A Study in Transparency: How Board Games Matter
Soren Johnson
Who Was I?
Who Am I?
Video Games!
Video Games!
Card Hunter
Card Hunter
Hearthstone
Hearthstone
Hero Academy
Hero Academy
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
Board games or video games?
Days of Wonder
Ticket to Ride (the app) outsells Ticket to Ride (the board game) by 3-to-1
Is Days of Wonder�a board game company or a video game company?
Are board games defined by their physical components?
Board games are defined by their transparency.
Memoir ‘44 – Battle Dice
Agricola – Resource Piles
Power Grid – Supply/Demand Track
Power Grid – Supply/Demand Track
Power Grid – Supply/Demand Track
Power Grid – Supply/Demand Track
Power Grid – Supply/Demand Track
Power Grid – Supply/Demand Track
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Shogun – Cube Tower
Rules can be a Language
Innovation has so many cards…
…and they all look like this
Race for the Galaxy has so many cards…
…but look closer
A transparent, consistent grammar
Arrow Grammar
Does Call of Duty have a grammar?
Is each level a special case?
Transparent, consistent rules run in the player’s head, creating engagement.
Yomi
Street Fighter
“Competitive games tend to shut out most of the population because they tack on extra skill tests. Street Fighter, for example, requires so much dexterity with a joystick that most potential players are not able to experience the interesting mental challenges at the core of the game. I want to extract those great mind-games and offer them to everyone, not just the few who can pass the other extraneous tests.”
- David Sirlin, Yomi designer
Transparent Abstraction
Explicitly Named Actions
The Video Game of the Card Game of the Video Game
Transparent abstraction focuses players on the inner game.
Magic: The Gathering
The Metagames:
Drafting and Deck Building
The problem is…
The problem is…
The problem is…
The problem is…
The problem is…
Not to mention…
The Metagames:
Drafting and Deck Building
The Metagame can be an actual game instead
Deck-Building
Drafting
Deck-Building as Gameplay
Drafting as Gameplay
Learning while Drafting
Fog of War?
Fog of War?
Transparent, visible mechanics increase player comfort.
Pre-luck vs. Post-luck
Pre-luck
Pre-luck
Pre-luck
Post-luck
Post-luck
Post-luck
Pre-luck
Post-luck
Pre-luck is a transparent way to present interesting decisions.
Transparent, consistent rules run in the player’s head, creating engagement.
Transparent abstraction focuses players on the inner game.
Transparent, visible mechanics increase player comfort.
Pre-luck is a transparent way to present interesting decisions.
Video Games
“Real” video games
What connects these games?
Not talking about budget
What connects these games?
These games are static…
What connects these games?
…but games can be dynamic.
What do I mean by dynamic?
However, it’s a continuum...
Static
Dynamic
Some static games use dynamic systems.
Static
Dynamic
Some dynamic games use static content.
Static
Dynamic
Lots of room for debate…
Static
Dynamic
Perhaps swapping these is right?
Static
Dynamic
Lots of room for debate…
Static
Dynamic
However, this is definitely wrong.
Static
Dynamic
It’s important to understand the extremes.
Static
Dynamic
Static
Dynamic
Static games: the content is primary
Dynamic games: the mechanics are primary
What engages the player with the mechanics of a dynamic game?
Transparency is the key factor that enables dynamic play.
Good Transparency
Bad Transparency
Good Transparency
Bad Transparency
Transparency via Interface
Transparency via Systems
Transparency via Theme
Transparency via Help
Transparency via Help
If mechanics are primary, then the key factor is transparency.
Thank you.