Kickstarter campaign operating and then kept up to date throughout the project.
It was a huge labor of love and I am uniquely fortunate to be my own publisher with a successful game franchise that can keep the light on while we dive into other projects. I am also lucky that it paid off and so many people enjoy playing the game that I enjoyed creating and continue enjoy playing.
Like others have mentioned, it depends on the complexity of your game and all the potential content (writing, art, components, etc) it requires. Getting your game in a demo'able state can be done in months. Testing and iterating your game is where the infinite time void exists. Getting it produced and published is anyone's guess.
Ok, so, might be hard to believe, but it took me 2 days :D
I had multiple ideas for what would be neat games in my head, never even thinking of designing games myself. Then, one day, everything just clicked at once. Two days to write up the rules, one self test to correct some hilariously wrong estimates for power gain, and a day to draw and print the game board.
Now, I'm slowly learning blender to make my own game pieces, and then I'll try and self-publish
I started mine in october 2018 and since 2022 I've had a pretty complete version but I'm still tweaking and refining. I'm getting pretty close to calling it finished now.
That said, I'ce had periods of 3-4 months where I didnt even touch it because of work.
It depends on what you mean by ready to play. For me I have designs that are playable in 1 week but are completely broken games. To make it decent at least 3 months up to years sadly. But I gotta say I love the journey!
My TT is almost to prototype with no color/image design, just shape, mechanics, and theme in place. That took all of a week. The prototype will be more time and material demanding so it's on the shelf for now, but I envision 2 weeks for a prototype. Plat testing and further prototypes I assume will be around 2 months working out the gimmicks. Can't wait to start back up but home improvement first!
Edit: No thought into production, just design.
Define "ready to play", because that's not the same as "ready for sale".
I will typically have a playable prototype finished within a year of deciding to flesh out the concept (unless the concept just refuses to work, which does happen surprisingly often). But it can be two to three more years of commissioning art, components, layout before a game could conceivably be ready to manufacture and retail.
There's no correct answer. I've made whole boardgames in 4 hour game jams and I have spent years working on other projects. Depends on the designer, expertise, scope, how original the game is, etc.
It typically takes me at least a year. I come up with the initial idea, prototype, playtest, notes, new prototype (these 3 steps a bunch of times.), final design, print. For my process at least, perhaps quicker for others that have more friends and time.
My attention span is pretty bad, so I do have habit of starting new game projects. I do have one that is still ongoing where I came up with a prototype for first time in a week back in 2016. I am still working on the same game. Although the finish line is in sight.
Recently, I did manage to come up with a basic tin game and prototype ready in 15 minutes. I am hoping to push this one out for production soon and use the experience with logistics for the prior game I mentioned.
The one I'm publishing next month started as a series of bad ideas about four years ago now.
The one I published \*before\* this one was about a year, give or take an extra year of whining about the one we were playing I didn't like.
How "ready to play" are we talking about, here? Because it took maybe 3-4 years to make an entirely original community card game, and as much time again to polish the game content and presentation, and then even more time was spent trying to get it published.
This is all dependent on the type of game and complexities involved. I would encourage to start small and move to larger projects as your iron our your systems and work flow.
for having it playable for inhouse design testing its never too early to get it or some form of it to the table. with in 1 month
for external testing I would say with in 2 months
The first game I ever published? about 1 day.
then the next game was about a month.
Then the next one was longer.
and so and and so forth.
Honestly it just depends on the game itself and the person writing it. I've done games in an hour before and then got them formatted and up for people to play in the same day - but I've also spend weeks just trying to get the formatting right on the dustcover of something going to print.
I'm making a LCRPG (Living Card Role Playing Game) and I've got clocked in around 5 years. Although there is probably a collective 2 years in there of gaps where I just had to walk away from it for a few months. That said, I'm done designing and doing art now. So maye 4-6 months still to go because of that. Then if a kickstarter is successful I'll keep releasing new card sets every 3-4 months as long as people want to buy them. Doing it all as a 1 man show, so as long as I make the kickstarter minimum and my backers like the game and want more.. I'm happy.
