---
key: practice/shared-workshop
type: practice
id: shared-workshop
lang: en
title: The shared workshop
summary: Create a strategic decision that considers an opponent's actions.
updatedAt: '2026-10-20'
status: active
url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/practice/shared-workshop/'
jsonUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/practice/shared-workshop.json'
markdownUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/practice/shared-workshop.md'
aliases: []
tags:
  - Strategy
sourceIds:
  - source-3e6c21889ae768e0
  - source-6f794a271cd60b9c
sources:
  - id: source-3e6c21889ae768e0
    title: 'Challenges for Game Designers: author website'
    url: 'https://designgames.wordpress.com/'
    verifiedAt: null
  - id: source-6f794a271cd60b9c
    title: 'Challenges for Game Designers: table of contents'
    url: 'https://designgames.wordpress.com/toc/'
    verifiedAt: null
relations:
  - type: practices
    direction: incoming
    label: What this helps you learn
    key: path/npc-behavior
    title: NPC behavior
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/learn/npc-behavior/'
    jsonUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/path/npc-behavior.json'
    markdownUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/path/npc-behavior.md'
  - type: uses
    direction: outgoing
    label: Sources in the selection
    key: resource/challenges-for-game-designers
    title: Challenges for Game Designers
    url: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/en/resources/#resource-challenges-for-game-designers
    jsonUrl: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/resource/challenges-for-game-designers.json
    markdownUrl: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/resource/challenges-for-game-designers.md
placements:
  - title: In the original collection
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/practice/#shared-workshop'
supersededBy: []
attributes:
  topic: strategy
  level: intermediate
  minutes: 60
endsAt: null
provenance: >-
  Thematic inspiration: Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and
  Ian Schreiber. These scenarios, constraints and checks are independently
  written around broad game-design learning topics. This is not a translation or
  a sequential retelling of the book exercises.
license: CC-BY-4.0
codeLicense: MIT
attribution: gamemechanics.pro contributors
---
# The shared workshop

id: shared-workshop
type: practice
key: practice/shared-workshop
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/practice/shared-workshop/

Create a strategic decision that considers an opponent's actions.

## Goal

Create a strategic decision that considers an opponent's actions.

## Scenario and materials

Two craftspeople share a set of machines to fulfil orders. An occupied machine is unavailable to the opponent until the next round. Design a choice between a quick simple order and preparation for a valuable order that a competitor can disrupt.

Two players and tokens

## Constraints

- There is no randomness or hidden information.
- Use no more than three machines and three order types.
- The game ends after six rounds.

## Steps

1. Describe available actions and when machines become free.
2. Create two situations in which the preferable action depends on the opponent's response.
3. Swap players' positions and check the effect of going first.

## Deliverable

Rules, two analysed game states and observations about turn order.

## Check your work

- Explain how one player's action changes the other's options.
- At least one decision depends on the opponent's expected response.
- Check whether the first player receives a persistent advantage.

## Reflect

Does a player win through planning or through the privilege of moving first?

## Connected materials

- What this helps you learn: [NPC behavior](https://gamemechanics.pro/en/learn/npc-behavior/) (key: path/npc-behavior)
- Sources in the selection: [Challenges for Game Designers](https://gamemechanics.pro/en/resources/#resource-challenges-for-game-designers) (key: resource/challenges-for-game-designers)

## Sources and provenance

Thematic inspiration: Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber. These scenarios, constraints and checks are independently written around broad game-design learning topics. This is not a translation or a sequential retelling of the book exercises.

- [Challenges for Game Designers: author website](https://designgames.wordpress.com/) (id: source-3e6c21889ae768e0)
- [Challenges for Game Designers: table of contents](https://designgames.wordpress.com/toc/) (id: source-6f794a271cd60b9c)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors