I'm creating a custom board-game / game with a few friends of mine. I want to know what kinds of game mechanics and play styles that you find the most enjoyable and seem to have the most fun with.
A big problem I've run across with board games is that they're are too many little rules and ideas that new players find hard to keep track of.
We want to make this game "Game of Thrones" themed. I really enjoy Risk mechanics and resource management games.
Would love to hear some other peoples thoughts on this!
Not a mechanic as such but I enjoy games with "controlled chaos". That is games with randomised boards, starting options, random input throughout, etc. with enough gameplay possibilities to mitigate all of it and have a good chance to win given enough skill. No " right" moves at the beginning at the game and no ability to plan through the end. I like always adapting my strategy tp whatever the game throws at me. I also don't care much for negative interaction where the main target of your action is to reduce points/resources of your opponent(s). It's not mechanically different from gaining points/resources but I find that the later makes for a more enjoyable game and people focusing more on maximizing their benefits rather than taking satisfying but ultimately suboptimal potshots at fellow players. On a similar note mechanics which give secondary benefits to other players are always welcome. As for the little rules, fully agreed. Keep your core rules focused and flexible enough to allow for emergent gameplay. Keep exceptions to a minimum. This will likely lead to a more abstracted theme but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Good abstractions streamline gameplay and let you focus on the remaining thematic elements better.
You would really enjoy Twilight Struggle if you haven't played it already. "Controlled chaos" is a good way of describing how the game goes, especially in the early and late game (midgame can stagnate a bit). The start is always the same, but no two games play out the same way thanks to the event system.
Card driven event systems (like in Twilight Struggle) are a really cool way of allowing random events to influence the game. Systems for both players moving simultaneously (Diplomacy, the Game of Thrones Boardgame) are cool too, they add a lot of uncertainty. I also love games that encourage player interactions (Diplomacy, Monopoly to an extent), especially when there's a lot of people playing the game that you have to worry about.
I just played the GoT game last night and really enjoyed it! Takes a long time to learn though.
Clearly you won as you either win the GoT or you die.
I've been trying to come up with an answer to this since I read it days ago. I think I want to say that I like different kinds of mechanics depending on the tone of the game. If you want to feel like you're in control, make the game personalizable, like a CCG or a deck-building card game. Those kinds of games make you feel like you've got tons of choices and you're in complete control of your destiny, and it's how you've prepared yourself that determines how well you do. The big two for that are of course Magic: The Gathering as a CCG, and Dominion as a deck-builder. If you want to feel like you're not in control, and make a game oppressive and devastating, add a lot of randomness to the game, especially stuff that hurts. Games where players cooperate against the board are big on this, like Shadows Over Camelot. Every turn, something nasty happens, and your choices amount to triage. It's brutal but fun in an entirely different way.
There are many axis in games. Symmetric <-> Asymmetric Hidden information <-> All information public. Cooperative <-> Full Competitive Fiddly / Tons of Rules <-> Simple Abstract <-> Deeply Thematic Stochastic <-> Deterministic Interaction <-> Disassociated And several more. I personally like asymmetric, some hidden information, possibly a traitor, competitive, fiddly, thematic, a little stochasticity, and interactive. And, hence I feel that Dune by Avalon Hill is the best game ever. In general the discussion between Euro and Ameri games is two large potential clusters of styles liked by gamers.
That's a great list.
My choices
Asymmetric - Love Imperial Assault/Descent II
Public - Like chess the idea is misdirection and traps. Even if you have perfect knowledge you don't know your opponent's mind.
Voluntarily Cooperative - Work together when it works, but co-ops are getting boring.
Simplistic - Not something simple, but mechanics that always work the same, no surprises.
DEEPLY THEMATIC - The more theme the better. I would love Waterdeep if it was meeples instead of cubes.
Deterministic lite - I think that every game needs random elements, but I hate snakes and ladders.
Interaction - Play the other players, play against, play with, overcome the environment. Great list!
I play a lot of deck-building card games. Ones where you have stock stacks of cards, and on your turn you choose which ones you want to play. (i.g. the card game "Dominion') It allows for interesting strategy.
Of all the board games I've played, I think Risk was one of my most favorite. It's even fun to lose the game, lol. I don't play too many board games often, but the loose rules and Risk-like structure sounds like a great game.