Stabcon Play test

So the 2013 winter Stabcon has been and gone and it's been the the traditional mess of games, drinking, terrible breakfasts, and lack of sleep.  Seriously it is a fabulous convention and I would do my best to convince everybody I know who likes board games to go.  Maybe it's my use of the term 'Broken on the Stabcon' that does it?  So what did I play?
Aye Dark Overlord made me laugh like a drain and involved the most outright unpleasant story we have ever done.
cards against humanity  remains a Stabcon late night favorite as more people encounter just how fucked up fucked up apples to apples can be.  Any game which generates the phrase "I can't believe I pulled out Anal beads and only came second" has a lot going for it in my book....
I brought and played a copy of ugg-tect which caused large numbers of people to look at us strangely as we bashed each other with inflatable clubs and grunted
Somebody showed me how to play space alert which as promised delivered insane miscommunications and cock for hilarious results and I'm now looking forward to getting my copy of the unplayed shelves.
Article 27 was excellent and involves lost of shouting and negotiations and gavel banging. 
struggle of empires which was probably the heaviest game I played that weekend as Prussia rampaged around the European Theatre but only coming second to Russia's massive international empire in the sun.
Spartacus a game of blood & treachery which for a board game linked to a TV show is cracking even if it did drag to the end as we all tried and failed to win but were massively knocked back in the process and I think it needs a house rule that if anybody gets to 12 influence the game will end that round no matter what else is done.
I finally played discworld ankh morpork and found it very good and certainly managed to feel discworld in a really good way -the secret victory conditions certainly worked.
Go Goblin Go was a nice enough race game but I'm not sure I'd play it again - even if it is funny you expend rocks to move your goblin by pelting them from the seats.
guildhall  was a nice little card game that seemed confusing - but soon made sense and involved a certain amount of opportunistic dickery which I'm very fond off.
Article 27 was excellent and involves lost of shouting and negotiations and gavel banging - no really it comes with it's own gavel.

I seem to have a bit of a blank spot on Friday night as I only seem to recall playing struggles and cards against humanity.  Did that really take up 10 hours?

I've got a production based blog post brewing following several conversations at Stabcon but that can wait till I'm more human.

Something very unexpected happened at Stabcon while I was play testing Giant Stone Head - a total stranger stopped by the table - looked at stuff - and suddenly went "I've read your blog!".  Turns out he was googling for Stabcon and this blog popped up.  That was odd - somebody I don't know reading these ramblings.

The play test went well - 4 person - about 2 hours although there was a lot of faffing - 5 turns.  It went a little odd as two players decided to simply beat each other to death rather then go after victory points which meant I rather ran away with it - despite saying things like "by taking this card I've put a giant target on my back".  But that felt like player decision making rather then rules oddness.  I mean if I decide to spend my entire game of Agricula making pretty patterns with fences rather then getting victory points there is not a lot a designer can do about that.

On reflection I saw two possible areas of concern  The first is running out of space for Giant Stone Heads really can knacker you - especially since at the moment you don't get anything.  I can see a simple fix for that - if you are unable to place any giant stone heads you get a card for each giant stone head you are unable to place.  It does not happen that often but if somebody is in a stuck situation.  The second was that with a hand size of 7 the build card that gives you 8 cards seems very poor.  I can see two possible options - the first is to raise the hand limit - the second would keep the hand limit the same but increase the number of cards to 9.  The best 7 out of 9 cards is more attractive then 7 out of 8.

I suspect the first change will go in - not sure about the second needs some consideration.

Production - Part 1

So I've received the first quote for components - the bits - for Giant Stone Head and it's not to bad....

£1.50 per a copy (with some assumptions about shipping costs).  Which is about 10% of the total production costs...... Which is a little worrying as this is a the most standard of all the parts.

Although I would end up with 2,000 additional large pawns (for the big men) in 5 colors because there is a minimum order of 500 of each type/colour which is 400 more then I need.....

If I found some other way of sourcing the big men then it would be 0.60p per a copy but I'd need to find 500 bits to be in a matching 5 colours which would be tricky.

Still to source.....

Hexes
Giant Stone Heads
Unworshiped Stone Heads
Cards
Rules
Box

I've got an idea for Hexes, Giant Stone Heads and Unworshiped Stone Heads - although if that's not practical I'm buggered..........

The rules I think should be easy, the box is tricky, but the cards.... ahhh the cards are a real issue......
  
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Kickstarter

But before that a picture......

Thanks to Grampus for my christmas present which now adorns the top of my work PC......

And now onto Kickstarter.....
 

So a couple of people have talked about trying to kickstarter Giant Stone Head which given the size of my readership is all of 6 people that must make it the elephant in the room so I’ll talk about it.

This reflects my own personal experience of kickstarter your mileage may vary.  This is one I put my money down for…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maydaygames/eaten-by-zombies-deckbuilding-to-die-for-game

And very quickly I had a finished product in my hand.  Because what they offered is a pre-order for a very well developed game– with the art done, the production arranged and them simply waiting for the money to arrive.

