Tabletop Mechanics -- Set Collection

• Set Valuation - the logic or underlying mathematical model by which designers assign values to sets of game elements. Set Valuation can be in terms of currency, resources, or victory points.

  • Sets do not increase their value in a linear fashion.
  • One valuation scheme: elements are worth nothing except when they are part of a completed set.
  • Another variation: singleton cards have some value of their own but more value when part of a complete set.
  • Consider termination — determine how big the sets can be.
  • It opens up some strategies during play
    • When sets have a maximum size and/or score, players are incentivized to diversify and collect multiple types of sets.
    • When sets are not limited, players are wiser to specialize.
    • Strategies are influenced by the valuation of each set, and the existence of orthogonal sets (sets that are independent of each other)
  • When sets can increase in size and value, a designer can use a variety of progressions to score increasingly larger sets

• Tile Laying - Set-collection mechanisms with spatial elements

  • Has aspects of Area Majority.
  • Tile-Laying introduces ideas of adjacency and spatial relationships to sets, either as new requirements for set validity or as buffs and nerfs to the valuation of sets.

• Grid Coverage - A family of mechanisms in which players cover a grid or fill a space using a variety of shapes.

  • Grid-Coverage games don’t always involve set-collection in any recognizable way

• Network Building - a specialized kind of set collection in which the sets collected represent ties between nodes, often represented as routes between destinations.

  • Route-building games typically make routes permanent and allow those routes to be reused as part of other sets or to be subsumed entirely into a larger set.
  • Can be augmented with additional mechanics such as terrain or blocking other players.
  • Consider how the network is created
    • Point-to-Point - the map is a regular grid of dots or connections, and players may connect any two adjacent dots.
      • Such connections can either be owned by a player or usable by all.
      • They work well when there are a lot of possible connections per node.
    • Tile Placement - players place (typically) square or hexagonal tiles onto a grid to form connections.
      • Allows for more complex tiles, tiles that go under or over others, or branch off.
      • Allows for Upgrade systems where tiles are replaced for more complex or valuable tiles.
    • Existing Network - routes are already printed. Players need to claim, construct or activate them in some way.
      • Advantageous when stereotypical connections are always made.
  • Often these mechanism are the centerpiece of the design.

• Combo Abilities - A collection of Abilities that are acquired separately and synergize together.

  • Combos are an Emergent aspect of gameplay.
  • Usually requires the game to have a modular approach to actions.
  • Typically needs to have a few types of resources, and a variety of domains within which game elements can exist.
  • Made more dynamic with open turn structures and more options for how to play.
  • Can introduce a sense of discovery in players if “sets” are not explicitly constructed. Players create their own “sets” whose elements synergize well with each other.

Links §

• Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design - An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms by Engelstein and Shalev

• Grid Puzzles - set valuation concerned with space can be thought of as a grid puzzle of trying to complete a set or maximize the value one gets.