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Snow Daze Proofreading/Playtesting/Feedback

6 replies [Last post]
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 17:29
WoodenShoe
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Joined: 08/25/2017

As mentioned in the welcome section I'm very new to all this and am working on a game developed with the help of two 8 year olds.
Snow Daze is meant to be a streamlined area control game aimed at kids but with enough strategy to keep adults interested (hopefully).

The rules and current PnP files are attached. It's undergoing daily updates as we tweak things but right now I'm kind of stuck awaiting feedback and am not sure where to go next.

Files can be found at
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6KDot5mfX8gSEV0QWplZDgtZzg

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Thu, 09/21/2017 - 19:15
#1
X3M
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Joined: 10/28/2013
If you are stuck. Could you

If you are stuck. Could you please point out what exactly troubles you?

Is it the rules? The cards?
Or something more specific? Like the design comments in your manual?

I think your game has great potential. What stands out is the start of the game. You have for 2, 3 and 4 players. And my eye catches the glimpse of a clock like design. Which is 12. This is an often overlooked, but smart decision.

A peaceful but war like theme. I like it!

Kids game? Put the snow token right next to the explanation regarding snow tokens.
Also, the flags. Give the 4 flags a place in the manual. No need yet to point towards them to what they are. Just placing them right next to their purpose in the manual will be fine.
The manual looks less text while maintaining the same amount. And kids can get to that part of the rules more quickly by looking at the picture.

You can still choose to go for cards. But if your amount stays at 11. You could decide for a roll for effect instead. A 2d6 might give an event. And the "heavier" events are moved towards the rarer rolls.

***

Responding out of the blue.
Is my way of saying hi to new game designers.
:)

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Sat, 09/23/2017 - 08:05
#2
joebergmann
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Joined: 12/29/2016
Don't stop now!

This is really good! I like that it is nice and simple and a really good theme! Who doesn't remember snowball fights? Well, if you are from the north anyhow. :)

To me, and I haven't played it yet, the biggest "issue" is having to cut out all those circles! That's not really a fair "issue", or a big one! It is what it is!

I will try playing it and see if I've got some more feedback after that.

Where would you like to go next?

You could put the game on a site like The Game Crafter and see how it does.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/

You could go to a Protospiel or Unpub if there is one in your area. You would get great feedback and possibly be seen by a publisher.
https://tabletop.events/protospiel/home

The Game Crafter is basically "free". The Protospiels and Unpubs charge for showing your games, but are worth the fee, I think.

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Sat, 09/23/2017 - 21:39
#3
WoodenShoe
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Joined: 08/25/2017
I grew up in South Texas but

I grew up in South Texas but when I was younger I used to dream about snowball fights. My parents had some wood piles by the house that I used to think would be great snow forts....if it snowed.

It's funny that you said cutting the small circles was a 'problem', my wife said the same last night and a few others have said the same. It IS a lot of little chits and we are working on cutting the number down a bit.

What I plan on doing with it at this point I'm not actually sure yet I'm just seeing how it goes and what happens.

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Mon, 09/25/2017 - 13:05
#4
joebergmann
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Played a bit today.

Introduction: I really like this! It puts you right into the mood for a snowball fight!

Object of the Game: I like that players are given a dilemma, they want to keep as much snow as possible to win, but must use snow to advance and expand! Nice! Single resource makes for good conflict!

Setup and Play: Pretty fiddly with all the parts. I think too fiddly, in my opinion. Thing is, I don't have a good thought on how to get rid of the fiddly. I've got to think on that one.

Cards: I like the cards. They are funny, in theme, and effect the game in interesting ways. I think they should be cards so the effects occur only once per game.

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Mon, 09/25/2017 - 14:32
#5
WoodenShoe
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Joined: 08/25/2017
Yes I agree its a little

Yes I agree its a little fiddly though I am wondering if the small paper bits added to that problem as when we play with them we're testing to see how it works with larger chits (actual chits not paper cut outs) and replacing the '3' snow chits with '5' to cut down the number of chits required. Also scaling up the board a little to make it less crowded. I'm not sure these will FIX the problem but I think they might help alleviate it some.

Cards
My original intention was to use cards but since there were only 12 that we came up with and kept it was just easier for testing to use a D12 I had lying around than to print off cards since they were constantly being tweaked (changed one of them yesterday actually). When we play my kids keep mental note of which 'cards' have been in play that game and if we double up we just re-roll

My Issue
My biggest issue with the game is that I cannot win it against 8 year olds. I am trying to clean the table with them and somehow they keep winning. My wife finds this hilarious.
Aside from that it feels like the opening rounds are always the same, everyone goes up, left, and right to gain the most territory early on then the game moves to round two before things start to heat up. I'm not sure if this is actually a problem or not.

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Mon, 09/25/2017 - 14:48
#6
joebergmann
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Great ideas!

I think scaling up the board would be great. I'm not too surprised that you cannot win against 8 year olds. I have a Meetup group that does playtesting and one member brings his 9 and 11 year old kids and they destroy me at every game we try!
It's also interesting that your first rounds were exactly what happened to me! You could just start the game with everyone in those positions already. It will shorten the game without changing the "real" play. I learned that from a publisher.
I like it though! Thank you for sharing with us!

Joe

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