Ask a Game Design Expert

Yes! Your testers can be whomever you like. However, be sure to pick people who you think will follow your instructions for testing the game and then give you honest feedback

Programming can be very challenging to learn, and so programming knowledge is not necessary to earn the Game Design merit badge.  However, some people do have a knack for

Many games are made by teams of designers or game makers, and so it’s okay to have one or more friends help with such things as building game pieces or assist with

Yes, you can build your own version of a board game like Clue or Monopoly, program a game similar to Breakout or Angry Birds, or create a campaign for an existing

Just as there are many types of games, there are many ways to approach the Game Design merit badge. To help you get started, think about what you like to do. Do you like

You have lots of tools at your disposal to do this, including eVite, Facebook, BoardGameGeek, Google Calendar (and groups), and Meetup to generate interest, create and

Sure – let’s take chess as an example. One of the standard ways to change the rules is to limit the amount of time a player may take for their moves – this is commonly

While your counselor has the final OK, it is most likely that you will be able to use a game created in class or for a camp as your project, so long as you’ve kept a good

For the purposes of this merit badge, play value is the reason that someone plays a game. Most people play games “for fun”, but what does that mean? In checkers, for

You might be surprised to learn that most game rules can be prototyped in paper/with physical parts. Paper prototypes are cheap, quick to work with, and very easy to change.

There are many game development tools that are free or inexpensive. Some are the exact same tools that professionals use to make games, but others require little or no prior