Saturday, February 22, 2014

New Game Design - Playtest #3

On Friday evening, my game had its 3rd playtest.  Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we only played 2 of the 3 Years.  However, over the course of the test, I still received lots of good information.  I have a few minor tweaks to make (mostly card wordings), and a couple moderate changes/additions to consider (mostly to get a bit more player interaction).

It was a 3 player game, with 3 different strategies.  My strategy was to build my worker pool while getting buildings that allowed trade for food and extra resources.  The second player's strategy was to build lots of buildings for extra resources, and gain the ability to trade resources as needed.  The third player's strategy was to not feed their people, but build a trade engine of gold for Citizen Points, while sending workers to other player's towns to gain more Citizen Points.  At the end of the 2nd Year, the scores were:
Player 1 (me): 28
Player 2: 18
Player 3: 21

The scores were pretty close going into the 3rd year, where the majority of points are scored.  My thoughts on the game was that it seemed a bit more brain-burning than before, but the flow and balance seemed really good.  There is a strategy I want to attempt next time that deals with growing my work force as quickly as possible while ignoring 1st Year buildings, instead choosing to build a large supply of resources.

My hope is to make most or all of the changes I've identified, and bring the latest version to a game day in 2 weeks. 

Thursday, February 20, 2014

New Game Design - Ready for Playtest Again

I have updated everything to be ready for a potential playtest tomorrow!  I even went so far as to create actual tokens and player boards instead of just using paper.  Maybe I've gone a little too far, but I really think the board design and tokens are pretty close to being done.  Just to note, all art is either clip art (houses) or quickly done in Paint (resource symbols).  I am not an artist and do not intend to add too much (if any) art myself.

House Tokens
 Above are the House Tokens.  There are 6 different types, which are separated by cost.  All except the most expensive provide 1 additional worker, while the most expensive provides 2 workers.  The 4 similarly priced types also provide a bonus of Citizen Points and/or resources.

Player Board
Here's a player board showing a few cards already placed, and the some of the other tokens to be used.

If this gets tested tomorrow, I will share the results sometime over the weekend.  If not, then I hope to get this to the table in the next couple of weeks.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Kickstarter Musings #2 - Reward Levels

Before I begin this Musing, I want to apologize for something in my last Musings.  I should not have made suggestions that were not in the realm of possibility for Kickstarter as part of my main argument.  From now on, my main suggestions will be usable in Kickstarter.  If something I mention is not doable (since I have not created a project, I am not 100% sure), then someone please let me know.  I may still make some non-Kickstarter suggestions, but will refrain from mentioning them until the end of the post.

Now, today I want to talk about backer reward levels.  First, I will not be talking about the price of the levels as that is the creator's choice (they need to raise the funds).  What I want to discuss are the different levels that are presented to us backers to choose from, and what is offered in them.  Let's get started from the beginning:

1) $1 - A big "Thank You!" - Most projects include some form of the $1 Thank You level, whether it's a mention on their website or a toast, etc.  Although this level is not necessary (A backer can select the "Back This Project" button and put in $1), I think it's nice of the creator to thank everyone that backs their project (even at the lowest level).

2) You don't get the game, but here is something related to it - I have seen some projects that have a level below the "Get the Game" level that includes some related item (dice, tokens, etc...see the Compounded $8 level as an example).  Depending on the reward, I think these are either completely worthless or barely passable.  I don't really care about a button that has the name of a game that I could not back enough to own.  Perhaps if I would have received some tokens from the game, I might be okay; however, in general, I would pass on these levels.

3) Early Bird backer - I hate hate hate (did I mention hate?) these levels.  If you are going to offer a special rate for the first 50 or 100 backers, then either offer it to all backers, or reduce the price of your "Get the Game" level by $1 or $2.  It is really annoying to not know that a project has gone live until a mention on BGG, and then find that all the Early Bird level(s) have been taken.  Anyone who does this (especially Queen Games), please stop!

4) Get the Game - Yay!  I get a copy of your super-awesome game!  Enough said.

5) Get a Copy of the Base Game (Expansion Project) - No problems here.

6) 4 + 5 - Again, no problems.  Need the base game if I just found out this existed.

7) 4 + A copy of an unrelated game - I will say that I have pledged at this level before to get a hard to find game; however, I am generally not a fan of these levels.  It just seems like the creator is trying to do anything to get enough support to fund the game.  If your game is truly good, these levels should not be necessary.  Let your game speak for itself, and keep your other games out of the project.

8) Get drawn in the game/design a card/etc. - Generally, I think these are great rewards.  My only issue is that, similar to the Early Bird, you generally need to be one of the first 100-200 backers to have a chance at one of these.  My suggestion would be to release these over the course of the project to allow backers just finding the project the opportunity to get these as well.  Feel free to mention on your project when you will add some or provide an unfair social media advantage, but if I really like your project enough to back at a large level, then give me a chance at one of these levels.

