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.
I discovered that Panic suddenly hits the extreme. I had made one edit in an attempt to alter the difficulty. I wanted the game a little harder, but not too much harder. Well, turns out it went way too much harder. But I found the problem, got it fixed (hopefully) and am on my way to the next play test. Its scheduled for about 2 weeks away, and with the number of players I will have it will be perfect for testing the new Panic metric.
Comments
I remember reading up on some
I remember reading up on some of this game - the theme intrigues me - is it a cooperative game, since you have the panic meter you mentioned above?
Do you have another post/blog describing the game play? I mostly remember reading about the theme.
Game play description's are
Game play description's are probably scattered among the various Defenders of Wessex/Viking Invasion blog posts.
Here's the breakdown- the game is 100% coop. Players each pick a unique character. Every character has unique abilities in addition to common basic abilities. The idea is to score points = to 2x players before the end if the game, which is on a static turn counter.
Points are scored by completing missions. Missions are recruiting soldiers, building fortifications, and constructing resource nodes. Resource nodes are important because construction relies upon set collection (get the right resources to build buildings etc) followed by delivery to the construction/recruitment site.
Complicating things is the random spawn enemies, which both cause Panic (the evil game ender) and can plunder the country, causing resource shortages among other issues.
Characters can be divided into 3 broad categories, and every category is needed in every game. There as fighting characters, who work best at limiting and reducing panic by killing bad guys. There are the scoring characters, who are best at fulfilling missions, and there are support characters who supplement and support the efforts of the other two kinds if character.
Characters all have 4 actions which can be used in a multitude of ways. Moving around the board, collecting resources, building, recruiting, and trading resources are common actions. Unique actions may be modifiers of those actions, or they may be completely unique actions too.
That's a game play nutshell. Sometimes more information ends up on the Facebook page, which is www.Facebook.com/wessex871