What are the best ways to design games that can be played both solo and with others?

1 Define your goals

The first step to design a game that can be played both solo and with others is to define your goals and vision for your game. What is the core experience that you want to deliver to your players, regardless of how they choose to play? What are the main mechanics, features, and themes that make your game unique and appealing? How do you want your players to feel and behave when they play your game? By clarifying your goals, you can focus on the essential elements of your game design and avoid unnecessary complexity or inconsistency.

3 Balance your difficulty

Another important aspect of designing a game that can be played both solo and with others is to balance the difficulty and challenge of your game. Difficulty is the measure of how hard it is to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle in your game, while challenge is the measure of how engaging and satisfying it is to do so. You want your game to be challenging enough to motivate and reward your players, but not so difficult that it frustrates or discourages them. To balance the difficulty and challenge of your game, you need to consider several factors, such as the skills, knowledge, and preferences of your players, the complexity and variability of your game mechanics and systems, and the feedback and guidance that you provide to your players. You also need to adjust the difficulty and challenge according to the mode of play, as playing solo or with others can affect the level of skill, cooperation, communication, and competition required to succeed in your game.

4 Adapt your content

The final step is to adapt your content and presentation to the mode of play. Content refers to the elements that make up your game world, such as the characters, stories, environments, items, and events. Presentation refers to the way that you communicate and display your content to your players, such as the graphics, sounds, interface, and narration. You want your content and presentation to be consistent and coherent with your goals and vision, but also flexible and responsive to the mode of play. For example, you could have a game where the content and presentation change depending on whether the player is playing solo or with others, such as by adding or removing NPCs, dialogue, quests, or cutscenes. Alternatively, you could have a game where the content and presentation remain the same, but the player can interact with them differently depending on the mode of play, such as by choosing different paths, options, or outcomes.

By following these steps, you can design games that can be played both solo and with others, without compromising the quality, balance, or engagement of your game. You can also create games that appeal to a wider and more diverse audience, and that offer more replay value and variety. Whether you are a fan of adventure, strategy, action, or simulation games, you can find or create games that suit your preferences and availability, and that allow you to enjoy gaming alone or with others.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?