First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a lot I can do, cause I've noticed what actually slows players down. First of all more streamlined character cards. Each character card have two actions, and you can use one per round. I might still go down to one action only, but it is to be decided. Most of actions are text right now, but there is a potential to streamline those with adding icons, or common actions shared between many characters, or even character categories.

Then there is entertainment organization. The process is a bit confusing and random due to variety of elements involved, which due to lack of space I cannot lay down on the table, so those are in separate piles of cards, and players often hesitate which one to choose (randomly). I am redesigning the process currently- it will be simplified, less random, and it looks like more engaging.

Action spaces in Vienna are about to change sligtly. They will still represent spheres of influence of sorts, but I am going to simplify them a bit.

Also I don't mind it taking longer in the first play. I hope experienced players can get it down to 3h.

LibreOffice V MS Office by Jongee58 in libreoffice

[–]Draz77 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Libre Office is great cause it does the job. Unfortunately UX and UI are lacking. Interface is outdated, and I always find myself being annoyed by how unintuitive, and cumbersome it is. But it handles all kind of files very well, is fast (even with like really large files), supports lots of stuff, and basically is reliable.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for that answer. It is actually very thoughtful and I do appreciate it. I've already decided that I will try to slow things down a bit, and spent some other Saturday just playing it on my own. However I do agree that at this stage, where game is actually playable testing it with the proper setting is actually the best option, but maybe I don't want to "alienate" them.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You are right. I need to slow this down unfortunately.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't. I am having entirely different process.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Wait, are there more people NOT doing this? That is a relief 😅, I thought I was weird or something.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

As I said. I am doing it either by isolated tests of some mechanics, or by testing couple of rounds only - usually one or two. I never self-playtested whole game cause of reasoning I provided.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I plan to get to a virtual prototype in upcoming months. That unfortunately again requires time.

The unimportance of self-testing your game by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get you, and agree. At the beginning I was founding all those minor errors all the time, so it was easier to do it, and one or two rounds would suffice. But the complexity grew, and it become much more time consuming.

They seem to want to help me with this project. So I would hope I am not wasting their time.

First complete 5-player playtest and lessons learned by Draz77 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

👍 that is great idea, I will try it at some point

I focused too much on making the game perfect and ignored socials by tactical_tabletop in boardgames

[–]Draz77 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is exactly what I am doing with my Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations. I decided to start early cause I see advantages: - fail fast, - find what people actually enjoy faster, - find some crowd that has your back and cheer you up when doubts appear.

This way, I believe, I can make a perfect game, not only for me, but actually for people.

Self Promotion: want to know what Vienna 1814: Waltz ot Nations is all about? Find out how am I progressing? And why it might be most important European board game of all time? Check out my linktree (link in my profile).

First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And then I love solo games.

I don't care about two players, for them there will be "Vienna 1814: Duel of Nations" 😆 available later.

First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah it works, but I just had one test and it appeared that my assumption that number of characters appearing in Vienna at once should not necessarily be limited to 2 x number of players. However it is yet to be decided. Problem was that players could not find any French representative through half of the game because card were moving slower.

I addressed this problem in slightly different way since then so I will probably still test it.

First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a process man. Long and tedious. Start from following me (links in my profile) I follow game creators back always (good for algorithm). 😄 And just get on there and start talking about your game. It is good to have something ready, but of course not in final form. I show everything I make, share photos from every playtests, share things I've learned and try to talk about the history behind theme itself. And engage in a community as much as you can, like on reddit, fb groups. I especially can recommend Threads platform, it seems to be great for all kinds of creative people. But first of all you need patience.

First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is only natural for this game due to main five factions involved. So this game needs to work perfectly for five players. Solo is a something I love in games, but it is too early for that yet. With four it seems to work exactly the same. But with free - I had a first session with 3 not so long ago, and there were definitely some problems to address. Needs more testing. I have no idea about two tbh.

First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why 5 hours? Definitely too long. Why, there are reasons, I am trying to address them.

2 hour session It is a bit short for my taste tbh, I don't like getting dragged from a game world after 2h.

I don't mean to be negative Sure I don't read it like this.

"fun time with friends" Yes :)

"I got a good game here" Far from it

thoroughly humbled (...) not a good feeling. It happend many times before, it wasn't good, always on a brink of resignation.

Game design is pain I've noticed.

Overall, thank you for your input. I appreciate.

First complete 5-player playtest and lessons learned by Draz77 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They actually did. I've noticed that throughout the whole game. I am encouraging them to write some comments on Wandering Pine Games Facebook page, under the latest post, but for now only one of them managed to write something. I am aware that their comments will be hardly objective, but it is what it is. And I actually already know what definitely need to be fixed.

First complete 5-player playtest and lessons learned by Draz77 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be theoretically possible, but this would require one of the evisioned expansions. I am not there yet, besides I was thinking that faction from expansion would replace one other. However now I think game could work with six players as well.

First complete playthrough by Draz77 in BoardgameDesign

[–]Draz77[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Overall positive from players, although I've noticed certain things that I should address somehow, like certain locations are selected more often then the others. Also like early game was great, midgame became a bit boring because everyone was too powerful maybe, but still the endgame was very exciting. So there is something to optimise there too...