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Abstract Wargame

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dnjkirk
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http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/342340

I have it playable and it seems balanced, but I can't yet make it fun... any help would be appreciated!

jasongreeno
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I have to admit I was

I have to admit I was confused about movement, but the one thing I kept wondering (again with partial understanding) was if there were enough terrain tiles in the game?

In regards to "making it fun", what if there were two options to victory? I'm thinking each player declares one of their own territories as a "Victory if Captured" space? It would keep people on their toes.

dnjkirk
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Nice!

This is a cute idea and it might also be good if implemented as an open declaration as well. I am definitely going to think about adding this, at least as a variant.

Rick-Holzgrafe
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dnjkirk wrote:I have it

dnjkirk wrote:
I have it playable and it seems balanced, but I can't yet make it fun...

Man, I hear you, but I doubt I can help you! I did exactly the same thing once: designed a balanced, playable, well-paced war game that worked great... but wasn't any fun. (See Brimstone.)

Fun (as you well know) comes from giving the players interesting and difficult decisions on every turn. My game fell down because the best moves were usually pretty obvious. Is that the case with yours? If not, what about the game do you find unexciting?

dnjkirk
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In Clearclaw parlance, it's

In Clearclaw parlance, it's "interesting, but not necessarily fun."

It would be interesting to people who love mental masturbation, and want to dedicate a lot of thought to a game. It is very thinky. Not really a riot of sheer excitement.

Hedge-o-Matic
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Ah, yes. The unfun game...

I'd suggest that you sit down and create a v2. Start with a blank page, and re-write the game from scratch, rather than modifying your original. That way, anything you forget will be considered forgettable, and whatever you change will be more likely the better case. I've heard a couple of writers say that their second draft of a novel or story is actually a complete re-write, re-imagining the action. Whereas for fiction this is a bit extreme, for games it's a much better proposition.

Carefully constructed mechanics that we're loathe go give up are often a curse, in the same way that elaborately crafted phrasing and froo-froo exposition is for writers. As Faulkner once said, "Kill your darlings". Even if you can't pin down exactly what the problem is, it's somewhere in the synergy between existing mechanics, and so they all must die, if only temporarily.

This is why it's so much more effective to begin with a blank document, and re-envision the gameplay, rather than just changing the old game and leaving possible deadwood. Starting with just the very barest elements that will get your game across will eliminate all of the nifty clutter you currently like about your game but that make it flawed. If there's a really good system in there, you can always put it back in, or use it elsewhere. But strip it out of your game, for now, by starting over and using something functional, but simpler.

Edit: My advice, above, was based on an entirely different game, and not really useful for you, given how bare-bones your current game is (looks good!). Not sure why I was led to a different page on my first view, but man, that other game was complex. But, still, if you're dissatisfied, I'd still suggest trying a total rewrite, and see what changes.

Further Edit: Not to slam the Geek, but the comments you get for threads like yours just highlight why game design topics are not suitable for the audience there, and highlight why the BGDF is so important. Everything on the Geek degenerates into an argument about terminology and semantics (what counts as abstract? What counts as a wargame? On and on...) rather than giving any constructive imput.

dnjkirk
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Sounds about right...

Thanks man,

That's what I'm doing. I'm going through the rules and sticking them into a proper framework, reworking them, identifying possible variant rules, and making it all neat and tidy. We'll see where that takes me. It's a good bit of advice for any creative endeavour though, re-creating it from scratch. Just consider the first few a maquette.

Nando
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Complex

I have to say, it seems overly complex for what it seems like it's trying to be.

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