Meet with a pro, then do the work yourself.
Book a timeWant to give a design consultation as a gift? Use this link instead.
Work with a pro to make your game amazing.
I help board game designers with any and all of the following:
- 1 on 1 Playtesting at any stage of development
- Brainstorming ideas to make your game better
- Developing your game to the finish line
- Discovering the feelings and emotions during your game
- Finding the hook for your game
- Finding the right publishers to pitch
- Finding the right questions to ask
- Game design – theory and application
- Math, probability, balance, and building a spreadsheet for your game
- Pitching and practicing
- Sanity-checking the game – putting your game through the ringer to see if it survives
- Tabletop Simulator – uploading, understanding, optimizing, and other best practices
- Teaching a game so playtesters will understand
- UI / UX – make everything easy to understand
- Understanding the publisher-designer relationship
- Writing the rules to your game
The goal is to have each session end with a clearer understanding of what you want from your game, along with a few next steps to take.
Previous clients and testimonials
Isaac Grillo, game designer
Working with Chris Backe has been an absolute game-changer (pun intended) for the progress of my inaugural card game Standoff. From the beginning, he provided invaluable insights covering every aspect of game development. His attention to detail and availability to answer questions surpassed my expectations and caused many processes to occur smoothly. At every turn, he helped address my needs and ideas and found ways to get me to reflect on other areas and questions I hadn’t originally considered, showcasing once again his expertise and creativity.
Luke Daughtry, Game Designer of Standoff by Enter the Box Games
“We just hired Chris Backe to consult with us before we start pitching our game to publishers and it was a big help. Chris gave us a lot of helpful advice on focusing our materials more toward what publishers actually want to see. I just wanted to give him a shout out. Highly recommended!”
“…your meeting was extremely insightful and proved to give me tons of helpful pointers making my journey as a developer much more clear. I feel like I dodged bullets and got refined direction from you!”
“Chris has a wide breadth of game knowledge and an excellent eye for quality game mechanics. He was very comprehensive with me on the feedback he gave. He’s extremely easy to work with and I was glad I got a chance to have help me on my game.”
“I think direction was the real value. Actions I can take, are always more helpful than ideas. “Define the high level look of the game-play, and focus on creating a polishing introduction scenario experience.” In my situation, with where my head was at before, that advice was incredibly helpful.”
Chris Backe helped us develop our game Mⱥhr during the past year and it is fair to say that without his expertise we would not have brought the game to the state it is in: fully developed, playtested and ready for production. Would we recommend Chris to other game designers? Hell yeah! And we will hire him again for our next project.
Benjamin Effer, designer of Mⱥhr
Take the first step - select a time:
Back to topAre you under 18 (or a parent of an under-18 designer)?
I love chatting with kids about their game ideas! As time allows, I’m happy to meet you virtually for up to an hour for free – feel free to introduce yourself and your project via email: chrisbacke AT gmail DOT com. This is my way of giving back to the community of game designers that have helped me along my own way.
Parents, you are welcomed and encouraged to sit in.