A really good theme can elevate your board game from simply being a bunch of mechanics and turn it into an experience players remember. While the rules and game play are what make the game work, the theme gives players a reason to become involved with the game’s world and characters. It makes the gameplay feel more alive. A strong theme provides immersion, emotional connection, and distinction for your board game.
Theme as Context
The theme is the setting, story or concept of the game, and it gives context for what players are doing in the game and why those things are happening.
A good theme helps give purpose to players’ actions, whether they are building a city, traveling across the galaxy, running a business or trying to solve a crime. The theme makes those game mechanics meaningful. It creates the framework that unites all of the parts. When theme and mechanics go hand-in-hand, the overall game becomes more cohesive and fun.
A strong theme contributes to both the mechanics and the emotional engagement of your game.
Begin with a Focused Concept
It’s best to start with a singular and specific concept for your theme, instead of trying to tackle too many at once.
Ask yourself, “What’s the feeling I want players to get when they are playing the game?” Are they explorers? Builders? Detectives? Kings? Having a feeling and purpose in mind helps guide your theme and future design.
It makes the creative process more streamlined and coherent.
Tie Theme to Mechanics
One of the most important things you want to make sure of when developing your game’s theme is that it aligns with the mechanics. Players should feel like what they’re doing in the game makes sense within the game’s world.
So, for example, a mechanic that has players collecting different types of resources might thematically represent building up a civilization, or a mechanic that has players helping one another could reflect allies coming together. When mechanics align naturally with the theme, the immersion and enjoyment increase.
The more thematically the mechanics support one another, the easier it is for players to follow the game and remember what they’re doing.
Create a Unified World
Your board game theme can still be strong and immersive even if the world itself isn’t overly complicated. This isn’t about creating a complex story or plot, it’s about creating a theme that is cohesive and complete throughout.
This means that the art style, the vocabulary used, the objectives and the game components should all reflect the same world. Creating an internal consistency helps immerse players in the game world and prevents the game from feeling disjointed.
Every decision you make in the game design process should work together to convey that sense of the theme and create an experience that is coherent and memorable.
Know the Audience
The theme of your board game should resonate with the audience you want to reach. Not all themes appeal to all groups of people.
While family-oriented games often work well with a light-hearted theme, for example, serious gamers are often more drawn to historical or geopolitical settings or games with a strong sci-fi element. Having an idea of who your target market is, and what they like, can make it easy to find a theme that enhances rather than detracts from gameplay.
A theme that appeals to your audience is much more likely to draw people in and make them interested in the game.
Use Art and Design to Reinforce the Theme
Art, colors, icons and components are all tools you can use to visually convey what the game is about. It’s often the case that players judge a board game first and foremost by its physical appearance.
If the artwork is strong and reinforces the theme, this will help give players a much better sense of the setting and what the game is about. Well done visual design has the power to help make a game look immersive and well put together.
Visual design should not conflict with the theme. Everything should work in tandem to tell the same story.
Improve the Theme with Playtesting
Like the mechanics, the theme should be playtested and revised as needed.
Playtesting gives you the chance to see how the players themselves experience the theme, and whether or not they feel like they are connecting with the game’s subject matter and setting. If players are getting confused by the theme, or are not feeling invested in the setting, you should be willing to tweak your theme accordingly. Even minor changes to the way the game is presented to the players can make a big difference in how engaged they feel.
The goal is for the theme to be felt by the player throughout the entire game, and not just in the set up and story of the game.
Final Thoughts
A well-done theme is the key to adding personality and purpose and creating a meaningful emotional connection to your board game. When you begin by finding a singular focus for your theme and make sure your mechanics, setting, artwork and everything else works together in concert with one another, you will create a board game that feels immersive, interesting and memorable. Your players are much more likely to enjoy your game and want to return to it over and over again when the theme and gameplay work together to create a unique and cohesive experience.