How to Write Clear Rules (and game design documents)

How to Write Clear Rules (and game design documents), available at $27.99, has an average rating of 4.2, with 75 lectures, 1 quizzes, based on 25 reviews, and has 199 subscribers.

You will learn about Understand the purposes of rules writing Recognize "the enemy" of rules writers and what you can do about it Understand all the details involved in rules writing Benefit from actual examples Think about all the non-rules items you might include with the rules How and why rules are tested This course is ideal for individuals who are Tabletop game designers (and wannabes) or Video game designers who use game design documents It is particularly useful for Tabletop game designers (and wannabes) or Video game designers who use game design documents.

Enroll now: How to Write Clear Rules (and game design documents)

Summary

Title: How to Write Clear Rules (and game design documents)

Price: $27.99

Average Rating: 4.2

Number of Lectures: 75

Number of Quizzes: 1

Number of Published Lectures: 75

Number of Published Quizzes: 1

Number of Curriculum Items: 76

Number of Published Curriculum Objects: 76

Original Price: $27.99

Quality Status: approved

Status: Live

What You Will Learn

Understand the purposes of rules writing
Recognize "the enemy" of rules writers and what you can do about it
Understand all the details involved in rules writing
Benefit from actual examples
Think about all the non-rules items you might include with the rules
How and why rules are tested

Who Should Attend

Tabletop game designers (and wannabes)
Video game designers who use game design documents

Target Audiences

Tabletop game designers (and wannabes)
Video game designers who use game design documents

If you're doing it right, one of the hardest parts of game design is writing clear rules. If you mess it up, your game will be a dud, no matter how good the actual game is – because it won't be played correctly. How to write rules varies with your audience – of course. Polish the rules as you playtest.

If you're designing a video game for other people to produce (program, art, sound, etc.) then you have to write very clear game design documents if you want things to work as you envision.

This course is primarily about writing formal rules for games, usually tabletop games, but writing a game design document requires similar skills, as it must explicitly describe every possible interaction between player(s) and machine.

Review:

A other great course from Dr. Lewis Pulsipher. This is an one of a kind course on Udemy (the internet) about how to write rules for tabletop (board) games. All the do's and don'ts are discussed and more. From this course you will get some great tips if your planning to make a tabletop game your self. Highly recommend to watch. The teacher talks very clear and is easy to follow.

Jimmy Voskuil

Recommendation (from email to me):

"Last year I entered one of my games in the international Hippodice boardgame competition in Germany. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the final but did make it through to the first 33 (out 150) which meant it was playtested.

They were so good as to give me some test results feedback a few months later. One of the most positive points was with regard to the rules!

So I just wanted to thank you because by following your rules course, I picked up many things which improved the rulebook before I sent it off. Now I just need to use their feedback to improve the game some more – its overall score was good just not good enough for the final!"

Mark Bethell

Course Curriculum

Chapter 1: Introduction

Lecture 1: What you'll discover

Lecture 2: Introducing the Teacher

Lecture 3: How this class works

Lecture 4: Anonymous (if you choose) Voluntary Entry Survey

Chapter 2: What's the purpose of written game rules?

Lecture 1: The Tabletop Ideal would be . . .

Lecture 2: The Video Game Ideal would be . . .

Lecture 3: What are the objectives, what are you really trying to accomplish?

Lecture 4: Game Design Documents – and Alternatives

Lecture 5: Satisficing – the "enemy" you're faced with

Lecture 6: Writing: Put yourself in the reader's place (and try some "odd" readers!)

Lecture 7: Common errors in explaining in-person how to play a game

Lecture 8: Call a Spade a Spade – write plain English

Lecture 9: The "best" way varies with the audience!

