Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Final Playtest
Playtest
Wed Nov 10th..
This playtest was so fun to watch...
I realized that after all we did, all the changes, all the decisions, all the work, it was all worth it... seems like every of the players had fun and enjoyed the game...
The foundation, the basis are the same as they were at first, we just changed the look of characters, the pieces, the colours, of course some things disappeared and some new stuff came along but at the end, it worked pretty well...
Congrats to my team... yeah!!! .. I love our game....
Wed Nov 10th..
This playtest was so fun to watch...
I realized that after all we did, all the changes, all the decisions, all the work, it was all worth it... seems like every of the players had fun and enjoyed the game...
The foundation, the basis are the same as they were at first, we just changed the look of characters, the pieces, the colours, of course some things disappeared and some new stuff came along but at the end, it worked pretty well...
Congrats to my team... yeah!!! .. I love our game....
Monday, November 8, 2010
From Futuristic Realism to Cartoon Fun
After watching the play test on Friday we all noticed a lot of things that needed to be changed. Some of the major changed that were needed was conflict taking to long to get going, player interaction was minimal and the game was too slow in starting. You could probably win the game without interacting with any players, which was a major thing. Players were unsure of some rules and how they worked. I think the game was a little bit too complex and to complex but still enough to have players confused. The game definitely needed some streamlining! We thought players found the combat hard to figure out with all the bonuses, support, attack and defense ratings and how to add them.
We went to simplify the game and take out the complex parts but still keeping the core game intact. As the game evolved and features were added, the game became increasingly complex. We were having to incorporate all these little rules to make things work. The most straightforward way to simplify the game was to reduce the number of units, resources, buildings and to simplify combat. As we began stripping out features we noticed that things were not needed and obsolete or weren't working.
The original theme we went with was Technology and Theology. As much as we were trying to push the theology theme in our game and to keep it in the game we really thought it was not working anymore. So the result is we decided on a change of theme. We kept the technology theme because we felt that was the core part of the game, but we changed from theology to biology. We changed from a kind of a realistic futuristic setting with realistic art to a more lighthearted cartoon style of art. I think the changed really worked well and makes the game more fun and open to more people/age groups.
We changed from having 4 different races from across the galaxy to 4 races of "blobs" that evolved from one blob race. I think Micheal did a quick sketch of a blob saying we could have that as one race from a planet with 3 others. I think we all like it so much and thought why not have all the races as four different coloured blobs. Such as the blue, yellow, green and red blobs. It also makes it easy to identify who you are during the game e.g. "I am the blue blob" or "I am the red blob". Instead of "I am the blue humans" or "the yellow hunter"
We also went with a smaller game board to get the game going faster and encourage conflict. Reduced the number of resource hexes and instead of having the three resources (uranium, metal and food) we went with two resources (gold and food). These two resources are easily identified by anybody, "gold is gold" and "food is food". For example metal, which metal is that? Uranium? Not everyone knows what that is, children for example. We went from three resources buildings to only one (Gold). We took out the factory building for building mechs too and made it so you could always build them from the beginning of the game.
Reduced the number of units from four to three. With the theme changed it was easy to do. Keep the warrior (rename blob warrior) and mech (CyBlob) and Change the worker/priest to a scientist. Reduce the attack/defense ratings of all units and all units now move 2 hexes at a time. This made combat easier for players to understand and easier to add up attacks and defenses. It also has the benefit of speeding up the game. The cost of all the units was reduced and streamlined to reflect the new unit ratings and also less resources being obtained throughout the game.
In the end I think the changes that we have did have made the game more fun and easier to understand. Plus a shorter game with more conflict and player interaction. There may be some more balance changes and polishing before the game is completely done.
We went to simplify the game and take out the complex parts but still keeping the core game intact. As the game evolved and features were added, the game became increasingly complex. We were having to incorporate all these little rules to make things work. The most straightforward way to simplify the game was to reduce the number of units, resources, buildings and to simplify combat. As we began stripping out features we noticed that things were not needed and obsolete or weren't working.
The original theme we went with was Technology and Theology. As much as we were trying to push the theology theme in our game and to keep it in the game we really thought it was not working anymore. So the result is we decided on a change of theme. We kept the technology theme because we felt that was the core part of the game, but we changed from theology to biology. We changed from a kind of a realistic futuristic setting with realistic art to a more lighthearted cartoon style of art. I think the changed really worked well and makes the game more fun and open to more people/age groups.
We changed from having 4 different races from across the galaxy to 4 races of "blobs" that evolved from one blob race. I think Micheal did a quick sketch of a blob saying we could have that as one race from a planet with 3 others. I think we all like it so much and thought why not have all the races as four different coloured blobs. Such as the blue, yellow, green and red blobs. It also makes it easy to identify who you are during the game e.g. "I am the blue blob" or "I am the red blob". Instead of "I am the blue humans" or "the yellow hunter"
We also went with a smaller game board to get the game going faster and encourage conflict. Reduced the number of resource hexes and instead of having the three resources (uranium, metal and food) we went with two resources (gold and food). These two resources are easily identified by anybody, "gold is gold" and "food is food". For example metal, which metal is that? Uranium? Not everyone knows what that is, children for example. We went from three resources buildings to only one (Gold). We took out the factory building for building mechs too and made it so you could always build them from the beginning of the game.