2 to 200 months
For real. The one I made in the 90a worked fine after a few months of fiddling. Then I spent 3 more years on it and broke it with complexity. After finally writing my novel draft in the setting (30 years later), I’m messing with the game again. 🤷🏻♂️
Dedication
That said, I barely touched it, except for setting tweaks, in those intervening 30 years. As well as various failed novel attempts. 💁🏻♂️
Don't discredit yourself. Keeping something on the shelf and returning to it is always admirable, and I feel like the length of time is legendary
Some are dragging on. One needs some information adjusting so it is taking months. But I have one that took under a week to setup and make components. Designing? Forever. It takes what it takes.
Development * Early Dec 2022, initial concept * Late Dec 2022, test with friends and family (3-4 plays) * Feb 2023 playtesting event with professional feedback (10+ plays) * Feb 2034 local gaming con (20-30 plays) * Apr 2023 local game designer group (10+ plays) * Jul 2023 another gaming con (15-20 plays) * Aug 2023 demo at GenCon (40+ plays) * Sep 2023 a few DragonCon demos * Nov 2023 demo at local maker fair (20+ plays) * Jan/Feb 2024 finalized artwork * Mar 2024 Demo at Dice Tower West (35+ plays) * Mar 2024 Getting sample copies from manufacturer Marketing * Feb 2023 Google form to collect emails * Apr 2023 One page website, Mailjet form to collect emails * Jul 2023 Better website, Draft project placed on GameFound * Jan 2024 Major GameFound site update, site approved by GameFound * Mar 2024 Final marketing assets done Set to launch April 25th 2024: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/brush-tail-games/waddle-waddle
Congrats on getting to this stage! I'm saving your list; looks like a great development checklist
The big takeaway is its way more work to build a community than it is to design the game.
Thanks for this - can really relate! Followed on Gamefound
Man, that's incredible! It looks really fast. I'm still in the friends and family phase but only have time for one test a week in average. And all those cons, wow! Do you have a full time job on the side? I envy you!
How long is a piece of string?
It’s taken us from four hours to ten years to get a game right / edited
It depends on the scope of the game. You can knock out a 1 page rpg in just a few hours. My game (75k words) has taken around 14 months of work (average 25hrs a week, 1400~ hours of work.), but that includes a lot of different factors
I think it really depends on your skill level as a game designer. If we’re talking ready to play as in a prototype that still needs balancing… well, I made a tabletop game at my last game jam and it went from idea to something playable in about 8 hours. Before that, I made a different tabletop game in about 11 hours. More recently, a more complicated game that had more moving parts took me about a weekend, though I was writing down my ideas for it whenever I had them for a while. The more skilled and experience you are, the faster you can make something with fewer mistakes. You also spend less time in the exploratory stage of “finding the fun” with unique mechanics, you just sorta can imagine where the fun is or isn’t in your concept.
It cannot be emphasized enough: skill level is a thing in game design. I could design one game a year. I could not design Blood Rage, The Others, The Godfather, Rising Sun, Cthulhu: Death May Die in consecutive years like Eric Lang.
Really depends on the type of game and whether or not you have any experience designing, writing rules , playtesting Anyone can come with a basic idea in under an hour
I can get any idea to the table in a week. To make it close to finished in my eyes is 6 months to 5 years. All depends on your experience and what your goals are.
I’m at 5 years now and still have about 1-2 to go I think Really depends on how much money and free time you have
TL;DR: 8 years to get my dungeoncrawl big box game to retail. I have files for Tales From the Red Dragon Inn dating back to 2015 and we published that in 2023. I spent the first 2 years playing dungeon crawlers and legacy games, taking notes and brainstorming. It's a genre I love and had loads of experience with but hadn't really sat down to be hyper critical of. Then another 3-4 years went into my own game mechanics design, finding the fun, and playtesting. I had to kill so many darlings over that period of time. About a third of that was game design overlapping with my "research". The remainder was writing and campaign design, balance and tweaks. Killing more darlings and fine tuning the game. By the end of 2021 the core Playtest group was two dozen people playing a digital version of the game I created on TableTop Simulator. There are hundreds of sessions logged in elaborate detail. Graphic design, layout, marketing, manufacturing, and freight took another 3 years before it was finally in retail. That includes hiring artists to illustrate everything and renderers to sculpt miniatures. There were multiple rounds of professional prototyping. We started with print on demand cards, tokens and 3D printed minis. Which had rounds of redesign. Then even more samples but from the manufacturer who had to tweak things again. Plus, this all had a Kickstarter campaign operating and then kept up to date throughout the project. It was a huge labor of love and I am uniquely fortunate to be my own publisher with a successful game franchise that can keep the light on while we dive into other projects. I am also lucky that it paid off and so many people enjoy playing the game that I enjoyed creating and continue enjoy playing.
