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katie_chandler's review
4.0
Knowing that I was approaching a moment of intentional unemployment, I decided I needed a Ben Wyatt hobby to keep me busy and was gifted this book.
The expert advice articles can only be helpful if you’re actually in the process of building a game and have played many games (many Magic references went above my head). An interesting world that I hadn’t known much about before now.
The expert advice articles can only be helpful if you’re actually in the process of building a game and have played many games (many Magic references went above my head). An interesting world that I hadn’t known much about before now.
terrypaulpearce's review
3.0
Some nuggets and gems in here, but a bit dated now (in 2023), and some of the essays are just a bit odd, listing things that should be obvious to anybody who is ever going to get anywhere near a finished game. But worth it for the nuggets, given that it's a short read.
rachelhelps's review
4.0
A lovely collection of essays on board game design by some big names in the field. I don't plan on professionally publishing a board game anytime soon, but I'm interested in the creative process and how board games are designed. Plus it was cool to hear about how Dominion was tested. Most of the advice comes down to: test your game, change what doesn't work, and make the rules and pieces simple (or spare?) but interesting. Imagine if there were a collection of the best Gamasutra articles about game design, only for board games, and this is it.
As a sidenote, the graphic design of the book was really... 90s. It does give it a DIY-friendly feel, but I think it could have been much more attractive. Thanks to my sister for this fun gift!
As a sidenote, the graphic design of the book was really... 90s. It does give it a DIY-friendly feel, but I think it could have been much more attractive. Thanks to my sister for this fun gift!
eddyfate's review
4.0
A great introductory guide for people interested in making board games (although there are applications to other kinds of game design as well). It lightly touches on a number of topics, including pacing, how to approach mechanics, and prototyping. I picked up a few new tips from reading it, and would recommend it as a good collection of supporting essays for a game design class or self-education.
zeustav's review
4.0
Great read full of good information. It might be a little outdated (for all I know), but it seems to me that the core concepts still ring true.
nickfourtimes's review
4.0
1) ["The Game is Not the Rules," by James Ernest]
"Now ask yourself, why do I like the games I like? And what kind of emotions do I want to create in my players? Forget about starting with your favorite game mechanic, or your favorite theme. Start with a concise expression of how you want your players to feel. And 'I want them to have fun' doesn’t cut it. There are different kinds of fun.
There is nothing compelling about game mechanics. There is something compelling about games. Games engage players on a gut level that they are barely aware of. As a designer, you must be aware of the real reasons that people will want to play your games, even if they will never notice it themselves."
2) ["Design Intuitively," by Rob Daviau]
"Rules shouldn’t explain a game; they should only confirm what the rest of the game tells you.
That is, if your game makes intuitive sense from the moment players crack open the box, then you’ve done far more work toward people learning the game than you think.
Because tabletop games, unlike videogames, require every player to understand the entire game system to play. You need to understand not only the components, the goal, the rules, and the flow of play, but also how to assemble all these into a comprehensive strategy that will lead you to victory.
We’ve all played games that make no sense at all, where every rule fights another and the pieces seem like an afterthought. Don’t design one of those. Instead, design games that need the rulebook as little as possible.
If you are using the rulebook to fix an unintuitive game, you are making it very hard on your players to enjoy what you designed."
3) ["Strategy is Luck," by James Ernest]
"My actual thesis here is that 'strategy' and 'skill' are different, and the main difference between them is that strategy has a luck component, while 'skill' doesn’t. Understanding the roles of luck, strategy, and skill will help you design better games.
Here are the terms.
Luck: In games, 'luck' is not necessarily 'good luck' or 'bad luck.' It’s just something beyond your control. It’s a fork in the road, a random choice that might help you or hurt you. It might be a die roll, a card flip, or the actions of other players.
Strategy: 'Strategy' is the act of making plans and decisions during the game, given limited information.
Skill: 'Skill' is an aptitude for the game that you bring from the outside. Specifically, skill allows you to know the correct choice in a given situation."
4) [ibid.]
"'Creativity,' as [Bobby] Fischer suggests, is what makes games fun to play. Learning perfect strategy does not make a game more fun; it just makes it more likely that you will win."
5) ["Let's Make It Interesting: Designing Gambling Games," by James Ernest]
"'Killer Bunnies' is a story, not a contest. The point is to play the game, not to win it. The cards are funny. The interactions are funny. People are funny. Even the suspenseful counting-off of the losing carrots is funny. If players had to work at this game, they would not have time to enjoy it.
