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V1.5 Playtesting

I'm starting the round of playtesting for V1.5 of LH.

I've reduced the number of boost cards, removing some less tactical ones to reduce the amount of draw-based good rounds. I've also adjusted the targets to be in the brackets of the testing for V1.4. After these 10 games I'll see how it plays.

V1.4 had a 60% win rate.

I'm aiming to have an 80% win rate with this game, so the balancing begins.

Comments

One thing...

What is LH?

If I use acronyms I usually write the long name and then the acronym.

Like if I say something about Board Game Geek (BGG), I specify the long name and it's acronym that I use further in the post...

How many cards in your game? What kind of cards do you have?

I'm just curious to know more about your game! :P

In time... ;)

LH is the abbreviation of the game's name, which shall remain a secret for now. ;)

At the moment there are a total of 95 cards in the game, divided into four groups: Characters (20), Targets (10), Boosts (currently 15 in V1.5) and Missions (50). These have different names in the game, but much like LH, I'm keeping the true terms a secret for now.

The four groups are set in respective "deck" zones and used for different points in the game. It's a co-operative symbol matching game. In short, up to four teams work together to get as many points as possible to hit the target, which is only revealed at the end of the game.

The teams start small and as the game progresses you unlock more characters to use, but in parallel you face more missions. Combined with negative marking (losing points for failing missions), the decision of who goes on what mission is key to a successful game.

There is a certain element of a lucky draw involved in this game, but that is actually key to the theme and overall message of the game. One thing I'm doing as a developer is using my games not just for fun, but to suggest things. To be incredibly cliché, this game is about working together to overcome our increasing struggles, although it acknowledges that sometimes we can do everything and still find it tough (although then we get straight back into it!). :)

So...

When you say "up to four teams work together" is this team a *virtual* concept like I am ONE players with several Character cards OR is it more like SEVERAL players play together AGAINST other teams???

I assume the FIRST case of one player with a small team (as you start) as opposed to groups of people playing against each other... Never know, could have been a party game that plays with 20 people! :P

The stuff you don't want to divulge is okay... By actually posting more information, you better secure your rights as the game designer... But that's up to each individual designer. Game ideas may sound good - but a good game is much more that just ideas... It's also a BIG matter of details which bring the game together.

I can blog all day about my game and still there are many details of the game that remain *unknown* because I haven't disclosed them...

BTW are you using a "Press-Your-Luck" mechanic for missions???

I am working on 1-4 player

I am working on 1-4 player variants, so it changes slightly with the number you have. But, with the recommendation of four, each player has a "team." This consists of three characters. One is revealed at the start and the other two are revealed in the increasing rounds. So the four teams are actually just four players, each controlling up to three characters.

Oh don't worry, it's far more than just an idea. There's a lot of work being done with me and my team and more and more information will be put out there in due time. It's all part of the marketing process, which is key as I'm publishing it myself. This game is just one part of a much larger, very ambitious project. :)

Nope, steering clear of the press-your-luck mechanic. The game comprises of six rounds, each with an extra mission than the last. The teams must assign their characters to the missions as they see fit, using as many or as few heroes as they want, with a limit of three per mission. Each mission carries different points, weighted to their difficulty. It's a simple case of "more things needed = more points" - a snowball effect of increasing points.

The only luck in the game, like every other card game, is the draw of the cards. Of the 20 characters, only 12 are used in any one game (with one possibility of switching for one of the 8 unused characters, should you possess the right card.); 28 of the 50 missions are used per game, leaving 22 aside. And anywhere from 4-12 of the 15 boosts are used in a game, with it rarely going above 6. I don't like the luck element to be too strong, as that takes away from tactics, but I still love to have a small element in it as it is a key factor in any fun card game!

It sounds very *promising*

You seem to have a good plan in place...

The only comment or critique would be to carefully consider the decision to *self-publish*. I did that with my first game... Had I known more about the market, I would have change the *collectible* aspect into just a *game*. And in doing so I would have saved my self some money and would have chosen to find a publisher...

I was also considering doing a Kickstarter with my 2nd game ("Tradewars - Homeworld")... But the math ain't right:

1. Your average Kickstarter earns about 200 - 500 contributors.
2. A publisher's *initial production run* is around 2,000 units!

If you do the math, that 4 to 10 times the volume (in term of units). With the Kickstarter, there are NO repeat sales... With a publisher, stores can RE-ORDER the game if it is selling well. What I have heard is that if a game makes the 2,000 market, the next production run is 5,000 to 10,000 units.

That's something worthwhile considering!

Having gone down the *self-publishing* route myself (with my first game "Quest Adventure Cards(tm)"), I would NOT repeat the experience. I'd rather find a publisher that has established relationships with distributors around the US and Canada. But that's just my take on things...

