Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with new
designers. I teach an analog game design class at Northern Kentucky University,
as well as some classes for high school and middle school students at our
family’s homeschool co-op. I also serve
as a judge for the CinCityCon game design contest each October. Add that all
up, and I’ve seen quite a few new designs!
In all of that time, I’ve noticed some interesting
patterns—common pitfalls for new designers. If you are at the beginning of your
game design journey, or hoping to embark soon, I will be presenting some
important information for you in the next few posts. In this first article, we
will discuss rules.
Observation #1 – Rules are Bad
As game designers, we live and breathe rules. Our minds
seem to gravitate toward rule-making in games and in life. We want to bless the
world around us with order and elegance. We stand in line at the grocery store
thinking about better ways to organize store policies. We divide and distribute
the leftover brownies so that each person’s share is maximized. And, of course,
we can hardly play any game without second-guessing the rules and proposing
some sensible modifications. So it may come as something of a shock when I tell
you that rules are bad.
Now don’t get me wrong—rules are essential to any game
(and to any functioning society). Without them, games would be all but
impossible. So why are they bad?
First, rules are difficult to learn. You are a lover of
rules, so read that statement again. Rules are difficult to learn.
Most people do not enjoy learning rules. I would say even most board game
enthusiasts don’t enjoy learning rules. I know this because of the popularity
of video rules explanations. I know this because of the many times I have been
required to learn and explain rules to other players in my gaming sphere. Why
don’t other players learn the rules ahead of time? Because they don’t want to.
Second, rules are difficult to remember. Again, read that
slowly. Designers tend to have a strong bias in favor of remembering rules. We
have spent years slowly forming whole new categories for understanding and
retaining rules. Most people haven’t done this. You can assume that your “easy”
and “straight-forward” rules will be more difficult than you image.
Third, rules get in the way of the fun. How many times
have you heard the refrain, “I just want to play the game!”? Players have a
deep desire to somehow just intuitively grasp the situation and get on with the
fun of the game. Of course, we understand that this is practically impossible.
You have to have a basic understanding of the rules to begin playing.
Furthermore, players want to sail along in a game. They do not want to stop and
check the rulebook every five minutes. Nor do they want to engage in
complicated and tedious game operations just to get to the fun part. Rules can
spoil everything!
So how do we address these concerns? I have a few
suggestions.
The most important take-away here is this: try to have as few
rules as possible while still maintaining your core experience. In some cases,
there may still need to be quite a few rules. The trick is to have as few as
you can. You must be vigilant and ruthless! Consider every last rule in your
game. Is it absolutely necessary? Will the game work without it? Making your
game 5% less complicated—even if it makes your game 1% less cool/fun—will be worth
it. Many times, games will get more fun as you take away rules and systems. You
might even have to remove or limit your core rule—so be it.
It might also be worth noting here the difference between
first-order rules and second-order rules. First-order rules are those that must
be understood to begin playing. For example, you have to know how to buy cards
in Dominion before you can play. Second-order rules are all the other rules
that come into play later in the game. In Dominion, these would be the text on
all the various cards. It may help to know this information ahead of time, but
it isn’t strictly necessary. Generally speaking, you can get away with having
more second-order rules, but you should try especially hard to get rid of
first-order rules. This will help players “just play the game” as quickly as
possible.
If you notice that players often forget a rule during
playtesting, that can be a red flag. That rule might need to be changed or,
most-likely, deleted. It doesn’t really fit, and it’s not intuitive. It’s a
rough edge that needs to be smoothed out. Another red flag is any time you have
trouble fitting a rule on a card or tile. If the rule takes that much space to
explain, it’s probably too complicated to include. Find a better way to
accomplish the same goal.
Finally, theme can be a wonderful way to help players
through the arduous task of learning and remembering rules. In my game Spirits
of the Rice Paddy, I included many complicated rules (probably too many). There
are rules for constructing rice paddies, planting and harvesting rice, and
moving water from paddy to paddy. I was able to have such complicated rules
because of the theme. Telling players how all the parts worked together became
easier because they could image water flowing from place to place and what it
might be like to grow and harvest rice. Use your theme to inform your rules and
help them stick in players’ minds.
Rules are bad, but they are a necessary evil. I hope you
are able to reduce the number of rules in your next game. If you do, your
players will enjoy your game even more! Next time, I plan to discuss . . .
time (which you can read HERE).
