As usual, this video was extremely informative and concise (like a rulebook). Many, many years ago when I started playing board games with the family (I had lots of brothers and sisters) it soon became my job to read the rules of any new game we were playing and explain them to the others. I've read a lot of rules over the years and my siblings often tease me that I would miss out some vital fact until the point where I'm just about to make a killer move they were completely unaware of. I understand the need to keep the rules straightforward, but some games do benefit from a narrative introduction that set the scene. Of course, this will probably be only ever read once but it can set up a mood for the first time. After watching this video, I went away and read the rules to both Parks and Robinson Crusoe, as I've never played either. Parks is lot smaller and in fact 25 per cent of it is illustration and credits. RC on the other had stretches to over 30 pages! Two things I took away from the RC rules. One, there is a website where you can go and see the game being played. This is a good idea. Last year (maybe the year before) I started playing Villagers and although it is not a complicated game, it was fun to watch others playing it and it embedded the rules in my head. The second thing was the sheer complexity of the game (RC) and I felt overwhelmed by two pages of components and then more pages covering the set up. I understand that some games do require a lot of preparation. I can remember setting up Lord of the Rings by Avalon Hill (it was called something else I think) and it took ages. One thing the Avalon Hill game shares with RC, is that there are introductory scenarios to play. These are like mini games that introduce the players to some of the mechanics and terminology. Two more things I think are a must for rule books. One, are gameplay tips. Just a few words that point out how cards, tokens etc could be used effectively in the game are really helpful. The last thing is a FAQ section. Play testing will throw up all kinds of odd edge cases that may be not clear in the rules but a FAQ section can cover them.

You are such an underrated channel. Please come back and make more videos!

to me, rule books mainly need to accomplish 2 things! they need to successfully introduce new players to the game and teach them, but also, and maybe more importantly, they need to be a fantastic reference. Because the quicker you can open the rule book and find them answer to your question, the better. The worst case scenario when you have a rules question and you’re teaching a game, and you just CANT FIND THE RULE! it’s awkward, stressful, and can leave a bad impression on new players! FFGs rule books are really cool because they have 1 booklet purely for learning to play, and 1 as a pure reference guide! I think this is a great model to consider when writing your rule book!!

It was crazy how tricky it was writing the rules down for my game... It is truly an art form. To be clear, concise and short is an incredibly tricky task to perform. I tip my hat to the games that have great rulebooks, The Manhatten Project comes to mind as one that does it really well.

It struck me when looking at lots of resources on how to write rules how similar the process is to writing a computer program. Years ago, I was training to be a computer programmer and one of the first things we learnt was how to break down a simple human activity into simple logical language that a computer might be able to understand. The human activity was always (I'm in the UK after all) how to make a cup of tea. The analogy of writing rules for a game to writing a flowchart with logical steps for a computer to follow is quite fascinating for me. The last game I invented recently was a card game and because I didn't have people available to playtest in person because of virus quarantines etc I decided to teach my computer to play my game. It forced me to break the game down into simple logical sections so that I could write small functions and procedures to allow it play by the rules. At first, I would always beat it, but then I started giving it some strategy algorithms (I love that word) with little hope that it would do much better. I laughed out loud once when it beat me, and I managed to convince myself that it just me not paying enough attention. One other thing the computer play revealed were some strange edge cases that I'd never even considered in my own solo play testing. When it came to writing the rules for the game (or re-writing them) I found I had a structure already in place in my computer program. One thing I'd add to the discussion about writing rules is that rules are not your marketing strategy. People reading your rules probably already have access to your game (hopefully they have paid you something) so they do not need any advertising language in your rules that make your game seen more attractive to play. Yes, create some thematic atmosphere, but do not oversell it in the rules. That said, if you promise things like strategy and tactical play, then your game must deliver on these. For fun I decided to write down a set of rules for a well known game using some slightly inflated language (structure and content based on a recently published game) to show how a set of rules might be best laid out. For the diagrams - please image brightly colored (coloured) pictures. ******************************** THE RULES ******************************************************** Game components: Playing board (a) 9 x Signature tiles (b) 5 marked with an 'X', 4 marked with a 'O' (a) | | | | ---+---+--- | | | | ---+---+--- | | | | (b) ___ ___ |X| |O| ___ ___ Set up: Place the playing board between the two players. Decide who is going first and this player takes the 5 'X' signature tiles. The other player takes the remaining 4 'O' signature tiles. Overview and Objective: The games lasts a maximum of 9 turns, during which the available spaces on the board decrease. Each player has their own signature tiles which identify which squares they have occupied. Players must place their Signature tiles wisely, evaluating what their opponents may do in response. For some players, occupying the central square is their first priority, whilst others think that the corners offer the best advantage. As the players battle for control of the ever dwindling available spaces on the board they must ensure they also block any game-winning moves their opponents can make. Your primary goal is to form a game-winning string of three of your own Signature tiles in 1 or more of the three winning patterns explained later. You can also watch numerous gameplay videos on youtube. Key concepts: Available spaces. Players can only place their own Signature tiles on empty squares on the board. Once placed they cannot be moved. Turns: Players alternate placing their Signature tiles on the board. Each placement is called a 'Turn'. Their are a maximum of nine turns in a game. Winning the game: Once a player has placed three of their signature tiles in a row, or a column or on a diagonal the game ends and they are the winner. If neither players manages to place three tiles in any of the winning patterns by the end on the 9th turn, the game ends in a tie. For further detailed strategies please see Wikipedia Tic-Tac-Toe Examples: X X X O O X O This is a winning row for 'X' O X X O O X X O This is a winning diagonal for 'O' O X X O X X O O This is a winning column of 'O' X O X O X X O X O This is a tie. Strategies and Tips: There are 765 unique game states as the game progresses (138 are terminal board positions); many more if you discount rotations and reflections, so rather than try to learn all these permutations, players are advised to learn which squares at the beginning offer the best opportunities to win.. Player 2 'O' is always reacting to player 1 'X' and needs to form a strategy to cope with any attacking patterns they are building. Experience has show that the 4 central squares on the sides of the grid on the board are not a good place to start a game. Reference: Spaces: The 9 squares shown on the board Signature Tiles: The playing pieces placed on the grid by each player Turns: When a player places one of their Signature tiles, it's called a turn. Row: 3 Horizontal squares (Top, Middle or Bottom) Column: 3 vertical squares (Left, Central, Right) Diagonal: 3 squares in a straight line joined at their corners (one square on a unique row and unique Column either Down from top left to bottom right or Top Right down to Bottom left) Credits: Brother and sister, Professors Tic and Tac Toe who based their ideas on ancient Egyptian playing boards discovered on roofing tiles.

