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Where to start...

So, this is my very first blog entry. Not just about boardgames, but ever. So, I guess I should start it off in a big firework show or something, but I won't.

For anyone finding this (for whatever bizarre reason), I should probably start by introducing myself. I come from Sweden, am 41 years old, married with two lovely sons (1,5 and 5 years old), and I'm a computer geek working as computer/math teacher, though I've been home on parental leave for 9 months and will return to work next week. Part from boardgames my hobbies include SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) where I am known as Padraig Gliadrach O'Cealligh in the Principality of Nordmark.

For a number of years now I've been fiddling with game prototypes of my own, and I feel I'm making progress. For each attempt the result has been more and more playable. A few old projects have been abandonded, a few others are simply in cryo stasis waiting for a vitmaine injection. And there is one that I'm actively focusing on, and I guess this blog will be targeted towards that prototype and what happens with it.

The game goes under the work name "Steamtopia" and the players develop a steampunk/fantasy city, earning fame as they construct buildings, gather resources and improve their situation. I'm currently on my third prototype version, and a few fundamental rules have changed from the first reincarnation. Now it is actually playable to the end, but the game itself still takes to long to play, and something must be tweaked to give the players better control ocher their long term strategy.

Right now I identify the biggest probem to be lack of development/testing time. I've playtested it around two times a year, which of course is way to seldom. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a test group in my home town, but the people I had in mind are also parents, so I guess there will be some scheduling challenges.

Time will tell how this turns out.

Comments

Welcome to the community,

Nice intro Padragan. Nice meeting you. There are tons of experts here on Bgdf who can help you with your game projects, flesh out ideas, playtest your games and so much more. Along with the experts, there are novice and intermediate game designers who all help each other. Have fun and please share us your trials and errors on your game projects?

Thank you!

I'm grateful for the warm welcome, and I will surely ask for some advice. In fact, I may have come to a bump in the road for my project.

So far, the playtesting have identified blatant things in need of fixing, so it was not hard to change the game and know where to push. Last testing session the players were much more vague and on some accounts contradicting each other on what was the bad parts. I find it mush harder to see what should be done, the game engine itself works fairly well, the game just needs to be... improved. I will test it a few more times and then try to specify a list of the biggest concerns.

But again, thank you for the kind reply.

Hi i'm new here

Hi , is this a Boardgame or a computer game...you said Game Engine...i am just curious. Magnaslinger

Game engine

Hi,

The game engine is the very core mechanism of the game, for instance the game engine of Settlers is that you get resources from your settlements and cities that you can use to buy more stuff. The game engine of agricola is worker placement with more options available the further you are in a game.

For most games the game engine is quite distinct, and then you put special rules on top of it like cards that allow you to break or bend rules (for instance the office in Puerto Rico that allow you to sell goods to the trading house they allready have). In my opinion, constructing a solid game engine is the hard part, adding or tweaking the extra stuff on top of it (or making an expansion) is much easier.

Hope that cleared things up for you!

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blog | by Dr. Radut