Why you should all consider designing a board game and the history design of No Honor Among Thieves

1. Why you should design
board games
André Odendaal

2. Benefits of designing board games
No art required
No programming required
Players understand tokens,
counters and playing pieces
Players act out the rules, teach
each other the game and interact
with each other

3. Example of a complicated card
• Stats (Armour class, hit points,
attack rating, damage,
experience reward)
• Rules (Activation, adjacent to
hero, otherwise)
• Fluff (Misheen, dark acolyte,
mace of holding, horned skull
medallion)

4. Extra tasks for a digital game
• Modelling (Misheen, Mace of
Holding, Horned Skull Medallion)
• Animations (Idle, Run, Being Hit,
Dying, Attacking, Healing)
• Combat Framework
• Testing for other players or
enemies
• Path finding
• Manage player states

5. Design Challenges
• Must write down ALL the rules
• Rules must be clear when
designer not available
• Create variety, exploring
mechanics and twists
• Content must be long enough
and re-playable
• Balancing

6. Conclusion
These challenges are the same for digital media so practice free of
distraction!