Scope and production
How to reduce a video game's scope
From Shadow Strike to Boostbound: how to review dependencies, reduce a video game's scope and preserve a viable core without losing its intent.
Game Design Insights
How I think about design, from an idea to the player's experience.
Dados y Mandos is my space for discussing the design and creation of board games and video games. In short videos, I share examples, questions and lessons about the decisions that shape the experience of playing: from teaching a rule to interpreting a playtest or deciding what belongs in a project.
Here I bring together article versions of those videos, with more context to explore each idea and show how I connect systems, player behaviour and what a team can realistically produce.
All articles
Mechanics and narrative
Ludonarrative dissonance: mechanics versus story
What ludonarrative dissonance is and how to check whether a game's actions and rewards support its story and the experience it promises.
Playtesting
How to interpret playtest feedback
How to interpret playtesting comments, find the problem behind a suggestion and define a test before changing your game's rules.
Player experience
Designing defeat: difficulty and player learning
How to design a defeat that invites another attempt: uncertainty, understandable causes and learning that makes the next victory feel earned.
Data and decisions
Rage quits: how to investigate players leaving matches
How to investigate patterns of players leaving matches: connect events, observe decisions and test hypotheses without confusing a metric with its cause.
Systems and balance
Snowballing and comebacks: keeping matches tense
How to design comebacks and manage snowballing so losing players keep meaningful decisions without cancelling an advantage another player earned.
Clarity and trust
Randomness in games: probability and player trust
Why a mathematically correct result can feel unfair and how to communicate probabilities, damage and hidden calculations so players can learn.
Playtesting
How to simplify game rules without losing depth
A Dwarves Life example of complexity versus depth: how to check whether a rule changes decisions before adding more exceptions to the system.
Learning
How to teach game rules without overwhelming players
How to teach rules and design tutorials: order information, provide context and observe where players get lost during their first sessions.
Prototyping
Game prototypes: what to test before production
How to decide what to test in a game prototype, isolate variables and observe results that inform decisions before investing in production.
Documentation
What is a GDD and how do you keep it useful?
What a Game Design Document is, what it should cover and how to update it after testing so the team stays aligned without freezing the game's design.
Documentation
Game manuals and GDDs: documenting with clarity
What board game manuals can teach a GDD: clear terms, shared decisions and a practical check to see whether your documentation works without its author.