Reduced the number of units from four to three. With the theme changed it was easy to do. Keep the warrior (rename blob warrior) and mech (CyBlob) and Change the worker/priest to a scientist. Reduce the attack/defense ratings of all units and all units now move 2 hexes at a time. This made combat easier for players to understand and easier to add up attacks and defenses. It also has the benefit of speeding up the game. The cost of all the units was reduced and streamlined to reflect the new unit ratings and also less resources being obtained throughout the game.
In the end I think the changes that we have did have made the game more fun and easier to understand. Plus a shorter game with more conflict and player interaction. There may be some more balance changes and polishing before the game is completely done.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
More Artwork
For the last few days I've taken a step back from design and have been focusing on art as my main role within the group. Its been a change of pace for me but I've really enjoyed it so far, Illustrator is a program I've always liked but for these characters it's been great. Overall I'm happy with the art style, given that we only decided to change it on Thursday I think we've come a long way.
The game design has changed somewhat due to the new style but we play tested it on Friday and found we were having much more interactions early on and a lot more fun because of it. The game is a bit more lighthearted and fast paced now. One concern is the bits for the game, I think we'll probably end up doing cardboard cut outs of the characters above as our pieces, in a commercial game I imagine the pieces would be plastic units but for now I think cut outs will at least be fitting for the style of game that it is.
We still have a lot of work to do on the art side with cards needing to be designed front and back, the box design, the board itself and if we have the time an illustrated cover for the rulebook. So at this stage I should probably get back to doing some of those things so that our play testers have a great looking game to play on Wednesday.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Opportunities are often things you haven't noticed the first time around.
A couple of notes from our observation on the game.
The learning curve was too steep. The players were still learning about the fundamentals of the game and asking questions even 30 mins in. There could be many reasons for this so we had to take a close look at everything.
Having too many units/resources complicated the game more than it needed to be. There really was no reason to have uranium as a main resource. Food is understandable but Metal and Uranium were being used as a form of currency. So we kept the food and changed the metals to Gold. Gold can be used as form of currency as well as a component in building relics or monuments.
There also seemed to be too many unit types for the players to keep track of. Some units, like the Priest, didn't have enough of a purpose. Players were buying them for no reason because they assumed they'd be more useful. So we had to take a look at the units and their purpose in the game.
Chance had too much control over the game, to a point where it was obstructing players strategies. A dominant player in the game couldn't progress without a Factory and every time he made it to an empty space, choosing a random card from the pile offered no luck at all. This could obviously become frustrating after a while and discourage players from the game.
Watch this space for more updates coming soon!
The learning curve was too steep. The players were still learning about the fundamentals of the game and asking questions even 30 mins in. There could be many reasons for this so we had to take a close look at everything.
Having too many units/resources complicated the game more than it needed to be. There really was no reason to have uranium as a main resource. Food is understandable but Metal and Uranium were being used as a form of currency. So we kept the food and changed the metals to Gold. Gold can be used as form of currency as well as a component in building relics or monuments.
There also seemed to be too many unit types for the players to keep track of. Some units, like the Priest, didn't have enough of a purpose. Players were buying them for no reason because they assumed they'd be more useful. So we had to take a look at the units and their purpose in the game.
Chance had too much control over the game, to a point where it was obstructing players strategies. A dominant player in the game couldn't progress without a Factory and every time he made it to an empty space, choosing a random card from the pile offered no luck at all. This could obviously become frustrating after a while and discourage players from the game.
Watch this space for more updates coming soon!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Game Art Style
I think a big lesson I've learned at this stage is in terms of the art required, the game our playtesters tried had detailed placeholder art that I think led to taking the game very seriously along with it being impossible to recreate by any of us in less than a week. To encourage fun and also to play to our strengths I've started working on a final art style that's much more fun. The underlying mechanics of the game remain the same but we've added a few elements to the game which will hopefully encourage player interaction. I think the new art style is a lot more approachable and it means we'll be designing a game thats aimed at younger audiences... after all why should adults have all the fun!
They're still WIP at this stage so if anyone feels like providing helpful criticism we might take it on board!
They're still WIP at this stage so if anyone feels like providing helpful criticism we might take it on board!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Playtest A
Wednesday Nov 3rd..
Playtest with outsiders (meaning no the design group)
It was really interesting to see other people playing our game and it was actually very helpful to see all the process of it from the outside.
It has given us lot of perspective and let us realize how some points can be improved or completely changed.
A look of the playtest A
It was a productive drill which gave us point of views from the users which is really useful.
Playtest with outsiders (meaning no the design group)
It was really interesting to see other people playing our game and it was actually very helpful to see all the process of it from the outside.
It has given us lot of perspective and let us realize how some points can be improved or completely changed.
A look of the playtest A
It was a productive drill which gave us point of views from the users which is really useful.
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