Design Theory

As with all creative endeavors, game design has countless theories on what works best and how to do things. There are so many ins and outs on what makes a game work well that it’s ridiculous. On this page, you’ll find a ton of articles on virtually every aspect of game design. Have fun.

Contents

Start Here

Using Design Theory to Design Games

The Main Building Blocks of Gaming

The Last 10% of Your Game’s Design

Measuring Successful Game Design Part 1

Measuring Successful Game Design Part 2

Kill Your Darlings

If You Love Your Design, Let It Go

Different Approaches to Game Design

Borrowing Ideas from Other Games

An Atomic Theory of Fun Game Design

Good Game for Large Audience OR Great Game for Small Audience

Subtext and the Dangers of Default Design

Breaking Down Games

To CCG or Not to CCG? That Is the Question.

Designing Board Games efficiently for Cost

Iterating a Design (Audio)

How to Add Depth to Your Game

Game Making as a Systems Engineering Problem Part 1

Game Making as a Systems Engineering Problem Part 2

General Strategies to Put in Your Board Games

Why Flexibility Is Needed to Design a Great Game

Designing Outside Yourself

Where a Game Should Start

Luck VS Skill (Video)

Eat Your Vegetables

Palette Swaps: When Variety Underwhelms

Over 100,000 Different Setups!

Designing Games for Video Conferencing Systems

Scoundrels: Design Diary

The Hierarchy of Needs Part 1
The Hierarchy of Needs Part 2

The Caverna Effect

Modular vs Integrated Expansions

Designing to Last: Core Principles in Game Design

Food Based Game Design

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Art & Graphic Design

Working with an Artist

What the Font?! Type Tips for Board Game Designers

Rethinking Graphic Design

Why Your Game Needs Player Aids

Icons vs Text (4 Part Series)

Putting the Design in Graphic Design

Graphic Design in Tabletop Games

Refining Graphic Design on Cards


Being Inclusive

Making Your Game Easy to Comprehend

How to Make Games for Everyone

How to Make Games Approachable

Inclusivity and Accessibility in Board Games


Balance

Player Count and Scalability

Player Count

On Balance

Designing for Imbalance

Designing A Good Game Is About More Than Making It Difficult: Complexity, Depth and Balance

Dealing with Player Order

Balancing Your Game (Video)

Balancing Multiplayer Competitive Games

Balancing Game Elements

Balancing for Whom?

Balancing Complexity, Game Length, and Player Count

Balance in Game Design

Balance Beyond Fairness

10 Ways to Deal with Runaway Leaders (Video)

How to Never Have a Balance Problem


Choices

Why I Love Having 2 Choices

Understanding and Choice

The Right Amount of Player Control

Scaffolding Choice: How to Ease Players into a Game’s Choices

Open and Guided Games

Managing the Number of Choices in Your Game

Guiding Players with Incentives

Greater Immersion through Fewer Options

Good Games – Hard Choices

Expand Different: Have More Fun by Reducing Choices

Designing Games to Prevent Analysis Paralysis – Part 1

Designing Games to Prevent Analysis Paralysis – Part 2

14 Ways to Reduce Analysis Paralysis

Decision Scales

Why Do So Many Games Have Five Resources

Avoiding Count-Up Auctions

4 Lessons from Paladins of the West Kingdom for Game Designers

Levels of Game Design


Fun

The Right Type of Fun for Your Game

How to Structure Your Game for Optimal Enjoyment

How to Let Players Have Fun

The Psychology of Rewards in Games

Fun vs Features

The Structure of Fun

 

Design

Two Common Design Issues in Competitive Games

Simply Knizia: The Art in Keeping Game Design Simple

Simple VS Clean

Minimalism VS Elegance

Naming a Game

Rewards, Not Penalties

Penalties Over Rewards

Making Barriers into Benefits

Know your Crutches

Iterative Design

Designing for Tactics AND Strategy

Decision First Game Design

Why Design Constraints are Good

Complexity and Emergent Gameplay

Artificial Intelligence in Board Games

Consequences in Games

Achievements as Communication Between Designer and Player

Everything I Needed to Know About Game Design, I Learned from Space Invaders

Letting Players Do Design Work

Schools of Design and Their Core Priorities

Anatomy of a Card

Engineering Standoffs

Design Commandments

3 Games that Nailed Variable Setups

The Caverna Effect


Dice

Using Dice as a Design Tool

Why You Should Have Custom Dice in Your Game, and When to Introduce Them

Why You Should NOT Have Custom Dice in Your Game


Player Experience

Polish the Experience

Experience VS Mechanics

Good Play Experience and the Designer’s Responsibility

Don’t Hate the Player Part I

Don’t Hate the Player Part II

Designing with a Purpose: Core Experience

Atmospheric Pressures

4 Great Sources of Tension in Games

Competition in Games

Conflicting Needs

Game Defining Concepts

Designing the Experience Around the Player

Creating a Satisfying Experience

7 Lessons from Monopoly for Game Designers


Time

Game Length and Maximizing Time Value

Actual Game Length VS Perceived Game Length

It’s about Time

Managing Downtime

Managing a Game’s Pace

Downtime as Encouragement


Randomness

Randomness, Player Choice, and Player Experience 

Randomness VS Variation

Randomness and Uncertainty

Randomness and Game Design

Probability for Game Designers

Mitigating Randomness

14 Points on Randomness


Scoring & End Game

When to End a Game

The Best and Worst of Scoring Tracks

Thoughts on Winning: The Psychology of Winning

Thoughts on Winning: Losing

Thoughts on Winning: Goals Besides Winning

Mapped Endgames

Making Volatility Work for Your Game Part 1

Making Volatility Work for Your Game Part 2

Rethinking Winning in Games

How to Avoid Unsatisfying Victories

Designing Win Conditions (Audio)

Avoiding Dissatisfaction in Game Design

Is kingmaking in multiplayer games a problem that can be fixed?


More Reading

Why Many Eurogames Are Inherently Single-Player Games

Working with Co-Designers/Partners

Working with a Developer

Reviewer-Designer Synergy

8 Ways to Annoy Someone in a Board Game

What Makes a Game Broken (Audio)

The Use of Space in Board Games

Designing Games with Digital Components

Are 2 Player Only Games Economically Viable

10 Things Every Game Designer Needs to Know about “100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People”

Meet the Man Behind the Most Acclaimed Board Game in Years

Co-Op Case Study: The Dresden Files

Co-Op Case Study: Pandemic Legacy Season 2

Co-op Case Study: Pandemic Legacy Season 1

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Want to level up your game design skills?

Join over 6,000 other designers in the quest to create great games people love.