Sometimes it's part of a publisher pitch, online marketing, or printed right on the game box. Some people call it a "hook" or a "tagline." Whatever the terminology or location, how you describe your game to publishers and players alike matters, probably more than you think. I bet you've even made a purchasing decision or two based entirely on a tagline like "A space-pirate-themed deck-building area-control economy simulator." Perhaps this game really speaks to you based on your taste for deck building or your proud heritage as a space pirate. Maybe you were immediately turned off because you can't stand to play another area control game, or space pirates killed your entire family. In either case, these seemingly innocuous terms can make or break a game.
Today I'm going to take a more conceptual approach and look at common board game descriptors, discuss when and where to use each type of description, and look at how you can best present your game to publishers and gamers to hook them early and get them interested in your game. Along the way I'll also be offering my personal tips on how best to use these powers for good. Alright, let's get to it!
Learn the Lingo
First and foremost we need to consider what words are available to us. Yes, you can describe your game any way you want, but using preexisting and understood terms will help you get your message across much quicker and easier. The problem is finding such a list of words.
According to Wikipedia, there are only 17 genres, including "licensed" and "based on TV shows". Not the most reliable list, I'd say. Board Game Geek breaks it down even further to 8 major genres, which are very inclusive, but not exceptionally descriptive.
The best source on the subject was a BGG article written by [user=selwyth]David F[/user], a regular contributor and featured Geek of the Week. His article, An Alternative Classification of Board Games, dissects the tagline into three components: the Format, the Genre, and the Mechanism. Within each group is a series of descriptors that focus entirely on gameplay. Taglines created from this methodology give you an almost perfect snapshot of how the game is played and what you are trying to accomplish, no small feat. It does leave out theme though, which can be a big selling point for some gamers.
Whatever the order of words you decide to use, make sure that they are fairly common. Sometimes designers take terms for granted. You also shouldn't seek to redefine the tagline, rather use the existing frameworks to represent your unique game design in a way that is familiar to the audience. You want to bring them in, not make them feel left out.
Define Your Goal
There are many places your game's description can pop up. It can be part of your pitch, often as the opening sentence, sometimes referred to as the "hook." It can be printed directly on the game box; this is often a shorter version and is referred to as a "tagline." There are also iterations that might show up in tweets or other advertising that require a lot of info in a small space. These will all likely be different, but should pull from the same ideas and concepts. What you feel is important to share with a publisher about your game should be somewhat similar to what you should be telling your prospective players.
To be clear, your pitch or tagline doesn't have to be printed on the game box. Some games do this, like Niya and Sushi Go! in the header image. This is more common in smaller or more casual games than the larger boxes that generally indicate a more involved game. That doesn't mean more complicated games like Tokaido, for example, don't have a pitch or hook. When the game was being shopped to publishers, I'm confident there was a short description that was used when first introducing the game.
No matter how good Tokaido's tagline may have been, I think we can all agree it has no place on the exceptionally clean and artistic box cover that represents the zen-like theme. Again, a tagline can sometimes be used just in marketing or your initial pitch. It can also be translated to a tweet ad or a Kickstarter description. Both are short and require you to get your point across quickly and concisely. Remember though that, no matter how catchy your tagline may be, don't just paste it on the box without considering your overall theme and appearance.
Keep it Simple
For most first-time designers, you're going to feel the temptation to put a lot of extra words in your tagline. You're game might be the most interesting and unique game ever created by man, but putting all of that info in a tagline isn't going to do you any favors. Focus on the absolute most important elements of the game. Use the following questions to help you narrow in on what matters most:
• What is the one thing every potential player needs to know?
• What words are going to sell my game?
• What elements are OK to be discovered during gameplay?
• How is my game different from similar games?
When crafting your tagline, start with several attempts just to get the juices flowing. Don't worry too much about editing at this stage, we'll get to that in a bit. Start by conveying everything you think a player needs to know, and then critically review each and every word. If you can remove a word and still have the same effect, do it. Try to pack in as much information per word as possible.
The Formula
This is the part of the article where you get my opinion. I've devised a formula that can, at the very least, get you started writing your tagline. I believe these three aspects to be the most important when trying to sell your game to a gamer. Consider these basic building blocks:
• Weight: Is this game casual or more involved? How much effort does it require?
• Theme: What's the setting? What kind of art? Is it about a historic event?
• Mechanic: What one mechanic defines your game?
Let's use this fictional tagline as an example:
Only seven words long but you can pack a lot of information in there. You know it is challenging, which can be subjective, but at least lets you know what end of the spectrum this game is on. You know the theme is post-apocalyptic. This can draw you in if you're a fan, or turn you off if you already own similar games. You also know the game utilizes deck building and, most likely, has cards in it. From this single sentence you should be able to decide if you're definitely not interested or if you'd like to learn more about the game. Once the player picks up the box and starts reading, you're in a really good place to make a sale.
As a slight exception to the formula, let's look at the current tagline for Burger Dice:
You may have noticed I didn't include a theme in the tagline. Instead I substituted "dice" as the theme. At this stage of approaching publishers, I'm not married to my theme and am willing to change it. For the publishers, I want to get across the most important elements that won't change. At a later stage when burgers are officially on the menu, it may be included in the tagline, but I still don't know if the theme is the real selling point here. Yes, burgers are delicious, but it's relatively abstract from the actual gameplay.
A quick note on weight: this should be considered a "when possible" addition. More times than not it will feel weird to say "light-mid-weight" in a tagline, so don't force it. Often you'll find that words like "casual" that indicate lighter games work well in a tagline, whereas descriptors of more in-depth games are harder to come by. Again, if this isn't relevant to your game, skip it in favor of something else.
You will need to make the call on what is most important to include here. Again, really figure out what your game is at its core. If you can get that message across to players, you'll have a much better chance of selling them on your game.
Additional Information
There are other pieces of information that you can consider adding to your tagline if you either have no other alternatives or are large parts of the core experience. Consider some of these extra pieces when crafting your game description:
Duration: how long does the game take?
Number of Players: is the game good for small or large groups?
Components: are there cards, dice, or something else unique?
Gameplay Style: is your game turn-based, real-time, or action based?
Buzz Words: if you game is very light-weight or thematic, could you use flavor text?
Take-aways
Writing a good tagline is more art than science, so take everything here with a grain of salt. There will always be exceptions to the rules and you shouldn't be so obsessed with the form that you sacrifice the function. That in mind, here are the main points from today's article:
• Use known terms: stick to words that are comfortable and understandable to the players. When possible, conform to standard terms used in the industry.
• Simplify: less is more. Convey the most information you can in as few words as possible.
• Identify key points: determine the most important aspects of your game to focus on. Use high-level concepts, leaving in-depth explanation for back-of-box or rules.
• Don't clutter the box: if the tagline fits well on the box cover, feel free to add it. Don't mess up great art or layout with a tagline if it isn't really contributing.
Big thanks to Manuel Correia, Grant Rodiek, and Drew Hicks for contributing their thoughts and quotes to this article. Please check out their respective sites for more game design insight and projects they are working on.