I will freely admit when I started my knowledge of game design was limited, but I had a vision I wanted a power rangers inspired game with an enthasis on co operation. I made a lot of mistakes when I started and I am going to share them with you all in the hopes I can help other designers and the lessons I learnt as a designer.
Lesson 1: add colour.
When I first started I wanted to save money and just printed in black and white this was a big mistake as there were a lot of cards on the table and it was hard to make things out. I then started to use felt tip pens to add some colour which helped alleviate this problem.
But if your building a game I would say do add colour it really helps to differentiate the different components.
Lesson 2: less is more.
So after playtesting my first version a few times and trying some ideas I put even more ideas into the pot and added more content. The result was a mammoth of a game that was clunky to use, very difficult and pretty much unplayable me and a friend tried removing some elements but nothing Worked.
The lesson here is to not add to much at once this was also covered in the recent podcast by gabe at boardgamedesignlab, when you add lots of ideas at once it can be hard to determine what is working or not working. It's easier to gauge changes if you only add elements one by one rather than all at once.
Lesson 3: don't be afraid to scrap parts of your game.
Now I can be a bit stubborn which is both bad and good, a lot of designers will mention at some points you have to remove elements from a game to make it work better. I tried keeping in elements I personally loved for quite sometime but in hindsight this just held my game back.
In the end I did remove the elements from the game and it has taken a lot less time to play and is more enjoyable as a result.
Lesson 4: don't lose sight of the goal.
This can be very easy to do I know this happened to me, when you try and fix problems and improve your game eventually it can become a completely different beast to what you intended. After a bad playtest session I sat down and in my mind I just scrapped every idea I had for the game.
I then considered what I wanted from it what was my goal once I had that set I started adapting my core ideas to meet the goals I had set out to do and the game improved considerably.
Lesson 5: take a break.
It can be hard to design a game I know I have got stuck and I literally just stopped working on my game for some time and just relaxed played some board games with my friends and some computer games. After a while an epithany hit me and I found a way to solve a problem I had been having. Occasionally I still do this but I now have a better handle of how to fix my game.
That will be it for now I thought I would share some of my experiences in the hope that they help others I will be posting more about my game soon.
Comments
About lesson #5
If you want to "improve" your "down-time", work on SEVERAL designs at a time.
What this means is having a pool of 3-5 ideas you collectively think about and review from time to time -- to "mix" things up a little bit.
For example I was thinking about one (1) design and completely FORGOT about another IDEA I had for a game. Well one day I went through my dozen or so list of games and found one ... that I had an idea for.
So I've take a break from the other design and have been moving forwards with another IDEA... And my progress has been pretty good!
Working on other games -- can give you downtime from a specific IDEA while allowing you to move forwards on other game design ideas...
Cheers! And best of luck(?!) with your game...
On the same line as #4
On the same line as #4 remember the famous advice of "kill your darlings". Never get too attached to something and as a personal design ethos, question everything. Sometimes when designing we use placeholder values or we choose a type of component that later down the process might not be the best choice but since it's been there forevcer we just kinda gloss over it. Changing it might be crucial but we never sit down and think why something is the way it is.
#1
This.
I think is much bigger a point than most people realize. My approach (after I realized this) was to make my boards and tokens with some kind of laminate so I could draw on them with dry erase markers to add color. Cards I use different colored sleeves to differentiate. pieces I use pieces from other games that obviously have color.
Good point.
I agree with #5, sometimes
I agree with #5, sometimes taking a break seems like it can be the best thing you do for your game. Playing other games invariably gives you ideas for your game, or fresh perspective, or solutions to problems bouncing around your subconscious. Switching hobbies can also cleanse your mind for a bit, so that you come back to your game with new vigor and energy.