Category: Game Designer’s Notes
An series exploring tabletop gaming; covering everything from graphics to mechanics.
Game Designer’s Notes #9: Cooperative games
Trying to beat other people isn’t the only way to play games. Sometimes working together can be fun too, and that’s where cooperative games come in.
Game Designer’s Notes #8: Preventing never-ending games
Everyone knows that one game that takes eons to play. Is there a way to prevent games from getting that long?
Game Designer’s Notes #7: Simplifying mechanics
If faced between choosing a complicated mechanic and a simple one, here’s why you should (almost) always pick the simpler one.
Game Designer’s Notes #6: Catch-up systems
Everybody hates games when they’re so far behind that it’s not even funny. How do good games avoid such situations?
Game Designer’s Notes #5: Paths to victory
From battle to trade to building, there’s usually more than one way to win a game. (Or, as they say, skin a cat. Ugh.) But why do game designers do that?
Game Designer’s Notes #4: Types of victories
Chess. Catan. Taboo. Exploding Kittens. Each game has a different victory condition, but how many kinds of victories are there?
Game Designer’s Notes #3: Types of luck
Dice rolling and flipping coins aren’t the only two types of luck there are. But what are the other types, and how do they affect game design?
Game Designer’s Notes #2: Varying luck
Everyone loves it in games when the dice are on your side. But how much die rolling (or how little) should games have?
Game Designer’s Notes #1: Elimination
Everybody hates it when they get eliminated from a fun game. But can elimination still be used in a fun way?
Game Designer’s Notes #0: Introduction
From Tic Tac Toe to Catan, the world of tabletop games is growing and active. Join me in my exploration of tabletop gaming.
