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. We were unable to play a round due to time constraints (the game does take about 2 hours to play), but they invited me to a couple of various events that will expand my game in the public eye, which is very useful! Hopefully within the next month I will have many amazing reports to share on how those go.
Now for How it came to be:
After making a variety of rules changes (see how it came to be #2) that were very small in nature, the game entered its current state. Play testing has been solid, with about a dozen play tests and probably 30 players having given it the once over (several players have played multiple times).
One thing I have found to be very pleasing is that the game never plays the same twice. There are enough random elements to the game, but steady random elements, to make the game shake up every play without being broken every play.
My play testing circle started out small. The first guinea pigs were, of course, family. My 4 brothers and dad all helped me run the first play test, and they very much enjoyed the game. From there, they suggested friends they had who they thought might want to participate, so I would (through them) arrange a play test with by brother and their group of friends. That soon became groups of people who I really didn't know that well playing my game and giving me feedback on it. Its like Network Marketing, but without the supplements or financial products. I think if you have a truly good game, that the players will spread the word and you will find that people enjoy it and want to play.
