#173: Game Design Axioms

Dirk, Kathryn, and Rob get together for the much anticipated game design axioms episode. Listen as they share their their top design principles.---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, [email protected] Kathryn Hymes - @chicalashaw, thornygames.com Rob Daviau - @robdaviau---------------------Episode Outline 0:06 Greetings 0:22 Rob has a sultry voice 0:41 Kathryn and Rob are on the show together for the first time 0:57 Game design axioms 1:23 Axiom - Rob - Never make a person lose a turn 5:26 How Rob's experience at Hasbro contributed 6:45 Axiom - Kathryn - Design for the Human Animal 8:20 Heuristics - Group info and decisions in 3's 8:58 What are humans great at? 10:47 Insight - The Friction Is The Game 11:57 Flout Axioms with purpose 12:19 Kathryn background for her axiom 13:01 Axiom - Dirk - Know who you are designing for 16:29 User testing is core to knowing your audience 17:59 Tips for getting the right play testers 20:37 Axiom - Rob - Experience is more important than the rules 24:17 Rule design - people will do what they will do 25:19 Axiom - Kathryn - Rules relate to emotion 28:11 How to draw an emotional map 29:22 Axiom - Dirk - If you want them to like it, make sure they succeed. 34:12 Design Nuggets from the internet 34:37 Nugget - Design to guide for the right use 35:27 Nugget - Your politics or someone else’s 35:52 Nugget - Be specific 36:21 Nugget - Tell me why to play your game 36:48 Nugget - Prioritize projects that are exciting to you 37:38 Nugget - People value what you make them work for