Grasping Nettles Game Design Guide

This is a Game Design Guide based on the game Grasping Nettles by Adam Bell. It’s a collection of my thoughts about the design decisions that led to the final product, and intended to be used by game designers in their pursuits of making new games of their own, or in making expansion content to the base game.

This is not a playable document, for that you can pick up a copy of the game itself at adamebell.itch.io/grasping-nettles. Free copies are there, so grab one if you need to. Instead, this is a reflection on the different rules of the game along with some commentary on how I think you might be able to use it to create something new

You have my express permission to make cool new games based on Grasping Nettles and content that’s compatible with it. If you do, please just include whichever text below is relevant somewhere in your game.

If your product declares compatibility with Grasping Nettles, state the following in your legal text and on any websites from which a commercial product is sold: “[product name] is compatible with Grasping Nettles, but is an independent production by [publisher name] and is not affiliated with Adam Bell or adamebell.games.”

If your product uses any assets or words from Grasping Nettles or the Grasping Nettles Game Design Guide, state the following in your legal text and on any websites from which a commercial product is sold: “[product name] is based on Grasping Nettles, but is an independent production by [publisher name] and is not affiliated with Adam Bell or adamebell.games.”

Additionally, if you make or release any hacks of the game, you’re welcome to include the following graphic and the text “This Game Reinvents the Wheel” to indicate that it’s inspired by Grasping Nettles.