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Quotes about writing game rules

Imagine if the artwork for every boardgame was created by the designer. All of the cover art, cards, boards, etc. I imagine there would be a lot of complaints about the quality of the artwork. Expecting untrained designers and developers to write professional-quality instructions is just as unrealistic as expecting them to do the graphic design.

– Rob Doupe
[+]

It required a lot of blind playtesting and learning how to watch people while they were reading to figure out what was good and bad in the rules.

– Carla Kopp
[+]

You get or lose players in the first five pages or so, and almost definitely by page 10. If players can get get a running start on what the game is all about—if you get them a solid context to work with—they’ll have hope, even if your game is complicated.

– Chris Farrell
[+]

I think the rules are of paramount importance. Your main goal as a rules writer should be that any group’s first game (guided by your explanation) should go off without a hitch. If the rules are unclear and certain rules get botched the whole experience can get botched. And we all know what people say about first impressions.

– Mario Lanza
[+]

Do assume that your reader has played a game before.

– Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball
[+]
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