Guild Update

Guild Playtest Meetings

Discord and the Guild

The BGDG of Utah’s Discord is a great way to get to know those in the guild and discuss all things game design! If you’ve not joined yet, we’d love to have you come and participate with us!

BGDG of Utah Social Media

We have an active Twitter and Instagram account now! Please follow and start using #bgdgofutah in your game design related posts and they will be liked, retweeted etc!

Upcoming/Current Events

SaltCON End of Summer

SaltCON is taking place September 1st-3rd 2023! Tickets are currently available and you still have time to submit events or apply to be a sponsor. Come and enjoy 3 days of gaming and fun!

ProtoCON 2024: In Person Event

ProtoCON organizers are continuing to meet together to regarding ProtoCON 2024, which will take place on January 26-27 at the Valley Fair Mall in their event hall! This will be a great location that will allow ProtoCON to continue to grow in the coming years!

ProtoCON Online was a huge success this past January and we will be planning another online event later on this year (perhaps in October). We had folks joining from all over the world and are excited to continue growing this online event as well as the in person one.

Below are a few of the success stories we are aware of regarding past participants of ProtoCON in any of its iterations. We are excited to see the success of games that have participated in ProtoCON and are happy to shout out additional success stories as we learn about them! If you know of an example of a success story from ProtoCON, online or the in person event, please let us know and we will add it to the list!

• Gempire: Zarmund’s Demands, designed by Paul Elpers, 2023 Ion Award winner
• Gnome Hollow, designed by Ammon Anderson, 2023 Ion Award finalist
• Septet, designed by Dustin Dowdle, 2021 Ion Award finalist
• Oros, designed by Brandt Brinkerhoff, 2020 Ion Award winner and successful Kickstarter campaign
• Wizard Stones, designed by Dustin Dowdle, signed by Red Raven Games
• T.A.C.O., designed by Ammon Anderson, successful Kickstarter campaign
• Intrepid, designed by Jeff Beck, successful Kickstarter campaign
• Burgle Bros 2, designed by Tim Fowers, successful Kickstarter campaign
• Don’t Try this at Home, designed by Shauna Peterson, game is available for pre-order
• Arcvale, designed by Jaron Frost, game is available for download

Current Design Contests

Looking to Hire a Rule Book Writer
Guild member David Lindsay is looking to hire someone who can assist with writing rules for 6 of his games. If someone in the guild is interested, or knows someone who is, then feel free to reach out to him. His Discord name is Daybed.

Guild Related Videos, Games and Podcasts

Ibyron: Island of Discovery
Scott Nelson’s Ibyron: Island of Discovery has a second edition coming to Kickstarter (Ibyron: Island of Discovery KS Preview). I’ll also provide a link to the first edition here.

The Holiest Crap
Erik Robinson also has a Kickstarter campaign on it’s way. The Holiest Crap likely hit Kickstarter in September. You can check out more at their website on on BGG.

The Board Game Community Show podcast

Game Design Highlights

This month as our feature in the Game Design Highlights, we are pulling from some knowledge outside the guild and learning from Jamey Stegmaier about Game prototyping, playtesting and development. Hope you find this useful! Enjoy!

Art of Game Design

These lenses from Jesse Schell’s book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, is a great way to view game design with new and varied perspectives. Each newsletter will feature a lens from the book and you are welcome to join in a discussion on the topic in the BGDG of Utah’s Discord!