...okay it does work but not entirely. So this week I have focused on finishing the mission design, the first board game prototype and play testing it.
MISSION DESIGN
Each map tile is one area and each area is divided into two sections. All areas are numbered on their map tile and will have a side A and a side B. At the start of the game only the map tile numbered 1 will be on the table and all players start on this tile. Whenever a new map tile is played it will be on side A, unless the game says otherwise. As the players progress and solve mini games and puzzles the game will let them know when to flip a tile to side B.
There will be three mini games according to the three traits and three environmental puzzles also according to the traits.
The mini games and environmental puzzles of a certain trait are always located close to one another. Although anyone can try and solve the mini puzzles, the player with the highest respective trait has better chances to solve it.
Having double sided map tiles was the solution changing the environment in which the players are in without having to produce lots of tokens. It also helps to hide things to the players such as the hidden door in area 5 that is unlocked by the mini game in the same area.
When the players first open the game box all map tiles will be faced up with their A side.
The friends location was put in the middle of the map as the game requires to bring the requested items to the friend however since this is towards the end of the game I didn't wanted to make the players spending many rounds on moving to that location.
PROTOTYPE
For the prototype I used cardboard, post its, tokens from a "connect 4" game, dice, meeples from a "carcassonne" game and paper.
All items I used for the prototype:
- 6 map tiles (double sided)
- 5 dice
- 3 meeples
- 6 tokens (three monsters and three reminder tokens)
- 3 Narrative cards (will increase)
- 16 Item cards
- 16 Event cards
After I finished my first prototype version of the board game I asked three (brutally honest) friends to play test it.
I explained them the rules in about ten minutes and then the first round started. After a very short time I noticed that the restricted set of actions was hindering them very often and the goal of finishing the game in 8 rounds proved impossible after the first three rounds.
There was a total of 20 rounds in the end that each lasted on average 4.5 min. The total game lasted for 90 minutes. My goal is between 40-60 min.
I shortly noticed that the players could start in the same area but in different sections which had a negative impact on one of the players as they got to distracted and focused on finding a certain item to explore the next section.
I also noticed that the sections were actually slowing them down and I will probably remove sections and have just areas the players will be moving in between.
Since I don't have a prototype for the application at this point I came up with fun mini games they could do right there and I asked them to roll me a dice for the environmental puzzles.
After a short time they understood the concept of the mini games being connected to the traits and they started to discuss strategies.
One of my main concerns was that the players wouldn't feel an incentive to go into the application. However all players used the sleep action at least twice and the sleep action was used every other round which I find will build a good and balanced connection between the application and the board game itself.
The monsters however spawned very late in the game and their system needs to be retouched as there was a lot of back and forth before something actually happened, which hold the players back from the main goal.
I observed an average Engagement of 7 for the entire game. The engagement was the highest at the start and the end of the game and dropped mid-session.
I also created a feedback form before the play test so that everyone could fill it out on their phones right after they played the game.
The feedback showed that the game was not balanced enough yet. They also suggested to implement more options or unexpected events (which will happen with the narrative deck). The players felt that the game was overall okay as they felt it was appropriate for this type of game. The players felt very limited with the set actions and especially only being able to move every other round.
NEXT
For the upcoming week I will be focusing on starting some of the mechanics in engine, the story of the game and the location for the environmental puzzles.
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