Fundamentals of Strategy Game Design

The Game World

The choice of setting for your strategy game is a vital consideration because different players prefer different fantasies. Dress up the underlying gameplay in a different setting and it can feel like a totally different game. You can transplant the core mechanics of a strategy game into many different settings; it’s practically a universal game construction kit. Will your game be set in history? The contemporary world? The future (as you anticipate it)? Or a fantasy world of your imagination?

In spite of the ease with which strategy game mechanics can be reused in a new setting, you’ll need to keep some important distinctions in mind.

Historical Settings

Military strategy games, perennial favorites, tend to be set in the past—either ...