SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Mark Rosewater, the head designer for Magic: The Gathering, has written an article where he explains Lenticular Design. Some of the article uses cards from Magic: The Gathering as examples, but the main explanation is mostly generic.
The idea of Lenticular Design is that when designing a game, make some components mean different things to different levels of players so all skill levels can access them. If a component is complex, a newer player might be confused by it (which will put them off playing your game), but highly experienced players may eventually get bored with too many simple parts. Lenticular Design adds hidden complexity into components so newer players don't notice them, but more advanced players can take advantage of this additional level of complexity.
He lists a number of rules when designing (within the context of designing a card game, however the descriptions are general enough that they could apply to a lot of game types).
Rule #1 Some Complexities are Invisible to Inexperienced Players
Rule #2 Cards Have to Have a Surface Value
Rule #3 Experience Is Connected to How Far Ahead a Player Thinks
Rule #4 Novices Tend Not to Think of Causality
Rule #5 Players Will Try to Use the Cards to Match Their Perceived Function
Rule #6 Let the Players Play the Game They Want to Play
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 04 2014, @04:34PM
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I will definitely take you up on that offer.
You are quite right that a good game has to be the backbone. Else it feels like work, and you quit.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by Woods on Friday April 04 2014, @06:10PM
Reminds me a lot of Space Cadets [strongholdgames.com], where you and your friends each control a specific station on a spaceship, each station is a mini-game by itself.
If you play several games of it, depending on which station(s) you played, you will undoubtedly come away with a stronger grasp of spacial relationships, have better understanding of need vs want, and how to make due with what little you have.
An example of that last one: We accidentally put all of our energy to our aft shields this round, so now helm has to come up with a way to dodge those asteroids, and end the turn with us facing away from the enemy.
This comment is already long enough, I might as well mention that my time playing NetHack has taught me that if I am clever enough, there is ALWAYS a way out of any situation. I just have to stop and think for long enough, and consider all the possibilities before I act. Amazingly, this comes in handy quite often in the IT world.