It’s about getting enough money so that you can cross a production threshold – probably a 1000 copies - and enough copies pre sold so that you are not going to be left with a ton of stock to warehouse.  And heck if other people paid for them to be made you can ditch them

And if you don’t make your kickstarter – well – you can head to a publisher with a design good to go and see if they will take it.  Heck you might even be a publisher looking to expand.

Like the guys behind this….

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/miniongames/hegemonic-4x-space-board-game?ref=category

 And if you can do it – it’s a good and clever business model.  So why am I not interested?  Because it’s running before you can walk.  Lifted from the write up of the people responsible for that above game

“James Mathe (Owner of Minion Games) has been a part of the hobby game business for well over a decade. <snip> We have delivered more then 5 kickstarter projects to date! More info can be read at my personal website below”

That’s where I want to be – but that’s a goal – not a first move.  But why is it not a first move?

What does kickstarter get you?  Kickstarter gets you – a website, a secure way of doing the transactions with people and that is it.  That’s all they give you – if I started a kickstarter I’d be responsible for pimping it and driving people towards it.  And you know what – I’ve no experience or forum or reputation to help with that.  I don’t see how kickstarter helps me find 500 people to buy my game and I don’t think I can find me 500 people to buy my game – and without that an order of 1,000 copies is just not practical. 

And even if I was successful I’d be left holding a massive pile of dollars with a lot of international orders.  Hardly ideal for me in the UK  It would also up the scale of the whole thing massively – print 100 copies it’s a hobby – print a 1000 and it’s a business and the tax man cometh……. 

So production issues aside – I believe that making a 100 copies and selling them direct is an important first step that I need to undertake.  And with a number of them under my belt – well then I can try and kickstart a proper business going – but there is a lot of ground work that needs to be done first

All Quiet

No progress at the moment to report  - e-mails sent off but no responses and no play test of the new version.

So lets talk about a game I gave out three times for christmas - Coup.  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131357/coup this was another game I saw at Essen, failed to play it so never got it, but have since decided I really rather like.  It also got a rather good write up from cardboard children over at Rock Paper Shotgun http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/19/the-fourth-boardgame-of-christmas/#more-136038

So what makes it good.  Well - it's quick and simple.  No complicated rules - no lengthy time commitment and it's components are a few cards and some counters but it provides a very satisfying game form this.

Your hand of two cards are both of your lives - and represents a person of note within the city - with your cards being secret.  Having a particular person allows you to undertake one of six actions or block other peoples actions.  For example the Captain allows you to steal two money from another player or block another players captain.  All very simple - with the clever wrinkle that you can play any action you like even if you don't have the card.  However any player can dispute your claim - and if you are lying you lose a life. Of course if you are telling the truth they lose a life - so the game becomes a case of bluff and double bluff.......

Making this game an excellent example of good game play arising out of simple rules and human interaction.......

Production

So right now - I'm talking to people about production.

The trouble being until I get everything lined up - no actual orders can be made.  Until I've got a way of getting.....

a printed box, a deck of cards, some hexes, a pile of components, and a mound of specific stone head bits there is no point getting any one of these things..... I mean really what am I going to do if I end up with 9000 meeples in 5 colours if Giant Stone Head is never actually made.....

The rule book and other player aids - the are just a printing job which I'm sure I've got the contacts for.  But it's a big challenge.  And once I've found a way of sourcing it - I've got to make the appropriate files to the correct standards which involves learning a world of new skills to do with desk top publishing......

All within a tight budget so I don't lose money on every copy I sell - even before additional expenses like getting tables at cons.....

I suspect I need witty titles

So another play test with the Monday night gamers – people who last played 3 or so version a go.  And yes I’m definitely pushing for play tests much more at the moment – simply because I set a deadline to start production work at the start of January in order to have it for Bristol comic con so I need to have a version I could produce sharpish.  In fact that might well be the last play test of the 2012.....

They were all very impressed by the little stone heads – there so cute!  What I’m going to do for the full production version is now an issue…….  Explaining the game seemed really hard for some reason.

Good positive feedback – they seemed to enjoy the game – and seemed to think it had improved over last time.    

So the new dual use cards are excellent – people now have a range of options available while still just being able to throw cards down for violence if they feel the need.  The balance is still with the attacker but the defender manage to throw down some large reversals due to the wider range of defensive cards.   The chances of a “bad bad day” being in the hands of somebody able to play it are much higher now – which makes attacking a heart that little bit more dangerous.  And the “totally taboo” cancelation card is certainly a good addition….. 

The new rongaronga seemed popular – the ones giving you points for attacking the player to your left or to your right were good.  The new “shaman says what?” cards which give points for taking certain combinations of territory did not seem to be quite right.  Of the three combinations the coastal one was done 3 times – the middle one was done 1 and the straight line one was never done (although I did try)…….

The problems seem to fit into a set of similar problems from previous games……

-          Those behind – stay behind

-          Turn Order – when is good to go?