9) Multiple copies of the game - These are excellent for international orders.  Keep using them.

So now that I have gone over most of the levels, there is one reward item that some projects add to most levels that I want to talk about...

Your name mentioned (insert location here) - In most cases, this is just fine.  The one location that I do not like, however, is in the rules.  Looking at the Kings of Air and Steam rules, the inside front page is just a list of backers.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's great as a backer to have my name mentioned somewhere, but please don't do it in the rules.  If it will be included in every copy of the game, then put it on the game box or the back of the game board.

So that's it for backer levels/rewards.  The topic for Musings #3 (at this time) will be Videos Included in Projects.  Thanks for reading!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Kickstarter Musings #1.5 - An Update on Stretch Goals

As I stated in my last Musings, I am not a fan of stretch goals that add game play content.  My biggest example of this was the TMG Kickstarter for Scoville.  The biggest problem I had with this project is the addition of 5 and 6 player options when the appropriate stretch goals were reached.

Earlier this week, TMG announced that they are removing the 5 and 6 player stretch goals, and adding them to the game!  This is excellent news, and I cannot thank TMG enough for listening to their backers and making this change.  I realize that this adds cost to the game, and I would have been okay with them restarting the project with a higher base price due to the change, but they have decided to keep the backer cost the same.

The other stretch goals that Scoville has are more recipe and market cards at 2 different levels, then replacing some tokens/cubes for customized meeples/wooden pepper tokens.  Let me first say that stretch goals for upgrading materials are excellent goals and I fully support them.  The stretch goals for adding more content to the game, however, leaves me with mixed feelings.  TMG has stated on their project page that all stretch goals met will be included in all copies (including retail) of the game.  Since there is no Kickstarter Exclusive for these cards, I do not have a problem with them being stretch goals on that count.  I have a slight sticking point, though, when it comes to items that add game content without being included by default. 

After thinking about my previous Musing where I outright stated that goals adding game play content should not be used at all, I need to back up a little bit.  I realize that in that post, it could have appeared that I contradicted myself stating that Promos are acceptable stretch goals, while new game play content was not.  I feel that Promo items for games are acceptable stretch goals since they are add-on content above what the base game experience provides.  As an example, look at the Eminent Domain: Bonus Planets Promo pack that TMG provided on the original Eminent Domain Kickstarter.  This promo pack added 9 new planets that players could use in the game.  These planets were new planet types, not the 3 basic types included in the base game.  Since this provided a new "mechanic" to learn, I believe this was an acceptable stretch goal.  In the Scoville project, however, the new cards do not really change the game play experience.  Instead, these new cards only provide a little more replay value without adding anything new to the game.

I realize that my stance above walks a very thin line and could be considered a gray area, but I feel that new content as stretch goals should provide new game play features, not just adding a little more replay with nothing really new to add.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

New Game Design Update - Many Changes

So as I stated in my last design post, I have been in the process of making some major changes to the card design.  I now believe that I have achieved an acceptable product to begin testing.  Rather than keep you all waiting, let's dive right in to the changes.

Here is a picture to compare the old card structure to the new structure:

Card Changes




I realize this does not look like much of a change, but it really changes how the game is played.  Here's a brief explanation of the new card layout:

Card Anatomy

  1. Card Title
  2. Cost to build
  3. Ability provided
  4. Synergy/Upgrade
    1. For Synergy, the building listed is required to utilize the Synergy ability.
    2. For Upgrade, the listed cost must be paid to gain access to the Upgrade ability
  5. Hidden Ability – this ability will be provided while this portion of the card is visible.
  6. Citizen Points rewarded for the building
  7. Year this card is available
  8. Number of players to include this card

     
    The real change to the card is the new Hidden Ability.  This ability will only be available until a new building card is built next to it.  The new building card will overlap the existing card such that the Hidden Ability becomes, well, hidden.  What this also accomplishes, is that it hides the Citizen Point value that the building provides, which will hopefully make all players "forget" about how many points everyone has and just enjoys playing the game.

    I also made changes to the player boards.  Previously, the boards were very basic holding spots for all the cards.  Now, however, the layout looks more like that of an old Western town:

    Player Board
    As you can see, the new player board lists the starting resources, number of workers, and special ability that player has.  Why Special Ability?  Well, my plan is to make each player board double-sided.  One side will have the board you see above, while the other side will have different starting resources, workers, and/or a special ability.

    Also added in this version is new House Tokens.  Before this update, players received additional workers for free at the beginning of each year.  Now, players will have to buy House Tokens which provide additional workers.  There are currently 4 different types of houses that provide between 1 and 2 workers (and possibly some additional Citizen Points and resources).  I was not really a fan of just providing new workers for free each year, so my hope is that this will be a good replacement.

    At this point, I have no plans to have a playable version with the new changes ready for any game days that I will attend this month.  I hope to be able to get a few people to visit and try a runthrough with these changes, however, before bringing a copy to one of the game days in March.