Lessons from the Video Game Industry on Art Direction
I haven’t found a textbook on art direction for tabletop games. Fortunately, the video game industry has many videos and other resources to aid art directors.
Chris Scaffidi
Understated Line Art and the Graphic Design of Cartref
For the past few months, I’ve worked on a new game that requires understated art. Several games have caught my attention and inspired an art direction.
What Information Should You Print on the Board?
The vast potential expanse of a game board invites placing lots of fiddly little text. Good idea? Not so much.
What Makes Kickstarter Videos about Games Compelling?
A post appeared in the Board Game Design Lab Community, asking for pointers to compelling Kickstarter videos. Here are replies and what made videos compelling.
Confirming Commonalities of Art in Awesome Fantasy Games
I previously identified commonalities in game art that players called awesome. In this post, I test if those generalizations apply to top-ranked fantasy games.
Commonalities of “Awesome Art” in Tabletop Games
What do the art pieces in successful games have in common? Let’s compare a sample of top-rated games that have reputedly “awesome art” to find commonalities.
Designer-Developers CAN do Art and Graphic Design
Most game designers and developers don’t also do art and graphic design. Yet a few special people succeed in mastering multiple areas. They’re an inspiration!
Twilight Imperium: The Empire Sprawl is Real
The inadequacy of parking space was a limiting factor that ultimately led to the fall of the Empire. Just saying.
Great Graphic Designers — Initial Notes on Game Boxes
In many fields, apprentices and journeymen study masters. It’s no different in graphic design. Let’s look at some people who do great work for tabletop games.
The Case of the Framed Cards (Graphic Design for Games)
While the fundamentals of graphic design are no mystery, little guidance exists on applying fundamentals to tabletop games. This article zooms in on framing.