A ramble on the subtle power of theme in games

Went on a retreat of sorts, learned a lot about how theme can radically change a game. Also got me thinking about game design in general, looking for little lessons and tools to distill from all these complicated discoveries.

[@dancingfishfilms]

I love these videos, I've been watching them for years. I'm now also an indie creator (of tools, not games), and I now feel moments where I really *get* something you're saying, in a way that I wouldn't previously. Really thought provoking stuff, thanks Tom!

[@ScarfKat]

100% same. Though I make games instead of tools lol. But yeah I feel the same way, these videos are great

[@chrisgreen6259]

I am so looking forward to TBW. The demo I played a while back was brilliant.

[@Ipsenscastle]

No idea how I missed that he moved to Canada three years ago - although the soundscape of gulls and traffic still seems very British haha

[@jnewman12777]

I've found it's really important to write out what type of emotional response that I'm trying to achieve with a game early in the design. That way I have a guidepost to reference while I search around for the best way to achieve that and while I add more interesting bits. By the way, have you ever thought about designing a board game? I've moved to board game design because there's no debugging and it much more pure design.

[@latte4159]

"One of the things that matter even more than I knew is theme and fantasy and **title**." You definitely got a good title with Tactical Breach Wizards!

[@metallsnubben]

Speaking of boardgames where the theme does a lot: Power Grid. Yes it's 2+ hours of building electric power plants in Germany with several phases each turn, but the rules make a LOT OF SENSE (as in "intuitively fit", not super realistic simulation). _Of course_ at the start of the game, each turn you take the highest numbered plant in the market and put it at the bottom of the deck (= more "high tech" should appear later on the timeline) but in the final stretch you instead fully remove the lowest (= outdated) from the game. The whole "fuel market" system where stuff gets refilled a static amount but prices shift based on how much people buy (= scarcity increases prices) It's like whenever you half-remember a rule, the version that would make the most thematic sense is almost always how it actually works

[@4videovideo]

If you ever write a book or something on game design, I'd buy it.

[@BillyONeal]

I think the Subset folks do a great job of this marrying theme with game mechanics. FTL works *because* of its theming.

[@samhammer325]

Really useful discussion

[@StephenKatt]

I would love to see Tom Francis' toolbox of tricks. Every job needs that sort of toolbox, and I wish education in general was more obviously linked to that idea of familiarizing yourself with those conceptual tools, and then giving you time to experience and notice each one in the course of your work. This video and the last one got me thinking about the connection between theme and gut checks. One potential importance of theme is its ability to help you with cut checks when you would otherwise be clueless. Like if you don't understand the importance of Spice, but you know its important thematically, so you try out a Spice strategy, and through experiment come to appreciate the way that strategy might play out. Or like you've said about Slay the Spire, seeing a poison card come up as an option might make you question whether you could pull off a sneaky rogue strategy. You don't immediately know if it will be good or if it will pay off, but theme can help lead you towards possibly good strategies that can lead to satisfying payoffs. Theme can get you over the hump of having no info for a gut check. This is true in RPGs too. Good ones will give you lots of choices. If you have no idea what the consequences will be, then making those choices is unsatisfying. But the theme and world around that choice can help inform those gut checks about what the likely outcome could be. That said, we don't want choices that are completely predictable (which encourages unfun min-max) and we don't want the choices to always defy expectation (not respecting player choice). We want options that let us roleplay with the theme, but also let us steer that theme where we want it to go. And we still want options that surprise us. I and everyone else playing BG3 right now are having fun trying to decide if our gut checks are going to be right or wrong, and loving it when it goes right, and laughing when it goes wrong. "Should I throw this boot at that ogre to see what happens? Yes, this game has taught me that that will be a fun activity regardless of the outcome." But I realize I'm only thinking of very open ended games. Theme probably has very different functions in more rigid games.

[@wittyadrian]

These videos are great! I love hearing you talk about gamedesign and the lessons you've learned there in. You've influenced and inspired my gamedev career a lot and continue to do so. Stay awesome Tom!

[@normalasylum]

There are a few different aspects of themeing that it might help to make a distinction between! The Decision Space podcast (episode 36) breaks it up this way. Environmental theme aka the coat of paint, what most people just call theme: title, game terms, artwork, flavor text. There's also the agential or decision theme, aka your role within the game. Then there's mechanical theme, the way various components interact systemically. Spice being a currency in Dune Imperium for example, while in the books and movies it is mostly a macguffin (and not a currency).

[@StarContract]

Really miss the old devlogs, where you showed Heat Signature gameplay

[@qew_Nemo]

You summed up my feelings on chess and the whole mechanical depth thing really well. I feel very similarly. I like to express it less eloquently with less effort by just saying "x-com > chess" :P If you liked the Dune Imperium game I HIGHLY recommend checking out the Gale Force Nine Dune Board Game. It's just such a gem of game design. I was blown away by the elegance and depth of that game. Even just watching other people playing it is very engrossing. I did learn of it by watching MCDM playing it. As for the main subject of understanding game design, I agree that it's probably foolish to try to solve it exhaustively as a whole. But on the other hand, especially if you go into specific schools of thought, you can learn so much of what I'd call straight up truths from the designs of games like Minecraft, Left 4 Dead or Overwatch. There are definitely some principles that make it possible to reach excellence much sooner rather than later. Some obvious, some requiring a bit of reflection to understand and appreciate.

[@giampaolomannucci8281]

Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War) said it best and I'll never forget it: Game Design is the perfect mix of Art and Science

[@tadelong]

I haven't listened to you wax poetic about a thought for over a year now just because I haven't listened to a podcast you've been on in that long. I'd really forgotten how muchgiant joy listening your take on situations and the overall state of an industry Bixby; sometimes I wish you worked in my industry so I could get your take on it but then again it wouldn't be Tom Francis's take. It would be Tom other guys take.

[@AidinZolghadr]

Please make more game desing centric videos.

[@user-wc9cw1sn8n]

The most powerful part of your game engine is the players mind. How do you interface with it effectively to get the most out of it? How do you build a game world in there for the player to explore. I think that is the power of theming and I wouldn't call it subtle, just not thought about enough when you think of games as sets of rules in code.

[@shinnok7]

18:58

[@JeremyForTheWin]

i definitely think it's worthwhile to mock up a trailer based on the idea and theme and see if it excites you to work backward to make the game

[@tangbola]

I think the Amnesia Fortnight that Double Fine does is really useful along these lines.

[@eclipserepeater2466]

Feels like horror games tend to use theme as a tool to steer the player's decision making towards the mechanically WRONG choices. If the atmosphere is bleak and scary, players are less likely to push their luck, like they might in a more action-centric theme. Even if the gameplay mechanics are similar.

[@godonholiday]

What are your thoughts on Unity pricing changes? How does it play into a indie dev like you?

[@SebastienDelfino]

Good points, awful soundscape.