How to Connect Subgames Through Goals, Actions, and Obstacles

Every game is composed of multiple smaller subgames. The quality of their connections determines how unified the game feels. When connections are loose, as in "chessboxing", players easily perceive the individual subgames. When connections are tight, the subgames vanish, and players see only a unified game unless they deliberately look for seams.

Games are made of goals, actions to achieve those goals, and obstacles that get in the way. You can create connections between games using each of these:

• The goal of one subgame can be an input to another subgame.
• An action can interact with two different subgames at the same time.
• An action taken in one subgame can create an obstacle in another subgame.

Let's start with goals. Goals define subgames, and smaller goals within those subgames define even smaller subgames. You can connect two subgames by having the output of one become the input of the other.

In Galaxy Trucker, the game is split into two phases: the build phase and the flight phase. The goal of the build phase is to create a ship that will perform well in the flight phase based on the encounter cards. The ship you create in the build phase becomes the ship you pilot in the flight phase, connecting the two subgames through a goal.

Linking subgames via goals creates the weakest connection when it is unidirectional, because it allows players to mentally separate the games. Once you complete the first subgame and create the output for the second, you no longer need to think about it. Bidirectional connections are stronger: if each subgame produces inputs for the other, you keep going back and forth between them. In Risk, combat rewards you with cards, and collecting sets of cards rewards you with troops that you can use in combat.

Actions can create an even stronger connection than goals. When an action impacts two subgames, it forces players to consider them simultaneously. In Catan, playing a Knight participates in both the set-collection competition of the Largest Army and the take-that subgame around positioning the robber. The player tends to act because of one subgame or the other, but it is harder to compartmentalize the subgames in the same way that they can with goal-based links.

Actions do not need to have a positive effect to link two subgames. In fact, an action that progresses one subgame while creating an obstacle in another provides not just a connection but a natural narrative arc. In the video game Unrailed, players cooperate to build a train track in real time while racing against the train. Between rounds, they can buy new train cars to add to their train, granting new abilities. However, the longer the train is, the harder it is to move because the extra train cars get in the way. Obstacles created by a player's own actions are more narratively satisfying than those provided by the game because they frame the player as the proactive agent and the world as reactive rather than the other way around.

The more connections you create between your subgames, the better. Ideally, you want all three connection types. When a game has weak subgame connections, it feels like a loose collection of activities. Find goals, actions, and obstacles that bring your subgames closer together.