Designing Your Game
The core decisions that shape how your game plays, from mechanics and turns to economies and win conditions.
Choosing game mechanics
How to pick the mechanics that fit your game, what the major mechanic families do, and why fewer mechanics usually make a better game.
Turns, rounds, phases, and steps
What turns, rounds, phases, and steps mean in board game design, and how to structure them so your game flows.
Player agency and meaningful decisions
Why meaningful decisions are the heart of board game design, and how to tell real choices from false ones.
Randomness vs. strategy
How luck and skill interact in board games, the difference between input and output randomness, and how to tune the mix.
Designing a game economy
How resources enter, move through, and leave your board game, and how to build an economy that creates tension instead of bookkeeping.
Designing win conditions
How win conditions and end triggers shape everything players do, and how to choose the right one for your game.
Player interaction
The spectrum of player interaction in board games, from multiplayer solitaire to direct conflict, and how to pick the right level.
Cooperative vs. competitive games
The design differences between cooperative and competitive board games, including the quarterbacking problem and how to solve it.
Symmetric vs. asymmetric players
When to give every player the same abilities and when to make each side different, and what asymmetry costs in balance and testing.
Game length and pacing
How to control how long your board game takes, keep tension rising, and end the game at the right moment.
Complexity and cognitive load
The difference between depth and complexity in board games, and how to reduce the mental overhead of learning and playing yours.