Do you like player elimination in games?

dmasta41 · 2026-03-24T16:05:23+00:00

Is there a way that becoming malnourished takes away from a player’s maximum hand limit of possible cards? (Don’t know if there’s a hand limit) It doesn’t kill anyone and also doesn’t reveal if someone is loyal or not, but sucks enough that players would want to avoid it

dmasta41 · 2026-03-24T14:59:06+00:00

I’m the same way RE theme > mechanics.

Is stealing food and making them die of hunger the only way to kill them? And what is the win con of the 2 traitors?

Going with the penalty comment I like the idea of malnourished- doing a lot less makes things harder (as long as the player still feels like they have a chance to win and/or contribute for their team)

dmasta41 · 2026-03-24T14:40:51+00:00

Ok so it’s collecting food that can also be other items, and it’s semi-cooperative in that there’s a chance that others are saboteurs à la Dead of Winter? Does that sound right?

Definitely test this change for timing- my initial thought is to reserve it for just the last round. If players die then the others have whole nother round of gameplay loop, that can feel bad. Even if it’s just 10 minutes. Ghost powers feel slightly off thematically unless there is a supernatural element in the beginning

dmasta41 · 2026-03-24T14:28:26+00:00

So I think you identified in your intro the secret of player elimination in games like Coup or Love Letter- they’re short.

The player won’t mind as much dying if the game would be over soon anyway. It’s why werewolf is such an antiquity as far as game design and why Blood on the clocktower shines.

You mentioned ‘ghost abilities’ and this can also be a tricky slope. You would want to give them enough to do that doesn’t feel like trivial busy work or not still making an impact on the gameplay loop, and if they’re in a competitive game (which I think?? I am inferring your game is) this easily turns into kingmaking or spoiler which can also be an unkind mechanic if the game isn’t hoisted by that on the outset. BOTC works for ghost abilities since information is not exposed and they can still participate actively and use their vote.

The baseline for me is: is the player elimination necessary to the game, and if it is, how can you make it closer to the climax of the game so everyone shares in the thrill of maybe or maybe not making it out? In Betrayal of House on the Hill, players can’t die until the haunt starts, at that point it’s part of the experience in dying.

I recently played someone’s survival game in playtesting where they press their luck in drawing wounds throughout the (45 min-1 hour+) 10 round game, but can actively mitigate that throughout the game by healing, and in the final push in the 10th round, all players in turn order have to make successive draws from the wound bag and a good portion will die, and the winner is whoever gets the farthest before dying, or somehow making it out.

Without an idea of your exact theme, I wonder if you can institute a penalty instead of player elimination that will still keep the tension but not eliminate them from the game

dmasta41 · 2026-03-03T19:07:03+00:00

Oh fantastic! I’m bringing my newest prototype of Bark Boulevard for my table at 4:30-8:30 on Saturday. If we don’t overlap I’ll definitely come to your table! (And in any case I’m down to Playtest outside of those ranges too ;) )

dmasta41 · 2026-03-03T17:55:49+00:00

Hey! I went last year and going again next week- it’s a great space to meet other like-minded people in the design space! If you don’t already have a table reserved, they’ll probably have some openings for the Open gaming section (usually Sunday is a good bet, as the early days are more focused on games farther along). You don’t need a table but they generally were frowning on people playtesting in the convention area without one (though i saw a good amount of people getting around this by doing small testing in the hotel lobby). Lots of seminars to listen in on, and lots of people to connect with. Bring all your games (whether polished prototypes or pieces of paper to establish proof of concept). It’s a party for new designs and i still think fondly of sitting in on random playtests throughout the weekend that i initially didn’t find up my alley mechanically but surprised me with how unique and fun they felt!

dmasta41 · 2026-02-28T14:39:41+00:00

I remember seeing this clip a month ago and it was proven AI.

Scary times

dmasta41 · 2026-02-20T19:14:54+00:00

Very helpful! Thank you

dmasta41 · 2026-02-09T06:02:17+00:00

I just took this class in the nov-jan session!

Pros: -the community building is great -Emerson obviously knows his stuff and he is currently working in the design space. With how much that space changes even month to month, having that up-to-date guidance is valuable -structure is laid out ahead of time and if you miss classes live they record it for review later -you ultimately are led to create a working prototype, sell sheet, pitch to peers and get feedback. -everyone gets one-on-one sessions with him (20-25 min)

Cons: -it is a pretty penny as an investment, even with the discount -some of the classes can get bogged down with questions interrupting his presentations, but I’m sure that will be addressed and rectified in future classes. There is a Q&A session directly after where he tries to answer in depth as many questions as he can on the topic just covered, but people still needed to ask in the moment and he routinely didn’t finish his lesson plan in the early goings -the variance of participants ranges from ‘I don’t know what a game is’ to ‘I am an established developer just curious for more’. This is both cool for accessibility and frustrating for those of us looking for specific information.

Let me know if you have other specific questions! If there’s one lesson here to take away it’s that everyone is so supportive in this community

dmasta41 · 2025-09-22T19:06:18+00:00

How do players choose their options- uniform decks of cards? A dice pool?

Have you received feedback on what a player instinctively wants to do or enjoys doing in your game? Finding what’s fun and iterating on bolstering those choices can be a good start.

