What is the Fun to Time Ratio?
The Fun to Time Ratio is quite simply: Did the game provide enough fun to fill the time it took to play it? There is no real way to measure this as there is no real statistical way to measure fun. But we have all felt when this ratio is off. There are some games that just outstay their welcome. There are some games that end just as you finished building up your engine (or army) and you wanted them to last longer. And different people react differently to this as well. Some people want a 10 hour game while others love Micro Games.
So how do you know if your game is at the right level?
This goes back to knowing your game. Who is the audience for your game? If you don't know this then you probably need to take a step back and figure it out. Once you figure out who will like your game, find other games in the genre and see about how long they take. Do people complain about games being too long, or short? This will give you a good launching point, but doesn't have to be where your game comes in. Maybe that can be a differentiator for your game. But you should know that going in and look for feedback on it when conducting playtests. Ask questions like: How did the length of the game feel to you?
That is the second part of the equation. While it is important to have all different kinds of people playing your game, it is most important to have this core audience try it out. If your game is about a Strip Club (sorry couldn't help myself) don't bring it to a church gaming group you have. The audience for your game are the ones whose opinions you should trust most on this subject.
Lesson Learned: Find the right groups to playtest your game and see what they think about the length. It may not need to be the length that changes, you just may need to add more fun.
How can I change it if my ratio is off?
There are many ways to change this ratio, but the 2 main ones are change the length of the game or make it more fun.
Well that was easy.
Some other things to think about are mini payoffs. I like to use Micro Games as an example of this. I am not a huge fan of Micro Games, but I have learned some lessons from the ones I do like. For example, One Night Ultimate Werewolf wouldn't work if you had 2 hours to solve each session. One of the keys is having that time constraint. After you are done you get that payoff of winning or losing. Most times people want to play again. Maybe they use different roles. Or use the same roles until they get better with them, then change it out. Some groups will use the same roles all the time if they find a grouping they like. So why do people play it over and over for 2 hours if it wouldn't make a good 2 hour game?
It is the quick payoffs. There are other reasons too, but this is a big one. Some longer games incorporate this into their gameplay too. Twilight Struggle incorporates "Scoring Cards" into the deck. This introduces mini goals for the players to achieve. After the battle for Europe is over now we move on to Africa (to be honest I don't know the order but the point remains valid). You get that high, or low from the one conflict then move on to another one. All these conflicts are tied together in a bigger struggle but you are still getting these mini payoffs as you are playing.
Lesson Learned: Adding mini achievements in the middle of your game can lead to the experience seeming to move faster. It also gives players a goal to work toward.
Is that it?
Not even close, that is just one way to work on your ratio. I am going to try something new and make this a 3 part series that comes out over the next 3 weeks. Please provide feedback and I will try and incorporate it in the rest of the series.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about the Time aspect of the Fun to Time Ratio. Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Design Tip of the Week #19 (Special Powers)
What are the advantages of Special Powers?
Special Powers can be leveraged in a lot of situations to differentiate things. It could be characters the player controls, neutral characters everyone can control, items players can gain, foes, locations on the board, etc. Here are some benefits of having special powers in your game:
Special powers are cool, so why not put them in every game? Here are some negatives:
I usually try to get the core of the game down before adding special powers. I may add some basic ones early that give +1 here or -1 there, but try not to mess with the core until it is solid. These basic powers give me something to balance my future powers against too. If I want them to be really good I will add +2 to something and see how that changes things. But I don't get into the nitty gritty of powers until the game is balanced everywhere else.
How do you introduce new powers?
I try to balance them again the basic powers I made early. I typically try to come up with a whole lot of thematic things first and add them, not concerning myself too much with power level. After playing them I will work on the balance if the game still feel good. Balance can be achieved by either making a power better or reducing the cost, or by making a power worse or increasing the cost. This seems obvious, but people often forget about the cost part of this ratio. All the powers don't have to be the same if there are different costs associated with them. I will get into this more later, but just be careful with costs. If it just a one time cost and come out early, is it too good? If it is a steep cost with a great power, does it lead to rich get richer situation?
