1.1. Types of Design¶

There are many aspects of a game that need to be designed: systems, content, levels user interface, and story to name a few. We will consider each of these at various points in the course, but the majority of this course focuses on system design.

System design is about defining the basic rules of the game. What are the pieces? What can you control? What actions can you take on your turn (if there are “turns” at all)? What happens when you take each action, and how does it affect the game state? In general, system design is the creation of three things:

• Rules for setup. How does the game begin?
• Rules for progression of play. Once the game begins, what can the players do, and what happens when they do things?
• Rules for resolution. What, if anything, causes the game to end? If the game has an outcome (such as winning or losing), how is that outcome determined?

Take a few minutes to play the game Understanding Games - Episode 1. It provides a nice interactive example of the way rules shape a game.

Understanding Games - Episode 1