It seems that for me, the game board is the hardest thing to get right, especially when I'm making some kind of adventure game, war game, or traveling merchant game, where the game board is a map broken up by either territories or a hex-grid. With other aspects of the game (supply/demand, vp cost, action point cost, odds) I can play with numbers and figure things out, but I just get totally stumped when it comes to making the game board. So I usually just go with a gut feel for things but the end result is usually something I have no confidence in, and not having confidence means I won't likely get it playtested.
So do any of you have some tips for designing a map-like game board (broken up by either territories or a grid -- obviously very different beasts) that is both interesting, functional, and balanced? I posted this under Design Theory because I'm not really interested in prototyping; I just want some tips on how to objectively validate the design of my boards.
Sorry my question was vague. I think it's because I don't really have much of starting point. I look at professional boards like the one in Runebound or Fury of Dracula and I think, "How did they come up with it, and how do they know when they got it right?"
I guess part of it will be that saying among architects -- "Form follows function."
Do the pieces move on the board in "baby steps"? Then a board made up of a hex or square grid would be appropriate.
Do the pieces move in leaps from one destination to the next? Then the roads will have to be displayed prominently.
So maybe I need to start with:
1) Define points of interest
2) Determine how many turns it should take for the pieces to move from each point to each other point.
3) Decide whether to allow game events to alter the travel time (in game turns) between points.
4) What other things to consider?