Downtime leads a special series of game design topics for us this month.
I know, I know - Downtime as a topic is equally as exciting as competitively waiting-in-line, but it remains memorable with players long after the end of the game.
We've included some crucial takeaways for every game designer. We'll cover Paradox of Choice, Analysis Paralysis, mitigating other causes of downtime and what to consider to avoid the problematic issues surrounding downtime.
As always.
A great read.
***
I recognise some of this happening in my game. But by anticipating this happening, I introduced just recently an hourglass of 1 minute for each player.
There is only 1 action to take per turn by the player, better make the descision quick! And if others want to intercept, they sometimes only have mere seconds to respond.
(A normal game has 3 players and 6 action points/player, about 20 minutes is a maximum now for each round, often only 10 minutes for 1 round when players have thought of the plan)
Is it a good approach? Or am I just forcing the gameplay to much?
On the other hand, the real time aspect has been strenghtened by this.
***
Sorry for my baad spelling, typing this on a computer without auto correction.
In my game there can be a lot of downtime when you start getting a lot of resources, Toward the beginning it is very simple with what you should upgrade (depends on your strategy to win!) but as the article stated as you get more resources options open up exponentially. Great read, It will be help on when I am working on putting the player turn "In stone" (Instead of having a fluid turn structure where I can test things I will have a phased turn structure to help speed along the game.) I also tried to add a timer but I found that I forget to remember a lot, So that idea kinda died.
Sorry for the long post.
And sorry for disappointing, but the hourglass is really just for limiting the time on 1 decision (1 turn). And only for decision taking.
The actual actions are outside this time frame.
If a decision has been taken, it has to be declared out loud within the minute. It could be 1 second.
Some actions might take some minutes due to complexity. While other actions again just 1 second.
An action has to be completed before the next player is in turn.
Responding to an action like defending or not, has to be taken as fast as possible. If the action already has occurred completely, you are to late.
An example in that is intercepting an enemy that is passing by. During the movement of the pile of units, the intercepting player has to say on which field it occurs, before the movement starts, best to do this just after the choice of the path.
The game is not sequentially (even though that was the goal 3 years ago).
To get close, I introduced the following:
Each round, the turn order of players is determined by picking a number from the bag.
The players follow this order until al action points are spend. The next round the pick a new order.
Other little details:
With "instant" responding, a lot of real time has been kept though. But only in the responding.
There are a lot, really a lot of options for just 1 or 2 action points (1 turn).
Attack/Move/Defend/Assault/Retreat/Retreat to Cover/Intercept/Intercept Assault.
(Some choices are limited to situations only)
Often, you play the game as if it is, for example, Starcraft or C&C. And instinctively a player knows that a small group of tanks will not win against a large group of rocket soldiers.
The hourglass did have some bonus effects to the game play. Like noticing if a player is bored or actually "frightened".
Beginners of course don't get the hourglass or are allowed to use it 3 times ;)
***
Ow No!
I completely forgot about another down time tackle regarding resources.
In my game, resources are carried by certain units.
I allow players to set up a line of these units on the board.
Once this line is complete, and once each worker is carrying a resource. The resources are simply picking what you earn instead of moving them around on the board.
http://www.adaptiva.com/wp-content/uploads/fire-bucket-brigade.jpg
Well, ehm, my jeep and truck variants can switch buckets too :D.
Totally interested in the article, getting a 503 error though - any ideas?
I cannot visit the site, because my web filter says its an illegal gambling site.
@jrc5639 - Thanks for letting me know. I've performed several web filter searches and I can't locate any common filters that block the site. Perhaps its a filter on a personal/private network? I'd be curious what the filter is called. I'm terribly sorry for the trouble.
@Beggarking - The server seemed to be down considerably more than usual yesterday. My apologies - I hope you'll be willing to give it a second chance.
@X3M - I think you're solution might work nicely given the context of the game. If for some reason reason you're seeking a reason to move away from the hourglass (doesn't seem to be the case), adding additional incentives for acting quickly can add some interesting tension and tactics!
On the network I am working on, they use K9 web filtering. It blocks all kind of things. It flagged your site for suspicious and gambling.
