#BoardGameDesign math fact. A tie-breaker is worth 1/2 of whatever value it's breaking. So, if holding a token wins you the game if you're tied for victory points, that token is worth 1/2 of a victory point. If I have 1 more point than you, I win; if we have the same number of points, you win.

"A complex board games is just nine simple boards games." Damn, that goes hard. 🎲✂️

🎲 ✂️ In case you haven't seen it, the design diary of Zendo is incredible. www.koryheath.com/zendo/design... It's told like a story, but it still goes deep into the thought process of designing it. I highly recommend it. #BoardgameDesign

✂️🎲 I use Affinity for all my rulebooks and components, and I really like it. It's especially nice using free software to work on a co-design, since I wasn't forcing my co-designer to buy anything. I wrote an article specific to board games if others want to try it out. rossongames.com/affinity

Affinity for Board Games

How to use Affinity Studio to design components and write rulebooks for board game prototypes.

rossongames.com

One thing I've learned about board game design is that you don't always have to solve problems immediately. The best solutions are those that elegantly solve multiple problems, but to do this, you have to allow problems to collect for a bit. If the solution isn't obvious, stew on it. 🎲✂️

🎲✂️ I've noticed that "simplifying" a board game design often leads to the game becoming deeper and more strategic for the players. RA is an auction game where I only have 3 tokens to bid at any one time, but it allows me to think "if I bid X, here's exactly what my opponents can respond with."

I enjoy reading prototype 🎲✂️ rule books, but not when the designer hasn't followed basic best practices with their text. I made a checklist of 6 major rules for legible text here: rossongames.com/text These rules are easy to follow and make a huge difference for your play testers. #BoardGameDesign

Board Game Text

Basic typesetting in board games.

rossongames.com

One of the things that makes Skull so fun is that higher bets prompt even higher bets. Whenever a person bets, it makes their coasters seem safer, which then increases the size of a reasonable next bet. The higher their bet, the stronger the indication that their coasters are safe. #boardgamedesign

What lesser known free or nearly free methods are there to market a board game? 🎲✂️ So far I have: Reddit give away, Reddit crowdfunding games launching this week, BGG crowdfunding countdown, Kickstarter projects we love, TTGDA post (for members), BMG post (for users), post about it in general.

Expedition 33 shares a foundational principle with modern board games, and it's one of my favorite things about it. In virtually every board game I've played, something pushes the players to perform a different action from turn to turn to keep the game interesting. 🎲✂️ 🧵(1/5)

I studied a bunch of icons from various published board games while preparing a rule book for Cardboard Edison, with a particular focus on Ian O'Toole. For those who come after, this article captures what I learned 🎲✂️ rossongames.com/icons #BoardGameDesign

Board Game Icons

Tips on designing board game icons.

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Galactic Cruise shares a design principle with Concordia in that there is almost no "upkeep" in the game. The silo and agenda cards are both restored by player actions, such that the game rarely has to stop to reset anything. It's a nice feature that I love to see whenever it works for a game. 🎲✂️

In most games, Analysis Paralysis increases exponentially as you give the player more actions on their turn. If instead of 2 actions in Pax Pamir, I had 4, my turns wouldn't take twice as long; they'd probably take 3+ times as long. This all depends on how integrated the actions are, however. 🎲✂️

Trading in competitive games is awkward, because theoretically some player is always getting a worse deal. The games that make trading work tend to "sweeten the pot" somehow, like how Zoo Vadis gives you 1 free laurel for helping an opponent out with a vote (on top of whatever they give you for it).

There's a point where a board game prototype becomes "fun enough" that play testing it is not a burden or a favor; it's just playing a fun but incomplete game. I think getting to that point should probably be the initial goal of #BoardGameDesign, well before content, balance, or aesthetics. 🎲✂️

This is the single most valuable thing I've learned about #BoardGameDesign so far, and it's not even close. When a player has to make a choice in a strategy game, the "best" option should depend on the state of the rest of the game. I wrote about this more at rossongames.com/choices 🎲✂️

The Structure of Player Choices.

How the state of the game should affect the value of the player's options.

rossongames.com

#boardgamedesign If you have an Upkeep phase that should happen in-between rounds, put it at the end of the round, not the start. I read rulebooks that put it at the start, then say "Skip this phase on the first round." If it's supposed to go in-between, present it as going after the round.

🎲✂️ I've noticed that whenever a game really wants me to try and guess what another player has or has selected, the game will only give players 5 or fewer things to pick from: * Coup: 5 characters to have * Planet X: 4 theory tokens to place * Race for the Galaxy: 5 phases to pick

Whenever I start to get carried away with a theme idea I like to remind myself that one of the most popular board games is a racing game where the hook is that you have to manage your engine temperature. 🎲✂️ #boardgamedesign

A little while back I posted a picture of my spray painted custom dice. This is my process for making them, if anyone wanted to avoid a lot of the trial and error. rossongames.com/custom-dice #BoardgameDesign

Making Custom Dice (and other pieces)

My guide to building custom dice.

rossongames.com

Spirit Island is one of my favorite games, and what impresses me the most is how many distinct player characters it supports. I've spent a lot of time figuring out how it does this, and wrote it all down in an article. rossongames.com/spirit-islan... 🎲✂️ #boardgamedesign #boardgames

How Spirit Island supports so many spirits.

Some of the reasons why Spirit Island can have so many player characters to choose from.

rossongames.com

I noticed a really common pattern in co-op board games where players have to split their time between urgent tasks—which prevent a loss—and important tasks—which win the game. I wrote more about it in an article. 🎲 ✂️ #boardgamedesign #boardgames rossongames.com/urgent-impor...

Urgent & Important Tasks in Coop Games

The structure of many cooperative board games.

rossongames.com

🎲 ✂️ Does anyone know of a spray finish for chipboard game boards that will make cards slide well on it. Basically the exact same thing as published board games, where the game boards don't have too much friction. I have mod podge but I suspect there might be something closer.

Invented state is a useful board game mechanic to keep in the back pocket. It usually involves tokens placed on a card, but it goes: * You may like this post. * A like on this post is a Demeanor Charge. * You may spend the Demeanor Charge from this post to disappoint Ross 😕. #BoardGameDesign 🎲✂️

🎲✂️ I tried every method for producing custom dice that I could think of—hand drawn stickers, printer stickers, a label maker, iron on paper—but the best method by far has been spray painting with a silicone stencil. It was faster and produced much better results. I'll have to post my full process.

Something I've noticed about "positive" player interactions is that they tend to not invalidate a player's plan for a turn, which can reduce downtime. If someone takes my resources, my plan might become impossible, but if I gain a resource, that can't happen. #boardgames #boardgamedesign 🎲✂️🧵

How do you organize your icons so that they're synced across all of your #boardgamedesign assets? I use Affinity and I've cycled through separate documents linked, one document w/ symbols, one document linked, and now I'm considering artboards. It's a mess. 🎲✂️ #boardgames

I just noticed something weird. A hand of cards is easier to pick up than a single card, and I don't fully understand why. If I have a card on the table, it's easier for me to drop a stack of cards on it and to pick those up than it is to just pick up the one card on its own. 🎲✂️

I think a lot of new designers like myself would benefit from knowing about the Written Tone Problem—a term I just made up for a well documented effect. We tend to read messages in the harshest tone possible, even if the writer was intending the kindest tone possible. 🎲✂️ #boardgamedesign 🧵 (1/4)

🎲✂️ How do you do task tracking? As in, if you find out that you need to make a change to your prototype before the next play test, how do you document that and mark it as completed?