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Suggested number of players when you start designing a game?

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Tue, 01/08/2019 - 05:34
Franky Stein
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Joined: 02/01/2018

Novice designer here, first post in the forum, many greetings to all.

So, my first board game design project is a Co-operative, Worker Placement, Fighting, Political game with the intent of having up to 4 players and I wonder if I should take that into account right from the start or not. Is there a suggested number of players when you start designing a game in order to make your life a bit easier when you try to deal with math and balancing issues? Will it be easier in general if you start with a solo variant at any case? Is this reasonable enough when you know right from the start that you want to make a co-op worker placement?

A perspective here will be very much appreciated.

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Tue, 01/08/2019 - 07:59
#1
Fertessa
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Joined: 07/18/2018
A solo game plays very

A solo game plays very differently from a multi player game. And honestly, two player games are also quite different. I would say, decide the highest player count you think your game can get up to, and figure out what allows your game to get to that level. If it's a card game, figure out what card count allows your game to move at the pace you want it to.

It is definitely easier to playtest a 2 to 4 player game, so I would concentrate on that player count first, but it's never too early to identify your game's potential, so you know the next step you need to take to expand it.

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Tue, 01/08/2019 - 08:17
#2
wob
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Joined: 06/09/2017
hi. unfortunately i think the

hi.
unfortunately i think the answer is "it depends" some games will naturally lend themselves to certain numbers. but generally i would design for the average of your player count ie if its 2-4 do most of your testing with 3, play 2/4 less often (but try it to make sure it works) and only play solo if it has a proper solo mode (a tacked on solo variant is rarely worth playing).
co-ops are slightly different in that you can play the full multiplayer game on your own (in theory) i would still design/test them for the average but you can do more solo testing.,

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