2016’s Lessons Of Gaming #17: 161-170

161. Failure Teaches Function

You may not like the people who nitpick games, but nitpicking how games fail is a useful lesson both in not what to do, but also how to see through a design to the end. You’ll often find most bad designs come from places of unexpected confusion or someone failing to pay attention all the way to the end. With that in mind, dismantling how games fucked up can help you be a better maker. Your homework is the 3. 0 D&D Spelldancer.

162. Your Undocumented Resources

Every game taps two undocumented resources: player mind space and player time. These two resources relate to one another. Too much load slows things down and players will play slower. Too little time and players will default to FUCK IT, THAT’LL DO. Some games try to offload material on the table with material in the mind – like tracking scores and currencies. Doing that will slow players down, too – meaning it eats into your time.

163. Design To Your Strengths

Early on I recommend finding the thing you want to do the least of (art, systems, content), and designing the game to minimise it. If you don’t like making art, you can skip out on it, make a game which is all text. If you don’t like making rules, you could go art-heavy. If you make music, you can make games about playing with the music.

164. Remix Remix

Pursuant to modding, making variants of games is fine. You can’t borrow art assets or copy rules text, but the rules themselves, sure. Indeed, if you’re a fan of public domain and remix culture, board games are one of the purer forms of it that still exist.

If you want to make a game inspired by Secret Hitler, for example, remember that Secret Hitler derives from Resistance, which derives from Werewolf, which derives from Mafia. Game mechanics aren’t something you owe money for.

165. Respect Playtesters

Some players want to push systems until they break. These are good playtesters. You need to know where the fences are weak. Note that because a player can tell there’s a problem doesn’t mean that that player knows the best way to fix it.

166. Make Mine Mythic

Balance is a myth but it’s an important myth. City of Heroes was one of the best games I ever played and its balance was somewhere on the far side of ridiculous. Arcanaville was a goddamn science-prophet when she said ‘the balance of this game is mostly about keeping us from going too far outside the fences, not keeping us inside the fence.’

Players are often only playing against themselves. They’re playing against the game, and against their tolerance to keep playing with your friends. Soft games, games where the conflict is a bit unimportant, tend to get some guff, but don’t forget that there are players of all varieties, and some games want players who won’t push them, and some players are looking for that.

167. Access Over All

If usability or accessability are hurting your aesthetic, the aesthetic must give.

168. Print-And-Play Testing

If you’re doing print-and-play, make a black-and-white version of everything and see if it looks like garbage ass. A lot of Print-and-play folk only have a black and white printer after all

169. Your Tools Are Okay

Word is Good Enough. Google Docs is Good Enough. GIMP is Good Enough. The best tools for any job are the tools you’re comfortable using. Anyone who wants to tell you ‘you SHOULD make in <THING>’ on principle are probably wrong. Try it and experiment, but you’re not obligated.

170. Learning Split

When designing asymmetrical games, recognise you’ll have to teach the game twice. The board game VAST takes this problem and winches it up to the nines: There are SIX DIFFERENT RULESETS, and no players overlap.

When two players understand the same sets of rules for the common parts of the game, you make playing it faster and easier. Magic: The Gathering plays smartly here, where the core of the game, both players understand and it’s in both player’s best interests for it to have integrity.