Subject: Game Redesign - Keeping Things Simple and Intuitive - Newbie Seeking Advice

My first piece of advice is to "Find the Fun".

What I mean by this is to figure out why people play the game in the first place. You NEED to preserve this experience while cutting away the fat. If the most entertaining part of a game is the player-to-player trading interactions... then you'll focus on beefing up this aspect while reducing the less effective parts of the original. Keep this in mind EVERY step of the way to make sure you don't stray to far.

You'll see PLENTY of people do this wrong on the video game side with "Reboots", Licensed games, and even in sequels. By focusing their "Enhancements" on aspects that don't interest the original fanbase... they end up alienating them. Look at the Resident Evil and the X-Com FPS to see what happens when you make a "better" game but alienate the original fans.

Next, focus on reducing the number of exceptions in the rule set.

The key is intuitive play and easy learning is reducing the number of things the player needs to remember. Try to focus on breaking the entire game down into one or two core mechanics that cover ALL situations.

-> Ghost Stories has "Roll the colored dice and succeed when you can match the colors on the ghost"
-> RPGs have Roll dice and add your skill and succeed when you exceed the challenge.
-> Settlers of Catan has it's Trade Materials to put something on the map and gain VP.
-> Even Small world does this with "Place your units on the field and combat is done etc." While each race has exceptions, it's built INTO the board and components so the player doesn't need to learn them in order to play.

This means that the player only needs to learn one rule in order to play. The less "Exceptions" to this rule the quicker a player will reach the "Got it!" stage... even if this means that political struggles and violent struggles are resolved in the same manner.

Finally, don't underestimate a reduction in components.

Having alot of pieces can often be overwhelming for new players and raises the market price of the game... reducing your potential market. This is bad.

Find which pieces are unnecessary or which could be recreated using less expensive methods. Consider combining the MONSTER and TREASURE into a single pile if most cards were wasted space. Replace a "Time passed" deck or "Enemy Movements" with a simple dice roll to save on costs.

But again... only cut/condense what is expendable. If testing the game proves that the change was a mistake... obviously go with what works.

Last, make a player aid no matter how simple the game.

You want to prevent the player from looking up rules during the game. If they have a question about the turn order or iconagraphy they NEED to be able to look down and find it. This will speed up new players allowing them to enjoy the game and eventually learn the rules completely.