Game Design Assistant - Part 3

Read Game Design Assistant - Part 1 and Game Design Assistant - Part 2 for background.

Game Design Assistant is currently in feature list and prototype screen phase. This means that it is at its most flexible in terms of ultimate feature set. SO, I want to know something from other game designers out there:

• What kinds of data do you currently track while developing a game?
• What kinds of data would you like to track, but it is currently too cumbersome to do so?
• What is the most annoying part of designing a game that you wish could be automated in some way?

Please post your responses in the comments. Anyone who suggests a feature I didn't already have on my list and which gets incorporated will get access to the beta. Thanks!

More to come . . .

Game Design Assistant - Part 2

Read Game Design Assistant - Part 1 for background.

Game Design Assistant started as GDW Playtest signup. This was a simple web application I built with a limited set of features:

• Individual playtester logins
• Playtest session tracking
• Game and version tracking
• Limits on signup slots for each playtest
• Automatic assignment of extra players to substitute slots
• Message board for each playtest session

In addition to using the message board to communicate with playtesters, I also used it to track information about the game version's changes and information about the playtest itself (scores, playing time, etc.). I've been using it for a few months now and have added one more feature: anytime somone signs up for a session or posts on the message board, an e-mail is sent to let me know what happened.

As I've been using it, I've slowly realized some inefficiencies that were inevitable given the extremely basic design. Even as I was thinking about ways to improve the application, I realized that a full-featured application for aiding board game designers would not only help me in my efforts, but would be useful for other game designers as well.

More to come . . .

Municipality - Week 9

Just as I thought that Municipality was rules-complete, a flurry of good ideas came pouring in. Andrew Parks, who designed the game that made me a board gamer, came up with some astonishingly good suggestions during his first look at the game.

Version 3.2

Changes from v3.1:

• Neighborhood markers to quickly show connected properties added

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Rules Explanation - 13 minutes
Initial Setup - 5 minutes
Playing Time - 1 hour 40 minutes

Doug Faust - 130 (10 x 13)
Anni Foasberg - 72 (6 x 12)
Andrew Parks - 57 (3 x 19)
Sarah Parks - 48 (4 x 12)

Anni's notes:

• The relationships among buildings create a learning curve because there is a lot of information to process up front

Doug's notes:

• Converted so much PC to cash early because did not want to tax and lose approval rating

Andrew's notes:

• Should give everyone $5 and PC as the start of each round
• Give option of taxing at a lower level and not losing approval rating
• Restrict Campaign Manager to one extra level if you are already the most popular
• To make it feel like a Euro, make money and PC worth some amount of victory points at the end of the game

Game Log
Length | Player-Role-Controller / . . .
14 min | SP-surv-AP / AP-tax-AP / AF-zone-SP / DF-hhs-SP
08 min | SP-tax-AP / AP-surv-AF / AF-zone-DF / DF-dep-AP
07 min | AP-lob-AP / AF-hhs-AF / DF-cam-DF / SP-sur-AP
07 min | AP-zone-AP / AF-tax-AF / DF-dep-DF / SP-hhs-DF
06 min | DF-cam-SP / SP-surv-SP / AP-tax-AP / AF-zone-AF
06 min | DF-lob-DF / SP-hhs-SP / AP-dep-AP / AF-surv-DF
04 min | AP-tax-AP / AF-zone-AF / DF-cam-DF / SP-dep-SP
05 min | SP-surv-AF / AP-hhs-AP / AF-lob-AP / DF-dep-DF
05 min | DF-cam-SP / SP-zone-AF / AP-tax-AP / AF-surv-DF
07 min | DF-hhs-AF / SP-zone-DF / AP-dep-AP / AF-tax-AF
07 min | AP-cam-AP / AF-lob-AF / DF-surv-AF / SP-hhs-SP
05 min | AP-hhs-DF / AF-dep-AF / DF-zone-AF / SP-surv-SP
04 min | AF-tax-AF / DF-cam-DF / SP-lob-AP / AP-hhs-AP
03 min | AF-cam-AF / DF-hhs-DF / SP-zone-SP

Version 4.0

Changes from v3.2:

• Each player gets 1 Political Capital at the start of each round
• HHS Commissioner - no longer costs Political Capital to use
• Campaign Manager - a player who has more popularity than any other player cannot pay to activate more than once
• Tax Assessor - a player may collect half taxes and not lose popularity
• End of Game - $1 = 1 additional vote; 1 PC = 3 additional votes

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Initial Setup - 6 minutes
Playing Time - 1 hour 17 minutes

Michael R. Keller - 125 (10 x 10 + $22 + 3 x 1 PC)
Greg Costikyan - 89 (6 x 9 + $2 + 3 x 11 PC)
Nick ? - 54 (3 x 9 + $3 + 3 x 8 PC)
Gil Hova - 44 (3 x 2 + $35 + 3 x 1 PC)

Nick's notes:

• Too steep of a learning curve

Greg's notes:

• Add a permit track to remind players of game end at 15 permits
• Also, add a visual reminder of game end to the Approval Rating track

Gil's notes:

• Add a game end check to the Zoning Board role card
• Too steep of a learning curve at the start of the game

Conclusions:

• One-sided player card
• Add the game end check to the Zoning Board card, put off a permit track for now
• Instead of half-tax, just double all monetary values and allow for a double-tax that decreases approval rating
• Fiddle with the end-game values for money and PC
• During initial setup, don't throw away available land spaces if one person chooses top of deck instead; two players in a row have to do so in order to refresh available land spaces