Sensory board game design

Each year the game developer Chris Hansen host the Children’s Game Print and Play contest on Boardgamegeek.com. A contest where you can make a game for kids — together with your own kid. This year I really wanted to take part in the contest again this year. The beauty about this contest is that since you have to make a SIMPLE and FUN game that even kids can play it forces you comply with an important design concept – simplify towards the core experience. Which too me can super difficult.

The idea I chose to work with is based on a behaviour rooted in human nature — “the Hunt”. I have always wondered why most kids instantly get the adrenaline flowing, smiling and shouting when we shape our hand as a claw and say

now I am coming to get you — you little rascal!!

sometimes you don’t even need to say anything! My goal was clear; could I translate the excitement of a chase or a Hide and Seek to a board game?

What adds to the feeling? When I see my kids feet stick out under the bed I usually stomp hard and heavy in the floor while slowly moving closer. So times I mutter “ Wheeeerrree is she hiiidinng?” The fact that the kid feel like she is hidden but know any movement or sound could giver her away and let the beast capture her and then… Well that’s another thing — they don’t think rational on what happens if they are caught. Is anything happening ?— will I be tickled….eaten maybe?

In my search for a core mechanic I found — Onomatopoeia! Words that imitate the sounds they refer to, like purrr or bang. Not only would using Onomatopoeia make a fun hidden move game but it would build on the imagination of sounds which I later realised is a perfect match when trying to build immersion in a paper game.

 

I will send my readers a PNP of the game when it is done. If you haven’t already – you can sign up here

 

In my further search for sound words to use, I realised how important the use of sensory detail can be to game design. Sensory words is words related to all our senses  like sight, hearing, touch etc. Using sensory detail in your text will light up different parts of the reader’s brain compared to non-sensory words.  Like writing  ‘The dark n’ damp Catacombs’ compared to just ‘The Catacombs’.

 

Read the full story on Medium here and give it a clap 🙂

https://medium.com/@mailhooked/sensory-game-design-a030fd545ea9