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A review by nickfourtimes
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by James Ernest, Andrew Looney, Richard C. Levy, Richard Garfield, Mike Selinker, Rob Daviau, Dale Yu, Michelle Nephew, Jeff Tidball, Steve Jackson, Lisa Steenson
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."