Mô tả

If you're doing it right, one of the hardest parts of game design is writing clear rules. If you mess it up, your game will be a dud, no matter how good the actual game is - because it won't be played correctly. How to write rules varies with your audience - of course. Polish the rules as you playtest.

If you're designing a video game for other people to produce (program, art, sound, etc.) then you have to write very clear game design documents if you want things to work as you envision.

This course is primarily about writing formal rules for games, usually tabletop games, but writing a game design document requires similar skills, as it must explicitly describe every possible interaction between player(s) and machine.

Review:

A other great course from Dr. Lewis Pulsipher. This is an one of a kind course on Udemy (the internet) about how to write rules for tabletop (board) games. All the do's and don'ts are discussed and more. From this course you will get some great tips if your planning to make a tabletop game your self. Highly recommend to watch. The teacher talks very clear and is easy to follow.

Jimmy Voskuil

Recommendation (from email to me):

"Last year I entered one of my games in the international Hippodice boardgame competition in Germany. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the final but did make it through to the first 33 (out 150) which meant it was playtested.

They were so good as to give me some test results feedback a few months later. One of the most positive points was with regard to the rules!

So I just wanted to thank you because by following your rules course, I picked up many things which improved the rulebook before I sent it off. Now I just need to use their feedback to improve the game some more - its overall score was good just not good enough for the final!"

Mark Bethell

Bạn sẽ học được gì

Understand the purposes of rules writing

Recognize "the enemy" of rules writers and what you can do about it

Understand all the details involved in rules writing

Benefit from actual examples

Think about all the non-rules items you might include with the rules

How and why rules are tested

Yêu cầu

  • Knowledge of tabletop or video games
  • It's better if you've already tried to write game rules that other people have read. But there will be opportunities to practice.

Nội dung khoá học

7 sections

Introduction

4 lectures
What you'll discover
02:47
Introducing the Teacher
02:33
How this class works
03:05
Anonymous (if you choose) Voluntary Entry Survey
00:10

What's the purpose of written game rules?

15 lectures
The Tabletop Ideal would be . . .
06:26
The Video Game Ideal would be . . .
02:06
What are the objectives, what are you really trying to accomplish?
03:25
Game Design Documents - and Alternatives
05:58
Satisficing - the "enemy" you're faced with
02:07
Writing: Put yourself in the reader's place (and try some "odd" readers!)
03:52
Common errors in explaining in-person how to play a game
03:28
Call a Spade a Spade - write plain English
04:32
The "best" way varies with the audience!
02:07
An exercise - write rules for a well-known classic game
03:44
The differences between mechanics, rules, and descriptions -and game design docs
05:08
Game design documents - and problems
03:45
Game Concepts, Treatments, and other Marketing Documents
02:42
Sea Kings first full set of rules 1377 words
5 pages
Sea Kings fifth set of rules 2917 words
10 pages

Writing the rules

22 lectures
Rules Length
04:40
Software for Writing Rules
03:30
Tone of voice: passive/active, impersonal/personal
02:15
Skimmers
03:18
"Twenty Dollar Words"
04:19
Sequence of Play versus Reference Rules
02:35
"Close is good enough" is a bad motto, even though perfect is unattainable
03:22
Britannia second edition Reference Rules
43 pages
Britannia second edition Sequence of Play rules (as rewritten by Fantasy Flight)
24 pages
Put "How to Win" up front to provide context
04:23
Rules on the cards
03:43
What can you not "legislate" against?
06:05
One-page rule summary sheets
04:03
Example: A one-page reference ("Quick Guide" to Britannia)
1 page
Example: Player's Aid for "Pacific Convoy"
1 page
An outline for Sequence of Play rules
04:45
Drafts, drafts, and more drafts - it's not "write once and done"
04:53
Use of graphics in the rulebook
02:36
Editors and editing - and "developers"
04:33
Overly Concise rules may be Incomplete or Incomprehensible
03:18
How much repetition should be in the rules?
02:11
Various approaches to writing the rules
04:39

Testing and improving the rules

6 lectures
Testing rules as you playtest the game
06:38
People who make up their own rules without knowing it!
02:15
Blind testing
02:00
Distributing rules before the game is published
01:59
"Living Rules"
01:40
Don't make it easy for players to fail to follow the rules
06:54

What might be in the rules, other than "rules"?

14 lectures
Rules often missed or misunderstood
02:02
Examples of Play
01:28
A Play-through
01:28
Example: Historical walk-through of the first two turns of Britannia
00:23
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) in the Rules? No
02:24
Optional Rules and Variants
03:25
Strategy/Playing Hints
02:30
Designer's Notes
03:25
Learning Aids that aren't in the box (are online)
03:21
Example: Quick "How to play Britannia" MP3 audio file
11:03
Example: A text strategy aid posted online - for Britannia
5 pages
Example: A strategy hint audio aid posted online - for Britannia
01:27
Flowcharts? Lookup Tables? No.
02:52
The peculiarities and special cases of RPG rules
04:30

Conclusion

10 lectures
Rule Translations
06:20
Pacific Convoy first full set of rules (2219 words)
7 pages
Pacific Convoy sixth full set of rules (3939 words)
13 pages
Online Resources
01:41
11 "Need to Knows" about Writing Well, Part 1
07:11
11 "Need to Knows" about Writing Well, Part 2
11:29
Assessment
10 questions
Exit Survey
00:15
Conclusion, and Where to from Here?
01:29
All the slides used in this course up to 15 April 14
171 pages

Bonus Material

5 lectures
"Bonus Lecture" - Lew's online courses and information sources
22 pages
Why I wrote my book "Game Design"
08:24
What makes my "Game Design" book unusual or unique?
04:40
10 "need to knows" about writing clear rules (and game design documents), pt 1
04:37
10 "need to knows" about writing clear rules (and game design documents), pt 2
07:52

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