The Prototyping Benefits of a Zero-Sum Game

If you are designing a game where points or other resource quantities are involved, you may have realized the line you have to balance when prototyping it.  To save money, you may have printed/bought/gathered less tokens than you thought you needed and had to decide what happens when your playtesters ran out.  Was that an intentional part of the game?  How many tokens are the right amount?  Should you just print way too many and not let the players run out (which of course will be more expensive to prototype and ultimately make if you decide to sell it with too many tokens)?

One solution is to eliminate the bank entirely and divide the resources up at the start of the game.  Then players give and take resources from each other.  This is what is known as a zero-sum game because there is no total loss or gain of resources.  This has a number of benefits: it's much easier to figure out how many tokens the game will need so players generally have just enough or just shy of enough most of the game (depending on what you're going for), players end up balancing the game themselves by (usually) taking from the person winning and helping out people in last place (which is an interesting additional strategic choice for your players), and this dynamic balance should help people from getting an insurmountable lead from the other players.

Zero-Sum resources will drastically alter your game, though.  Imagine if the resources in Settler's of Catan didn't come from a bank of cards, but instead when you bought a road, you had to decide who would get your wood and clay.  That would shift the focus from trading resources directly (simple and intuitive) to bargaining for future resources (e.g. "I will give you this clay now if I get your ore when you buy a development card").  One of the biggest draws of Settler's of Catan is that it's very easy to learn and it's a big social game.  However, while resource trading is a positive thing (both parties get something they want), resource bargaining can be pretty negative (it's essentially begging and what happens if one person doesn't keep their end of the bargain?).

So as always, keep in mind what your goal is with the game and what you want your players to feel.  If your game is directly competitive (players should attack each other) and you're finding all your playtesters playing too nicely, then a zero-sum situation will help force them to attack each other since they have to take their resources/points/whatever from another player and start aggression.  If your game is meant to make or keep friendships alive, maybe this isn't the right thing for your game.

My Games: Suspicion

The rules have stabilized enough for me to feel confident to post the print and play version of my first card game, Suspicion.  The game is for 4-8 players (I've  mostly played with 5) and takes around an hour (the more players you have, the longer the game lasts).  There is no real theme with the idea that the game itself is fun and if it is successful enough, I can release future themed editions of the game like Fluxx does.

So in order to print this, you can either print duplex style (I have never been able to test this method since my printer can't print that way) or you print all 8 odd pages, flip those 8 printed pages over and put them back in the paper tray, and print the 8 even pages.  If done correctly, page 1 and 2 should be a single page, page 3 and 4, page 5 and 6, etc.  Then it's simply 12 cuts per page (4 to trim the borders off, 8 to separate the cards).  Even though the images on the pages are aligned the same on every page, I have never been able to get things to line up perfectly from one side to another, so just in case you have the same experience, cut the back side of the card so that players can't tell which card is coming because of how a card is cut.

The balance of the game has not been perfect, so feel free to tweak the numbers after a few plays to see how things can change.  There are also 4 blank Manipulate and Agenda cards for you to create your own if you come up with good ideas.  If you do, let me know so I can try it when I play.  If you have any problems, comments, or feature requests, let me know.  Also, if you enjoy the game, let me know!

In case you missed the above download link, here is another link to download Suspicion.  Enjoy!

Game Design: Testing != Playing

So you've got your great idea and you've spent all the time to build a prototype so now comes the time to play your game. This should be the fun and easy part, right? Unless you're some game design wizard, chances are the game will have to go through a lot of testing before it's really marketable. Make sure to stay focused on what part of the game you are trying to test while conducting your test. Each area has its own quirks and pitfalls. Also, make sure any rules you set at the beginning of the test remain the same throughout the test. One small rule change can drastically alter how a game plays.

Game Mechanics

To start off with, you should simulate a few turns or an entire session of your game by yourself acting as multiple players. This will help you figure out if you don't have a component for a certain aspect of the game you have to keep track of or find out that two game mechanics work horrendously together. It also can give you a rough estimate of how long your game will take and where you could speed the game up (hint: If you're constantly swapping tokens with a bank or other players, this is a large time sink that is generally not fun for anyone). These tests should be done before anyone else sees your game so you don't waste your friend's time.

Game Components

You always need to keep a few things in mind with regard to game components. The fewer components there are, the cheaper it will be to make and sell the game and the less frightening it will be for new players. Also, more standard game components (6-sided dice, hex tiles, 18"x18" game board, etc) will be easier and cheaper for most manufacturers to produce (I'll go more into depth on manufacturing at a later time). Also, be mindful of the ease of using those components. For example, I have a game that made sense to have square tiles that made up the game board, but you also have to flip the tiles over while they are laid out. During one test I realized (with the help of my testers) that that was difficult once all the tiles were laid out, so I've cut off the corners of each tile and made them hex pieces. They are still laid out on a square grid, so there are two corners to use to flip the tile over with.

Strategies vs. Exploits

One of the most interesting things I've noticed while testing a strategy game of mine is trying to decide the difference between a clever strategy and a broken game. Whenever a special case arises and you need to decide how the game should deal with it, it can be tempting to make a decision that best helps you win the game. Whatever you decide, make sure you take a note of this case to make a final decision on. This decision will have to appear somewhere in the text of the game (generally the rule book).

Social Interaction

Players should always have something to do/occupy themselves with. If players take turns, then either turns need to go fast, players need to interact with each other, players need to be able to strategize, or players should have something to play with. A good example of these is Settlers of Catan. On anyone's turn, they can trade with other players so there is always potential for social interaction even when it's not your turn. You also have lots of little tokens for roads and settlements that people invariably build pictures with while they're waiting (or is that just me?). You can always look at the board and your cards and be strategizing about what to do next. Also, if the player doesn't trade on their turn, then turns tend to go relatively quickly. So while testing your game, be watching what people are doing between turns. Are they looking at the board? Are they just plain bored? Are they constantly zoning out?