Far away lands :(

One main factor for my self-publishing route is that I live in Ireland, where there is a significantly smaller (tiny) games publishing industry compared to the US and Canada. So from that standpoint, a lot of my decision is to give it a bigger push myself. On top of that, I'm quite business tuned and have a team working on all elements, so the "self" that is publishing it is quite a large self. :)

I definitely agree with you though when it comes to KickStarter. As great a site as it is, it is really for a 1-run game and not for someone with the aim to continue beyond that marker. We are in the development of a plan and laying down the groundwork and will be doing an initial print of 1,500 copies (we can't use KickStarter anyway, as Ireland is
restricted [another great joy of being on this island!]) and if all goes to plan, it will turn to an increased production.

It's going to be one hell of a learning curve and tough adventure, but it'll be a fun one all the same! Although our locale makes the ease of finding publishers difficult, in a way it spurs us on to improving our own efforts. :)

Quest Adventure Cards(tm)

You remind me of Fhizban... He too is *self-publishing* his Collectible Card Game (CCG).

My first *attempt* "Quest Adventure Cards(tm)" was a 10,000 booster (100,000 cards print run) had some interesting *ideas*... I paid my artist UPFRONT and gave him a 5% royalty of sales ABOVE and BEYOND the 100,000 cards. Well needless to say, I never sold 100,000 cards.

I did not know about *China* or US reps (that deal with China) so I had it all made in Canada. PRICEY!

In the end, I got the product EXACTLY like I wanted. But the price per booster came out to $2.50 each. Then I learned that CCGs don't have good market penetration (contrary to what most people would think with the large giants like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: the Gathering).

I had no one to *market* my game, except for me blogging about the game on various Card Game forums. I took the time to price my cards and the cost in China would have been $0.25 per booster (1/10th the price!) You live and learn...

Right now I am SPLIT between WAITING for a publisher to pay for the completion of my artwork or PAY for the artwork myself and ask for a bigger royalty from the publisher... Somehow it needs to be offset, if I do go ahead and pay for it myself...

Anyhow just sharing a story... to warn people about what to be *careful* about! :)

My Sympathies!

Ouch! That certainly sounds like a painful adventure you had there, but you are taking it quite positively, which is good to see. So many people would throw the towel in after something like that. :)

I'm steering far clear of CCGs as they take far too much effort to establish and maintain, and I fully agree with you with the difficulty to get them out there. LH (and my future games) are all self-contained games which won't have boosters or any other releases, other than further copies if the sales demand it. I don't think I'd have the attention span for a CCG anyway, I'd feel to wanting of a new project!

Best of luck to you with tracking down a publisher, I hope it works out for you and you can look back on the little mishap in a great light in the years to come. But like I said, kudos to you for sticking with it! That type of resilience is what makes people succeed. :)

ALL WRONG!

Leeton wrote:
Ouch! That certainly sounds like a painful adventure you had there, but you are taking it quite positively, which is good to see. So many people would throw the towel in after something like that. :)...

Well I had some really good years, flying high, earning 6 figures, working on National accounts... And so I had some money stashed away. I had hoped that a local distributor that I visited and toured their distribution warehouse was going to pick up my game for local distribution. That unfortunately did not happen. :(

It was kind of a whole *mix* of literally bad ideas:

1. I was marketing to kids ages 9+. WRONG. Kids don't have credit cards...
2. It was a CCG. WRONG. Market penetration for CCGs is nearly impossible. Only the giants that have cartoons survive (like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!)
3. I was self-publishing. WRONG. Had I approached a publisher, they would have told me: BAD IDEA.
4. I produced the game locally. WRONG. Ten times (10x) factor for cost to produce.
5. My rulebook was ONLY on-line (Yes - you can download it). WRONG. Most kids don't know how to search the Internet to FIND and DOWNLOAD the game's manual.
6. I had zero marketing. WRONG. You need a publisher to get the word out about a game. If local game stores have copies of the game. there is a chance the game will sell.

I made so many mistakes... But I have learned. That's why I'm not certain about shelling out more money on the artwork for "Tradewars - Homeworld" (TWHW). I want to *make* the game... But I know I need to get a publisher "on my side". I've already PAID for *Preliminary* artwork - to showcase what I want the product to look like and the fact that the publisher doesn't need to look for an artist to render the game.

My gut is telling me to wait... At least until I get some responses from the current or next publisher.

So I'm trying to do things *better* this time around! :)

Note: This post makes it seem perhaps that I had gained nothing *positive* from the experience. Obviously there were some positive points:

1. Got the chance to work with a Marvel/D.C. Comics illustrator. Geof worked for both and still does artwork for clients such as drawings, inking and colouring. RIGHT!
2. For a first game, it wasn't overly complicated and kids could play the game. RIGHT!
3. We had strong branding, the name "Quest Adventure Cards(tm)" stuck. RIGHT!
4. I learned more about the tabletop industry than I had playing 20 years before. RIGHT!
5. It got me MORE interested in tabletop gaming, less interested in video games. RIGHT!
6. With the game's design and artwork, it got me to flex my more creative side. RIGHT!

So yeah there is positive aspects that are not negligible. I think most of the errors were *marketing* and *sales* errors. Both things that I am not very good at... Some people can sell snow to Eskimos. I couldn't bribe a millionaire to take gold bricks off my hands! :P

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