When introducing a new special power to an already flushed out system with other powers already designed, I try to make the new power a little better than the others. I do this intentionally because I want people to use it so I can see the consequences of it. If it is on par, or worse than your other powers people will avoid it because they are unfamiliar with it, or perceive it as weaker. You want it to get tested so it is better to lean toward too good and back it down later after you realize the consequences of it.
Lessons Learned?
Special Powers are good for a lot of games. If your game needs a shot of theme try to add them in. Make sure you know your game can handle the added complexity though or it could hurt your game more than help it. Also, realize you will be adding a lot of playtest time as you try to balance the powers. Don't release new power without playtesting them with your other powers or it could break the game and make you look bad.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about the "Fun to Time Ratio". Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
Special Powers can be leveraged in a lot of situations to differentiate things. It could be characters the player controls, neutral characters everyone can control, items players can gain, foes, locations on the board, etc. Here are some benefits of having special powers in your game:
- Differentiation - This is the biggest one in my opinion. Makes things act (and just as importantly feel) different.
- Variety - Lets every game feel different. If you can have a different power each game it increases the replayability. Even if the powers just come out in a different order, or on a different spot the game changes from one game to the other. This is especially true when you have 2 variable things that intersect creating lots of different combinations.
- Theme - Special powers are a great way to add theme to your game. They have to make sense though. Don't paste this on. The power really needs to evoke the feel you are trying to reach for that character. An example we had in Salvation Road was the "Annoying Kid". He was a Survivor so he had an ability that hurt the group. We wanted him to feel annoying to the players so we made him hurt other characters when he went to their location. It made sense thematically as other characters were more careless around this kid since they were just trying to get away from him, but it also made the player annoyed with this character as well. You had to plan around him and make sure that no one ended up with him. He filled the roll thematically for the character and for the players.
- Fun to Design - Tinkering with special powers in your game lets you learn a lot about your system. It lets you break things in interesting ways without complicating the system. Even if you don't keep a power, it may change the way you think about your game and lead to bigger changes.
Special powers are cool, so why not put them in every game? Here are some negatives:
- Hard to Balance - Special powers can be very hard to balance. In math terms if something is worth 1 and something else is worth 1.5 what do I do? Do I make them both worth 1.5 or 1. What if the next thing is worth 1.7? They will never be 100% equal and this could upset some players. It is also easy to miss something without a lot of playtesting and it could totally break your game. Even if you fix it later players may have moved on to the next game and won't even give it another chance. They may perceive your game as broken and not well playtested. It could be a poor reflection on you as a designer even if one card is off. My friends won't play City of Remnants any more because there was a broken card in it. It has since been erataed but they won't even bring it to the table to try it, and view the company in a poor light. I would love to give it another try, but it will sit on my shelves collecting dust until I find another group to play it with.
- Unwanted Complexity - Some games just don't need more complexity. It could be a light game that needs to stay light. Even adding little powers may push it over the top. Or it could be a big heavy game where one more thing will make your brain melt. Either way, if you are pushing the "Fun to Time Ratio" of you game don't add more stuff.
I usually try to get the core of the game down before adding special powers. I may add some basic ones early that give +1 here or -1 there, but try not to mess with the core until it is solid. These basic powers give me something to balance my future powers against too. If I want them to be really good I will add +2 to something and see how that changes things. But I don't get into the nitty gritty of powers until the game is balanced everywhere else.
How do you introduce new powers?
I try to balance them again the basic powers I made early. I typically try to come up with a whole lot of thematic things first and add them, not concerning myself too much with power level. After playing them I will work on the balance if the game still feel good. Balance can be achieved by either making a power better or reducing the cost, or by making a power worse or increasing the cost. This seems obvious, but people often forget about the cost part of this ratio. All the powers don't have to be the same if there are different costs associated with them. I will get into this more later, but just be careful with costs. If it just a one time cost and come out early, is it too good? If it is a steep cost with a great power, does it lead to rich get richer situation?
