Board
Company
Documents about Board
Game Developers Conference60 min
Board Game Design Day: The Making of Pandemic Legacy
The development of Pandemic Legacy represents a pivotal shift in tabletop design, moving from static, repeatable rule sets to evolving, narrative-driven experiences.
- Pandemic Legacy utilizes a 12-month campaign structure to deliver narrative content, balancing player engagement by setting the campaign length at approximately 15 games to ensure players feel the value of the purchase without experiencing burnout.
- The designers implemented a 'consolation prize' mechanic where losing groups receive additional event cards and funding in subsequent games, allowing different skill-level groups to maintain a consistent, challenging experience.
- To foster emotional investment, the game requires players to name their characters and tracks their personal history, including permanent 'scars' or phobias that persist across the campaign.
Game Developers ConferenceMar 2017
Game Developers Conference60 min
How Board Games Matter
Board games serve as a primary case study for the necessity of transparency in interactive design.
- Transparency in game mechanics increases player comfort and engagement by allowing users to understand the potential results of their actions before they commit to them.
- Complex systems, such as the diplomacy and happiness mechanics in Civilization IV, should be broken down into granular, readable UI elements that explain the specific modifiers behind AI decisions or game states.
- Designers should avoid forcing players to make critical, high-stakes decisions—such as drafting a deck in Magic: The Gathering—before they have had the opportunity to learn the game's core mechanics.
Game Developers ConferenceAug 2015
Extra Credits5 min
A Case for Board Games - Why Board Games Help You Make Better Video Games - Extra Credits
Studying board games is an essential practice for aspiring video game designers because board games represent the purest translation of rules into player experience.
- Board games provide a pure environment for studying game design because they rely on explicit, transparent rules rather than the obfuscated mechanics of digital systems like AI or physics.
- Deconstructing board game systems allows designers to observe the direct correlation between specific logical rules and the resulting player behavior or emotional tone.
- Testing rulebooks on strangers is a critical design exercise that exposes gaps between a designer's intended mechanics and the actual player interpretation.
Extra CreditsAug 2013