Creating board games takes an enormous amount of time and effort. The simple fact is that there are a lot of distinct tasks that have to be handled to turn a game from an idea into reality. This is why I urge each new board game designer to share the workload, delegating tasks to a team instead of doing them all alone. When it comes to delegation, it helps to define some roles. Let’s start with three roles: board game designer, developer, and publisher.

The first thing you need to know about designer, developer, and publisher roles is simple. The lines are blurry. The definitions I am about to give you are simply for your convenience. They are to be tweaked, twisted, torn up, or thrown out at your convenience.

What’s the difference between board game designer, developer, and publisher?

Designers make the game’s soul. They come up with the basic ideas behind the game (the core engine), design mechanics, create the rules, and sometimes even come up with the theme.

Developers bring the game to life. Developers tweak until the game is perfected. They commission art, proofread, and play-test. Sometimes they even order samples and liaise with reviewers.

Publishers share the game with the world. They take the completed game created by designers and developers, and run as far as they can with it. They raise funds, market the game, and if everything goes according to plan, manufacture and fulfill it.

Designers can develop, publishers can develop, designers can publish, publishers can design, developers can design, and developers can publish. It’s all very flexible.

A sample timeline for a board game designer, developer, and publisher team

What does this look like in practice? I’ll demonstrate below with the sample timeline I created for Kickstarter Math: How to Deliver Your Board Game On-Time and Within Your Budget.

Validate game idea by market	Publisher	23 weeks before campaign
Develop basic lore	Developer	23 weeks before campaign
Game specs	Publisher	23 weeks before campaign
Contract	Publisher	22 weeks before campaign
Set up website	Publisher	21 weeks before campaign
Set up mailing list	Publisher	21 weeks before campaign
First draft of the game	Designer	19 weeks before campaign
Manufacturing RFQs	Publisher	18 weeks before campaign
Fulfillment RFQs	Publisher	18 weeks before campaign
Start and maintain WIP thread on BGG	Designer or Developer	18 weeks before campaign
Work on brand	Publisher	18 weeks before campaign
Play-test the game – early, private	Designer	18 weeks before campaign
Play-test the game with at least one person not designing it	Designer	17 weeks before campaign
Play-test the game – online, general	Designer	16 weeks before campaign
Preliminary artwork	Developer	15 weeks before campaign
Screen artwork with audience	Publisher	15 weeks before campaign
Play-test the game – online, guided	Developer	12 weeks before campaign
Play-test the game – blind, online	Developer	11 weeks before campaign
Play-test the game – blind, offline	Developer	11 weeks before campaign
Create physical prototype (with or without art)	Developer	11 weeks before campaign
Test physical prototype	Developer	9 weeks before campaign
Sign-off on game / Art must be done	Publisher	9 weeks before campaign
Print review copies	Publisher	9 weeks before campaign
Facebook group outreach	Publisher	9 weeks before campaign
Board Game Geek outreach	Publisher	9 weeks before campaign
Reddit outreach	Publisher	9 weeks before campaign
Send review copies	Publisher	7 weeks before campaign
Podcast outreach	Publisher	7 weeks before campaign
Blogger outreach	Publisher	7 weeks before campaign
Streamer outreach	Publisher	4 weeks before campaign
Press outreach	Publisher	2 weeks before campaign
Manufacturing preparation (complete)	Publisher	1 week before campaign
Fulfillment preparation (complete)	Publisher	1 week before campaign
Kickstarter campaign	Publisher	Campaign
Pre-order / sales system	Publisher	TBD
Ongoing distribution	Publisher	TBD

Interpreting the sample timeline

As you can see, publishers typically handle the majority of tasks associated with creating a game. This is because publishers act as organizations which have the resources to coordinate a lot of different tasks simultaneously. Designers, on the other hand, have relatively few tasks – design the game and do some early play-testing – but their work is critical! Game design and play-testing take up more time than nearly anything else except for possibly manufacturing and commissioning art.

Developers are in the middle. When games are first created, they’re often raw and rough. They’re nowhere near ready for the marketplace. They have to be further developed before a publisher can do much with them.

You’ll notice that the timeline doesn’t linearly go from design to development to publishing. This is no accident! From the very beginning, the publisher will need to make sure an idea is viable from a manufacturing, cost, and market perspective. Publishers who accept submissions rule out pitches that don’t meet these requirements. Publishers who work directly with certain designers may create specifications which the designer is obligated to follow. It depends on who you’re working with and how they roll.

Developers can get involved early on too! If the publisher and designer have a clear idea on what the theme will be, a developer can start working on certain elements of the game that will be applied later. This could involve creating lore or commissioning artwork. This can have the effect of enriching the game as an overall experience while saving time in the long run for everybody involved.

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The most important takeaway here is to come up with a coherent way to split up labor. The board game designer, developer, publisher paradigm is the simplest way I know of doing that. This is a method I’ve been using on my own games, Yesterday’s War and Tasty Humans, and I’ve found it extraordinarily effective.

I’ll leave you with a question: are you more of a designer, developer, or a publisher? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you 🙂