Your videos are extremely high quality mate. Keep it up!

Incredible as always my friend! I've always said rulebooks are the bane of our hobby and called for publishers to have a "player support" chat on their websites to answer questions in the event players get stuck. Please keep these videos coming!

One thing I’ve found is that writing the rules sometimes prompts me to simplify the gameplay. I may, for instance, have some minor thing that works quite well mechanically, but it just takes too much page-space to explain. And I may conclude that the “juice ain’t worth the squeeze,” so I chuck it. Usually it makes the game work more smoothly in the long run, even though what I tossed out was a cool idea.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If your calling isn't game designing, it's definitely video creation. Even when saying things I disagree with, or already know, I still enjoy hearing you say it. As for rules advice, here's why objective always goes before gameplay: Suppose I were teaching you how to play golf, and was discussing club selection. If you don't yet know the objective of golf, you'd have no context to understand the choice. Are you trying to reach the hole as fast as possible? As directly as possible? As high as possible? Discussing the differences between clubs, it's impossible to know which pieces of information is most important. Likewise, a player is trying to work out how to win as much as they are trying to work out how to play correctly. And correct play can be difficult to remember without the context of good play.

Hey, it's me! The guy making that business board game, I came up with a name for it: Delivery in Disruption. I have started to work out the mechanics and have made halfway through figuring out the framework of the rules, before adding more stuff, and this video is useful, because I think I need to figure out an easy way to explain everything better.

As someone who has become super into playing and exploring board games over the last couple of years it has been awesome to see the other side of the coin with board game development! While I don’t have plans to create a board game, your channel has given me a chance to appreciate the process. You rock, Jesse!

one more thing: even though the single player section barely made it before the credits, SW Outer Rim has a rule book to die for. such clear wording, chapter and paragraph headers, it was amazing.

nice more videos, I love your work

I've been watching you for about a week now and honestly, I am really really happy that a channel like this exists. I am starting something similar in regards to worldbuilding/ttrpg creation but have recently been obsessed with a board game that came to me one morning. These videos are showing me that I am on the right path while also providing informative and well-presented points/information around game design! Thanks Jesse!

I've just come back to this channel, noticed you haven't uploaded in a while. Absolutely no pressure to upload again, but I hope you're doing good, and find motivation again at some point in the future! This series has been great from what I've watched so far.

I really love your videos. Fun to follow your journey.

Absolutely loved this video! You can tell a ton of work went into this one, and on top of so many clear-cut examples and super clean b roll, instantly subbed. Thanks for your fantastic work!

Your best one so far! Sooo much good stuff and the Word Template at the end... Thanks!👍🏻

Nice cinematics cobber i like that and the text and stuff is cool keep dominating at life

Good video. Just discovered your channel last night and I am enjoying it.

Awesome video Jesse, thanks !

Extremely helpful! Thank you!

