Recording Journal Entries

As part of The Arena, I recommend that you keep a design journal. It's a place for you to record your entries and ideas that would be useful in your journey.

When you're making entries into your design journal, I recommend using the mnemonic GOLD.

• Game (Title & Context)
• Observations (What stood out)
• Lessons (Why it works or fails)
• Design Use (How you can apply it)

Here's what it looks like, expanded:

• Game: What was the game you were playing? What type of game was it?
• Observations: What was the specific mechanic, aesthetic, interaction or moment that stood out?
• Lessons: Why do you love or hate it, in terms of experience, design principles or psychology?
• Design Use: How you can use or avoid this in your own game designs?

Here's how it looks like in action:

• Game
  • Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun. Board game about Egyptian theology and its associated rituals.
• Observations
  • I'd finish my turn in about a minute, but I'd have to wait almost 10-15 minutes before I could play again – in a 4 player game.
  • Lots of diverging options and many different ways to get victory points. Until I grokked how the game worked, it was super intimidating. The teach/rulebook didn't provide me information in a progressive way.
  • Very little player interaction going on
• Lessons
  • I enjoy having a greater direct influence on other players' actions
  • I don't like the long wait times with nothing to do
  • Mental model of the game experience needs to be built into the players' mind in increasing complexity – either via the rulebook, the teach or gameplay modes.
  • I like chunking of information for easier processing.
• Design Use
  • Add meaningful decisions to be made between turns
  • Explain games in terms of subsystems during teaching – and build up to the supersystem step by step
  • Player interaction can be delivered if played as teams.

If you have any questions, let me know!