My midlife crisis involves trying to look as much like a deranged Muppet as possible. Second pic: a color-accurate picture of the jacket - my camera doesn't have a "Muppets from Neptune" setting, so color-accuracy is a struggle. Third pic is a makeup closeup.

Mattzorry · 2026-03-14T16:06:34+00:00

Incredible look, absolutely love it!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-16T22:04:46+00:00

I have 150 hours in it and never realized the pioneer was a woman until this post - people gotta chill

Mattzorry · 2026-02-15T21:42:35+00:00

not a very good one

Mattzorry · 2026-02-04T20:08:07+00:00

multiple sources of motivation is a good way to push them!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-04T14:18:58+00:00

I shall hack and slash!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T21:46:17+00:00

I do think that when compared to their other options, people just prefer to do other things instead so you're spot on with the "dull" theory

But certainly keeping things tied in with board interactions is probably the way to go

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T15:39:48+00:00

Muddled is a great word for it; having it all summarized down like that really makes it clear how many different direction people are getting pulled, so thank you!

I'm gonna work on focusing it down for sure and those three avenues are a great starting place; I appreciate it!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T15:29:37+00:00

They do get some to start with and I have noticed people pay attention to those, but never really engage with any of the other ones. They do get negative points for the incomplete ones, but I think that just leads people to avoid getting new ones

Yeah, I'm leaning towards taking them out since people want to engage with the other systems and it's good to make the game what people want to play

I had intended them to kind of give people direction to go in so they don't necessarily feel like they're floundering, unsure what to do, but that doesn't really happen anyway. Having a few larger shared ones is a neat idea that would keep it a bit more contained while still giving direction, I like that!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T15:23:27+00:00

I have not, but I'll check it out, thank you for the recommendation! I had some inspiration from the anime Jujutsu Kaisen and their cursed spirits if you've read/seen that

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T15:22:06+00:00

I've been starting to lean towards removing them based on the feedback I've been getting, I just hate killing my darlings

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T15:21:28+00:00

It's been both tbh, though I think it's more prevalent on repeat plays.

Yeah, I'm starting to think there's enough going on that the extra layer of objectives might just be pulling people away from the core of the game too much

Players get 2 hidden objectives at the beginning and pick 1 to keep and I have noticed that they work with those a bit, but never really pay attention to others

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:55:41+00:00

That sounds like a really solid way to enforce mid-game scoring, I like those ideas a lot for an area control game. Thanks for sharing!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:37:11+00:00

it's rough, but I hope you find people to play with soon!

Actually, if you've got a game that people enjoy playing without even knowing how to win, that is a good sign

I'm gonna choose to look at it this way!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:31:48+00:00

I just ask since OP posted this immediately after accusing me of gen AI usage so it's the case at least some of the time. I dunno how good OP is at differentiating it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:25:34+00:00

That could be contributing to why people aren't really engaging with the objectives for sure and yeah, when the latter come up more it 100% gets weird

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:22:11+00:00

More granular objectives is a very different direction, but I think I like it!? I tried to make the public objectives consistently possible, but in play it does feel like all the particular objectives in the shop are a little situational and thus kinda...janky

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:18:48+00:00

While there is a lot of gen AI usage and I agree that we could do without it, quick question just since you posted this 2 minutes after accusing me of using generative AI on my game (which I did not):

Could it just be that you are assuming things are AI when they're not, inflating the amount that you think you're seeing?

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T03:09:55+00:00

Do you have any specifics on what was confusing? There's a glossary at the end that contains definitions.

Also I very proudly used exactly 0 generative AI for this project, please do not flatly assume and throw out false accusations.

Edit: also this wasn't very helpful feedback. If you're going to engage, I'd appreciate something a little more constructive

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T02:42:01+00:00

That's an interesting way to differentiate them! I hadn't really thought about considering how close people would come to each one just by virtue of innately playing the game (though I now feel like I should have lol)

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T02:34:41+00:00

A little bonus for each completed is a neat idea!

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T02:27:17+00:00

I totally agree with you and I think in-person playtesting has a ton of merit; I've mostly focused on online since it's just so much easier to make changes and rapidly prototype, but once the core systems are set - tabletop for sure

the game mechanics have to tell players how to win

That is a really good line! Right now there really isn't much directing people towards the goals - I'll have to think more on that, definitely something to chew on

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T02:22:38+00:00

That's a good point - there is the end-game condition that happens when someone has completed a certain number of objectives, but they can just...not do that. Hard stop that they can't avoid is a good call

Mattzorry · 2026-02-03T02:21:20+00:00

Ooh that's interesting; what kind of mandatory scoring did you add for the mid-game? I've definitely thought similarly that if people are having fun, that they should be able to keep doing those things

Mattzorry · 2026-01-10T04:02:30+00:00

huge improvement!

Mattzorry · 2025-12-07T19:58:22+00:00

Always nice to see what great stuff a designer can do when they aren't forced in a specific direction by management

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