A designer needs to know what he likes to play.
A designer needs to design what he likes to play.
A designer's best design is a game he enjoys.
(Or she. Or it. It's a gender natural blog.)
That is the dream. Getting people to play your games when those games represent your taste and ability to create what you like. Maybe you also make a living out of it, or some nice money on the side. In this text I am going to share with you one of the things I like the most about games and why I think it is good.
I love games that are SIMPLE ON THE OUTSIDE and then when you go in they are DEEP ON THE INSIDE. I don't mean that a game seems simple and then it hits you in the face with a tsunami of complexity. It is more about games that build a tree of decisions that has a few levels of complexity instead of one level of complexity that is very much spread.
Straight away an example appears! The best example I know for this is Zhanguo. If you know the game or not, let me explain it in a minute and then you'll see what I mean. In this game the players have 6 cards in their hand each round. Each card has some bonus ability that kicks in if you take a certain action and a number. If you use the card for its number you get to preform an action of your choice, if you install the card in your player board the ability will be activated once a certain action is being carried out. Basically, that is it. These are the MAJOR BRANCHES. Each card can be a bonus for later or an action for right now.
Don't get me wrong, the game is not that simple. It has a few more layers of complexity, or MINOR BRANCHES, and is one of my favorite medium-heavy euro games. What color of card to install, where to install it and in what order are good and hard decisions. The number on the card and what numbers you opponents have, play an important role, and there are 6 different actions you can take. But the main decision is whether to go to this branch or the other branch.
This is one of the ways to make a heavier game an elegant one. Give the players 2-3 options, that will be the MAJOR BRANCHES, these should be decisions that are clear. Now divide each one of those to add the layer that makes it interesting with MINOR BRANCHES. Some heavy games just have one level of branches (and are in no way bad games!). That can easily make people get lost in a decision. Through the Ages which is a game I love and is nothing short of genius, but a new player to the game can go crazy with the amount of options that one turn gives you.
In the picture you can find a variety of facial hair styles in the divided land of China.
