Our design process involves a high degree of brainstorming and iteration as we collaborate with our clients to create the game. Clients have told us that the design process itself yields valuable new insights and generates useful frameworks.
We work with the client to understand their goals and the systems that they want to explore or explain.
We work with the client to generate a large breadth of game options using a variety of mechanics. Next, we home in on the most promising ideas, building them out in increasing detail from short pitches to outlined rules. Then we settle on an initial candidate to further design and test.
We use two main techniques for iterating on our designs. Playstorming is the process of playing an incomplete game and changing the rules on the fly – this is a great way of exploring different design options and testing a games viability early in the process. Playtesting involves running the game, or part of the game, once rules have been codified. Our process usually involves multiple playstorms and playtests as we refine the mechanics.
Depending on our client, production can include running a polished game at events or publishing a boxed copy that can be distributed to employees or other stakeholders.