Designing Game Rules - PAX South 2016

Comments · 256

• AL

  @AlbinosaurusR3X · 7 years ago

  &quot;If you have a hex map and you put &apos;diagonal&apos; in your rules... Die in a fire!&quot;<br><br>XD

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• NA

  @naytron210 · 3 years ago (edited)

  This is one of the best two-person presentations I&apos;ve seen, you guys are super on point. You bounce the ideas back and forth off of each other like a pinball machine, the pacing is fast and furious, but concise and crazy easy to follow. It&apos;s a perfect illustration of how the theories you&apos;re teaching can apply to more than just rules-writing. Great stuff!

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• J-

  @J-Wheeler-G · 7 years ago

  I love reading rules for 2 reasons:<br>1) I fell they help me learn better English<br>2) I want to make sure we play the game right.

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• AL

  @alexstambaugh6328 · 8 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuThpe-Rgxs&amp;t=50">0:50</a><br>I guess I&apos;m a rare, unicorn gamer.<br>I read-reread rule books in my spare time.

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• CA

  @carnivorouswolf · 8 years ago

  The rule writing advice from the PAX Panel by Rym DeCoster &amp; Scott Rubin: Starts at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuThpe-Rgxs&amp;t=1185">19:45</a><br><br><br>NOTE: I would add the adjectives &quot;intuitive&quot; and/or &quot;clear&quot; to most of these as well. <br><br><br>1. Use Precise language. Say things in a way that is impossible to misunderstand. Example: &quot;Draw one and only one card.&quot; &quot;You must now draw 0-5 cards players choice&quot; or &quot;Draw 0-5 cards until you have 5 cards in your hand&quot; but not &quot;draw up to 5 cards.&quot; <br><br>2. Use a Consistent/Strict Lexicon. Use special words the same way every time. Do not use more than one word to describe a thing. <br>NOTE: Using all CAPS for in game lexicon words is recommended. <br><br>3. Use the Existing Lexicon. Examples: Orthogonally and diagonally adjacent. My example: A turn is a block of actions or an action that generally focuses on one player (it is that players turn). Rounds are generally a set of turns. The bounds of when a round starts and finishes are defined game to game. Twilight Struggle reverses this. What the Crap! <br>NOTE: Glossaries are totally fine. <br><br>4. Use a Logical Lexicon. Language should be intuitive and clear to avoid phrasing that is likely to confuse. <br><br>4b. ASIDE (I inferred this): If you say that a rule is effected by other rules than reference them specifically so it is easy to see how and why. <br><br>5. Use Simple Language [when possible]. People generally read at a 7th grade level. The majority of adults are not skilled enough in language skills to synthesize information from complex sentences or summarize paragraphs in a way that maintains the meaning (based on census data referenced in the presentation). <br><br>6. Define a Process Once. For each thing that is explained there should be a single section that explains everything one needs to know about that thing. It should not be explained anywhere else. <br>NOTE: [I don&apos;t fully agree with this.] <br><br>6a. Unless rules are really short provide an index. <br><br>7. Provide in Game Feedback. If you have to flip cards or tokens over facedown than the thing may need to be marked on the other side so you can remember what it was. Intuitive reminders can assist with this. <br>Example: Tapping in Magic used to be identified by a &quot;T&quot; but has been replaced by a more intuitive symbol that requires less cognitive load to recall and use. <br><br>8. Use Icons. <br>Use intuitive icons along side text explanations a la Deus. This means that new players won&apos;t have to memorize symbols and experienced players won&apos;t have to keep reading text. <br><br>9. Never use Soft [poorly defined] Rules. Example: Pandemic says not to tell people what is in your hand but never articulates what communications are okay. Gloomhaven does this to a degree about initiative. <br><br>10. Handle Exceptions. If there is a rule that gets messed up frequently during play testing than change the rule or clarify so that it doesn&apos;t happen. <br>Example: In Puerto Rico players &quot;always&quot; forget to add colonists when the mayor role is taken. The rules include a note on what to do when this is forgotten so that the game can go on. <br>Example: In Fury of Dracula 3rd ed. Dracula has to move a certain way but his movement is hidden. No one can hold him accountable. If he cheats on purpose or accidentally there are clear rules on what happens as punishment if he is caught. <br><br>10b. Have a way to handle accidental cheating that is common and can&apos;t be rolled back easily. <br><br>11. Structure Rules. <br>Recommended structure:<br>1) Terminology<br>2) Object of the game <br>NOTE: [I would include how it ends in general terms here so that everything else that follows fits into that context.]<br>3) Course of the game (general): this includes set up. <br>4) Game End<br>5) Details of Play<br>6) Full Victory Conditions<br>7) Fiddly Bits: explanations, references, etc. Example: Card explanations. These things should be on the back of the book or printed as reminders on reference tokens/boards. <br><br>12. Be Concise. Rules that are longer than necessary are poorly written. If you are having to write in long paragraphs and add loads of exceptions that generally means that the game is flawed. An exception might be very complex games and simulation games. <br><br>13. Be Focused. <br>[I think that there point was to spend time on what matters and highlight it.] <br><br>13b. If you&apos;re game has a common feature but does it in a very uncommon way &quot;then that should be the focus of the game or the game is probably bad.&quot; &quot;Don&apos;t try to do too many [unique things.&quot; &quot;Focus your game on the one thing that it does weird.&quot; &quot;If your game does nothing weird than it is probably not a good game.&quot; <br>[I would add make that feature common or make it really clear how it is different. Also, remember people are likely to mess it up by assuming it works the same way as other games.]<br><br><br>14. Rules should act as a teaching tool and as a reference.<br>Summaries are a good reminder and reference for experienced players but new players need longer but clear explanations that would make a terrible reference for experienced players. Include both. <br><br>15. Glory to Rome Case study. This starts at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuThpe-Rgxs&amp;t=3030">50:30</a>. <br>NOTE: [they are wrong about the black box edition. It is ugly and dumb and the cartoon one is bloody king.] <br><br>15a. Write the rules so that players never have to go to a FAQ or check on BGG. <br><br>15b. Construct the rules so that it is easy to remember and is simpler without sacrificing mechanical purity.<br>EXAMPLE: Glory To Rome has players start with 2 influence and states that patrons and vault cards are limited by influence. It could have said they are limited by influence +2. Both are accurate but the first is much easier to remember. <br>EXAMPLE: In GtR the game ends immediately when clear and memorable conditions are met. It is nice and smooth. <br>MyEXAMPLE: [Through the Ages requires players to lose resources if they have collected too many via what is referred to as corruption. The old edition had corruption take place late in the clean up phase and was impacted by earlier parts of the phase. That required players to keep calculating how the clean up phase would play out to see if they would corrupt. The new edition put corruption at the beginning of the phase and made it very clear whether corruption was going to happen based on a simple graphic change on the player board.] <br><br>16. When play testing hand people the rules and let them play it. Don&apos;t teach them the game.: &quot;Do more play testing of the rules then the game itself.&quot;