When introducing a new special power to an already flushed out system with other powers already designed, I try to make the new power a little better than the others. I do this intentionally because I want people to use it so I can see the consequences of it. If it is on par, or worse than your other powers people will avoid it because they are unfamiliar with it, or perceive it as weaker. You want it to get tested so it is better to lean toward too good and back it down later after you realize the consequences of it.
Lessons Learned?
Special Powers are good for a lot of games. If your game needs a shot of theme try to add them in. Make sure you know your game can handle the added complexity though or it could hurt your game more than help it. Also, realize you will be adding a lot of playtest time as you try to balance the powers. Don't release new power without playtesting them with your other powers or it could break the game and make you look bad.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about the "Fun to Time Ratio". Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
Monday, September 8, 2014
DesignTip of the Week #18 (Cram Sessions)
Are you taking about studying for a test?
Nope, we are still talking about game design here. There are many times where you have to get your design ready for something and need to put in a lot of effort in a short amount of time. You may be preparing for a convention, to send your game to a publisher, to send your game to blind playtesters, or just have a gamenight coming up you need to prepare for. This week I want to talk about some of the benefits of a cram session, and how to create these for yourself, even if you don't have anything coming up.
I always thing of cram sessions as a negative thing, where you forget everything afterword.
That may be true for a school, but in game design they can be very productive. Some of the benefits of cram sessions include:
This is why I decided to do this post. I was finding that I didn't have any upcoming events, and all my time was getting filled up with other things. This would lead to my design projects getting pushed to the side. My wife and I decided (ok, it was her idea, and a great one) to give myself a design night. A night where Mike and I would get together and tackle a whatever we needed to. This has worked out great. Not only does it encourage us to work on the games on our own during the week, but also gives us a night to plan for. Cram for. Playtest for. And lets us get in a cram session once a week even if we don't get to the anything else during the week.
Lesson Learned?
Give yourself a game design night. One night you know you can focus on your games. Just try to solve one problem you are working with, or tweak one part of your game. You can either use the rest of the week to prototype and playtest it, or wait until the next week to do those things. If you schedule it, you can even start looking forward to it and plan around it. It will make those around you happier too as they can plan around your night. Cram sessions work, and they make your game better one step at a time.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about special powers. Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
Nope, we are still talking about game design here. There are many times where you have to get your design ready for something and need to put in a lot of effort in a short amount of time. You may be preparing for a convention, to send your game to a publisher, to send your game to blind playtesters, or just have a gamenight coming up you need to prepare for. This week I want to talk about some of the benefits of a cram session, and how to create these for yourself, even if you don't have anything coming up.
I always thing of cram sessions as a negative thing, where you forget everything afterword.
That may be true for a school, but in game design they can be very productive. Some of the benefits of cram sessions include:
- Focused effort - You force yourself to think about the obstacles you are facing in your design. Also, you are carving out time to specifically work on those problems
- Time sensitivity - Even if it is a "fake deadline" it still forces you to sit in front of your prototype instead of the TV (or whatever other distraction)
- Streamlined solutions - I find that I will typically come up with much more streamlined (both component wise and gameplay wise) solutions when I need to get it done by the next day. If an idea seems too complicated I will couch it and try to come up with something easier or stick with my current way of doing things and work on something else in the game. If you can't come up with a simple solution, maybe you are looking at the wrong problem
- Small chunks - I won't try to fix the whole game at once. This will let me micro focus on one aspect of the game. "This week I am working on the items...next week I will handle character powers." First off it is easier (and better) to test one thing at a time. Second you will see your efforts paying off as your game comes together. Just like a lot of things in life, if you take them one small bit at a time they don't feel so big anymore
This is why I decided to do this post. I was finding that I didn't have any upcoming events, and all my time was getting filled up with other things. This would lead to my design projects getting pushed to the side. My wife and I decided (ok, it was her idea, and a great one) to give myself a design night. A night where Mike and I would get together and tackle a whatever we needed to. This has worked out great. Not only does it encourage us to work on the games on our own during the week, but also gives us a night to plan for. Cram for. Playtest for. And lets us get in a cram session once a week even if we don't get to the anything else during the week.
