First things first, hello you there my dear reader! Hope you're having a good day.

TL;DR The "Game Experience" is the desired explicit end result of your game. What's yours?

Introduction

I'm sure that many -if not most- of us have folders and folders of notes, rules, half-written things, and ideas. I do. Buuuut, by looking back to the things we've done, written and developed, it's certainly very difficult to bring them into focus and to a fitting "completed result" state. It's not an easy task to just "kill your darlings" if you don't even know what's your end-game is supposed to be. Therefore, I think that the following is a useful practice even with half-written or almost-completed games, just because it could help push through the last mile.

I've been following the Italian game design community for the last few years and by meeting and talking with many authors during their open talks and open lectures, many of whom suggested starting potential designs by putting good foundational layers first. (I suggest reading things coming from Giovanni Micolucci and Mauro Longo for those who can!)

I'm taking my time to set those things properly this time around just because the last time I didn't and I think my game lost focus as things progressed and thus fizzled.

Game Experience

Set your mechanics aside. All of them.

Before going forward, a focal point should be the Game Experience. By game experience I mean what's the "desired kind of game the players are expected to play at the table". This will serve as a jumping-off point, but please notice that this isn't necessarily set in stone; you can always backtrack to change the game experience if needed!

The experience could be helped by mechanics, that's for sure, but without at least a vision or a plan to look up to, it's very easy to get bogged down on writing rules, talents, feats, monsters, and so on. If someone took your game, what kind of game will they see? What will they -hopefully- play?

Even if it's not a universal technique by any means, a possible way to pin down your game experience is by setting down expectations for the playable characters first and I like to do it by twisting user stories techniques ("as a role, I want to action, so that benefit") to my need:

• Roles are the broadest archetypes your characters can be brought into;
• Actions are the things your characters are expected to do;
• Benefits are the things your characters aim to get.

For example, without addressing if mechanics are actually tied to the experiences, many fantasy games are written so that character stories are "as an adventurer, I want to delve into dungeons so that I get rich" or "as a hero, I want to fight monsters so that I save the world".

Now, other questions useful to set down your game's experience are (translated word for word, cfr. Marco Longo, Giochi di Ruolo, Dino Audino, 2020, pp.33):

• What's the key idea which defines your game?
• What kind of stories and adventures will be played through your game?
• What are the themes and gimmicks you want to be in the game?

A Structured Example

Feel free to skip this section here.

I've been sitting on my game for the better part of my year (this being my game introduction), but I'm ready to put ideas and mechanics aside and scavenge my previous version to get something finished out of it. Looking back at it, the main inspiration for my game was Over the Garden Wall, so I should make the most out of it.

Looking at user stories, I know that what I'm going for characters either are:

• "as a happy kid, I want to escape from the wonderlands, so that I can go home"
• "as a sad kid, I want to stay in the wonderlands, so that I can escape home"

The key idea of my game is that players are kids lost in a dream world who either want to escape or be lost forever. This choice, leaving or staying, is the highest point and an end-state for the campaign, since the decision can go back and forth. Through the game, I'd like to explore stories about character growth and their past, using the actual dreamworld as a "metaphor". Also, the major themes I'd like to get through are themes of friendship and acceptance.

Land made of Wonder - Players will be Kids getting lost together in a dreamy strange world, far from their homes. Looking together for the way back, they'll decide if they want to escape or stay.

Please, notice that while writing that I cut off all former references to darkness, which was intended to be a big part of the gameplay but now feel (by looking back at the project from afar) a spurious element of design, which I actually never managed to write down.

Your Turn!

Let me know what's the intended game experience of your game, wherever you are on your design! The earlier you are in your project, the most useful it'll be going forward; the later you are, the most useful it'll be to see where you need to cut the chaff.

Please, take as much time as you need to write down your game experience (possibly down here?) and try to squeeze themes and ideas out of it. I encourage other designers to help each other here, asking questions and raising concerns to sort things out.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! Let me know if there are things you'd like to be discussed or elements to be brought up and I'll try my best! Happy designing!