-          Last turn does not matter that much.

I think I see a solution for all three of those issues – but I’m trying to avoid changing too much too quickly – specifically I don’t want to change the cards until I’ve seen them in use a little more.  So while I think we need more movement cards and more steal a vp from the leader cards I need to see that a little more first.

What does not seem to be a problem….

-          Sitting on your arse.  I ran a defensive game – large numbers of men on the first turn – grabbed a lot of space and built up slowly and won.  But only just – and only after making a grand grab for the middle which could have gone very wrong. 

So plans for the next version…..

1)      Remove the resource value for holding the quarry.  Still have it break ties but no value.

2)      Change the end of game points to being for Hexes, and for resources.  Stoneheads post game become worthless – which is thematically better anyway.

3)      Increase the difference between the top and bottom ranks for the end of game points

4)      Change turn order so that lowest VPS choose when they want to go

The last is the only one that worries me – the other 3 seem sensible – it’s an old idea I have used before – but it slows things down.  It’s another choice point but it feels like a bit of a road bump rather than a significant choice.  However with the new game when you go seems important and yet not obvious (where as it was obvious before) – and first place is getting the first choice of stone heads and extra VPS……..

In terms of production I’ve asked my friend with the most contact into the games industry to see if he can find me….

a)      Contact details for a games bit wholesaler willing to handle a small order – I’ll need about 95 pieces per a box (ignoring worshiped and unworshiped stone heads for which I have an idea) so about 10,000 in total for a 100 copies which is a tiny order.

b)      See if he can find me a printer who can do print runs of a 100 decks of cards.

Even if that works - that still leaves……

Hexes, stone heads,  unworshiped stone heads, boxes, rules, and art to source…….

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm just had an idea.  What if each player had their own deck of cards?  Would be less random  each player would have the same mix of cards to use – just in a different order.  But at first glance looks much more expensive to make – but I know that in printing a 1,000 copies is the place where the price per a unit drops massively (5 player – 5 decks a box means 200 copies of the game which is more than I was thinking of doing.  Except that the different backs might well mean it counts as different decks so the price would go up.

Last night as one of the play testers played around with stone heads – I was struck how you could have a game of stone heads that just involved covering resources with stone heads until the island fall apart without all the violence.  And a good game it would be to.  But through all the version of the game – when I’ve felt like every idea was under considering – I’ve stuck with the violence because the original dream had involved this sort of violence based conflict around the stone heads. So I've let certain preconceptions stay with me throughout the design process without realising they were there.  Nothing wrong with fixed notions - but it would be better to acknowledge them I think....

Another Play Test....

This one was with people who had played one of the earlier version.  To my mind it all seemed to be fine.  The new hexes were good - less crowded.  The lower amounts of resources mean the maths was easier and at 4 turns things felt they wrapped up a little better.

However two odd thing.....

One person decided he had lost and so did random things.  Generally taking down another player - and allowing the other three to just fight it out amongst themselves.  Really not sure what I could do to prevent that since he was not in fact in a bad position - he just assumed he was and acted that way.

The second was that the game was played by somebody who had played one of the earlier version.  A very long time ago.  He seemed unimpressed - and claimed he enjoyed the previous version but was not sure why.  I think I understand the problem - this person likes veracity and dislike abstractions.  So previous version which involved collecting stone and wood were better because they felt truer.  Where as this version the mechanic of "the most resources gets first pick" did not feel true to him.

But I am very happy I've moved way from other versions - and accepted that abstraciton.  He asked me what I wanted the game to be and I said "fun, quick, war game where lines shift and changes rapidly as people look for opportunities."  And if I keep that goal in mind when I develop it should help a lot.

This time round we've a new action deck - and it's a big overhaul.  Now most cards have two functions - there main play ability and some sort of discard for violence benefit.  25% of the deck has now discard, 25% has defence, and 50% has attack.  That's not to say that the main effect is not sometimes violence related but it's also movement or points related.  Hopefully this will get round the problem of hands of violence or hands of useful stuff.  Now you'll get both and have to pick......

The movement cards hidden pathways and fishing boat have been clarified - they do the same thing just hopefully more obvious.
The rongaronga has been changed.  Now there is a steal a VP card if your opponent has more VPs - and also if they sit to your left/right.  I'm hoping the later will add some randomness to the game.....
 There is now a "counter card"
As well as a flanking card to move a warrior into a battle once it has started - stealing a card if he gets there and a plus 3 defence that requires you to lose a man (the logic being even if you win you've lost a warrior).
We've also got goal cards which are based on holding certain patterns of terrain such as 5 coastal spaces or 5 in a straight line. Might need more variaty in those - but want to see they go.  They were going to be a new deck but adding them in seems to work.

I really want to check this with 4 players - with 5 players a round seems to take a while....  Also might need somebody who is utterly defensive and see what happens.....

Also not sure about turn order - I might have to give players a choice in reverse VP order.