Anyway, I was expecting to not have a chance to playtest this week, but I received an email from a friend, saying that he and his wife had a change of plans, and asking if I wanted to do a playtesting session. When testers are a very limited resource, having people actually volunteering to help is a gift horse whose mouth should not be looked into. So they came along with another friend, and I was able to watch a 3-player game of Invaded, managing to keep out of the way most of the time other than to act as an interactive rulebook and to give a reminder or two here and there.
 |
| Three players have been invaded. Halfway through round two, and red is about to feel the pain. |
I don't often sit out of playtests, sometimes as I want to increase the numbers in the game, and sometimes because I find it useful to play and get a feel for the game as it develops. With a game in a relatively late state of development, though, it becomes increasingly useful to be able to just observe, and to be free to make notes without interrupting the flow of play.
I do miss playing though. Despite playing 20-odd times myself, I do still like the game, which has to be a good sign.
The output from the playtest was good: I have some data about scores, choices made at various times, and turning points in the game, which should all help me find the imbalances and wonky parts. Aside from a few clarifications to some rules, I don't think I need to change anything of substance before next play. And I definitely need to get in a load more tests...
I agree that it's a good sign to still enjoy it after 20+ plays. However, don't underestimate the excitement of small tweaks before publication.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to take away from your game, but you are essentially playing a legacy game, or maybe a campaign, rather than a series of games with identical rules - a very different proposition.
Having gotten that caution/negativity out of the way, I do love the concept of the game. Having played Spirit Island, there is definitely still a lot of untapped potential in the concept of playing the Invaded and I liked the fact that your game didn't simplify vilify the invaders, but gave them some agency reminiscent of the theme - forcing you to trade, curry favour etc.
I look forward to seeing it in a future state. :-)
Hi Bez, thanks for commenting. I'm sure there will be plenty of changes to come. :)
DeleteI hadn't really thought of replaying a game in development being a little like a campaign or legacy game, but yeah that does resonate. And it's also worth noting that the changes have mostly been fairly small over my last 10 or so plays, but the early plays were of something that was a very different game.
We have been seeing a few games with the same general theme being released (Martin Wallace's Moa is another), but I think it'll be a while before this market subsection is flooded. Hopefully we'll see some time in the future if the market wants to see my take on the theme.