Believe it or not, most people seek out games as entertainment, not as a challenge. They play to escape, not to engage. They want to hang out with their friends, not to dominate them. And thinking too hard will wreck that groove.
Yes, I know it’s hard to swallow, but it really doesn’t matter who wins.
Obviously, if you ask a gambler 'Do you want to win?' he will say yes. But if you watch him, you will see that it really doesn’t make much difference. He plays until he runs out of money, or out of time. If losing actually mattered, he would do something else."
6) ["Amazing Errors in Prototyping," by Steve Jackson]
"The moral of the story -- All of this boils down to:
* A working prototype must include everything it actually takes to play the game.
* A working prototype must not include anything you have not tested thoroughly.
* A working prototype should be about gameplay. Don’t try to dictate the art or the marketing!
Above all, and summarizing everything else: A working prototype must be playable, legible, and user-friendly."
"Now ask yourself, why do I like the games I like? And what kind of emotions do I want to create in my players? Forget about starting with your favorite game mechanic, or your favorite theme. Start with a concise expression of how you want your players to feel. And 'I want them to have fun' doesn’t cut it. There are different kinds of fun.
There is nothing compelling about game mechanics. There is something compelling about games. Games engage players on a gut level that they are barely aware of. As a designer, you must be aware of the real reasons that people will want to play your games, even if they will never notice it themselves."
2) ["Design Intuitively," by Rob Daviau]
"Rules shouldn’t explain a game; they should only confirm what the rest of the game tells you.
That is, if your game makes intuitive sense from the moment players crack open the box, then you’ve done far more work toward people learning the game than you think.
Because tabletop games, unlike videogames, require every player to understand the entire game system to play. You need to understand not only the components, the goal, the rules, and the flow of play, but also how to assemble all these into a comprehensive strategy that will lead you to victory.
We’ve all played games that make no sense at all, where every rule fights another and the pieces seem like an afterthought. Don’t design one of those. Instead, design games that need the rulebook as little as possible.
If you are using the rulebook to fix an unintuitive game, you are making it very hard on your players to enjoy what you designed."
3) ["Strategy is Luck," by James Ernest]
"My actual thesis here is that 'strategy' and 'skill' are different, and the main difference between them is that strategy has a luck component, while 'skill' doesn’t. Understanding the roles of luck, strategy, and skill will help you design better games.
Here are the terms.
Luck: In games, 'luck' is not necessarily 'good luck' or 'bad luck.' It’s just something beyond your control. It’s a fork in the road, a random choice that might help you or hurt you. It might be a die roll, a card flip, or the actions of other players.
Strategy: 'Strategy' is the act of making plans and decisions during the game, given limited information.
Skill: 'Skill' is an aptitude for the game that you bring from the outside. Specifically, skill allows you to know the correct choice in a given situation."
4) [ibid.]
"'Creativity,' as [Bobby] Fischer suggests, is what makes games fun to play. Learning perfect strategy does not make a game more fun; it just makes it more likely that you will win."
5) ["Let's Make It Interesting: Designing Gambling Games," by James Ernest]
"'Killer Bunnies' is a story, not a contest. The point is to play the game, not to win it. The cards are funny. The interactions are funny. People are funny. Even the suspenseful counting-off of the losing carrots is funny. If players had to work at this game, they would not have time to enjoy it.
Believe it or not, most people seek out games as entertainment, not as a challenge. They play to escape, not to engage. They want to hang out with their friends, not to dominate them. And thinking too hard will wreck that groove.
Yes, I know it’s hard to swallow, but it really doesn’t matter who wins.
Obviously, if you ask a gambler 'Do you want to win?' he will say yes. But if you watch him, you will see that it really doesn’t make much difference. He plays until he runs out of money, or out of time. If losing actually mattered, he would do something else."
6) ["Amazing Errors in Prototyping," by Steve Jackson]
"The moral of the story -- All of this boils down to:
* A working prototype must include everything it actually takes to play the game.
* A working prototype must not include anything you have not tested thoroughly.
* A working prototype should be about gameplay. Don’t try to dictate the art or the marketing!
Above all, and summarizing everything else: A working prototype must be playable, legible, and user-friendly."
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