Feb 10, 2025
Designing a Board Game is Like Building a Design System
I’ve always considered myself a master of design systems and bringing logic to design decisions. When I started creating my own board game, I realized just how similar the processes are—it felt like coming home.
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Coming Home to Systems Thinking
I’ve always considered myself a master of design systems—bringing order to chaos, taming wild UI components, and ensuring every pixel knows its place. So when I finally set out to create my own board game, I was surprised to find that the process felt eerily familiar. Rules, interactions, balancing mechanisms—it was basically just another design system, but with dice and cardboard.
This article takes you behind the scenes of my board game journey so far, full of trial, error, and the occasional existential crisis over whether a mechanic is "fun enough."
The Game That Wasn't
Ever since I was 17, I’ve wanted to create a board game. And let me tell you—I’ve tried. Oh, I’ve tried. Over the years, I’ve had a handful of ideas, each one more uninspired than the last. Dry mechanics, zero personality, rules that made Monopoly look fast-paced. I was throwing darts in the dark, hoping to hit something playable.
The problem? I didn’t understand what actually makes a board game good. Sure, I could come up with win conditions and fancy-looking cards, but the soul of the game—the tension, the choices, the moments that make people gasp or laugh—was missing. And so, time after time, my board game dreams ended up gathering dust.
But this time? This time, things feel different. Maybe it’s experience, maybe it’s stubbornness, or maybe I’ve just played enough games to know what not to do. Whatever it is, I’m finally onto something that excites me.
Leveling Up: When Design Meets Game Design
As time went by and I started building my design career, something weird started happening. Most of my work in design involved analyzing different systems, making decisions, evaluating ideas, balancing visuals, and implementing logic. Basically, keeping things both structured and engaging.
Then it hit me—these same skills apply directly to board game design.
It was a revelation. The same principles that make a design system clean and intuitive are the ones that make a board game playable and fun. Every game needs balance, clarity, progression, and—above all—a reason for people to keep coming back.
Oh, and playing an embarrassing number of video games over the years didn’t hurt either. At some point, I started analyzing them differently—"Why did they make that decision? Why does this mechanic feel so satisfying?" And slowly but surely, I developed an instinct for game design without even realizing it.
The Comeback: Trying Again
Armed with my newfound understanding of games, I decided to give board game design another shot. No more half-baked ideas—I was going to do this properly.
And this time, I wasn’t alone. Three friends joined me for the ride, offering invaluable feedback, game testing, and coming up with ideas that made the whole experience way better.
Of course, it still wasn’t smooth sailing. The first two attempts? Complete failures. But unlike my teenage self, I could now see exactly why they failed. Instead of throwing the whole thing out in frustration, I iterated. We adjusted, pivoted, and slowly but surely, we started shaping something that worked.
Third Time’s the Charm: A Game Worth Playing
On our third attempt, we finally landed on something that felt solid. Not just playable, but fun. Something I could see real people actually enjoying—and maybe even buying one day.
Core Design Choices That Made the Difference
When designing this game, we kept several key things in mind:
The Race for Power: How the Game Works
Without going too deep into the mechanics, here’s the basic idea:
2-4 players start their journey on the board, adding tiles each turn and moving toward the end. But getting there first doesn’t mean you win—getting there the strongest does.
Along the way, players collect cards and resources to build up their character’s abilities. Every choice matters—sometimes, the slower path is the one that gives you the most power. The game becomes a mix of strategic movement, blocking opponents, and crafting the strongest build possible before the final showdown.
Think of it as a race—but with power-ups, sabotage, and careful planning.
Characters Make the Game
The characters in this game aren’t just flavor—they are the game.
Each character has their own deck, unique tiles, and special resources that get introduced into the game when they’re picked. That means every combination of players creates a slightly different experience.
Playing with heroes A, B, and C? That’s one kind of game. But swap in D, E, and F, and suddenly, you’re facing a whole new set of challenges and strategies.
This has been the trickiest part of development but also the most exciting. Balancing these characters is a wild ride, but it’s what makes the game unique.
Current Progress: What’s Next?
So far, things are moving along nicely:
What’s Working Well?
Next Steps: Playtesting and the Future
Right now, we’re focused on balancing our three initial characters and playtesting in Tabletop Simulator (which, by the way, is a ton of fun by itself).
Once we’re confident, the plan is to expand testing with a wider group. If the feedback is strong, we’ll print our first 10 copies and have different groups play the game for a week each.
As for whether we’ll print more or look for a publisher? Too early to say. Right now, the goal is simple: Make something fun.
Final Thoughts
This is just the beginning. As we get closer to a final version, I’ll share more details—maybe even some footage of us playing it.
Stay tuned, and as always, have a fantastic rest of your day!