During June 1st-3rd, Omaha will be hosting its first Protospiel board game convention at the Sheraton Omaha Hotel. The convention, sponsored by Spielbound and The Spielmasons (Omaha’s board game design organization and part of Spielbound’s non-profit outreach program) is part of a national chain of board game conventions that focuses on playing unpublished board games. These have become wildly popular conventions across the country and it’s because of the invaluable service they provide in bringing game designers and play-testers together. In fact, playtesters will be able to attend Protospiel Omaha completely free with pre-registration.
A lot of people may not be aware of how playtesters fit into the game design process. Well, the board game design process is a lot like the writing process everyone learned back in high school and those pesky undergraduate English classes they had to take. A writer and a board game designer both start by brainstorming an idea. For a board game designer, getting that idea onto paper in the form of a first set of rules or diagrams of how the game works is like the outlining process a writer proceeds to next. The creation of a board game prototype is like a first draft of a writer’s project. But what does the writer do next? Well, let’s think back to any book dedication we may have ever read. The author always spends a considerable amount of time thanking their editor and their proofreaders. Those guys are like the playtesters in the board game design process. Without editors, proofreaders, and playtesters, revision cannot happen, which is the most important step of the process. Revision is where a rough draft or a board game prototype turns into something really special.
The Spielmasons
hard at work playtesting at one of their weekly meetings.
And that’s why playtesters are so important to a board game designer. Without playtesters, a board game designer might think all of their ideas are completely perfect from inception! We can all easily think of the worst board game we’ve ever played. Chances are, that game didn’t work nearly as well as our favorite game because it lacked an extensive playtesting step in the design process. Anyone who has ever undertaken a creative project of any sort knows the value of constructive criticism in turning something worthwhile into something amazing. That’s what playtesters do! Board game design is a creative project and designers need the feedback of a diverse slate of perspectives besides their own.
Many people might be uncomfortable offering critical feedback, but game designers thrive upon it. It’s the best way to make their board games better! Similarly, many people might not think they have what it takes to offer an analysis. But everyone has at one time or another explained to their friends why they prefer one restaurant to another, why they hated a particular movie, or why the song they just listened to is the greatest thing in the history of music. Offering board game feedback is no different and it’s a lot of fun! Designers want to know if players find their idea attractive, what works well in the game, and what can be improved. We hope to attract a diverse selection of designers with a lot of interesting and innovative games to Protospiel Omaha, but we hope to attract an even bigger crowd of enthusiastic playtesters because they’re just as important and essential to the process of designing a game. You could be one of them!