The saying goes that these days a game needs to be great not good in order to succeed. In this post, I'd like to look at some of the ways a game can stand out from the crowd and the possible downsides of different methods.
Innovation is a surefire way to generate excitement about a game. Innovation in the board game sphere is generally seen as related to mechanics (or components that help implement mechanics). On the one hand, it is incredibly hard to develop completely new (or new feeling) ideas that work really well. Innovation is very hard. On the other hand, too much innovation in a game can be a bad thing. Too many novel mechanics can make a game hard to learn and hard to play because players don't have a foundation of similar elements as a jumping off point. Generally speaking, the rule of thumb (according to Geoff Engelstein and others) is one innovative element per game that players have to learn. Another downside to innovation is that often the first design using a certain mechanism will get improved upon by later games, so innovation does not guarantee an evergreen title. Keep in mind that innovation requires researching what is already out there so you know how your game is different.
Many games are developed with niche audiences in mind. Having more complexity in a game is a strong draw to dedicated gamers. Combining lots of mechanisms can make a game feel innovative even when it isn't. These games are more likely to get in depth reviews (for good or ill) and common knowledge says that BoardGameGeek has a bias towards rating heavier games more highly. The downsides are that heavier games are harder to design, develop, and playtest. Adding complexity to games also adds cost more often than not. Because the audience is fairly narrow, any heavy game that doesn't stand out in other ways is unlikely to be picked up by a publisher.
Increasingly, gamers are drawn to games that tell stories. Adding story elements to a game increases player investment by raising the stakes—instead of playing to beat your friend, you are playing to help your character triumph on the battlefield over their foes or save the world or build the best town or... Story can alleviate some rules complexity by spacing it out and contextualizing it. Stories can keep more casual gamers engaged in a game they might otherwise 'check out' of. Story-based games tend to suffer from either too much writing or bad writing or both. Chapter breaks can feel disruptive to game play. Often the writing feels unnecessary to gameplay or worse, unrelated. Rule of thumb: hire good writers and show restraint.
Integration of theme and mechanics is a relatively new area of focus. Games are praised when they feel like the theme. Integrated themes contextualized rules without adding lots of text. Strong theming can bolster the emotional arc of gameplay. Good integration will add some cost due to custom components (cubes rarely feel thematic). Thematic integration requires designers to understand both game systems and their emotional content to avoid ludonarrative dissonance. The biggest downside is the lack of design language in the hobby around theme and its implementation. This is an area ripe for exploration and a major focus of this blog.
On the publishing side, higher production values have raised consumer standards for buying games. To stand out in this arena, games must have quality art, graphic design, formatting and editing, components, and packaging—boxes, inserts, and punch boards. Obviously, this can be expensive. However, consumers feel better about spending eighty dollars on a game if it looks and feels like a quality made product. High production values should not be confused with more components. The amount of components should be in support of the content of the game. More content that exists only to add more components is widely panned as 'bloat.' Finally, while table presence is important to a degree, games that feel gimmicky are eroding players' trust in flashy games put out by untested publishers. There may always be a market for an overproduced Kickstarter game, but I predict a bubble burst in the near future.
Ideally, a good product would contain multiple of the above considerations. However, trying to be excellent at everything is a recipe for failure. Instead, focus on one area and incorporate that into your design vision. Work to avoid common pitfalls and weaknesses of similar games. If your game still isn't standing out, try refocusing by exploring other directions. (Maybe your story-based game works better as a thematic integration game.) Cut what doesn't work and focus on what does. Once you are sure of your focus, playtest to see if the experience is there. Don't just playtest mechanics; test your theme or story or components.
There is no one formula to make a game that stands out from the crowd, but there are many paths to explore on your journey.
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