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July Q&A 2/3: "Aimlessness & Making Decisions" (Patreon)

Published:
2026-07-10 08:31:03
Imported:
2026-07

Content

Here's this months second Q&A question response. There'll be one of these per week, and the post requesting new questions will go up around a week before the end of the month! Folks in the 🟣 and 🔵 tiers get to ask the questions, and everyone else gets the videos.

🎲 a great list of "abstract" tabletop games which have a light theming: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/252797/your-top-delightful-themed-abstract-games

Files

"Aimlessness & Making Decisions" (Patron Q&A)

🏥 support IGC on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indiegameclinic

Comments

Jaxy

The double diamond diagram is cool to think about for more specific problems to solve. To try and map out outcomes, and work your way backwards making those design decisions. For this dice game a diamond could be “How do I get rid of smaller numbers on dice?” - Pay a coin amount to destroy one of the dice’s faces. (Maybe you can choose which face) - Card that removes the lowest 2 faces of the dice - Maybe a way to combine dice together -etc. Different decisions, but aiming for that goal.

Shen

Thanks for answering my question! I guess I didn't mention it, but I actually have a theme nailed down haha. That said, I'm relieved to hear I'm already doing a lot of the things you talked about. I don't have a written rubric as I'm able to do the decision-related assessments in my brain, but I could see myself needing it later or for a more nebulous project. The decisions I've found more challenging at the moment are things like, "Should dice be consumed upon use?" "Should players have a limited number of turns to roll the required results?" These lead to different game experiences and also have cascading effects on the gameplay. My boyfriend is very excited about the game and enjoys talking through these decisions with me; sometimes we have completely opposite views so we discuss "If the game had this mechanic, then XYZ would happen" and it's not what he "likes or dislikes" that I'm using to make a decision (it's a small variable but usually not super important), it's specifically the XYZ consequences in the gameplay or player behavior that are what I'm comparing against the rubric in my head (and also an internal emotional rubric about the "emotional experience" I'm hoping to achieve). But it's true that if one of us comes up with an idea and we both start going crazy about it, I usually take it as "I should use this." I hadn't registered before that I was also using a strong emotional reaction as a cue that something is a good idea, so I appreciate you mentioned it.

Jaxy

I tried out your game, and like the concept. The fun for me would be holding onto your dice and trying to keep making them better. In Balatro over many round you’re able to remove cards you don’t want and add bonuses to them which lets you control the probability. The game didn’t feel great when I roll a dice with a couple 20’s on it and it rolls 2 and I just loose. Having multiple chances is probably a W. Maybe you could roll all of them, and then be able to keep a dice roll you like, and then re-roll the others.