So, my attention has been split a lot lately. My current 'main' project is Sky Pirates. That one is going well, with a slow but constant flow of positive playtests and minor tweaks. I've also been in design mode for the Manaforge expansion. I've had to change direction on that one, as some of the feedback I was getting made me realize that I wasn't designing for the correct audience. Progress there has been slow but at least it's going.
However, there has also been one more distraction to work around. With the proliferation of roll-and-write games coming out on the market right now, plus a couple of the same currently being designed by my friends, somehow I got it in my head to try making one of my own. Normally I would've ignored the idea, as I have little experience with that type of game. However, this was another one of those persistent ideas that kept calling for my attention, and I've found that the best way to get rid of those is to get it out of my head and make a prototype. (But then, that's how Manaforge started.) So, here's my prototype.
Without going into too much detail (it's a novel idea and I'm not ready to tip my hand yet), I did manage to get one playtest in of this monstrosity. It went better than I expected. That does not mean it went well; this game is boring. I noticed several players quickly stopped paying attention, making a long game drag out even longer. I ended up calling it off after a few rounds. However, while the execution is very flawed, everyone there agreed that the core mechanic is solid, and I just need to make the decisions more interesting. High praise for an almost completely untested game by a designer with little experience in the genre.
I definitely need more experience with roll-and-write games, so I've been picking up and playing a couple just to see what makes them tick. Looking at those, I think I see some of what I did wrong with my game. I'm paying attention to the way the scoring and player special ability mechanics need to interact, and I have many ideas for how my initial prototype could be improved. All things considered though, this is just a side project, so I don't know how much attention it will get right now. But, good or bad, it is one more thing that I'm officially 'working on' right now. We'll see where it goes from there.
However, there has also been one more distraction to work around. With the proliferation of roll-and-write games coming out on the market right now, plus a couple of the same currently being designed by my friends, somehow I got it in my head to try making one of my own. Normally I would've ignored the idea, as I have little experience with that type of game. However, this was another one of those persistent ideas that kept calling for my attention, and I've found that the best way to get rid of those is to get it out of my head and make a prototype. (But then, that's how Manaforge started.) So, here's my prototype.
Without going into too much detail (it's a novel idea and I'm not ready to tip my hand yet), I did manage to get one playtest in of this monstrosity. It went better than I expected. That does not mean it went well; this game is boring. I noticed several players quickly stopped paying attention, making a long game drag out even longer. I ended up calling it off after a few rounds. However, while the execution is very flawed, everyone there agreed that the core mechanic is solid, and I just need to make the decisions more interesting. High praise for an almost completely untested game by a designer with little experience in the genre.
I definitely need more experience with roll-and-write games, so I've been picking up and playing a couple just to see what makes them tick. Looking at those, I think I see some of what I did wrong with my game. I'm paying attention to the way the scoring and player special ability mechanics need to interact, and I have many ideas for how my initial prototype could be improved. All things considered though, this is just a side project, so I don't know how much attention it will get right now. But, good or bad, it is one more thing that I'm officially 'working on' right now. We'll see where it goes from there.
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