about the universe forum commander Shop Now Commanders Circle
Product List FAQs home Links Contact Us

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Some Other Notes on Game Development and Playtesting

This is Steven Petrick posting.

When running a playtest, one of the things to try to do is "break" the game. If the game imposes a bad effect for multiple morale failures, find out if such an event is possible, otherwise the rule (and perhaps the game) is basically broken. This does not mean that something that is defined as "rare" in the game's rules must occur in every game, but if it can only occur as a result of deliberate (as opposed to simply making mistakes) bad playing on the part of the players, then it is broken rule. You need to either delete it, or revise the game rules such that it can occur.

Part of this means considering the possible strategies. SVC notes that one game he worked on only worked when one hex of the map (which was a historical World War II battle) was converted from clear terrain to jungle, otherwise the Japanese were easily able to outflank the defenders and roll up their line, something they could not do historically.

You also have to consider that players will ask questions and do things that "are not forbidden by the rules." As an example, in a first person shooter game where all the players are supposed to be on the same "side," shooting a fellow player so that he cannot gain any more victory points. (Of course if your game is supposed to allow the players to betray one another that is another matter.)

So if you are doing a game based on "The Shootout at the OK Corral," you might need a rule forbidding Doc Holliday from changing sides and supporting the Clantons against the Earps (or you might include rules allowing all of the players to "change sides"). When creating the basic version of the game, though, you need to remember that not all players will play the good guys because they are "playing the good guys."