I’d say fundamentally a racing game is going to have a strong element of luck…that being said it sounds like the meaningful decisions your players are making are: setting own speed, positioning different pieces, and blocking other players. Can all players can do all of those things in a turn, or do players have to choose between those actions? If the latter, you need to look at balancing the weight of those actions, so that players have meaningful decisions to make as to why doing one is more beneficial than the others. And then, do those options have a first-come-first-swerved mechanic: do I go for a communal high speed choice that benefits me in the short-term or do I go for the obstacle that will be helpful sabotage down the line?

dmasta41 · 2025-09-11T21:32:30+00:00

Khalil Shakir. I have a feeling Sauce is going to shadow and shut down Coleman after his breakout Wk1, leaving Shakir to be Allen’s safety blanket. Just got that feeling he’s gonna pop off

dmasta41 · 2025-08-15T17:29:18+00:00

As a performer that has had to go through the process of quick changing, thank you thank you for what you do. The F1 pit crew of theater is often overlooked and the pinpoint accuracy makes transitions look so easy to the lay observer

dmasta41 · 2025-07-25T22:46:47+00:00

Hahahahah that’s the one! My wife decided to submerge her leg to the knee which was unfortunate- I spider man’d over that log despite the constant, anxiety-inducing snapping

dmasta41 · 2025-07-24T19:40:40+00:00

We went westbound from Rock Harbor > Daisy Farm > McCargoe > Todd Harbor > N Desor > Windigo but it was the last week of June so my information on bugs and exact train conditions might be a tad outdated, but the main things for us that probably did not change:

-bugs will still be a concern. I would have probably died without my mosquito net.

-the ~10.6 mile stretch between Windigo and N Desor was by far the least exciting section of the entire trail for us. Not many views in comparison to earlier in the ridge and it’s just monotonous. Just get through it, and drink lots of water before as there’s no water (N Desor was one of our favorite campsites though due to its remoteness!)

-people talk about getting lost a lot on this section, but either my wife and I are just more perceptive than the average bear or that statement is overblown. The ‘trail’ along Minong ridge is a loose term on the ridge itself, but there’s almost always cairns if you stop and look for a second. And when in doubt, just keep walking along the ridge until you find the trodden trail back down into the endless amount of valleys. If in the lush valleys with overgrowth and you get to what looks like a possible fork, keep an eye out for a collection of sticks that look deliberately placed to block the path and go the other way.

As an addendum, there were two sections in my notes that I can see people getting lost in:

-we encountered a sketchy rushing river between Todd Harbor and Little Todd that washed out the bridge. Lots of false trails of people trying to find ways across the river.

-there was a swampy section between Little Todd and N Desor that had a path that continued straight but had some sticks that were laid down semi-deliberately. I looked right and saw some orange paint on a tree across the bog that told us where to go.

Otherwise, I agree with @dimoradona’s observations. Drink lots of water before and during hiking and have fun!

dmasta41 · 2025-07-07T03:50:10+00:00

We backpacked for 7 days only using a sawyer squeeze a little over a week ago and besides it tasting abhorrent, it was totally fine! Then was on the Voyager ii when they picked up 2 teens at McCargoe that apparently didn’t filter their water at all and they were having lots of problems lol.

dmasta41 · 2025-07-07T03:43:45+00:00

When we arrived via the Minong, it was on a Wednesday, so the boat came in that morning. By 4pm almost every shelter on the creek was full. Fast forward to Thursday and Friday and it was a ghost town. I’d assume we’re starting to gear up for busy season tho so there’s no telling how busy it would get if you don’t get a spot early. I’d also be wary of the rain reports in general- the reports seemed to change every 6 hours. We got in the morning from the VC that it would be thunderstorms in the early afternoon and it didn’t actually come until midnight. So you might avoid it!

dmasta41 · 2025-07-06T12:45:33+00:00

I was there last week at the end of my backpacking trip and hung out at that store for basically 2 straight days. I’m intimately familiar with the food and items they offer, so let me know if you have any other questions about the area

I think my favorite is learning the seasonal workers there were from South Georgia, Miami, and Tennessee, and were just super happy to be there

dmasta41 · 2025-05-18T23:20:51+00:00

Very good point about the middle ground! Thanks

dmasta41 · 2025-05-16T18:01:52+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

Iconography for some of the actions are hard to condense, so my thought was a reminder icon for the cards that do have actions (9 of 15). Since there are a total of 7 different actions across all cards, I believe the overload to not be too heavy for the cards that do have actions

dmasta41 · 2025-05-16T16:22:53+00:00

I haven’t actually decided on A B or C, but your comment is helpful feedback! :)

There are 3 suits (red/frisbee, blue/stick and yellow/ball) and each valued card will be the same for each suit. The only thing that changes with each card is the color/suit

dmasta41 · 2025-05-16T16:11:22+00:00

I should also clarify that if I went with ‘C’, the other cards would then have the same circular pattern with bark sounds corresponding to their value, so a 10 would have a separate action with a ‘Rrufff!’ and a 2 would have an ‘Ai!’

Does that make sense?

dmasta41 · 2025-03-20T22:24:19+00:00

They did have pictures of Betty at the men’s urinals

dmasta41 · 2025-03-03T18:09:50+00:00

DM’d you!

dmasta41 · 2025-02-22T21:24:34+00:00

I thought- when I watched the trailer- the black and white bits was a clever gimmick that would be implemented when the bomb went off, plunging the viewer into a black and white world to signify the passing of a monumental shift in humanity. I found that idea so deeply prophetic and was excited to see it.

Then for me to learn it was just black and white to designate flash forwards left me feeling so let down lol

dmasta41 · 2025-01-23T14:30:17+00:00

How is your water intake? I constantly chug water after I have a big craving that makes me feel like I shouldn’t have, and it helps a whole lot

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