This week I shared a contest with our Game Design students, the GDWC 2017. This is focussed on digital games, but tabletop games are explicitly welcome. If they get enough ‘analogue’ submissions they might open a category for them.

Designers: you might feel hesitant to participate. I did, even though it was a local event, it felt BIG. However, I decided to gauge whether my game was interesting enough, as there are a lot of trick taking games already. It gave me a great push to make a sprint and finish the design. And start working on the extra skills I needed to learn (rules writing… not done learning by the way…). And pitching to a jury, that was getting out side my comfort zone for sure. But besides scary it was fun. There might be competition, it was also cooperative.

So when you hear about a contest, consider it! Can the game you want to submit be better? Yes. Will it be good enough?  Well, there is only 1 way to find out… Finish it and submit!

Worst scenario: you learn how your game is perceived and often you’ll get feedback how to improve the game or how to present it better. With the added bonus of have a good time meeting others passionate about games. Seems enj
oyable right?

At the moment I participate in a tabletop game design contest organised by Cardboard Edison (great resource site for designers, hint, hint). I was hesitant to mention this until I know I did well enough to be a finalist, but that is my fear of not being good enough. It is a big contest with an impressive jury full of designers and industry professionals. Yet this is cooperative as well. Those pro’s invest their time to make others better. How cool is that? Now I have to wait until the finalists are announced, 27 Februari. Keep you posted.

Rapping things up, if you want to participate in a contest, consider GDWC 2017. They divide participants between professional and and students/hobbyists so you can choose your playing field. Enjoy the ride.