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• LO

  @LoveBombMedia · 8 years ago

  &apos;If you have to tell someone how to play the game, it&apos;s your failure as a game designer. . .&quot; &nbsp;THANK YOU!!!! &nbsp;YES!!!!

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• TO

  @tommythecat314 · 8 years ago

  strong point there to let the people playtest both your game and rulebook! What also really helps (cfr Quantum) is graphical representations of actions and their effects. It&apos;s language independent, works more intuitive than text and can help as a visual reference when looking for a specific rule in the rulebook.

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• HU

  @huypham6399 · 7 years ago

  the bald dude timing is very strange, sometime feels like he is trolling the ponytail dude lol

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• FR

  @frostspawn6718 · 10 years ago

  I&apos;m in the process of designing my own game, and trying to get the rules so that it&apos;s consistent, worded in a way that people can understand, and flat out not bad!<br>I can not thank you guys enough for this video, it has been both informative and hilarious :)<br>(p.s. if you can&apos;t tell i&apos;m horrible at writing)

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• ZA

  @ZayneLantz · 7 years ago

  It feels like they&apos;re just cutting each other off over and over

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• BR

  @BrianRhea · 3 years ago

  One of the best presentations of any topic I&apos;ve ever seen. Bookmarking for the next session of revising my rulebook!

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• RO

  @RogerValor · 3 years ago

  My favourite situation like this was playing LotR Risk with people who had no classical Risk experience, and a wrong print in the rules in german, that made them think, they can move as many soldiers as they want but only do one attack. The game turned into WW1 frontlines.

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