Lesson Learned?
Give yourself a game design night. One night you know you can focus on your games. Just try to solve one problem you are working with, or tweak one part of your game. You can either use the rest of the week to prototype and playtest it, or wait until the next week to do those things. If you schedule it, you can even start looking forward to it and plan around it. It will make those around you happier too as they can plan around your night. Cram sessions work, and they make your game better one step at a time.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about special powers. Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Design Tip of the Week #17 (Building on the Shoulders of Greatness)
What happened to you last week?
Life. All kidding aside, we have really been focusing on The Last Bastion development. Trying to get it ready for the blind playtest portion of it's life. We are going through the challenge that all designers go through. Trying to add more theme without messing with the streamlined gameplay.
On to the topic of the week. Lets talk about stealing ideas from other games.
I first want to quickly dispel the idea that building on the success of other games is somehow wrong. This is how we progress as a species. Without building on successes of those before us we would never be where we are today. Without why reinvent the wheel, or electricity every generation. Instead lets take the concept of electricity and combine it with the concept of a spindle to produce a sewing machine. Lets take factories and the assembly line process and build boardgames. Lets take printers and peoples desire for miniatures and make 3D printers. Without building on the successes and failures of those before us, we wouldn't be in the golden age of gaming.
So I should just play every game I like and just copy it, maybe adding a different theme?
No. But the part of that sentence I liked was playing games. You shouldn't just play good games, but bad games too as we discussed on the last Design Tip of the Week #16. You should also not restrict yourself to games you think you will like. you can learn from different genres and bring the best parts of what they do to your game.
Example.
Lets start with Memoir '44. Currently ranked number 78. When it came out there weren't very many light wargames that tried to simulate specific battles. It took a simple concept of card based movement and combined it with dice based combat to come up with a fun game. It also used scenery such as forests, hills and buildings to make the board more dynamic and realistic. None of these were new concepts, but they were combined to make something more than the concepts themselves alone. If Richard Borg the designer hadn't played wargames before, he may not have tried to put together a cinematic experience that lets players control an army. If he hadn't seen the trends in Europe of streamlining gameplay, he may not have been able to distill the experience into such an easy to digest product.
Lesson Learned: Don't be afraid to use what works. Make it your own, but don't always try to reinvent the wheel.
Combat Commander: Europe
Combat Commander: Europe is currently ranked 47 on BGG. It took some of the card based movement and scenario play of Memoir '44 and added some extra complexity and granularity to it. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage ranked 57 as well. Hannibal came out before Memoir and also had card based movement and action selection. There were probably many other games that influenced these as well. Combat Commander was the next logical step after Memoir. But it wasn't designed by the same designer. In fact, I don't know that it could have been designed by the same designer. Designers have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. Some excel at getting the math right. Some create thematic experiences. You will develop your own style. Even if you design a similar game to someone else, it should feel like your own creation even if the parts are borrowed.
Lesson Learned: Whether you are adding complexity or taking it away, the end design should feel like your own work.
Ticket to Ride
This to me is the ultimate game to introduce new gamers to the hobby. Is it totally unique? Not really. At it's core it is Rummy with a board added. Obviously it is more than that, but that is the basic element. I think that works in it's favor. People immediately know how to play part of the game without you having to explain it. The rest of the game can be easily explained in a couple of minutes. It feels very different from Rummy when playing it though. And that is the point. You recognize the main elements of the game, but it is clearly not the same game. It has made an evolutionary step forward.