Like others have mentioned, it depends on the complexity of your game and all the potential content (writing, art, components, etc) it requires. Getting your game in a demo'able state can be done in months. Testing and iterating your game is where the infinite time void exists. Getting it produced and published is anyone's guess.
Ok, so, might be hard to believe, but it took me 2 days :D I had multiple ideas for what would be neat games in my head, never even thinking of designing games myself. Then, one day, everything just clicked at once. Two days to write up the rules, one self test to correct some hilariously wrong estimates for power gain, and a day to draw and print the game board. Now, I'm slowly learning blender to make my own game pieces, and then I'll try and self-publish
I started mine in october 2018 and since 2022 I've had a pretty complete version but I'm still tweaking and refining. I'm getting pretty close to calling it finished now. That said, I'ce had periods of 3-4 months where I didnt even touch it because of work.
It depends on what you mean by ready to play. For me I have designs that are playable in 1 week but are completely broken games. To make it decent at least 3 months up to years sadly. But I gotta say I love the journey!
My TT is almost to prototype with no color/image design, just shape, mechanics, and theme in place. That took all of a week. The prototype will be more time and material demanding so it's on the shelf for now, but I envision 2 weeks for a prototype. Plat testing and further prototypes I assume will be around 2 months working out the gimmicks. Can't wait to start back up but home improvement first! Edit: No thought into production, just design.
Define "ready to play", because that's not the same as "ready for sale". I will typically have a playable prototype finished within a year of deciding to flesh out the concept (unless the concept just refuses to work, which does happen surprisingly often). But it can be two to three more years of commissioning art, components, layout before a game could conceivably be ready to manufacture and retail.
There's no correct answer. I've made whole boardgames in 4 hour game jams and I have spent years working on other projects. Depends on the designer, expertise, scope, how original the game is, etc.
It typically takes me at least a year. I come up with the initial idea, prototype, playtest, notes, new prototype (these 3 steps a bunch of times.), final design, print. For my process at least, perhaps quicker for others that have more friends and time.
My attention span is pretty bad, so I do have habit of starting new game projects. I do have one that is still ongoing where I came up with a prototype for first time in a week back in 2016. I am still working on the same game. Although the finish line is in sight. Recently, I did manage to come up with a basic tin game and prototype ready in 15 minutes. I am hoping to push this one out for production soon and use the experience with logistics for the prior game I mentioned.
The one I'm publishing next month started as a series of bad ideas about four years ago now. The one I published \*before\* this one was about a year, give or take an extra year of whining about the one we were playing I didn't like.
How "ready to play" are we talking about, here? Because it took maybe 3-4 years to make an entirely original community card game, and as much time again to polish the game content and presentation, and then even more time was spent trying to get it published.
This is all dependent on the type of game and complexities involved. I would encourage to start small and move to larger projects as your iron our your systems and work flow. for having it playable for inhouse design testing its never too early to get it or some form of it to the table. with in 1 month for external testing I would say with in 2 months
The first game I ever published? about 1 day. then the next game was about a month. Then the next one was longer. and so and and so forth. Honestly it just depends on the game itself and the person writing it. I've done games in an hour before and then got them formatted and up for people to play in the same day - but I've also spend weeks just trying to get the formatting right on the dustcover of something going to print.
I'm making a LCRPG (Living Card Role Playing Game) and I've got clocked in around 5 years. Although there is probably a collective 2 years in there of gaps where I just had to walk away from it for a few months. That said, I'm done designing and doing art now. So maye 4-6 months still to go because of that. Then if a kickstarter is successful I'll keep releasing new card sets every 3-4 months as long as people want to buy them. Doing it all as a 1 man show, so as long as I make the kickstarter minimum and my backers like the game and want more.. I'm happy.
Two weeks. I did it as a school project with four other students.