I think it’s just, after you have designed enough things, you learn to think like a system and you know what a lot of the possibilities are before you play thos

I think it’s just, after you have designed enough things, you learn to think like a system and you know what a lot of the possibilities are before you play those specific corners of the system. That said, you can always be surprised, and it’s delightful when this happens, so you don’t want to get on an egotistical high horse and decide you really know the system without playing it. The actual experience of the actual system is your reality check. But, the more experience you have with that system, the more you can see where things might go (unless it’s intensely chaotic, thus unplayable).