Lesson Learned: Using familiar elements can lead to easier teaching, learning, and playing experiences.
Bottom Line
If you want to be a designer, get out there and play games. Play a game even if you don't think you will like it. It may lead to a great idea for something you were working on. Don't shy away from popular mechanics. It will decrease the barrier to entry of your game. But always, make sure you are brining something to the table. Using familiar mechanics is good, as long as you are adding something. Who knows, maybe some day we will be borrowing your mechanics.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about cram sessions. Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
Life. All kidding aside, we have really been focusing on The Last Bastion development. Trying to get it ready for the blind playtest portion of it's life. We are going through the challenge that all designers go through. Trying to add more theme without messing with the streamlined gameplay.
On to the topic of the week. Lets talk about stealing ideas from other games.
I first want to quickly dispel the idea that building on the success of other games is somehow wrong. This is how we progress as a species. Without building on successes of those before us we would never be where we are today. Without why reinvent the wheel, or electricity every generation. Instead lets take the concept of electricity and combine it with the concept of a spindle to produce a sewing machine. Lets take factories and the assembly line process and build boardgames. Lets take printers and peoples desire for miniatures and make 3D printers. Without building on the successes and failures of those before us, we wouldn't be in the golden age of gaming.
So I should just play every game I like and just copy it, maybe adding a different theme?
No. But the part of that sentence I liked was playing games. You shouldn't just play good games, but bad games too as we discussed on the last Design Tip of the Week #16. You should also not restrict yourself to games you think you will like. you can learn from different genres and bring the best parts of what they do to your game.
Example.
Lets start with Memoir '44. Currently ranked number 78. When it came out there weren't very many light wargames that tried to simulate specific battles. It took a simple concept of card based movement and combined it with dice based combat to come up with a fun game. It also used scenery such as forests, hills and buildings to make the board more dynamic and realistic. None of these were new concepts, but they were combined to make something more than the concepts themselves alone. If Richard Borg the designer hadn't played wargames before, he may not have tried to put together a cinematic experience that lets players control an army. If he hadn't seen the trends in Europe of streamlining gameplay, he may not have been able to distill the experience into such an easy to digest product.
Lesson Learned: Don't be afraid to use what works. Make it your own, but don't always try to reinvent the wheel.
Combat Commander: Europe
Combat Commander: Europe is currently ranked 47 on BGG. It took some of the card based movement and scenario play of Memoir '44 and added some extra complexity and granularity to it. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage ranked 57 as well. Hannibal came out before Memoir and also had card based movement and action selection. There were probably many other games that influenced these as well. Combat Commander was the next logical step after Memoir. But it wasn't designed by the same designer. In fact, I don't know that it could have been designed by the same designer. Designers have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. Some excel at getting the math right. Some create thematic experiences. You will develop your own style. Even if you design a similar game to someone else, it should feel like your own creation even if the parts are borrowed.
Lesson Learned: Whether you are adding complexity or taking it away, the end design should feel like your own work.
Ticket to Ride
This to me is the ultimate game to introduce new gamers to the hobby. Is it totally unique? Not really. At it's core it is Rummy with a board added. Obviously it is more than that, but that is the basic element. I think that works in it's favor. People immediately know how to play part of the game without you having to explain it. The rest of the game can be easily explained in a couple of minutes. It feels very different from Rummy when playing it though. And that is the point. You recognize the main elements of the game, but it is clearly not the same game. It has made an evolutionary step forward.
Lesson Learned: Using familiar elements can lead to easier teaching, learning, and playing experiences.
Bottom Line
If you want to be a designer, get out there and play games. Play a game even if you don't think you will like it. It may lead to a great idea for something you were working on. Don't shy away from popular mechanics. It will decrease the barrier to entry of your game. But always, make sure you are brining something to the table. Using familiar mechanics is good, as long as you are adding something. Who knows, maybe some day we will be borrowing your mechanics.
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about cram sessions. Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
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