Board Game Designers Forum

This game was crafted for October GDS entry and has moved into play testing and I’m hoping to log my journey. My idea came from the movie Young Frankenstein where controlling the monster was just as crazy as creating it.

My goals were to create a resource game without money or player trading. I also wanted no movement but later crumbled to the idea of assistants moving around. My idea was to have a simple game with easy decisions and let the Out of Control monsters do their job by mixing up the game.

It’s been play tested 12 or so times now with 2 and 3 players and has proven to be quite entertaining. Each game I tweaked and adjusted to get the timing just right. I made lists of players Likes and Dislikes of the game and each new play test improved game quality.

What went right? Monsters OOC got a lot of laughs, also the fun watching others try and Regain control and failing. Monsters raiding the Labs also made for a good time watching others suffer. The struggle of making sure your monster is under your control and in the Lab when you want to upgrade him. Players also enjoyed the Villager track and the Hostile Cards. Making sure your monsters is under your control and in the lab to be scored at the end of the game. The stress and nail biting of whether to chance sending out that level 3 or 4 monster near the end of the game to help you win, knowing that your high level monster who’s abilities are amazing could snake you the victory or go OCC and never be returned.

What went wrong? The first couple of test before balancing the DNA upgrades didn’t move fast enough. I wanted by mid game everyone to have their engine rolling but it was just getting started. This led to 1 animal type to create a Level 1 monster to speed up game play. The original Market idea had a few problems because it was randomly populated with sheep, pig and cow instead of take 1 of your choice. This led to yet another slow down in game and also balancing how many of each type should be in the bag. The other big issue was the Field; players didn’t understand its benefit of having an OCC monster in the field to populate the fresh corpse economy. The idea is Lower level monsters are quick to go OOC but easy to regain. While higher level monsters are harder to lose control but they are also harder to regain. By sending a low level monster to the fields to get a wolf or horse and maybe hoping it goes OCC to kill a villager. Later balancing of corpses was needed and the mechanic of monsters killing assistants and the Village location was added. This also led to balancing of the DNA upgrades and made Corpses rarity medium and switched places with the now rare wolves and horses.

I’ve included the full rules in PDF format for anyone interested in helping or fresh ideas. I have left out the Monsters abilities and how they can manipulate the game in your favor. I’m also working on more creative Villager Hostility cards.

Im including a pic of early prototype. The board and rules have changed since these pics but should give some insight.