Don't worry if the first few tests are no fun as long as you can still see potential for fun. Just figure out what to fix and try again. Also, don't be afraid to do drastic redesigns on your game. Just keep in mind the game design goals you have for the game.

Game Design: Fleshing Out an Idea

Designing a new board game always starts with an idea, whether this is an idea for a really clever game mechanic ("The game board should be a randomly generated shape based on player actions"), a great theme or setting ("Man, this book/movie/video game would make a GREAT board game!"), some random game component you want to utilize (Did you know there are 7-sided dice?), a goal for the players to achieve ("I really want to make a truly cooperative game"), or some goal you want to accomplish as a designer ("I want to make a game that has absolutely no violence in it"). Ultimately, all games need to have all of those things (game mechanics, setting, game components, a player goal, and a personal goal), your source of inspiration merely tells you which area is already filled and what to base all your design decisions on.

So now you have a starting point and as I stated, you have other major areas to fill in. Using this, I like to make a Microsoft Word doc with headings for each of those areas - Game Overview, Winning Objective, Player Turn, Game Components, Game Design Goal.

Game Overview:

Where does the game take place? Who are the opposing sides? Is this game a funny game or a serious adventure? Being thorough about the setting and theme of the game will help players immerse themselves in the game. There's a reason there are a million versions of Fluxx and Munchkin. Some players want to be pirates. Some want to be space ninjas from the future. Some want to be vampire chickens. Do note, however, that when play testing a game, it will be important to test just the game mechanics themselves minus any theme because if the game isn't fun without a theme, it will be difficult to have fun with it even with the best of themes, but at the same time, keep in mind what theme you will want the game to have eventually because some game mechanics may change to better fit a certain theme over another.

Winning Objective:

What are the player goals? Are they working together? Are they competing? How do they win? This is almost always where I start my game design documents because deciding whether a game is directly competitive, indirectly competitive, mostly cooperative, completely cooperative, etc. will greatly impact many other decisions made about the game.

Player Turn:

What does a player do each turn? What actions can they take? Do all players play at the same time? This is really the core of the game. This is where all the game mechanics and rules are defined. You also must define here how a full game round works and if anything happens each round. For example, do all players take their turns simultaneously? Do they take turns one at a time? Does some even take place between game rounds (after each player gets a turn)?

Game Components:

What are the actual physical pieces required to play the game? Does it have a custom board? Is it just a card game? What are the player tokens? What other counters or other tokens are needed in the game? Are there dice? Being as thorough and precise about this section will greatly help you when you start trying to figure out how to build the game and will keep you from having moments during play testing where you have to grab random things around the house to represent things.

Game Design Goal:

Goals you as the game designer have for this game that you want to base decisions on. Some examples include, "Must fit theme", "Must not have any numbers in the game", "Must use as few game components as possible", or "Must be a 15 minute or less game". Every decision you make while designing/testing/refining the game must keep these goals in mind. You can have as many goals as you like, but if the list is too big, you're going to be hard-pressed to make everything fit them all.

Game Design: Unforeseen Lessons

For the past year, I've been working on creating my own board game with the hopes of starting my own company. When I started this process, I didn't realize just how many random skills are required to take a board game idea through to a prototype.

You start with an idea (whether a clever gameplay mechanic, a great theme/story for the game, or a set of personal goals to build a game around) and have to flesh it out with a game design document. The more detailed you can be in this document, the better you'll be able to answer questions for all the special cases that players will inevitably discover. This document will also help flesh out how the game will actually play, what systems/parts/player interactions there are and how they will all work together. This document will most likely be in a constant state of flux as you develop the game since something that sounds good on paper may not actually be fun to play.

Once you know how your game will work, you'll have to start building the components that make up the game. Assuming you have already fleshed out all the various components needed for the game, you're going to have to figure out how to get or make all those components so you can actually build the game. For counters, tokens, pawns, or other random game pieces, I like to go to Michael's and get bags of small wooden items (stars, circles, button plugs, etc.) or get mosaic tiles. If you want to go a little more professional, Fantasy Flight Games has some good sources for tokens, plastic or wooden.

Chances are good that you have a custom board, tiles, or cards that you need for your game. I use an open-source program called Inkscape to design the sizes of my components, what information goes on them, and what art goes on them. If you're a graphic designer or artist, then finding the art will be easy! Otherwise, you can scour the internet for images to use. Make sure that you have permission to use the images if you plan on keeping this art past the prototype stage. I like to use a filter in Inkscape on all the images I use so all the pieces have a consistent look them. If you don't want to have art in the game for prototyping, you don't need to , but it will be much easier to get people interested in playing your game if it looks nice and at least semi-professional.

Once you've got all the images/designs for the components of your game, you'll have to organize them all so you can print them, and then get ready for some arts and crafts! At the very minimum, you're going to have to cut what you printed into all the separate parts. If you want your board and tiles to feel closer to professional quality, I like to use illustration board from Michael's. It's thick enough to feel sturdy, but still easy enough to cut and fold. However, since that won't fit in a printer (at least not my printer), you're going to have to somehow stick your printed designs on to that board. So that means glue, tape, or sticker paper.

I'm still learning how to build a better prototype and will keep refining my methods to save on time and money costs, but when I started this, I definitely didn't think most of my time would be trying to just build a single prototype to play. And once the game is solidified, I need to get final art, then get a professional prototype built, test it repeatedly, and then start trying to actually sell the game. I've got a long way to go...