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Improving as a game designer is a lot like improving as a musician:
* Learn the accepted conventions and best practices.
* Practice a lot.
* Get useful feedback.
These three aims are best pursued in parallel, not sequentially.
* Learn the accepted conventions and best practices.
* Practice a lot.
* Get useful feedback.
These three aims are best pursued in parallel, not sequentially.
Tangent:
I suspect this framework applies to most creative fields, albeit in different ways. I’m sticking to music as the analogy because that’s my background.
Every successful musician I know does all three of these. The converse is also true, in the long run.
I suspect this framework applies to most creative fields, albeit in different ways. I’m sticking to music as the analogy because that’s my background.
Every successful musician I know does all three of these. The converse is also true, in the long run.
Practice and feedback are mostly a question of finding a community that supports these goals. For me, it was Goblin Artisans. I’m sure there are other places, online and offline, to train as a card designer.
http://goblinartisans.blogspot.com/
http://goblinartisans.blogspot.com/
So, let’s talk about conventions.
Designers of Magic: the Gathering have written extensively about their experiences, learnings, and insights into the game. Here are a few of my favorite articles from a variety of authors.
Designers of Magic: the Gathering have written extensively about their experiences, learnings, and insights into the game. Here are a few of my favorite articles from a variety of authors.
Twenty Years, Twenty Lessons, by @maro254 https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/twenty-years-twenty-lessons-part-1-2016-05-30
Play Design Q&A by @melissadetora https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/play-design/play-design-qa-2019-06-14
Four rules for a balanced format, by @melissadetora (and Erik Lauer) https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/play-design/four-rules-balanced-format-2017-09-29
What makes a good mechanic, by @samstod https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/what-makes-good-mechanic-2017-03-17
Designing for development, by @shawnmain https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/designing-development-2014-04-04
Developing for variance, by Tom LaPille https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/developing-variance-2010-02-25
Mark Gottlieb on reducing word count https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/word-heist-theros-beyond-death-caper-2020-01-07
The magnificence of kicker, by @mtgaaron https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/magnificence-kicker-2007-06-15-0
Game design advice from @omnidoug https://twitter.com/omnidoug/status/1276691858316357632
The publicly available wisdom of so many experienced Magic designers is, frankly, pretty awesome. It’s one of the things that helped me get into the gaming industry with no professional game design experience. I hope it’s useful to you as well.
