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Hey! It’s Sylvie the mechanics designer here! This post will be all about the possibly hidden intricacies of the special tiles. They all have a lot of thought and subtle interactions and have gone through some interesting changes over the development of Stars Align!

The Basics

I used a basic system for designing all of the tiles within. It followed a couple simple rules

• The more pathways a tile has, the less base points it should be worth
• If a tile can be used for another ability / has something special going on, it should be worth less points or have less pathways than its regular tile
• In each set of 3 tiles, there should be a special tile that is worth a high amount of points, one that can be used for either mobility or defensively (they often function the same) and finally a tile that is useful for disrupting other players

The base tiles follow this structure as the ones with 3 pathways are worth only one base point, but the tiles with two pathways are worth two base point. This is because often having more pathways on a tile makes it harder to remove, and allows the player to build out their constellation into more directions. Thus, if it is easier to build a system then you are also more likely to get more points, or keep more points after being rotated. This means if a player draws or chooses a lot of one point tiles, they won’t necessarily fall behind points wise if they play well towards combo or leverage tougher to use high point tiles right

Black Hole

This was a very simple changing of the structure to create a special tile, if a 3 pathways tile is worth 1 point and a 2 pathway tile is worth 2 points. The clear next step is to cut down the pathways even more and make it only one pathway. Having it be a dead end is very interesting as it is choosing to cut down and restrict the board. Not being able to build in many directions makes your plays more predictable and creating one long line of power is much more vulnerable to rotation. However, having the tile with only one pathway made it incredibly vulnerable to rotation, and having it be unrotatable helped make the dead end play as a more final as a decision. The no rotation rule helped defend them but also still leaves them vulnerable as you can reroute the power leading into them. It also means the way you choose to face the black hole can hinge on further plans too and where you believe to be the most secure.

Sun

The Sun is the alternate reaction to the base rules of pathway/base points ratios. I looked at 4 or 5 pathway tiles but they felt less special than I wanted to, and so the full 6 pathways tile was born. This made it very interesting as a way to make a very secure tile that wasn’t itself a producer of energy. The Sun used to have a separate very interesting rule where multiple people could claim the sun at once, allowing for peoples constellations to cross over. With the addition of the second set of tiles the sun’s place as a more basic special tile meant having this interesting but convoluted rule wasn’t really good for what we wanted the tile to do. Keeping working simply within the rules of the game as a zero base points six pathway tile made it better for introducing people to the game as a beginner special tile. Also, having everyone claim it at once if you placed it next to a moon made it feel very weak to find early game and limited its use a bit too much.

Nebula

The nebula is a bit weird as it doesn’t initially look like it follows the pattern but it needs to operate the way it does to remain balanced. The nebula fills the role of disruption, as it’s zero pathways means it can be placed in front of opponents pathways to block off their future routes. The nebula also has a special rule where it powers itself, as playing a nebula as purely a blocking tile felt quite bad but also still getting a point out of it felt much better. It is weaker points wise than dropping a one point standard tile as it doesn’t build at all towards combo, so players must make sure the disruption they are performing is worth it. The nebula was actually the second disruption tile to be designed, initially the Shooting Star was designed first but was moved to the second set of tiles when I decided to separate the tiles into sets, as its play and rules are a bit more complicated. The Nebula’s blocking of pathways can create interesting play, as you can corral players into playing close together to cause conflicts or force them into building unsafe single power source pathways that are vulnerable to be taken or de-powered

Shooting Star

The other disruption tile currently in the game, the Shooting Star is a two pathway tile that is worth one point, and has the special rules that it can be placed over a standard tile in play (as long as its not next to a source). This is a very powerful effect, and that is why it has had so many restrictions placed upon it. There was a lot of back and forth over whether it should be able to go over special tiles or not, as it can give a way to balance out the Saturn and Wormhole tiles, but in the end it was not allowed. It becomes a negative feeling tile for players at the board that cheats how stealing often works. The thing that swayed me the most though was that it promotes play patterns that are already strong, and I really want many ways of playing to feel at least viable, instead of always feeling like you have to do the optimal thing. If the Shooting Star is allowed to go over special tiles, players are encouraged to try and store all special tiles around sources, and immediately uses sources to further support special tiles if they are drawn later. This is already good as it can make them secure from rotation, and so is not a play style that needs further encouragement. Saturn was designed with two pathways that cross straight over the tile for very specific reasons, as it can allow players to stop constellations from connecting directly after its rotated if placed on a corner. This was targeted instead of straight across as only 2/6 of the basic tiles can go straight across when 3/6 can make 60 degree or 120 degree corners.

Saturn

Saturn is a tile with two pathways that is worth one base point. However, Saturn will gain 3 points in value if it is fully surrounded by tiles. These tiles do not need to be owned by the player who is controlling Saturn, thus meaning nestling it up against other player’s constellations or even placing unpowered tiles next to Saturn can help fulfil its condition. Saturn gives the player a spacial challenge to complete if they want to reap the benefits of a Saturn tile, which can be tough to do in such a way that it doesn’t end up loosing them more points than they gain as a bonus. Saturns can often also be placed as a deterrent, like a pseudo Nebula, as its put next to an opponent who really doesn’t want to finish its ring and allow their opponent to score more points. Saturn was designed as a straight across tile for two reasons (one of them being obsolete now). Firstly, Saturn has two pathways going straight across itself as it allows players to access both sides of the Saturn, and then maybe build from either to complete its ring for bonus points. Secondly, Saturn was designed to match the Shooting Star tiles direction as it was a high priority target for them, and thus having it match meant players wouldn’t be caught out without a Saturn or a functioning constellation. This of course isn’t important anymore as Shooting Stars can no longer be placed over special tiles.

Wormholes

I’ve left wormholes till last because they are the most complicated tile in the entire game. Firstly, during setup you need to set 3 of the 6 wormhole tiles to the side, one of each number of stars. The rest of them are shuffled in with the rest of the special tiles in the set. When one of the tiles is played from the bag/shop, its matching tile is also placed from the ones set aside. These two tiles are connected no matter the distance between them, and power + combo can flow into one and then out of the next one. this allows for multiple possible strategies, such as remote stealing of other people’s constellations and shoring up your own defences. With the wormhole being both ways, it can be risky to play offensively with it as it also gives your opponent a way to access your constellation as well as you accessing theirs. It only has one pathway to not only keep the idea of power passing into one and then out of the other simpler, but also it adds a layer of vulnerability to them that they need to be balanced out to the power of the other tiles. They also are worth no base points as otherwise being able to place down two tiles would immediately make them better than many other tiles, but they can still provide up to 2 points if they are included in the combo.

Wrap-up

In conclusion, designing these tiles felt almost like a paradox as I was working on having them work as smoothly as possible. Thus, the more and more I worked on them, the simpler and cleaner they operated and thus the less if felt like they were worked on. I hope this short synopsis shows a little bit of the design that went into making the game such a seamless experience!