Why aren't you getting ready for WBC (World Boardgaming Championships)?
Good question! I felt a sense of duty to the people that have been reading this blog weekly. I want to stay on schedule for you, although this will be a much quicker article than usual.
Why is this such a big deal? Can't you just work on your game next week?
Like I have said many times in this blog. Setting deadlines for myself is one of the best ways to get things done on my designs. This is a deadline to get The Last Bastion ready to show to the world, and get the rules ready for blind playtesting. I was up until 3am last night finalizing them, so I could send them to Mike to make another round of revisions.
So your prototypes are packed and ready to go?
Not exactly. I haven't had time to make the new prototypes yet. This is actually the key point I wanted to make this week. While a professional prototype is important, a professional game is more important. I will spend some time tonight working on the components, but this week and last have been focused on playtesting. Getting the game as good as we can make it before presenting it to the public.
But what good is that without a game to show?
It is no good at all. I will have games when I need them, but game quality is always more important. The content not the visual appeal. At least for your prototypes. Good visual will draw some eyes to your game, but if they play it and it is horrible then you just wasted that graphic design time, playtest time, and potentially turned someone off to your game.
So what are you going to play with?
I plan on printing everything tonight and bringing my prototyping materials with me to WBC tomorrow. I may even get some people there to help me put it together. If you have limited time I would always work on gameplay first. Graphic design is important. In fact it can be a barrier to learning your game. So we spent some time working on that too. Teaching the game to people, even if we didn't play it to come up with questions they have just on initial impressions.
You practice teaching your game?
Yes. This is just as important as getting the game right. If you don't teach it well, and it leads to a bad experience, it is just as bad as having a bad game. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you should be able to get the basic concepts across quickly and concisely.
Bottom Line?
Use deadlines like conventions as motivation to get your game ready. If you have a choice between getting your game physically ready, or playtesting. Always choose playtesting to make sure it is as good as it can be. Most of these playtests may have to be solo. Just make sure something isn't obviously broken, or really fiddly. If it is fiddly ask for feedback on it at the convention. If you are short on time, bring your prototyping equipment with you and make your games at the convention. Either at night, or between games (do not slow other games down by prototyping it will just annoy everyone around you).
What's Next?
That's it for this week, next week I am going to talk about my experiences at WBC. Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.
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