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Viking Invasion V2.1 Play Test Report

Today I was able to pull together enough people to play test my game, Viking Invasion (working title). This is the 4th or 5th play test, and after each test there have been adjustments to the rules and to game play to make things move a little better. This was the official test of version 2.1.

To start, the game was a smashing success! Everything worked absolutely perfectly, and even though we lost the game (very narrowly) I was able to see all of the mechanics function near perfectly and the game was incredibly entertaining.

It fit my criteria for the game:

1) Has to play in 3 hours or less; obviously more experience players will take less time and less experienced players will take more time. But 3 hours as a median time is ideal. Todays test clocked in at just a few minutes shy of 3 hours.

2) Has to have multiple elements that threaten the players with losing the game throughout. This happened 3 times to us, as raiding enemies almost caused a loss, followed by an unlucky card draw that nearly bumped us into endgame, and the actual legitimate endgame.

3) New players have to be able to grasp game mechanics. We had 2 players who had not played any of the previous versions, and they both grasped the game and were able to play effectively without much guidance.

That brings me to the next step- I am now comfortable moving from the Alpha Test into Beta Testing. More testers, more playing. I have 5 or 6 groups ready to go for testing, so hopefully those tests go well, and I can move on to actually getting a professional prototype.

In addition, now that the game elements aren't changing after every play I will be starting the artwork process. I will have a meeting with my artist this week to get things under way!

More updates to come!

Comments

3 hours sounds as quite a

3 hours sounds as quite a commitment though. Latest trend seems to be shorter = better.

The shorter your game is, the more often it'll hit the table.

Not saying a longer game can't work, but this is something to consider.

Duration is something that

Duration is something that has been on my mind. I have been working on it nearly exclusively, and obviously more play tests will reveal the best way to shorten play time. Right now I'm not sure what to alter to bring playing time down without sacrificing game elements.

I take some comfort in knowing that most of the gamers I know are quite comfortable devoting 3+ hours to Risk, Axis and Allies, or Zombicide.

Thanks for your comments though! There will be after action reports from upcoming play tests and I will be sure to include anything that turns up that enables me to reduce play time!

Do you have a rule

Do you have a rule book/detailed game description posted somewhere?

I have posted neither yet, as

I have posted neither yet, as before yesterday's successful test I was not satisfied with the rule book. I will be posting it all, probably in a blog update(s) over the next few days.

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blog | by Dr. Radut