"all they do is tell you about different techniques and mechanisms and pros and cons, they don't actually tell you how to *do* it". There was not-so-subtle hinting that the Game Designers were keeping that a Secret from the lowly plebs to keep them from breaking in.
2/11
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But the reason the Game Designers aren't telling everyone their Secret is, there is no Secret to share. Every designer is different. Heck, every *game* is different: a unique & splendid agony. 3/11
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Look: you can give someone step-by-step instructions for making a creme brulee; you can't give them step-by-step instructions for inventing a new dessert. You can however help them find & develop the tools - craft, judgment, experience, knowledge - they need to succeed. 4/11
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What they do with those tools is up to them. So, if you're expecting a step-by-step, "how do you design a game?" is a useless question. It can, however, have some very useful answers - because every designer will answer it differently. 5/11
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I spend a lot of time in what you could call the board game equivalent of "pre-viz": I wait until I have a very clear picture of what the game will look & feel like, and only then do I start working on it; when it looks & feels like my mental image, I know I'm done. 6/11
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Others start sooner and rougher - the first playtest is always gonna be a disaster, but over the course of development they will "find out what the game is really about". And that works for them! Sounds like a nightmare to me, but you do you! 7/11
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Some folks start with a very complicated game and then whittle it down, discarding huge chunks of the original thing to get it simpler and simpler. Too much work for me; I'd rather start simple. 8/11
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Some folks test aspects of the game in isolation, make sure they're mechanically sound, and then they fit the pieces together. That seems really counter-intuitive to me, but again, it works for them! 9/11
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And the thing is, while it's not my method, I can and do learn something from everyone else's answers - sometimes applying it to my own problems, and sometimes just using it better understand my own process & why it works for me. 10/11
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No one can tell you how to design a game, but they can tell you how they themselves design a game - and their answers will help you find your own answer to that question. 11/11
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