In a recent game design challenge, you were asked to design a player aid, a kind of cheat sheet or quick reference guide of rules, for the board game Risk. Understanding not only rules, but also a player's needs is an instrumental part of understanding game design. Here, we present the three best designs, two honorable mentions, and a few notes on what made the winning entries stand out.
Observations
Most GameCareerGuide.com readers and participants in this challenge didn't find it much of a challenge to review the rules of Risk. But some did have a hard time deciding which rules to include in a quick reference guide. Some showed their prowess at understanding layout, using bullet points, symbols, keywords, and bold type, while others crammed text into the very corners of the small space that was allotted.
Take a wild guess where else laying out text and using bullet points, key words, and summarized information is crucial in one's career path: resume writing.
One thing that stood out when comparing entries was whether the creator decided to include the rules of setting up the game. In general, that's what the complete rule set is for. Players aren't rushed to take their turn while the game is being set up, so they have time to read the instruction manual, ask questions, and get clarification from other players. It's only once the game gets going that new players will need the player aid to help them act fast.
Another factor that was pretty black or white was whether the creator included the key denoting how many reinforcements players received based on occupying continents. Because this information is on the game board, we thought it wasn't useful on the player aid card. (The reinforcements key on the board is in itself a very basic player aid.)
A couple of player aid creators experimented with alternative layouts, but the ones that kept it simple and clean were the cream of the crop.
Best Entries
Nils Norman Haukås, recent Multimedia Technology and Design graduate from University of Agder, Norway (see page 2)
Nils Norman Haukås explained his own work best in his email submission:
"Having played Risk a number of times and never won, I thought this was a good chance to do some research and make a player aid.
"With limited space available, it's important to keep things simple and without ambiguity. Some details I left out because I took the other players as a resource into consideration. For example when they attack the rookie, they'll be able to explain to the rookie how to defend.
"A simple, ‘what you do on your round' was essential. And I chose to include a simple overview of the game pieces.
"The thing that sets the seasoned players apart from newbies is the use of strategies, and diplomacy. Therefore I added a tips and strategies section, and tried to simplify."
Marco Roy, aspiring game designer and software engineering student at École de technologie supérieure, Montreal (see page 3)
Marco Roy's guide is tight. He could use a little help in the graphic arts department picking complementary colors, though those kind of decisions come later, and we won't yank his chain too much about that. There are three basic steps to each player's turn, which Roy follows up with a very brief list of strategies. It's enough to get new players on the right track without spoiling their enjoyment of learning the game.
Evan VanScoyk, computer science student at McKendree University (see page 4)
Evan VanScoyk's player aid is similar to Roy's, only he calls out "Rolling" as a keyword, which we thought would be helpful to inexperienced players. His tips and strategies also stick to the basics.
Honorable Mention
Max Michaud-Shields (see page 5)
Max Michaud-Shields' player aid felt a little confusing, but we give him props for experimenting with the layout. With a bit more tweaking and simplifying, this submission would have easily taken first place.
GameCareerGuide.com thanks Ian Scheiber for inspiring this challenge and also for commenting on the forum!
