I won't go into all the details but my FIRST round with The Game Crafters (TGC) Sanity Tests has resulted in a score of 53! :(
The tester seems to have a difficulty about the "Structure" of the document. He finds that the "Key Concept" section contains too much content and that the "Play Sequence" is largely left towards the end.
And he is RIGHT. But this is the FORMAT I chose because I could not find a way to explicitly spell everything out that is part of the game. The "Play Sequence" is very variable... It's NOT like Magic where you have to follow a specific ORDER. Yes you should choose your ROLE FIRST and refresh your hand to five (5) cards LAST. But the rest is variable and is up to the player to decide how he plays EACH turn.
With this score - which is very important since I want to SELL via TGC, I will have to DIALOG with the tester... Otherwise I'm not certain HOW I will be able to "re-structure" the document into something more cohesive.
Comments
Following the advice given
I have re-structured the rulebook according to the testers suggestions. I hope the next scores is at least 70% since we were about 17 points from this score (last score was a 53%). I followed the advice to the letter. I unfortunately did not have extra images which I will include when I have them (Action Shots of game play: there might be 6 of them).
Depending on the results of this NEXT test (I have asked for a 2nd test based on the revisions that were suggested), I will see IF it will be possible to hit the 90% mark...
I know it's a challenge - but I would like a HIGHER score to inspire confidence for our buyers/backers.
Let's see how we fare this 2nd round with the Sanity Tests! :)
So I got a 66%... 4 points from passing (70%).
I will be conducting a photoshoot on Saturday morning to get all the additional images for the game.
This will include:
My GOAL is to make 80% score... I think it is possible. I need +14% and I can earn +10% on photos/images alone. Somewhere else I need to scratch out 4 more points...
Should be possible, making the overall score to 80%!
Keep you all posted.
And so my current score is 72%
I guess I will have to be happy with this score (72%).
Why?
Due to the 20 page limitation for booklet I cannot further expand on gameplay examples, which could be good but would take at least one, if not more pages.
I don't know why there is a 20 page limitation - this has to be because of the machinery being used to saddle stitch the documents, otherwise I see no reason for imposing ANY page limitation...
Should be (machinery allowing) as many pages as you like, provided they fit in your game box...
I have submitted a "Site Idea" regarding this HARD LIMIT and see if JT and crew can maybe see if it would be possible to go beyond this limit. Would be awesome for me to have like five (5) more pages to give some sample turns and show some in-game pictures without having to look for whitespace in the rulebook...
Anyhow we've reached the goal of 70%+ which is sufficient for allowing us to sell the game on "The Game Crafter" (TGC). Yay!
Thank you TGC for helping my rulebook be a lot clearer in terms of natural flow and helping me add some images to show off the game being played.
Cheer everybody!
Well done
Good work and trust me....they're probably happy there's a 20 page limit, otherwise you'd drive them bananas :)
Full steam ahead now Kris!
Ya you are probably right...
If it's 20 pages, that should be "BIG" enough... Sure I could add a bunch of pages with gameplay scenarios - but is it really necessary?! Probably not. Sure it would make for a better rulebook - but at the same time it might scare people away.
20 pages is ample amount of pages to describe the game in its entirety. Now we have a better format which is more natural to read. The structure of the overall rulebook has improved and we have added some images to help with visualizing what it might look like on your home's table! :)
I don't think Clayton would go bananas... Because he pointed out what needs to be corrected and added to achieve a HIGHER score. But I think I agree that the length is ENOUGH. Plus we have Undead Viking's video on HOW TO PLAY the game on the product page (TGC website).
So I think we have done a good job in vetting our rulebook and combined with our video, it should be clear how to play the game.
Excellent. I agree with you!
About "full steam ahead"...
Well I have POSTED the SURVEY link on my Facebook (FB) page.
I am asking all the FB people to take 5 minutes out of their busy lives and to fill out the SURVEY.
We will be conducting the survey during the ENTIRE month of May. We are also reaching out to ONLY people who have LIKED our game and their friends. This brings our reach to a total of 65,000 people!
However the cost to contact such a group are way too high. We hope to at most contact 5,000 people (we'll see if we get that high of a response). FB reports the top reach is about that...
Of course I have learned NOT to trust FB since they gouge you for money. Even with a moderate amount of promotion - it still is EXPENSIVE.
June will be the time where we reach out to the people who did NOT take the survey... We're really trying to give this SALE a chance in succeeding. And so we're communicating with people who LIKE our product!
Cheers everybody.
I took the survey! Also, it's
I took the survey!
Also, it's very cool to watch someone explain your game...I want that so bad! :)
If anyone else is interested
The SURVEY's DIRECT URL is = https://goo.gl/EoFZ3N
That's in case other designers want to take 5 minutes to fill out the survey.
Again no commitment, just connecting with people... And so far 3 people have taken the survey in the last 1 hour!
If it keeps up like that - that would be GREATLY welcomed news...