Thanks for the tips and links

Only 2k views? dang this channel really underrated! I always love making board game rules (typically on a historical theme) and it is so fun, especially considering that all of my games kinda branched out from a common 1st idea

Dig it :)

Ha! You use a Chemex too! What ratio are you using? I use 20g beans for 300g water! Great video! Very instructional and informativ video. It´s cool that you post videos that are not just "focused on your game", but game design in general too. You are so knowledgeable, so its awesome that you post these kind of videos!

What do you think about Fantasy Flight Game's double rule book system? They use one to teach you and one as a reference. Sometimes it works alright and sometimes it is an unclear disaster. Your thoughts?

I'm a novice game developer... I started this year. I'm making a few games and your videos have helped so much in the process! I'm working on the rules right now so this video helped so much! I keep refreshing your channel hopping you post another video 😂. Can't wait to see your board game come to life! Cheers!

thank you for this video!

Thanks Jesse. Love your videos!

Helpful! Thank you

Congrats on the 1000+. Keep up the good work sir!

Gr8 job. I appreciate your work!

While vegging out on your videos, I made a brilliant comment about adding cave trails.....then I saw in your "B" roll drawings about caves....and I thought I was so innovative 😂

Nice chanal! love the theme and your approach to alle the subjects. I have had a game in my head for years now that I cant get out :)

Thanks for all these videos you helped inspire me to finally work on my tabletop game idea. The past almost 15 years it’s been in my head and scribbled on note pads, but now I’m working on the proof of concept game pieces and putting in the hours for it.

thank you!

You channel has inspired me to jump back into designing games after a 2 year hiatus. You’ve earned a new subscriber! P.S you should start up a discord!

Insanely impressed with everything you're doing and, as an aspiring designer myself, this really resonates with me. We agree on a LOT of key rulebook writing concepts. Your point about drilling the same terminology over and over is such a great point. So often I've read rulebooks that left a KEY rule in a little bubble out of the way and only mentioned it ONCE. It's very difficult for people to write something as if the person reading has NEVER seen it before. It's a difficult skill to master, and can be especially difficult as a game designer, when every intricacy and detail of minutiae is in your head and already makes sense to you. Love this video. Love your content. Extremely impressed with everything and can't wait to both witness your continued growth as well as assist it as much as possible! :)

Your videos keep getting better. I've gone through the process of writing three rulebooks in the past year for three very different board games. I wish you'd made this video sooner 😅 , the tips are spot on! How's your game going, btw?

I've had to write a lot of how-to documents for both end users and fellow IT analysts, and I think that many of the rules of writing a good technical document can apply to writing game rules books. 1) Know your target audience 2) Leave white space, don't overcrowd the document 3) Give visual examples, more people are visual learners than reading learners 4) Have an overall format that makes sections easily distinguishable, and highlights key parts 5) Have people who don't know the subject matter proof read it to ensure you are not using jargon that is not common knowledge, or put in explanations of technical jargon 6) Have recaps in short form for sections (like a table of contents at the beginning of a section), sometimes people just need a quick reminder of a procedure without having to dig through the entire document There's probably a lot more that could be said about the overlap in types of technical documentation writing, but it really is a skill that people only get better at through practice.

Should the rule sheet include a QR code to a video explaining the game?

This is good stuff

Many rulebooks are messy. It should start with setup and character creation if applicable, then the procedure to play a turn or round or phase. Add examples. Being proficient in expressing ideas is key. If many rules can be replaced by an image, do so.

Another good advice would be to locate all rules and necesary informations about one thing in one place. For example: right now I'm reading rulebook for a game Anno Domini 1666 and what was a bit frustrating was that the hero card layout and symbols on it were listed in different location than their explanation. A hero card picture with list of it's elements, then game setup, then turn description and then hero card explanation. Why would you do that? That's only 3 pages in between, but still, I had to flip them to see where are those elements located on a card.

if you know any other language then I highly recommend to check the difference for the rulebooks in between - especially if it took a moment to localize the game

Nice to see you have 1000 subscribers

Man, really enjoying your videos. Just caught up on this one and the 2nd update on your current design. I think I'm nearing the end (I've at least made it past halfway - i hope!) of my first real design. I'm getting to the point where things are changing less and less between each playtest and this means it's time to really flesh out and write the rules. So, needless to say, this video was extremely helpful. I'm interested in chronicling my design somewhat similarly to what you're doing here. I'm wondering how much time/energy/resources are required for each video? They are such high quality I can imagine it's fairly demanding?

thanks for another great video! I have just one question (not to you specifically), and that is: why is game play for solo play always put away after the game end? and why does every other paragraph contain a reference to a different part of the rule book? I am now mostly solo gaming due to obvious circumstances, and after reading the flavour text and game objective, I have to skip to the solo section to read: 'set up like a two player game'. then I have to read the rules for the two player game, and then I have to skip to the solo section again to find out half of the rules don't apply, while having to thumb back to obscure rules mentioned in the multi player section to learn they do apply. I get that sometimes the solo rules are so far off you'd need a different rule book, but please stop assuming I have played or will play a multi player game, and just put EVERYTHING in the solo rule book so I can read it without having to get through two rule books. OR if the gameplay is similar, please just mention the differences in the game play section. 'for one, two or three players, set up the board like so...'. I'll stop the frustrated ramble, it's just that 70 percent of the games I buy contains frustratingly bad solo play sections. again, great video! please confront my frustration and create a solo option for your game! 😅 I promise I won't get mad if there's a solo section after the end game section.

yo!!

