The Strategy Game Designer's Cheatsheet: Golden Rules Ways To Play

The Strategy Game Designer's Cheatsheet
Golden Rules Ways To Play

• Obvious choices should not be choices • Inclusive Play -All players remain in the game until it ends.
• Players should understand the game mechanics • Exclusive Play - Individual players drop out of the game.
• Clear feedback on choices is required • Cooperative Play
• Give the player less variables, more choices ◦ Against the computer
• Don't play known outcomes ◦ Against the clock
• Offer risk-versus-reward type decisions. ◦ With a common goal
• Don't offer systems that the player does not interact with • Competitive Play
◦ Free-for-all
◦ Teams and Alliances (either temporary or permanent)
◦ Against AI players and/or human players
Strategic Scales Considerations

• Offense VS. Defense • Options with drawbacks and benefits
◦ Does your game play well either way or is it weighted towards one side? ◦ There need not always be a "right" answer, but always clear consequences.
◦ Is playing defensively a viable option? ◦ Consider making the keys to victory a hindrance during game play.
◦ If defense is not a viable option, consider removing it. • Feedback Loops
• Strategy VS. Luck ◦ Negative Feedback - Reward losers, punish winners. Slows down the game.
Creates game balance.
◦ Luck and strategy are opposites.
◦ Positive Feedback - Reward winners, punish losers. Speeds up the game.
◦ Give choices between a high-risk and low-risk.
• Visibility
◦ Give choices between using a luck element and not using it at all.
◦ Knowledge of the playing field
◦ There is no strategy in subjecting all players to a single luck element in which
there is no decision making. ◦ Knowledge of other players and their resources
• Light VS. Heavy ◦ Knowledge about the future play or rules of the game itself.
• Many VS. Few ◦ Randomized goals, game phases, or expectations of game play.
• Slow VS. Fast • Emergent Strategies

◦ Is there only one right way to play or are there several viable approaches?
• Power VS. Speed
◦ Strategies emerge when there are interactions between game components.
• Power VS. Mobility
◦ Do the components of the game only do one thing?
• Efficiency VS. Volume
◦ How can different parts of the game interact with each other in
• Diversity VS. Homogeny (Generalization VS. Specialization) combinations?
• Keep or Play?
◦ Consider adding reasons to not play resources immediately.
◦ Penalty or a reward for holding on to something?
◦ Resources may be best played at a specific time
• Reward strategic play. Punish thoughtlessness.
Ways To Win Ways To End

• Elimination - Eliminate, destroy, move, or remove opponents, obstacles, targets, • Elimination - Remove all players or competitive forces from the game.
or non-playing characters. Consider a percentage of the whole.
• Acquisition - A specific number or percentage of items or resources have been
• Acquisition - Acquire something or a certain level of something: money, collected.
resources, cards, tokens, opponents, or items on map.
• Points - Score a number of points.
• Points - "Points" are an abstract representation of value. Points can be awarded
for anything. Points can be adjusted if the game is unbalanced. • Physical Goal - One or more players reach a specific physical goal or all players
have reached the goal.
• Physical Goal - Get to a location or several locations. (A "race").
• Riddance - Get rid of something or "go out".
• Abstinence - Win by not doing something or by doing something efficiently.
• Spacial Endings - All space or a specific portion of space is used up, controlled,
• Riddance - Get rid of something or "go out". or owned by players in general or by a specific player.
• Spacial Dominance - Possess or control an amount of physical area on a map. • Key Target - Capture, destroy, or collect specific target(s).
• Key Target - Remove, destroy, create, acquire, or convert a key target or • Diplomacy - Players decide when the game is over: popular vote for a winner, a
targets. Key targets can be per-game, per-player, or inter-player. resignation, or a decision to draw or tie.
• Diplomacy - Win by default (lack of other players), resignation of opponents, • Combinations ("And" Endings) - Meet two or more ending conditions.
declaration of a draw or tie, voting for a winner, or periodically voting for a loser.
• Variable ("Or" Endings) - Allow any number of multiple ending conditions.
• Time - Win by being the fastest or first.
• Exhaustion - Exhaust an available resource or all resources combined.
• Combinations - Complete multiple simultaneous victory conditions.
• Inability to Play - The game ends when one or all players cannot make a legal
• Variable - Complete one of several different victory conditions. play.
• Time - A time limit expires.
• Random - Randomly determined before the game starts.

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The Strategy Game Designer's Cheatsheet

Golden Rules Ways To Play

• Don't play known outcomes ◦ Against the clock

• Offer risk-versus-reward type decisions. ◦ With a common goal

Strategic Scales Considerations

• Slow VS. Fast • Emergent Strategies

Ways To Win Ways To End

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