Is this right for me
Before joining please consider if this is right for you, it is right if
- You like board games and programming and you think it would be a good hobby
- You really want to fix some bugs in already published games
- You want to create a game from public domain (e.g. chinese checkers, bridge, etc.)
- You were hired or persuaded by somebody else to create game adaptation on bga
On the other hand
- If you think you can implement any of the games from top 100 on BGG. We checked and we don't have the license to do it, and if we do, it's already implemented or under way.
- If you are an amateur game designer and you think you can play test a game on BGA platform, it's not a right place, players here like known games. Digital adaptations are very expensive (or time consuming) it won't be worth the effort.
- If you trying to use this platform for something which is not a board game adaptation (e.g. video game, online skill test, etc.). It won't be allowed.
- You are a student who just took first your programming course and think it's a good way to practice web skills. BGA Studio is not an easy framework to use, see skill set below.
- If you think you can make make a lot of money of it, it's not going to happen. But recently it has been increase in demand for paid work, so it is possible to make SOME money this way.
Required skills for BGA studio projects:
- If you are an experienced software developer you can goto next section
- If you are not an experienced developer or not a developer
- You are required to know or learn 6 languages: JavaScript, PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS and English
- You need to know the basics of object oriented programming, web development and database development
- You need to know how to setup and use development tools and setup remote file synchronization
- You need to know how to use image manipulation software (e.g. Paint.net, Gimp, Photoshop, etc.)
- You need to know how to google and reads the docs (apparently the skill which not everybody has)
As a volunteer developer for BGA, what is expected from me?
- Nothing is really expected (but on the other hand, do not expect much from anybody else)
- If you manage to get your game across finish line (i.e. published) it is generally expected that you will also fix the bugs. But if you cannot - nobody can force you to do anything (but they may take down the game if maintainer cannot be found)
- The code you wrote will remain with BGA and they can do whatever they want with it (but you can also do whatever you want with your own copy)
- There is documentation, forum and chat with other developers available to help
What do I get out of it?
- It is fun to develop a game. And you do it all by yourself!!!
- You can greatly improve your web development skills in ancient web technology and dealing with tiny databases
- You can talk directly to game publishers and game designers of your favorite games and even play with them!
- Eventually you will become famous (in small circles of BGA players who read credits)
How to create BGA Studio development account
Registering on BGA Studio is simple and automatic:
- Go to https://studio.boardgamearena.com/
- Find section "Join the BGA Studio developers team". You may have to scroll down a bit to find it.
- Fill the form and submit
- Note: if you don't have the form, you already logged in (?!!). Means you are already registered
To register, you must agree with BGA Terms & Conditions for developers. It's very light, so you can get to the fun part faster.
During registration if you will get a database error that user already exists ignore it.
Once registered, you will get this by email:
- one login / password to access files through SFTP
- one login / password to access the database (for your games in progress)
- ten logins with numeric suffixes from 0 to 9 and a common simple password to test games on the studio website while developing.
If you did not get email, search for "Welcome on BGA Studio" in your email client (just like that), it sometimes ends up in junk folder.
If you cannot find it, and you use some weird proprietary email address, it possible that your mail server denies emails from bga. You can try to register again with the same email, but it likely fail telling you that your account has already been created. But if you have standard email such as gmail, yahoo, outlook use it instead.
You can get the welcome email re-sent from the login page using the "Welcome email not received?" link.
In case of a persistent issue, you can file a support request from the studio support page.
Ok, I registered, how to start?
Then... well that's all, you can start!
