A better way to search for rules: how the Rule Lookup Tool works in Dized
Tutorials to learn how to play a new game are Dized flashier feature: they are pretty to look at, and they address a concrete problem the tabletop industry has. A lower barrier to entry into the hobby means more people are sitting down at the table with their friends, less frustration for those with little time or patience to read a rulebook and a positive attitude towards trying new titles more often.
Veterans in the hobby, however, sometimes love reading rulebooks and teaching how to play to their friends (are they good at it? That’s a topic for another time). We’re working on something very convenient for rulebook lovers too.
Enter the Rule Lookup Tool
No matter how much you like the smell of paper, or learning all the optional rules and variants by heart: at some point, someone will ask you a question, and you’ll be unprepared. Two things usually happen: frantic skimming of the 45 pages rulebook trying to remember where was that occurrence explained, and after the unfruitful research, firing up Google and resort to an online forum, where answers are contradictory or ambiguous. What’s worse, two times out of three an errata to the rules included with the box shows up, invalidating the last ten games.
All that is the past.
The Rule Lookup Tool (RLT) is a Dized module (each game features all or some modules, including Tutorial, Setup, etc.) explicitly created to help you find a rule, fast. Not only it brings up the information you need even if you don’t remember the exact search terms, but it also highlights related rules for context.
How we build an RLT
The RLT is an interactive tool. As such, it doesn’t follow the linear structure of a typical rulebook. Let’s use Bang! as an example: each rule is broken down to the smallest possible bit of information and filed by “category” (for instance Turns, Cards, Distance, Weapons, Elimination, Objectives). Each category can also have sub-categories, such as Cards → Brown bordered cards, Blue bordered cards, Role cards, etc.
The third level of rules organization lists all rules relative to a specific subcategory (for example Character Cards → Bart Cassidy, Black Jack, El Gringo, etc.).
The search field accepts terms related to the rule or terms that are close enough: this allows, for example, to call “pawn” a “meeple,” and still get the right answer. We also ask RLT creators to think about a list of natural language questions players are likely to ask during the game and plan rule breakdown accordingly, de facto replacing FAQs.
Once a rules explanation is selected, we move to the “Rule View.” Starting from the top, we display a meaningful icon, the title of the rule, images (recommended, but not compulsory) to further explain the concept and of course the description of the rule itself.
Below, we highlight the most relevant related rule (say, if there’s a variant for three players), and on the side a list of more Related Rules. If you don’t get the answer you were looking for in the text, it’s very likely you’ll get in one of these two areas. What’s more, we record player inputs: if many users are asking the same question over and over again, and there’s no answer to it, the game publisher will be notified and can react updating the RLT in a few simple steps.
A giant step for humankind (more or less)
The RLT was conceived to get rid of problems every tabletop gamer encounters sooner or later:
- Poor organization of rulebooks
- Lack of, or bad, explanation of edge cases
- Typos in the rulebook
- Need for FAQs
- Errata to download as PDF, or included only with second or third prints
- Waste of time looking for answers when you should just be playing
- Direct feedback for publisher on the clarity of their rules, and a chance for them to improve on them easily
We believe this tool will be a considerable success especially with people that are already familiar with a game and want to get answers to precise, technical gameplay questions.
Making an RLT is simple, and we invite all interested publishers to get in touch if their game could benefit from one!
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