Head off to Invisible City - and you will find it to be a website that release a free board game almost every month. Each of the board-game features pieces and boards which you have to print out yourselves to play; but that’s not the point. The point is that those people creates them in their free time.
They are not the only one to do so. Do a Google search for “Print and Play Board Games” and you find that they aren’t the only one. If you check out Game-It-Yourself, you find a massive list of board games people make in their free time. The point is? If you are interested in games development, you don’t have to do it on computer all the times. Try out your ideas with some other medium or just try out some other medium.
A deck of 52 playing cards have given rise to endless variations. There are more than 1,000 variants of Chess listed on the Chess Variants Home Page, where you find rules for new pieces, new board, pieces with new abilities (like a piece that takes on the property of the piece which it has just captured) and more.
So for budding designers, here’s a consideration. Design a lite, mini-boardgame just for exercise or for portfolio. Think of a variant of an idea, try modding existing board games and so on. It doesn’t have to be about the computer all the time.
PS. Just for the record, I am doing a board game in secret, Pondwater did a board game before and one of our friend in NS was doing a fan-based card game based on Command and Conquer. Yes, we do practice what we preach.
ExoroGame(tm) is a real-time business strategy game, independent of any luck and hence success lies in your own hands! This game teaches the basics of business and the running of a company, and usually a session would cost each participant around $50.00 each!
However, our friends at ExoroGame(tm) has kindly agreed to organise a special workshop for us at a cost of $12.20 per participant (that is like, less than watching a movie on a weekend plus popcorns). Developing games is one thing; selling them is another. So if you wish to find out more about the business aspects, do consider joining us.
Still remember Myst? Those room escape games which you keep seeing on the web, done in Flash, with photographs? Adventure Maker make it easy to create such games. They even have a promotional video to show off how easy it is, and best of all, there’s a freeware edition. The commerical edition allows you to export to the PSP, iPhone and do third-person games - but it’s not real 3D, just fake, so I think if you are just into old school Myst games or room escape games, the free edition will do
The Spring Project is a full working open source RTS engine which is a spin-off from the first 3D RTS ever - Total Annihilation. Indeed, if you owe the game itself, you can legally use units from the original game and engage in the game. Even better, if you have done Total Annihilation modding before, then you can plunge straight right into creating custom units.
But this engine is not just a clone of Total Annihilation - think of it as a generic RTS engine for which you can produce mods for. There are more than dozens of mods, and a large variety, from Gundams to World War II. There are comprehensive information (but disorganised) on creating new models, maps and missions.
So don’t hesitate, 