Compounding Thematic Elements

I had an amazing time at Tabletop Network '22. I came away with new ways of looking at design topics and several ideas for upcoming posts. This post expands on several points made by the group I was in during the conference. 

If your design goal includes a transportive* thematic experience, a knitted theme may not be enough to provide that experience. In order to provide a deeper thematic experience, thematic elements must build on one another to add texture and tension to gameplay. There are a number of techniques you can employ that all fall under the umbrella of compounding thematic elements. 

When thematic elements are presented as separate items that primarily interact mechanically but not thematically with each other, a game will provide a thematic experience that is nonetheless more strongly focused on the mechanical experience. When thematic elements build on each other and respond to each other, the resulting experience will have a stronger focus on theme. 

Compounding thematic elements indicate a dynamic game world to players. A dynamic and responsive world provides a deeper thematic experience than a static world. Compounding elements may be as simple as synergies between resources, but for more dramatic effects you can utilize one or more of the following techniques. 

Progressive goals are way points or win conditions that change as players progress thru the game. Open world games and certain kinds of campaign games may employ progressive goals in order to hide the main conflict/antagonist from players at the beginning of the game. Other games may present all possible win conditions up front, but some may be locked until certain conditions are met. These types of goals must be tightly woven with the theme to produce a compounding thematic effect. So, while the 'You Win' card in Space Base is a progressive goal, it is not a thematic goal and thus does not qualify as a compounding thematic element. 

One way to keep players engaged with the theme is to have outside forces intrude on them during play. This can break players out of a pure numbers/efficiency mindset when executed well. Persistent effects, positive or negative, can shift player focus back to the game world. These effects are most impactful when layered on top of a thematic core game loop. Persistent effects can either be individual effects or global events that affect every player. Global events can be used to increase tension by providing an escalating threat to the players. Persistent effects can also raise tension by afflicting players with multiple negative effects at once. Multiple individual negative effects are a safer design choice for cooperative games, where a temporary goal may be to rescue a player from their negative effects. Multiple individual effects in competitive games will likely feel unfair to the player(s) who falls behind as a result of the effects. Global events are particularly poignant in competitive games, because they can unite the players in moments of shared frustration or elation. 

The goal of the mechanics discussed in this post is to create a game world that feels dynamic and a game arc that has thematic tension. Designers are lauded for their ability to interweave mechanisms together. The same care can be taken to interweave theme such that the end result is a game that is both thematically and mechanically compelling. 

*Transportation is an aspect of immersion. Absorption is another. I prefer the clarity of these terms rather than using immersion. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.

Selective Thematic Abstraction

I had an amazing time at Tabletop Network '22. I came away with new ways of looking at design topics and several ideas for upcoming posts. This post expands on a point made by the group I was in during the conference. 

Tabletop board games require abstraction. Even simulations must choose what it is that they simulate. However, what you choose to abstract informs the story that your game tells. 

When learning to design lighting for the stage, designers are taught that the way to make something look brighter is to remove lights, not add them. When every light is on, nothing is emphasized. By turning some lights off, areas can be spotlighted to draw the audience's attention. The non-obvious result is that turning lights off can make a stage appear brighter. 

Abstraction works the same way when it comes to thematic expression in board games. If you want to tell a certain story or provide a certain experience within your theme, what you abstract is as important as what you simulate. Too many details often result in a cluttered experience where no clear story emerges. Whereas selective abstraction allows for your intended thematic experience to shine. 

An easy way to understand this concept is to compare two similar games: The Grizzled and The Coldest Night. Both are small, cooperative card games. Both involve playing a card from your hand on your turn to a shared tableau. Both have negative effect cards that can accumulate in front of a player. But the experience evoked by each is very different. 

The Grizzled leans into the importance of camaraderie between soldiers in WWI. The cards played into the shared tableau are less important thematically than helping your squad get what they need to stay alive. The well-being of your squad is the thematic goal of the game and succeeding in missions takes a back seat to that goal. The Grizzled accomplishes this by abstracting the fighting aspect of the theme away almost entirely and simulating the mental trauma caused by warfare. This design choice creates a play experience where the predominate emotion is empathy for the other people around the table. 

The Coldest Night, by contrast, has a stronger focus on the environmental setting of the game. In the game, players are trying to keep a fire burning all night by feeding it fuel scavenged from an abandoned house. The health of your group is still important, but it takes a back seat to the primary goal of keeping the fire burning. Unlike The Grizzled, The Coldest Night is set in a single location on a single night. The theme plays with a universal human fear of getting caught in the cold. Thematically, hope is centered around the fire, not fellow players. 

Neither game is more correct for what it chose to abstract vs. simulate. The Grizzled has more heads up gameplay as players discuss who they need to help. The Coldest Night is more heads down as players agonize over how to play out their hands. The Grizzled can pack a stronger emotional punch because the theme emphasizes relationships. However, it can also force players to make unthematic plays in order to win the game. By focusing on a simpler experience, The Coldest Night provides a stronger simulation. 

Importantly, neither game tries to emphasize both an environmental simulation and an emotional one. We don't know where we are in France in The Grizzled or why we are stuck with the other players in The Coldest Night. Those details aren't only unnecessary; they would detract from the clean experiences the games currently provide. 

Designers often interpret 'integrate theme and mechanics' to mean 'theme everything.' This is a good place to start. However if certain thematic details get in the way of the intended experience, you can streamline your thematic elements to better fit your vision. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.