Lecture 10: An exercise – write rules for a well-known classic game

Lecture 11: The differences between mechanics, rules, and descriptions -and game design docs

Lecture 12: Game design documents – and problems

Lecture 13: Game Concepts, Treatments, and other Marketing Documents

Lecture 14: Sea Kings first full set of rules 1377 words

Lecture 15: Sea Kings fifth set of rules 2917 words

Chapter 3: Writing the rules

Lecture 1: Rules Length

Lecture 2: Software for Writing Rules

Lecture 3: Tone of voice: passive/active, impersonal/personal

Lecture 4: Skimmers

Lecture 5: "Twenty Dollar Words"

Lecture 6: Sequence of Play versus Reference Rules

Lecture 7: "Close is good enough" is a bad motto, even though perfect is unattainable

Lecture 8: Britannia second edition Reference Rules

Lecture 9: Britannia second edition Sequence of Play rules (as rewritten by Fantasy Flight)

Lecture 10: Put "How to Win" up front to provide context

Lecture 11: Rules on the cards

Lecture 12: What can you not "legislate" against?

Lecture 13: One-page rule summary sheets

Lecture 14: Example: A one-page reference ("Quick Guide" to Britannia)

Lecture 15: Example: Player's Aid for "Pacific Convoy"

Lecture 16: An outline for Sequence of Play rules

Lecture 17: Drafts, drafts, and more drafts – it's not "write once and done"

Lecture 18: Use of graphics in the rulebook

Lecture 19: Editors and editing – and "developers"

Lecture 20: Overly Concise rules may be Incomplete or Incomprehensible

Lecture 21: How much repetition should be in the rules?

Lecture 22: Various approaches to writing the rules

Chapter 4: Testing and improving the rules

Lecture 1: Testing rules as you playtest the game

Lecture 2: People who make up their own rules without knowing it!

Lecture 3: Blind testing

Lecture 4: Distributing rules before the game is published

Lecture 5: "Living Rules"

Lecture 6: Don't make it easy for players to fail to follow the rules

Chapter 5: What might be in the rules, other than "rules"?

Lecture 1: Rules often missed or misunderstood

Lecture 2: Examples of Play

Lecture 3: A Play-through

Lecture 4: Example: Historical walk-through of the first two turns of Britannia

Lecture 5: FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) in the Rules? No

Lecture 6: Optional Rules and Variants

Lecture 7: Strategy/Playing Hints

Lecture 8: Designer's Notes

Lecture 9: Learning Aids that aren't in the box (are online)

Lecture 10: Example: Quick "How to play Britannia" MP3 audio file

Lecture 11: Example: A text strategy aid posted online – for Britannia

Lecture 12: Example: A strategy hint audio aid posted online – for Britannia

Lecture 13: Flowcharts? Lookup Tables? No.

Lecture 14: The peculiarities and special cases of RPG rules

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Lecture 1: Rule Translations

Lecture 2: Pacific Convoy first full set of rules (2219 words)

Lecture 3: Pacific Convoy sixth full set of rules (3939 words)

Lecture 4: Online Resources

Lecture 5: 11 "Need to Knows" about Writing Well, Part 1

Lecture 6: 11 "Need to Knows" about Writing Well, Part 2

Lecture 7: Exit Survey

Lecture 8: Conclusion, and Where to from Here?

Lecture 9: All the slides used in this course up to 15 April 14

Chapter 7: Bonus Material

Lecture 1: "Bonus Lecture" – Lew's online courses and information sources

Lecture 2: Why I wrote my book "Game Design"

Lecture 3: What makes my "Game Design" book unusual or unique?

Lecture 4: 10 "need to knows" about writing clear rules (and game design documents), pt 1

Lecture 5: 10 "need to knows" about writing clear rules (and game design documents), pt 2

Instructors

Lewis Pulsipher
Commercially Published Game Designer, College Teacher

Rating Distribution

1 stars: 0 votes
2 stars: 1 votes
3 stars: 5 votes
4 stars: 7 votes
5 stars: 12 votes

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have access to the course materials?

You can view and review the lecture materials indefinitely, like an on-demand channel.

Can I take my courses with me wherever I go?

Definitely! If you have an internet connection, courses on Udemy are available on any device at any time. If you don’t have an internet connection, some instructors also let their students download course lectures. That’s up to the instructor though, so make sure you get on their good side!

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