After hours of reading, designing, redesigning, play-testing, discussing, and piling erasers’ bristles, one realizes that there is not really a recipe that made a few titles a hit. The determining factor is something as vague as fun, commitment, freedom or curiosity. Successful game mechanics are collections of rules which confine freedom and choices in a box, just for things to make sense and help the smooth progression of a game while eliminating group friction. In this article, I will try to decode some of these factors, with respect to how I personally perceive fun and challenge, and potentially inspire someone who will produce the next big title.
Quite incidentally, humans need boxes to move within them— and they use them as a reference point to unfold their creativity and add their own personality to it. It’s like the musicians— they first have to learn the rules and then, they can play with them. In these creative domains, if possibilities and directions are infinite, chaos is inevitable, which I believe isn’t very enjoyable. On the other hand, when either becomes constant, our minds, naturally drawn to patterns, interpret them as inspiration. With that said, rules in fantasy driven games are meant to nudge players in a certain direction so they can contribute to the outcome and maintain the freedom of choice. Apart from the official rules that you will publish, there are lots of unofficial ones that it’s simply impossible to write down or ever think of. But do not worry, because players in this realm already have a perception on what’s logical and what’s not, in every type of game and fantasy world. They will take the reins where your rulebook ends and decide for themselves. It’s interpretation by the players can go either way. Since unavoidable though, you can definitely mitigate it by composing a rule framework that fosters improvisation and creates an “adult” relationship with the player- not to be running back to the rulebook for every minor inconvenience. Minimalistic RPGs are pioneering this framework, in which the story and the rules are tied around the players, holding them accountable for such inconsistencies, or giving them the opportunity to avoid them altogether.
Zooming further into the mechanics, if you are looking to innovate within the industry- well the chances of creating something completely new are very slim. You are most likely going to make a mix of what’s already out there, plus a bonding factor to tie it with your unique characteristics. You are running a danger when copying mechanics- and not to get sued, but to confuse the players.
We all build muscle memory from game mode mechanics that we often play and soon after the fourth game that we learn, we might be mixing up the rules a bit. It’s of course good to know a game by its unique cool sub-rule mechanic and make a mental image from there to remember the rest, but we are here to really make the difference. The gap between theory and reality is common knowledge, but you can try experimenting with new elements that are not yet known by the communities already. Things like cards, extra pieces of equipment to interact with, miniatures, booklets, even making use of other senses etc. Every element should serve a purpose though. It’s crucial not to lose the helicopter view when designing and only use what’s essential to our ultimate goal and not use assets just for “marketing”.
Take the dice for example, they give you a yes, a no, or a maybe— effectively guiding decisions without removing the element of uncertainty. We commonly accept the use of dice in TTRPG’s, and what can essentially be different across game mechanics are the parameters. How many tiered options- depending on the roll, and what is the level of importance for each one of these tiers (usually the higher the better). A great rule of thumb is, how would a player feel when it comes to rolling the dice for example. Will they feel trapped into that decision, or get the problem-solving mechanism started to explore their options based on their character and their intuition? What’s constant in most scenarios with the big franchises, is that you pair a player’s decision with its success factor. Meaning that “you want to jump over that fence?”, “Acrobatics…”. This is a pattern that we have been seeing over and over again, and it’s still there because it does not mess with the creativity but only with the results.
In essence you do need some of that RNG. An engine that drives and narrows decisions down for you, but to be exploited in a wise fashion. The designer’s duty is to find those parameters, which will strike the perfect balance between variety and elimination of bias. It’s no secret that all players are trying to optimize their gameplay and find the hacks, which is part of our competitive nature. Hence, multiple win conditions are essential to hack-proof the game, offer freedom and promote differentiating thinking. With these principles in mind, I am finally adding the players’ preferences, which is undeniably unpredictable especially if you are trying to fall into the rabbit hole of “will anyone like this”? The most appropriate phrase would be “Is there a market for that”? If you take a look back, you might be able to recognize some of the patterns that were developed throughout the year, and if you think like a player, you can find new combinations to either stay within the demarcated market or try out something completely new. The good news are that in this realm, people like to see new things, review them and spread the word if they are worth the time.
It felt a bit short when I was proof-reading it, but I hope you will find some value regardless of the size. If you would like to see more and support our work, subscribe to our Substack and maybe chat over some coffee online with us?
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