How to Design a Game When You Have No Idea What You’re Doing
I’m sure most game designers go through the same process I went through. I was just a kid (a teen, but still much younger than I cared to admit), and “Pogs” were all the rage with the kids in Canadian schools. I hated Pogs. Man, did I ever hate Pogs. I hated Pogs so much that the rage would bubble up from the pit of my stomach up towards my cranium, where my whole head would start getting hotter, like some scene out of a Looney Toons episode. Did I mention that I hated Pogs?
Everyone at school was playing Pogs. It was awful. I know it’s just an innocent game where people stack up milk caps, but it was just all so… pointless. I couldn’t handle the lack of objective in Pogs. It didn’t matter if it was called Pogs or Slamcaps or any other clever repackaging. What was the objective of this stupid milk cap game? Why on Earth were kids obsessed with it, and why did they insist on talking about Pogs between breaks in addition to the game sessions during snack and lunch breaks?
So I did what any self-respecting, entrepreneurial game designer would do — I made my own game, and proceeded to convince as many people as I could that my game was better. Why play Pogs when you could play this handmade paper prototype game that I made instead? Of course it’s better!
Here are some of the things I learned way back then when I designed my first card game:
Build upon the shoulders of giants.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a fairly inexperienced game designer. In fact, it’s almost a bit of a joke to call myself a game designer considering how I’ve only designed a handful of games in my life, and only a handful of people have played some of them. However, there’s one technique that’s sure to help you eventually learn about any craft, and it’s a strategy that our good friends at Apple Computer and the previously mentioned Atari have actioned to great success — the “Follow Fast” strategy.
Here’s the skinny: take an idea that’s out in the world right now, look at all the flaws, and make some notable improvements to their formula. Atari improved upon the existing formula for Pong and the home video game console from the Magnavox Odyssey, while Apple improved upon computer GUIs, portable music players, and the ‘smart’ phone. A follow-fast strategy is a great way to leverage all the previous expense and heartache from previous innovators, and improves upon the formula to create something newer and better.
When I was frustrated at how pointless Pogs seemed, I built upon the existing game mechanic by adding throwing stars and a point system. In my own game, Stax, two or more players would have their own set of folded paper ‘throwing stars’ with three different mechanics on the front: positive point cards, negative point cards, and throwing cards. Each player had their own ‘stack’, and any player could place any card on any stack they chose. This added a layer of strategy that was non-existent with Pogs (or at least, what I understood about Pogs. I couldn’t be bothered to play the game, and became an observer instead.)
The key to the “Follow Fast” strategy is to follow… fast.
In the case of my game, the timeliness of the idea was crucial to its success in the schoolyard. Pogs ultimately faded into obscurity quickly as the fad fizzled out, so if I had’ve waited for a year to get the idea out there, it wouldn’t have been as successful as it was.
Pogs were at their peak when I introduced Stax to the kids and other teenagers around the school. Since the game was essentially an improvement over the Pog formula of stacking up a pile, and anyone could make their own cards, the game picked up steam relatively quickly with schoolmates.
There is an art here, and I believe that it’s mostly instinctual, however I’m sure there’s a way to do this in a ‘data-driven’ way if you’re a geek like that. Now that there are tools like Google Trends and BuzzSumo, it’s much easier to see if a game or idea is picking up steam or quickly sliding down the Great White Mountain of Hype.
The key is to action the idea as fast as you reasonably can. However, don’t forget about quality. Instead, it’s more important that you…
Make something you enjoy.
This should be a no-brainer, but sometimes it’s easier said than done. And since I hated Pogs, I was determined to make something fun instead.
In the case of my little “Pog-killer” game, I created something that I genuinely enjoyed playing, so it made it much easier to run around forcing other unsuspecting kids to play my half-baked game. If you enjoy the thing you make, it’ll make it so much easier to promote what you make. And in a world where our attention is divided into tiny sub-atomic molecules with a gazillion different distractions flying at us at any given nano-second, it’s important to make something that’s actually worth people’s time.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether they are trying to be selfish or not, most people are concerned about their own day-to-day matters first. Make something you enjoy, and it’s more likely that others will enjoy it, too.
Spend at least the same amount of time promoting as you do creating the full experience.
In the case of my stupid little card game Stax, I had to work it hard to convince other kids to play my creation. I had to convince them that not only was my card game worth trying, it was even better than their beloved Pogs.
Promoting takes time, and it’s the #1 ingredient to making your project a success. Since it’s equally as important to promote something as it is to make something people will enjoy, you’ll want to set aside time to tell people about your creation. Not in a sleezy, “hey there”, used car salesman-esque way, but in a genuine, “hey, do you want to try this thing?” kind of way.
Listen.
This is, perhaps, the most important advice of all. Listen to others.
If early feedback shows that the game you’ve made is good, then listen to feedback and continue improving your creation! If, however, it’s incredibly difficult to get any feedback at all, then you should take that as a sign to change your approach. Try a little more, then plan to shelf the project and move onto greener pastures. Your time is finite, and you have plenty of other great ideas that you could be working on instead.
Listening to the silence is just as important as listening to positive or negative feedback.
There’s also much to learn from so many great writers out there in the world. I’ve learned a great deal from the KOBOLD Guide to Board Game Design, and there are plenty of other fantastic resources to help you on your journey.
While I am by no means a professional game designer, I do continue to spend time fleshing out new ideas whenever I can to stay inspired and excited about the future. That’s why I started developing CollectorQuest, and why I continue to write about my experiences growing and learning as I go.
If you’re interested in following my journey as I develop CollectorQuest, just follow the publication on Medium at https://medium.com/collectorquest. I’ll do my best to keep it interesting as I journal about it.
Thanks for reading, and take care.