I think I wrote that it blocked for illegal gambling, but I looked and instead it said suspicious gambling which I guess is different.
I will try it from another computer that should be okay.
I've just started down the Game Development path as I'm working on one for Compass Games and one for an independent Designer and these types of blogs, containing myriad pieces of information on this industry and its many facets, is truly beneficial.
Thank you for taking the time to author such a cogent and comprehensive piece on the subject of "Downtime" for the community.
Cheers,
Joe
Very interesting read, will trawl through the rest of the site as well.
I was playing Firefly (+expansion) the other week as 5 players and each round of turns took 20minutes, horrific downtime!
Awesome read, thank you!
I've become more and more interested about these psychological aspects of what makes a game work better, as I've gone through this path.
I have this basic dungeon crawly thing in the making, and now I'm left thinking of how could I make it even faster by having some of the no-so-crucial mechanics left out of the players' turn and have them played at downtime.
The loot cards you've collected this turn? Naw, you can't have them now. Check and discard the pile after your turn!
I think this way players don't stop to look at their cards, and can't think of new strategies mid turn.
 | 2025 New Year Sale at The Game Crafter (0) by The Game Crafter |
| Build your own [insert game genre here] (12) by lewpuls |
 | DuelBotz: Sample New Card (16) by questccg |
| Finalists Selected for the VHS Case Challenge (3) by questccg |
| How to design and balance a Rock-Paper-Scissor like mechanism (35) by X3M |
| Merry Christmas 2024! (0) by questccg |
| Winner Announced for "That Cool Stock Part Challenge" (0) by The Game Crafter |
| End of Year Playtest Event at The Game Crafter (0) by The Game Crafter |
| New Board Game Pieces: 13mm Wood Cubes (0) by The Game Crafter |
| Board Game Blueprint - New Episode Every Wednesday (24) by The Game Crafter |
| Madison Game Design Cabal (0) by The Game Crafter |
| PoA — Major shift back closer to FCE (13) by questccg |
| Voting Begins for "VHS Case Challenge" at The Game Crafter (0) by The Game Crafter |
| New Product: Large Quad-Fold Game Boards (0) by The Game Crafter |
| 2025 New Year Sale at The Game Crafter (0) by The Game Crafter |
| New Board Game Design Contest: ZSA Cards Challenge (0) by The Game Crafter |
| Black Friday Sale Ends Tonight (0) by The Game Crafter |
| The Shadow Of The Nokizaru Update! (0) by Jacob |
| Black Friday Sale at The Game Crafter (0) by The Game Crafter |
| Power Creep, a Dungeon Pages adventure (0) by jasongreeno |
| Premium Bullet & Premium Toxic Waste Board Game Pieces at The Game Crafter (0) by The Game Crafter |
| What “Should” Be in an RPG Design Book (11) by lewpuls |
| Blank Poker Card Sale - 3 Cents Each! (0) by The Game Crafter |
| Blank Playing Cards - Bridge 57mm x 89mm UK (1) by questccg |
| Finally returned after all these years (1) by DyminoMonsters2004 |
Thanks X3M!
I'd love to hear more. It sounds like players are taking turns sequentially; when it is my turn I flip my hourglass and have until it runs out to make my choice. Then play moves to the next player?
I think it can be a great approach but I would usually want a second purpose for the hourglass other than to reduce downtime.
For instance does it benefit your theme? Time is certainly relevant when serving customers or disarming an explosive.
Is limited time the primary source of tension? If you've built in some really fascinating choices, I'd feel irritated more than anything if I've got to rush thought provoking decisions.
Are players trying to complete some sort of puzzle? I recently played Enigma and I thought it was particularly interesting because players complete mini-puzzles simultaneously and the player who complete theirs first gets the best benefit and anyone who finishes within the time limit got a lesser benefit. Anyone who didn't finish in time got no benefit. If players are battling for (time) efficiency that can be a really great idea.
Making time a factor is an area that remains largely unexplored in modern tabletop design. It probably works best when its a primary focus of the game. Otherwise you might frustrate slower players or infrequent gamers while not really benefiting anyone. Its easier to accept that I'm not very good at managing the frenetic pace of a game if I know that is the game's calling card.