Creating a
boardgame

A passion project of mine to create an original and fun board game to play with like-minded people.

Brief

Create a strategy board game in which players build competing settlements.

UI/UX and visual design: Elian Duits

Challenge

For the board game I drew inspiration from two classics - Colonists of Catan and Risk. I played those games a lot and after each game asked people what they liked or disliked about it.

There are two main complaints people have about both Colonists of Catan and Risk - the games last too long and they were too much down to luck (too many dice throws). On top of that, the drawback of Colonists of Catan is that it is too complicated and Risk was too straightforward. What they liked is the strategic depth of both games.

Therefore I set myself the task of creating a board game that matches Colonist of Catan and Risk in its depth, replayability and fun.

Research

Knowing that my taste in boardgames matches those of my social circle, I persuaded them to serve as my target audience to test my iterations on.
I began with the simplest form of prototype, played it with a friend and afterwards asked for their feedback. Usually there were multiple adjustments I thought up after such feedback, so I wrote them down.
Every time I implemented only one adjustment, tested it again and either rejected or kept the adjustment. Then I would proceed to the next adjustment. A long trajectory but it gave me deep insights about what game mechanics worked well, which did not and why.

Having tested innumerable iterations with this set group of friends, I really owe them a special thanks here:

Jan Schreuder
Toon Schakelaar
Niels Kroon
Arjen Duits
Stephanie Hickson
Tim Duits
Janne Lambermont
Ivo van Schagen
Bonnie Hop
Marck van Dijk
Santiago de Graaff
Daniel Schotsborg

Analysis

Going through the iterations transformed the boardgame in remarkable ways. The very first version was all cards, then components were added step by step to be placed on the cards. Until I ended up with a playing board, tiles, miniature units, coins and dice.

Solutions

A board game with a perfect balance between strategy and chance. Both thinking through your moves and having luck with dice must both be rewarding but neither one should dominate.
Aside from that, there must also be multiple strategies for players to win the game. So players can have a defensive or offensive “style” when playing the game so it provides a richer experience and higher replayability.

The result is a strategy builder game for 2-4 players that lasts 30-60 minutes per game. You win the game by either eliminating the other players or by expanding your settlement to the maximum. It consists of 52 Tiles, 120 miniature units, 40 coins and 5 dice.

Results

The game is now finished in terms of game mechanics and rules. Furthermore, it is at a point where I think it can match Colonists of Catan, Risk and other board games. Creating a builder game where there are two different winning conditions really provided the depth and replayability without making it last too long.

Creating this game has, somewhat surprisingly, demonstrated the true value of user research to me. Testing every possible iteration and getting constant feedback shaped the game into a solid product in which I can explain every decision I took.

And it’s a privilege to see people having fun playing a game you have created.