TactiCon - The challenge of designing the core game loop of strategy games

More than with any other game genre, the design process for strategy games is uniquely challenging when it comes to building the "core game loop" or getting to the "fun experiences" of it when creating them. How does it impact the production of new experiences with the strategy genre and how does the developer overcome it?

Heart of the Machine: https://store.steampowered.com/app/20...
Great Houses of Calderia: https://store.steampowered.com/app/18...
HUMANKIND: https://store.steampowered.com/app/11...
Old World: https://store.steampowered.com/app/59...

Chris M. McElligott Park (He/Him) -   / arcengames  
Arcen Games, LLC
Indie game developer since 2009, after an early career in business software. Started out creating the cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which press described as a "grand strategic tower defense RTS." Not wanting to get pigeonholed as a strategy developer, immediately moved into the puzzle genre, which turned out to be too casual. From there had a lot more success with 2D platformers (before they were cliche), Metroidvania and Contralike, and then tactics, simulation, RPG, adventure, city-builder, god game, roguelike, SHMUP, more 4X, more RTS. Currently working on Heart of the Machine with Hooded Horse publishing, which is a mix of strategy, tactics, and colony sim.

Jussi Autio (He/Him) -   / gamesresistance  
Resistance Games
Jussi is a business-oriented game designer with over 16 years of experience. As a game designer, he is heavily mechanics driven although special aching in the tooth is how mechanics can facilitate new ways of narrative. He's also a big history lover and has a 12-hour long series on history of games - from stone age to space age.

William "Wilbefast" Dyce (He/Him) -   / wilbefast  
Amplitude Studios
A recovering game-jam addict from Canberra, Australia, William moved to Southern France in 2008 to complete an MSc in theoretical computer science, specializing in artificial intelligence. Having worked as an R&D engineer in the serious games space, William moved to Paris to do gameplay programming for PC, mobile, and console titles before joining Amplitude Studios.
William has been at the studio for 7 years now, joining the team to work on Endless Legend and Endless Space 2 expansions, laying the foundations for Humankind as the first designer on the project, and finally taking over as Lead Designer. He loves strategy video and board-games, ballet, cooking, walking, and psychology, among other things.

Soren Johnson (He/Him) -   / sorenjohnson  
Mohawk Games
Soren Johnson is Design Director at Mohawk Games, an independent studio dedicated to making deep and innovative strategy games, where he led the design of the economic RTS Offworld Trading Company and the character-focused 4X Old World. While at Firaxis Games, he designed Civilization IV, one of the highest-rated strategy games of all time. He was also the co-designer of Civilization III, lead designer of Dragon Age Legends, and a senior designer on Spore. Soren is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, was a design columnist for Game Developer Magazine, and is a member of the GDC Advisory Board. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. His podcast and thoughts on game design can be found at www.designer-notes.com.

Visit TactiCon event: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/T...