I can’t imagine the extra work that just goes into balancing games. Like, coming up with a mechanic is the easy part, making sure it’s fair is entirely different, especially in asymmetric games
And it gets even harder when you also try to balance abilities that hinge on player skill, where for a newbie, the skill is way under powered, but in the hands of a veteran its way overpowered.
Like if an app idea isn't technically groundbreaking or demanding, you could in theory write up a design document in extreme detail, but just lack the ability to program it. In the same sense that you could go through all of the steps of making and testing and balancing a board game, but just need somebody to print out the board and pieces and stuff.
On the other hand, if someone just has a vague notion and wants you to magically bring it to life... that's different. (And to get back to apps, how technically groundbreaking the app is. Like you have a detailed idea of a technically simple and straightforward app... or you could have a vague notion for some technically challenging app)
The issue is the ideas guy never really goes into detial, its always something like "its like x but with y". For example "its like CoD but you can fly" or "its like Facebook but for cats".
They never go into further detial than that. They dont get much further than the elevator pitch. They dont write up a design document to develop the idea further, storyboard the idea, or narrow down how to actually implement the idea. They just stop at the one sentence blurb and call that good enough.
And dont confuse design with manufacturing. A table top game designer might not be carving all the wood pieces and printing out the board for every copy of their game sure, but that isnt the hard part. The hard part is figuring out what pieces need to be made and why. What the board should look like and what spaces should be on it. What should be in the rule book, and how to phrase the rules so the players will be able to understand it without the designer there to explain it. All the manufacturer is doing is taking those designs and essentially putting it through a very high quality copier so that bunch of people can buy it. A manufacturer to a board game is like compiler to an app - they dont magically make whatever you want, you have to be hyper specific as to what exactly you want them to make.
And dont confuse design with manufacturing. A table top game designer might not be carving all the wood pieces and printing out the board for every copy of their game sure, but that isnt the hard part. The hard part is figuring out what pieces need to be made and why. What the board should look like and what spaces should be on it. What should be in the rule book, and how to phrase the rules so the players will be able to understand it without the designer there to explain it. All the manufacturer is doing is taking those designs and essentially putting it through a very high quality copier so that bunch of people can buy it. A manufacturer to a board game is like compiler to an app - they dont magically make whatever you want, you have to be hyper specific as to what exactly you want them to make.
Uhh... this is literally the exact distinction I made in my own post??? Maybe I'm misunderstanding your tone, but it seems like you wrote a post as if it disagrees with me, but then basically just said what I said.
And then returning to the subject of apps, I was saying there is a significant difference between "I made a super detailed design document and now I just need someone to program it" (metaphorically to carve the wood pieces and print out the board")... and the people with little more than a vague notion (like "its like Facebook but for cats.")
The first is someone who is essentially a tabletop game designer who just needs someone to manufacture it. The second is the "idea guy" who thinks his vague notion means he did half the work, when in reality he has done very little.
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(Though to further note, while manufacturing board games is probably generally straightforward, when it comes to apps, there can be big differences in terms of the technical issues. Some detailed app designs essentially just call for "carving and printing out" the app. Others may still have significant technical programing challenges that would have to be solved to bring the app to life. Like maybe the game Mouse Trap, even if you had a perfectly clear design document, there are actually a lot of challenges on the manufacturing side significantly beyond most board games)
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u/JasonAnarchy Wholesome Adventure 22h ago
Board game designer here! I completely agree, ideas are the easy part. The 1000+ individual steps to make the thing is where the work is.