What do you want from a Designer's Notes article?

Paul · 03-07-2011, 09:01 AM

Steve Jackson Games been doing Designer's Notes articles forever and a day, but you can't rest on your laurels. So we're looking for feedback -- specifically, what do you want to see?

We've been doing Designer's Notes articles since the Space Gamer days. Times have changed, as they're apt to do, and so we ask ourselves, "Are the DNs the best they could be?"

So we turn to you, our loyal readers, and ask for your opinion. What do you want to hear from a designer or developer? How cool the game is? What they were listening to while writing the rules? Development paths that lead to dead ends, and how they got themselves out of that dead end?

Let us know what you think, and if you've got a DN -- from us, or anyone! -- that you regard as the perfect article, link to it! We'd love to read it.

Thanks!

sir_pudding · 03-07-2011, 10:18 AM

Useful rules that got cut from the final draft for whatever reason. The Powers notes is probably a good example.

Not another shrubbery · 03-07-2011, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Useful rules that got cut from the final draft for whatever reason. The Powers notes is probably a good example.

This is what I like the most in Designer's Notes, although it is cool to read just about anything having to do with the project.

Buzzardo · 03-07-2011, 10:20 AM

The designer's notes that I've enjoyed in the past have been the ones that explain the choices the designer had to make. Like most things, a game design is a series of compromises, between realism and playability, between the designer's vision and what's possible (in terms of both game mechanics and affordable printing), and so on.

aesir23 · 03-07-2011, 10:31 AM

I have liked the designer's notes you've put out in the past. I especially like when there are additional options and examples (the additional styles in Martial Arts, for example) as well as optional rules that were left out.

Þorkell · 03-07-2011, 02:49 PM

This is a ditto to the above posts.

RogerBW · 03-08-2011, 02:52 AM

I see DNs as a balance between "how I wrote this" (why the book has the shape it does, where the ideas came from, etc.) and "here's stuff that wouldn't fit in the book". I tend to prefer the former, with the latter ideally becoming distinct Pyramid articles, but clearly opinions differ.

Buzzardo · 03-08-2011, 08:47 AM

I want additional material to end up in separate releases - Pyramid articles, companions (such as the three LT Companions), etc. Designer's Notes should be about the design, not a list of stuff that didn't fit.

~~Peter Knutsen~~ · 03-19-2011, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzzardo

The designer's notes that I've enjoyed in the past have been the ones that explain the choices the designer had to make. Like most things, a game design is a series of compromises, between realism and playability, between the designer's vision and what's possible (in terms of both game mechanics and affordable printing), and so on.

Yes.

A good example is the MMO computer game EVE Online. In the forums, there are often huge fights between players, with one side saying that the game is hugely unbalanced and broken and needs to be fixed, while the othe side says that the game is fine.

The designers have never come out openly and said what their actual goals for the game is, e.g. whether it is a goal for them that all the spaceship hulls should be attractive. This makes it difficult for players to argue that, e.g., the expensive and high-tech Hawk assault frigate hull is underpowered, because the other side can just tell us "if you don't like it, then don't buy it, don't fly it".

Same with RPGs.

Is it okay for GURPS to have an unattractive Limited Use Limitation? Is it all right that the Affliction advantage is built such that players are extremely unwilling to buy more than one level of it?

We don't know. We can only have individual opinions. There has been no official statement about what the goals and ideals of the design process were. We don't know what the intended outcome is, with any specificity. If we did, it'd be much easier for a player to approach the GM and ask him to please fix broken and unbalanced design elements.

Exxar · 03-19-2011, 05:10 AM

Hi Paul!

The thing I find most useful in Designers Notes are under the hood explanations of how certain stuff was built and why. Take Jason's DN about Psionic Powers from Pyramid 3/9 as an example, specifically the Strange Psi Techniques and The Technique of Which We Do Not Speak boxes.

I like extra material that was left out of the final draft too, but that I can just use as is, while I can use under the hood explanations to better my own understanding of the design process and make my own stuff.

03-07-2011, 09:01 AM	#1
Paul Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Austin	What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? Steve Jackson Games been doing Designer's Notes articles forever and a day, but you can't rest on your laurels. So we're looking for feedback -- specifically, what do you want to see? We've been doing Designer's Notes articles since the Space Gamer days. Times have changed, as they're apt to do, and so we ask ourselves, "Are the DNs the best they could be?" So we turn to you, our loyal readers, and ask for your opinion. What do you want to hear from a designer or developer? How cool the game is? What they were listening to while writing the rules? Development paths that lead to dead ends, and how they got themselves out of that dead end? Let us know what you think, and if you've got a DN -- from us, or anyone! -- that you regard as the perfect article, link to it! We'd love to read it. Thanks! __________________ Paul Chapman

03-07-2011, 10:18 AM	#2
sir_pudding Wielder of Smart Pants Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Ventura CA	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? Useful rules that got cut from the final draft for whatever reason. The Powers notes is probably a good example.

03-07-2011, 10:20 AM	#4
Buzzardo Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Austin, TX	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? The designer's notes that I've enjoyed in the past have been the ones that explain the choices the designer had to make. Like most things, a game design is a series of compromises, between realism and playability, between the designer's vision and what's possible (in terms of both game mechanics and affordable printing), and so on.

03-07-2011, 10:31 AM	#5
aesir23 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Vermont	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? I have liked the designer's notes you've put out in the past. I especially like when there are additional options and examples (the additional styles in Martial Arts, for example) as well as optional rules that were left out. __________________ My ongoing thread of GURPS versions of DC Comics characters.

03-07-2011, 02:49 PM	#6
Þorkell Icelandic - Approach With Caution Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Reykjavík, Iceland	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? This is a ditto to the above posts. __________________ Þorkell Sigvaldason Viking kittens \| My photos \| More of my photos

03-08-2011, 02:52 AM	#7
RogerBW Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: near London, UK	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? I see DNs as a balance between "how I wrote this" (why the book has the shape it does, where the ideas came from, etc.) and "here's stuff that wouldn't fit in the book". I tend to prefer the former, with the latter ideally becoming distinct Pyramid articles, but clearly opinions differ. __________________ Podcast: Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice Gaming stuff here: Tekeli-li! Blog; Webcomic Laager and Limehouse Buy things by me on Warehouse 23

03-08-2011, 08:47 AM	#8
Buzzardo Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Austin, TX	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? I want additional material to end up in separate releases - Pyramid articles, companions (such as the three LT Companions), etc. Designer's Notes should be about the design, not a list of stuff that didn't fit.

03-19-2011, 05:10 AM	#10
Exxar MIB Join Date: Oct 2005	Re: What do you want from a Designer's Notes article? Hi Paul! The thing I find most useful in Designers Notes are under the hood explanations of how certain stuff was built and why. Take Jason's DN about Psionic Powers from Pyramid 3/9 as an example, specifically the Strange Psi Techniques and The Technique of Which We Do Not Speak boxes. I like extra material that was left out of the final draft too, but that I can just use as is, while I can use under the hood explanations to better my own understanding of the design process and make my own stuff.