The gap between what players complain and what they actually enjoy

In this article, I want to explore those game design elements that players vocally despise, yet secretly depend on.

From a first-principles perspective, our brains are hardwired to pursue comfort. However, the "flow state" that games strive to provide requires players to oscillate constantly between pressure and comfort. Therefore, we incorporate design elements that players claim to hate, but which are essential for maintaining that flow. Without contrast, there is no pleasure.

Another way to interpret this phenomenon is that players invest significant effort into mastering a game, and if the designer fails to provide sufficient achievement or sensory feedback, the player feels cheated. Ultimately, players don’t actually hate pain; they hate meaningless pain.

Here are a few examples:

1. The Paradox of "Cookie-Cutter" Strategies (Meta/Archetypes)

Players often complain about cookie-cutter builds, yet new players need these established patterns to feel secure and guide their initial growth. They rely on these "tropes" to quickly grasp the game world. However, as players become more experienced, designers must use variables to challenge their established understanding and use rewards to encourage experimentation with off-meta routes, ensuring they always have new problems to solve.

In my own game, I utilize terrain-based "class tags" that create intuitive, immediate synergies with the player's hand cards. As players grow more familiar with the game, the introduction of new card abilities, specific play orders, and field event bonuses encourages them to break away from their initial, rigid understanding of "optimal" play.

2. The Nuance of Game Balance

Players claim to hate imbalance, but in reality, they only hate it when it works against them—specifically, when the enemies are overpowered. Conversely, players love discovering strategies that allow them to "break" the developer's intended design, as this provides a sense of psychological satisfaction—the feeling that they have outsmarted the designer.

In my project, I intentionally design card abilities to offer various ways to bend or break the rules. By allowing players to leverage the synergy between cards and terrain, they can achieve that peak gaming experience of feeling like they have truly "solved" or surpassed the system.

這篇文章，我想聊聊遊戲設計中那些「矛盾的存在」——玩家口頭上強烈排斥，但實際上卻極度依賴的機制。

若以「第一性原理」審視：人類大腦天生傾向於追求舒適，但遊戲的核心魅力在於創造「心流體驗」（Flow），而心流必須讓玩家在「壓迫」與「舒適」之間持續擺盪。因此，那些讓玩家感到討厭的設計，其實是維持心流的必要之惡；沒有對比，就沒有真正的愉悅。

換個角度看，當玩家投入大量心力學習你的遊戲，卻遲遲得不到相應的成就感或感官回饋時，他們的反彈便會產生。所以，玩家本質上厭惡的並非痛苦，而是「無價值的痛苦」。

以下列舉兩個例子：

1. 對「套路」的愛與恨

玩家口頭上常抱怨「套路化」，但對於新手而言，套路是提供安全感與成長路徑的基石。他們藉由這些固定的模板快速理解遊戲世界；然而，隨著玩家愈發純熟，設計師便需適時引入變數打破舊認知，並透過獎勵機制鼓勵玩家嘗試「非主流路線」，讓他們永遠有新問題需要面對與解決。

在我的遊戲中，我利用「地形職業標籤」與「手牌職業」產生直覺的聯動，幫助玩家快速上手。而當玩家進階後，新的卡牌能力、出牌順序以及場上事件的獎勵，都會成為引導玩家跳脫既有認知，探索更多可能性的推手。

2. 關於「不平衡」的真相

玩家口頭上總說厭惡不平衡，但事實上，他們討厭的只是「敵人的不平衡」。他們真正熱衷的是——透過自己的智慧，挖掘出超越開發者設計的「破格」套路。這種發現過程，能帶給玩家一種「我比設計師更聰明」的極大心理滿足。

因此，在我的遊戲設計中，我刻意利用卡牌能力創造各種「打破規則」的契機。讓玩家能透過卡牌與地形的巧妙聯動，去體驗那種「凌駕於系統之上」的巔峰快感。

Design Lens: Breaking Down Game Design through First Principles.

In the process of creating this game, I attempted to approach it from various angles to identify potential areas for optimization. One such approach is the application of "First Principles."

First Principles suggest that game design establishes boundaries through rules (defining what we cannot do) and provides players with a series of choices within those boundaries (defining what we can do). These choices and rules form the player's cognitive expectations (how we achieve our goals). The game then utilizes feedback and variables to show the player the discrepancy between their actions and expectations, triggering a continuous cycle of cognitive reconstruction (why we feel compelled to play again).

My terminal-based game is a blend of deck-building mechanics and lightweight 4X elements. In this game, the rules mandate that, within a time limit, players must spend influence each turn to deploy minions and resolve field events. Doing so strengthens your minions and cities, eventually building up enough strength to satisfy central objectives and gain prestige. Elements such as the cards drawn each turn, new minion classes and abilities acquired, the terrain, current events, and the class requirements for both events and central objectives all shape a dynamic environment that encourages the player to engage in continuous cognitive reconstruction.

By applying First Principles to strategy game design, we understand that the goal is to create a scenario where players must consider how to allocate limited resources to maximize output efficiency per unit of time, while balancing the risks and rewards of uncertainty. Ultimately, this allows players to feel the weight of their decisions in securing victory.

