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Big success on the first test of Defenders of Wessex V3.0!

On Saturday night I was able to pull together a play test for Defenders of Wessex. It was the first one on the new version. Spoiler alert: we lost the game. Of course, it got to the point where we knew we had lost the game about 3/4 of the way through. But we continued to play so I could gather more data. You see, we lost because the game in its current version is more unbalanced than me on a skateboard doing yoga on a steep hill while eating ice cream. No, I've not done that. But you get the idea. It needs some work.

Why is Defenders of Wessex still broken?

Has your pet project ever deceived you into believing it could work out just the way it was? Well, thats what Defenders did to me, up until this weekend.

You see, there were a few flaws in the game that bugged me a little, like the persistent fly that won't get the message to shoo -- it isn't really doing harm, but you'd like it to go away. None of these issues was too big by itself, especially in light of the praise everyone always gives the game when the play it (in fact, I have yet to find someone who has actually not enjoyed playing it, until Saturday).

Defenders of Wessex - one more flaw to fix

Play test gone awry - I'm sure everyone who has done tests can empathize with that. Funny how one player not really into the game can muck things up for data collection.

But it did highlight one fatal flaw in the game. The game contains a loss metric called Panic, and when Panic gets to the max, the game is automatically lost.

Defenders of Wessex Massive Update

Well, it looks like its been since October that I last put up a blog entry. Time to rectify that, now isn't it?

Far from being a dead or deserted, this project has gone on with great gusto for the last few months. There was a bit of a pause on work from the second week of November through til Christmas, mostly because of the holidays and the difficulty that I had in setting up any play tests. But now things have really come along.

Defenders of Wessex: New update with version 2.9/3.0 on the horizon!

So, I had a wicked play test on the weekend. Not wicked that it was awesome, but wicked in that some how it showcased every flaw with the game...it was amazing and kinda like a train wreck.

So, the first problem we encountered was the deck of cards - the content is great but numbers need adjusting. Case in point: No vikings invaded for 5 turns (its an 8 turn game), and the ones who arrived were kind of pathetic.

Defenders of Wessex at FallCon!

In Calgary we have an annual board game convention called FallCon; some of you may have heard of it or even attended. There were several hundred people there on the Saturday (when I went). Overall it was a good time. I play tested a buddies game, and then I found an empty spot in Prototype Alley, set up Defenders of Wessex, and waited. And waited. And waited a bit more.

Defenders of Wessex Update and after action report

So, I had a few weeks where I did't have access to play testers. Back to school combined with late summer vacations took them all elsewhere. During that time I took a good, long look at some of the results and feedback I had from the most recent version of Defenders of Wessex, and I realized something: Having 1 out of 12 wins means that my game is too hard. I admit, several losses have been close, only by a point or two, while others have been spectacular. But the common thread in all of them is that the Panic mechanic is what causes the loss in every game, even with careful management.

Defenders of Wessex - How it came to be part 3

Unrelated to the topic of how my game came to be- today I attended the birthday party of a friend who happens to be a rather board game nut. He has quite a collection, and (I discovered only about 2 weeks ago) is also a designer, with connections to a vibrant designer community in my city (again, not something I knew about). I was able to show my game to several published designers today, and got great feedback.

Defenders of Wessex - How it came to be (continued)

I figured its best to update today, since I won't be around much at all tomorrow and Monday is a holiday (which will hopefully score me at least 1, if not 2 play tests!).

Defenders of Wessex -- How it came to be

My last entry talked a little about the very start of what has become Defenders of Wessex. This will continue the saga!

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by Dr. Radut