We have gathered a mighty fine group of game designers here in Stockholm that meet up every now and then and playtest each other’s games. Once per week it’s been now after the summer and this week we were six so we split in two tables.
We are all hobby designers, designing games for fun and the odd chance to get a design published one day. So we come up with all sorts of crazy and weird ideas for games. The games that hit the table are in all shapes from unplayable to polished. Each game gets played and we give open and honest feedback. Often it’s “this game is not for me” or “there is a game in there somewhere”. But also detailed feedback to mechanics and theme.
These last two weeks, the feedback I gave most frequently was: When do you tell the story?
Downtime and shared moments
One common issue that game designers try to address is downtime, waiting for your turn. You want to avoid people getting bored. That has led to designs with simultaneous play in our group of game designers. You draw cards and tiles and place them in your own tableau all at the same time. This however leads to another issue. When we are all so focused on our own thing, when do we get to have a shared experience of playing a game? Only at the end when we compare scores? Why then are we not just playing our favourite solitaire games in the same room?
Obviously interaction between the players is key to “playing the same game.” But also the story telling. I don’t only want to pull tokens from the same bag and draw cards from the same deck. I want to share the small stories that a good game help me create. Making funny voices and bragging about a thing I have accomplished or complaining about a setback from a bad roll of a die.
In Gotlandia, when players build their first church and buy their first decoration, it is such a rewarding moment. I always ask the player to brag about their magnificent church. It is not in the rules, it’s a thing I do when I teach the game. But for me it is crucial to the experience of the game.
In Spooky Town, my Halloween themed card game, the theme helps the mechanics come alive. You don’t just collect a point. It’s the witch that eats a vampire or the carnivorous plant in the flower shop that eats a werewolf.
When you don’t have a turn order but resolve things simultaneously, you miss out on these shared moments.
I like both story telling games and games where you analyse and optimise to win. Most games are so complex that you don’t play to win first time you play a new game. You play to learn. One entertaining way to learn is to try tell a story and let the story guide the choices you make in the game. So even if I didn’t win, I got to tell a fun story. Which in many social contexts is even more important than achieving the highest score.
A Tale of Two Games
Two games I played recently really made this clear to me.
One was a half baked travelling game where you gather a team of Pokemon-like monsters as you go. The other was a very polished deck builder by two experienced designers. I had more fun telling the stories of my travelling monsters than cycling through my deck of cards looking for sets while the other players did the same. The last game really annoyed me and it puzzled me why. Being forced to argue for what specific elements I did not enjoy and why was really helpful to realise what I write about in this post.
Sometimes you learn the most about game design by playing a game you don’t like.
Gotlandia and Spooky Town avoid downtime by having planning happen simultaneously while the execution is sequential. Players get a hand of cards at the same time. They then plan which cards to play and in what order, then play and resolve their cards one player at a time. Besides reducing the downtime from one player suffering from analysis paralysis (AP), it gives you these spotlight moments where you as a player can tell your story.
Join the fun
I will be at Game Fest in Nyköping this coming weekend. Come by and say high if you are there. If you are interested in board game design and read Swedish, join our Discord server. Lots of cool discussions going on and this is also where we coordinate our design meet-ups (and there are people there from all over Sweden not only Stockholm).