Why have I not watched Game masters yet?!?!? 🤭

You video is pretty good, but there are 2 points I disagree with: 1 - Instead of having the Game End at the end of the rulebook, I'd include it on the start, expanding the "goal" section of the intro. I belive it's better if the reader knows from the start not only the goal of the game, but hot it ends. This way he can contextualize everything else that he reads. 2 - Yes, a rulebook should be objective and redundant... But that don't mean it can't ALSO be fancy! As long as the fancy writting don't get in the way of the understanding of the reader, it can definatly help the reading being a more pleasant experience. One rulebook that does this verry well, for example, is Alchemists. It has everything you need to know, with verry clear explanations, but it also has some humor added it here and there, to prevent it from being a monotonous reading.

damn! first comment just got deleted accidentally. never mind. i believe that the rulebook is one of the most important aspects. a friend told me that whenever the rulebook is ready up to the poing where one can understand the game and its mechanics only by reading it WITHOUT seing and visuals or the boardgame, the rules are well-done. Whenever I'd like to create a milestone, a major version of my game, I stop all design proccess, go to a coffee-shop with my tablet and write down all the rules and flow from scratch down. once I couldnt find the written document (within the same day), so I wrote it once more. Believe me, it gets much better when doing it more than once. Once the rules are down, you can follow them and see clearly where your flow breaks, where it needs something else, even a better mechanic. After writing down the rules, one can also critically think the real needs and what part is really needed and which aren't so much. I also believe in the idea of that we as game designers are rule-setters. We create a mindspace for people to follow, spend time in and its borders are the rules. Even a playground, a sandbox has its rules within. When players understand these and follow them, they got a reliable structures within this mindspace to rely upon. If these structures (e.g. written rules, mechanics) aren't crystal-clear written down, it also blurs the excitement, even drops a player out of the game, as you told on finding specific possibilities from outside sources. A rulebook should be enough to learn the whole game from. The idea of easing a player into the game by laying out the first trial run on paper is something I actually haven't thought of. It really gave me a good view of a game from the novice players viewpoint, which is the most important thing. Making them feel easy, not stressed out at begin...

Thanks I have own board game. Not easy

the gdrive didn't want to download. I'll share with you one thing - I will never buy a game with a sans serif font style.

I think games should make better use of tutorials like in video games. Wingspan does this a bit but I think board games have fallen behind video games in this respect.

The process of writing a doc is something that anyone with minimal literacy should be able to do. Consultants, engineers, salesmen and many others very often have to write proposals. These docs demand clarity. In the case of lawyers, it requires absolute accuracy. In a way, the law is a rulebook. Very often it was poorly written. One good example was that 60 years ago, women were bad and men were good. Then legal culture changed to think men are bad and women are good. And the real world has good and bad men and women. So the final result is a facepalm.

Hey why are you in my subscription list?

Your video doesn't explain how, only what. - difficulty levels and game modes should have a default setting and not ask the reader who's new to your game to decide, all that produces is choice stress. Make the choice for them, and it should always be the easiest level. - difficulty levels and game modes should be in the front of the rulebook, immediately below Victory conditions. The first things that present choice should not be in the back of the book. - every game (except snakes and ladders) should have difficulty levels. Order those in increasing difficulty. The designer should be able to win 100% while drunk on easiest difficulty. - use active grammar. Avoid "We consider situation x where y has been shuffled". - bullets where order is optional, - numbered sequence where the numbered sequence is mandatory. You can't present the rice without first cooking it. - rule variants should be in the back of the rulebook but EVERY combination should have an unique code, maybe a few letters. So on your savesheet you can unambiguously identify the exact variant played. - rulebook should have a version number. Version history should be available to inform how worthwhile it would be to deal with an outdated book or print a new one. - Latest version should be in a free online drive and NOT on bgg. You should not force people to make accounts on bgg. - NAME EVERYTHING. Be like the proverbial Noah, name things uniquely, no synonyms, whenever possible terms in singular, never plural. It should be clear without a doubt whether natural text is Key game terms or just natural text. A clear example of violating this is Arkham horror, which uses key game terms like normal text. Use capitalization, boldface or some distinct font.