I workshop to inspire and teach about how skinning can lead to great result in the game industry.

1. Game Design workshop
How to skin a game
By Diego Ricchiuti 2018
www.linkedin.com/in/dricchiuti/ diegoricchiuti

2. Workshop overview
Phase 1 - Analyse
● Game introduction
● Play a game
● Brainstorming
Phase 2 - Design
● MDA
● How to skin
● Design
● Playtest
● Tuning
Phase 3 - Confrontation
● Scramble playtest
● Discussion

3. Game introduction
SiSSYFiGHT

4. SiSSYFiGHT
SiSSYFiGHT simulates a playground fight between school
children

5. SiSSYFiGHT - overview
● Number of players: 6
● Time: 10/15 minutes
● Objective:
Each kid begins with 10 Self-Esteem token…
the goal of the game is to reduce your opponents’ self-
esteem to ZERO!

6. When there are only one or two players left with any
self-esteem, they win the game!

7. SiSSYFiGHT - Setup
● Each Player pick a color (target card)
○ Lay the card in front of himself
○ Get 10 self-esteem token
● Each player get 5 target cards
● Each player get one copy of all the
special cards
○ Solo card
○ Team card
○ Defend card
○ No target card

8. SiSSYFiGHT - Game loop
Each Round:
● Choose a special and a target card in secret
○ You can plot and scheme with other players, but your final choice
must be secret
All communication must be public

9. SiSSYFiGHT - Game loop
Each Round:
● Choose a special and a target
card in secret
● Every player reveals his cards
○ Effects of special cards are applied

10. SiSSYFiGHT - Cards
Solo
Your target lose one Self-Esteem token

11. SiSSYFiGHT - Cards
Team
● If someone teams up with you, each Team card forces the target to
lose two tokes.
● If no one else played a “Team” with your target, you lose a token

12. SiSSYFiGHT - Cards
Defend
you must play it, with the no target
card.
If no one targets you, you lose 1 token
Lose half as many token
as you would have:
1 -> 0
2 -> 1
3 -> 1
4 -> 2

13. SiSSYFiGHT - Winning/Losing
When you run out of tokens, you lose
When one or two people are left, they win

14. Let’s play
Please do not destroy the cards
:)

15. Brainstorm
Any feedback on SissyFight?
What kind of experience is Sissyfight?
What kind of emotions are caused by
SissyFight?

16. Brainstorm
What kind of experience is Sissyfight?
● Intrigue: Negotiation, Cooperation, Betrayal
● Challenge: Tactics, Problem Solving
● Narrative: School fight, Social interaction
What kind of emotions cause SissyFight?
● Excitement: what is going to happen?
● Fiero/Sadness: I won/I lost
● Drama: Roleplaying

17. MDA
● Cards
● Token
● Rules
● Intrigue
● Challenge
● Social Int.
● Excitement
● Fiero or Sadness
● Drama
Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics

18. MDA

19. How to skin a game
● What does it mean to skin a game?
○ Slightly change the game mechanics
○ Highly change the narrative, UI, and Visual Elements
● What is the objective of skinning?
○ Create a different game experience
○ Create a new game
● Why should I skin a game?
○ It’s a very efficient game development cycle
○ it’s a great design exercise
○ it can lead to great games

20. How to skin a game
The first step to skin a game is to choose
the new theme

21. When I Say “Go…”
You will have 90 second:
● Write down as many theme ideas as you can
● One idea to each card
● Keep it Short <= 5 words
● No theme is too dumb
● Work in silence

22. Ready...
Steady…
GO!

23. Pens Down!
With your group:
● Eliminate the unreadable cards
● If more cards have similar theme:
○ keep one
● Bring the remaining cards to me

24. Scramble Time

25. How to skin a game
As groups you have 30/40 minutes:
● Decide your game theme
● Add ONE mechanics
○ To better support the new game theme
● You can change any theme related element
○ Game title
○ Tokens and cards name
○ Add specific colors
● Test and tune the game as much as possible

26. Design time :)

27. Time’s up

28. Scramble Time

29. Testing time :)

30. Discussion
● What different approaches did we take to skin the game?
○ Mechanic first? Theme first? Aesthetics first?
○ A lot of brainstorming ? A lot of playtest? Or a lot of tuning?
● How the mechanic that you added supported the theme?
○ A single mechanic was enough?
○ Did it support the theme or not?
○ What Aesthetics did you want to create?
● Did you create a new game? Or Skinned SissyFight?
○ How many changes do we need to have new game?
○ Your game was better or worst than the original?

31. Close up
● MDA: Skin a game, can lead to different result:
○ Mechanic -> New game
○ Dynamics -> Variation/house rules of the game
○ Aesthetics -> Skinned version of the game
● Theme: Themes can:
○ Improve or collide with your Mechanics
○ Usually we want harmony between the theme and the Mechanics
● Game development: Skin a game require:
○ Less time in the design phase but more time for testing
○ Perfection of the form