Game Design
Rubric
- Complete set of rules, typed and printed out
- Rules should have complete sentences, good grammar and spelling
- All game components should be in color
- Lines and drawings should be in ink - no pencil
- Text on cards and board should be neat, in dark ink (again, no pencil), preferably printed out
- Playing pieces should be durable (not paper or cardboard)
- Game box should be neatly covered, with color pictures
Kobold Guide to Game Design, Mike Selinker, Open Design, 2011.
- How do you want your players to feel? What emotion do you want to create in your players? (And it can't just be to "have fun"). [6]
- Don't over-innovate; understand your influences and credit them. [9]
- Three-act gameplay [13]
- Act 1: stage is set for conflict between the players; battle lines are drawn, rules are understood.
- Act 2: the meat of the struggle for victory; each player strives for a compelling edge over the others.
- Act 3: push for victory; one player (or several), try & fail, or try & succeed to win.
- Mechanics & Metaphor [19]
- Mechanics - the game rules, how does the game work.
- Metaphor - the game fiction, what the game is about.
- Any part of a game (either mechanics or metaphor) that fails to support the game and make it better should be cut.
- One sentence description [21]
- [Game name] is a [category of] game in which [the players or their avatars] [do or compete for something] by [using tools the game provides them].
- Rules shouldn't explain a game; they should only confirm what the rest of the game tells you. See if your game makes intuitive sense from the moment your players open the box. [42]
- Make sure every player believes that they have a reasonable chance to win until the very end. [84]
- Don't kick players out before the end.
- If someone's going to lose, don't give them the chance to "pick" another player to win, or take another player out when they go down, or take out the leader.
- Don't reward the leader; if anything, maybe punish them slightly.
- Slow down the leaders near the end.
- Have a good balance between a player's ability to influence the other players.
- Don't force a player backwards.
- Lots of playtesting [99]