Symmetries Improve Learnability

One major barrier to playing a new game is learnability. It is easier to convince somebody to play if the game is easy to learn because deciphering its rules can otherwise feel like a chore. One way to enhance learnability is to align the mechanics with the player's expectations about how things should work. Sometimes this means adhering to the genre's standards, but if you are already teaching a player something new in one area, you can leverage that to teach other mechanics by exploiting symmetries between different game elements.

Symmetries are similarities between different gameplay elements, including both mechanics and attribute values. For example, one common trick in games such as CCGs with a lot of content to keep track of is to make the cost of playing a card mirror the numbers involved in its special effects. In Duelyst 2:

• Tempest costs 2 and deals 2 damage to everything
• Emerald Rejuvenator costs 4 and heals your general for 4
• Red Synja costs 7 and deals 7 damage when your general takes damage
• Scion's First Wish costs 1 and grants 1 power and 1 health to a minion
• Scion's Second Wish costs 2, heals your general for 2, and draws 2 cards
• Scion's Third Wish costs 3, gives your general 3 power, reduces damage taken by 3, and lets it move up to 3 spaces

It is not always possible to create symmetry between ability numbers and card costs due to balance, but when it is, it makes remembering a card's effect easier. You might remember that a card heals, but not for how much; when the effect's magnitude matches the card's cost, you don't need to remember as much.

When it comes to mechanics, having multiple symmetries among the same game elements helps players remember how things work. If they see two things are similar in one way, they may remember other similarities. In Mage Wars, Familiars are special objects that have three similarities to Mages:

• They channel mana, like a Mage
• They prepare spells, like a Mage
• They cast spells, like a Mage

Because they share all three mechanics in common with Mages, a player who remembers one symmetry is more likely to remember the others as well.

In my game Junkernauts, I use attribute value symmetries to make each bot's stats easier to remember. Each bot has a level equal to the number of open slots it has, the number of dice it rolls when attacking, and the cost in junk to refurbish it. That way, a player only has to count the slots on a bot to understand most of its important information.

When designing your game mechanics, always be on the lookout for places that you can introduce symmetries. It makes your game more intuitive for players to learn and easier for them to memorize specific game elements.