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miete ("thought") + lause ("phrase")
count: 33
filter: title = The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design clear
A compelling game mechanic only makes sense in context. Transplant that mechanic into another game, and there is no guarantee that it will work. You can't just throw a bunch of random watch pieces together and expect them to tell time. You must have a plan.
page: 2
People buy watches to express who they are, even if who they are is summed up as "I bought a cheap watch because I don't care to express who I am through my choice of watch."
page: 3
tags:
signaling
expression
You can't learn to create a new game by smashing an old game and measuring the pieces.
page: 4
If you're a gamer who wants to be a game designer, you have to re-learn how to think. Let yourself be passionate. Don't second-guess every idea. Be a child.
page: 4
People who wish to design games should play games. Lots of them. Don't make the decision to showcase your personal design talent at the cost of the game's quality by developing it in a vacuum.
page: 7
tags:
design
game design
games
If you don't like a game that is popular, you should take responsibility for figuring out why people like it.
page: 8
tags:
popularity
Just because it may look like nothing is original doesn't validate the conclusion that all designs are unoriginal.
page: 8
A designer should take the responsibility for making sure that every significant departure from the norm is worth the player's time to learn.
page: 9
We remember things about the world in the form of dramas writ small, writ large, or writ in-between. The player experiences gameplay as the story of what he did.
page: 11
There's little that makes an audience crankier than when their expectations about the kinds of things that are supposed to be happening at this point in the story aren't being met.
page: 13
tags:
expectations
stories
In the very best games, there will many opportunities for different players to trade what looks to all of them like the leading position. A game that at any point looks like a foregone conclusion isn't fun.
page: 15
tags:
competition
A player's successes and failures in the second act should obviously be the massive determining factor in whether he's the third act's frontrunner for victory. If that's not the case, the game is poorly designed.
page: 16
tags:
game design
A game without mechanics isn't a game. It's a story. Or possibly a thought experiment. A game without a metaphor isn't a game. It's a math problem. Maybe a puzzle. Or a toy.
page: 20
A good set of mechanics can be used in conjunction with all sorts of metaphors.
page: 20
[Game name] is a [category of] game in which [the players or their avatars] [do or compete for something] by [using tools the game provides them].
page: 21
tags:
templates
Any part of the game that fails to support the game and make it better--whether metaphor or mechanic--should be cut. It doesn't matter how enamored you might be of a particular mechanic or a clever bit of story. If it doesn't fit, let it go.
page: 22
One of the best things about an idea is that it doesn't spoil if you leave it out. It has an infinite shelf life. You can always use it somewhere else later, in a project that suits it better than the one you're working on at the moment.
page: 22
Think about how many things in your life you share with others because of your own limitations. Don't imagine your game design is free from those.
page: 24
If you can't see why a publisher would want to publish your game as is, it's probably because they don't. But they still might want it, and you still might like the results.
page: 28
If you can put words to the idea and make sense of those words later on, you still may find that the idea wasn't as brilliant as you thought it was when you got out of bed at 3 a.m. to write it down because it seemed brilliant and you didn't want to forget it. Then again, it might just be that great idea you otherwise would have lost.
page: 37
The most important member of your target audience is yourself. You have to be willing to play your own games ad nauseum if you are going to succeed, and you'll be miserable if the games you invent are not truly games you enjoy playing yourself.
page: 37
tags:
games
game design
audience
Trying to write rules down is a great way to show you the holes in your design.
page: 38
If someone says "Let's play again" immediately after losing a game you designed, it's fun enough.
page: 39
tags:
fun
design
play
games
At every state, ask yourself "Is this element really working, and what happens if I get rid of it?"
page: 40
Rules shouldn't explain a game; they should only confirm what the rest of the game tells you.
page: 42
A game is an interactive mathematical system (mechanics and rules), made concrete (pieces and graphics), used to tell a story (theme).
page: 43
An elegant, easy-to-understand concept or mechanic that accomplishes 95% of what you want is much better than a clunky, obtuse mechanic that gets you 100%.
page: 45
tags:
mechanics
games
design
Make your design as clean as possible, meaning all the mechanics are related and necessary.
page: 44
tags:
design
Don't fall in love with a fringe element of your game.
page: 45
A bunch of notes on intuitive game piece design.
page: 46
If a player is losing but has no chance to gain ground, it will take away from the experience.
page: 52
tags:
experience
fun
games
I'm a fan of mechanics that force players to make hard choices. If you do only one thing well, and you can do it all the time, you never make any choices.
page: 57
tags:
choice
game design
Pushing the boundaries of the game helps make sure that there are no "groupthink" strategies. As games are being designed, they are often played repeatedly by the designer and his or her game group. As they are all familiar with the game, their group may develop habits or tendencies in how they approach the game. The risk is that there may be strategies or situations that did not come up in the designer's playtesting, which can be exposed when someone is intentionally trying to break the game or when a complete newbie plays it without any preconceptions of the "right" way to play. In either event, the developers need to examine the game from all angles to make sure that the game doesn't break down when the unexpected happens.
page: 76
tags:
design