My terminal game strives to create a scenario where players are exiled to a frontier. The game begins with minimal influence, low-stat minions, and an uncharted geographical landscape. Players must analyze their current hand, event types, and class requirements to incrementally determine the optimal sequence and path for deploying minions, continuously refining their engine and efficiency to achieve the game's objectives.

在開發這款遊戲的過程中，我嘗試從多個維度切入，試圖挖掘優化的空間，其中一個方法論便是「第一性原理」。

第一性原理告訴我們，遊戲設計透過規則劃定邊界（玩家不能做什麼），並在邊界內提供一系列選擇（玩家能做什麼）。這些選擇與規則共同構建了玩家的「認知預期」（如何達成目標）。隨後，遊戲透過回饋與變數，將玩家的實際行動結果與預期進行對照，進而引發持續的「認知重構」循環——這正是玩家感到欲罷不能的深層原因。

我的這款終端機遊戲，採用了「牌組構築（Deck-building）」結合「輕量 4X」的設計架構。在遊戲中，核心規則要求玩家在有限時限內，透過每回合消耗影響力來派遣手下、完成場上事件，進而強化手下與城市。玩家必須達成足夠強大的綜合狀態，才能完成中央需求以獲得聲望。而每一回合抽到的牌、新取得的職業與能力、當下的地形與事件，以及中央需求的職業需求，共同構築了一個動態環境，不斷驅動玩家進行認知的重構與優化。

若將第一性原理應用於策略遊戲設計，我們可以理解其終極目標：創造一個情境，引導玩家思考如何在資源有限的情況下，實現單位時間內產出效率的最大化，並在不確定性帶來的風險與收益間取得平衡，讓玩家深刻感受到決策對最終勝負的「重量」。

基於此，我的終端機遊戲致力於營造一種「邊疆流放」的沉浸感。遊戲初始，玩家僅持有極少的影響力、低數值的手下以及未知的地理環境。玩家必須根據手牌、事件類型與職業需求，一步步規劃派遣手下的最佳順序與路徑，在持續精進出牌引擎與效率的過程中，一步步邁向勝利。

Why I want to create this game

I wish to use this game to weave together my past, present, and future. It is a personal creative endeavor that encapsulates my identity as a Taiwanese man in his 30s—the influences that shaped me (games, manga, novels, cinema, world-building, art styles, music, etc.), the life experiences I have gathered (designing board games in college, working on mobile game projects after graduation, and moving to Sweden in 2020 to build a family), and ultimately, my visions for the future and what I hope to leave behind.

The outer layer of this game centers on surviving within a cozy shelter, playing strategy games to pass the time while awaiting the reconstruction of civilization and the end of a nuclear winter. This theme is, in fact, a reflection of my own life. When I first moved to Sweden from Taiwan in 2020, the pandemic was sweeping across the globe. Between remote work, limited mobility, and the brutal, endless Swedish winter, I spent a great deal of time playing Civilization. Often, I would look up to realize it was already dawn. I knew heroes were out there working to develop vaccines and save the world, but other than finding ways to stay optimistic and comfortable, there felt like nothing I could do. I often struggled with a profound sense of helplessness.

Within this, the strategy game itself tells the story of an official exiled to the frontier, striving to build influence and find their way back to the heart of the empire. This mirrors my current stage of life. After being laid off at the end of 2025, I felt as though I had been pushed out of the industry I had dedicated over a decade to. Now, I find myself lost regarding the next chapter of my life. Is making this indie game the answer? I suppose I will only know once it is finished.

我希望透過這款遊戲，將我的過去、現在與未來串聯起來。這是我給自己的一份創作，記錄了身為一名 30 多歲台灣男性，一路走來所積累的喜好——無論是遊戲、漫畫、小說、電影，還是那些形塑我審美觀的世界觀、美術風格與音樂。同時，這也是對我人生經歷的梳理：從大學時期的桌遊設計、畢業後投入的手機遊戲開發，到 2020 年遠赴瑞典工作、成家，最後延伸至我對未來的想像，以及我渴望在這個世界上留下的印記。

遊戲的「外層」主題，設定在一個舒適的避難所裡。玩家透過遊玩策略遊戲來打發時間，靜候文明重建與核子冬天的結束。這其實是我生活的寫照：2020 年，當我剛從台灣移居瑞典，全球正籠罩在疫情的陰影下。居家辦公、行動受限，再加上瑞典漫長且壓抑的冬天，我花了大把時間沉浸在《文明帝國》中，時常一抬頭，天就亮了。當時我知道世上有無數英雄正努力研發疫苗、試圖拯救世界；但我除了在封閉的環境中保持樂觀，似乎什麼也做不了，心中常有一種難以言喻的無力感。

而遊戲內部的「策略遊戲」主題，則描述了一名被帝國放逐到邊疆的官員，嘗試建立聲望並重返權力核心的過程。這正映照著我當下的人生狀態：2025 年底的一場裁員，讓我感覺自己被硬生生推離了深耕十餘年的遊戲產業。站在人生的十字路口，我對下一步感到迷惘。製作這款獨立遊戲，會是人生難題的解答嗎？我想，只有當我真正完成它的那一刻，答案才會揭曉。