Recent Feedback to Belle of the Ball Prototype O

UnPub

» Download PnP PDFs: Rules and Cards

UnPub3 was a great experience and I'm really looking forward to the next show. Belle of the Ball felt very well-received and I spent most of my time running demos at my table. I kind of pride myself on being a demo-machine, but this was an even more prolific event than usual. By my best estimate, I demoed Belle of the Ball somewhere around 25-30 times to around 40 people. Several were repeat players who wanted to show the game to their friends.

Feedback from the attendees was excellent. One attendee said that she would have bought a copy from me if I had one with me. Another attendee insisted on paypalling me $10 for a PnP. Meanwhile, I've had couple publisher responses that I incorporated into the second day of UnPub. I call this Prototype O-2.

The main issue regarded the lack of tension in Prototype O. In Prototype O, players had room in each party for four groups and five cards in each group. This created a leisurely pace with scoring only happening once or twice a game for each player. 

In Prototype O-2, each party only has room for three groups and each group only has room for four cards. This makes choices tighter, there isn't as much luxury of a "throwaway" group. Each one matters. Scoring is frequent and in smaller quantities, usually ranging from 5 to 10 points. A natural 12pt group is extremely rare and a very satisfying accomplishment. The lead position often changes throughout the game, usually coming down to a spread of just one or two good groups. I also removed the Belle card that grants you five groups. It just presented no benefit at all.

Other bits of feedback which I have not implemented, but which may influence future tweaks should they occur.
  • Exponential Scoring: For new gamers, it seemed like a 1:1 score for each matching icon was just the right amount of strategic challenge. However, some feedback suggested more advanced scoring: Two matching icons: 3 pts. Three matches: 6 pts. Four matches: 9 pts. This would be good as an advanced option, or perhaps a specialized player role that gets exponential scoring from only one type of icon.
  • Even Icon Distribution: Of course, that inflates the scores quite a bit since the 12 icons are distributed unevenly into three distinct Common/Uncommon/Rare columns. With the current setup, it's relatively easy to get at least one 9-pointer out of each set. Any extra points would be mostly incidental to the singular drive of maxing out each set. If I went for multiplier scoring, I'd prefer to evenly distribute the icons as 4x4x4 columns.
  • Three Distinct Sets of Belle Cards: Some of the comments from euro gamers were that Belle cards felt a little too unpredictable in their behavior. Some are played as "instants" while others go to your groups for your benefit. Still others go to your opponent's groups to their detriment. Euro gamers wanted more predictability, but casual gamers loved the variety. Assume that there are thirty Belle cards. Ten instants, ten that go to your group, ten that go to your opponent's group. You can choose which set to use each time you play or mix-and-match.
  • Three Rounds of Play: Some players wished the game was longer, which is way better than lasting too long. Still, for a longer game, I can see it played in three rounds. Between rounds, you reshuffle the guest deck and play through it again. Each time you do so, you can add a new set of Belle cards to the deck, either predetermined like 7 Wonders' age cards or randomly dealt.
Thanks to everyone who playtested Prototype O last weekend! I think you'll dig the optimizations in O-2.

Comments

  1. JasonJanuary 25, 2013 at 4:15 PM

    I like the suggestions and think they can add to the game esp. scoring more often.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanielSolisJanuary 26, 2013 at 2:26 PM

    We'll see how they turn out!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Graphic Design and Typography Tips for your Card Game

Image
Chris Farrell of Illuminating Games just wrote a thorough critique of card games setting their body text to be so small that they cannot be read at arm's length, let alone across the table. Here's an excerpt, but the whole thing is worth a read for any would-be card game designers out there. (Myself included.) Break out your copy of the base set of Dominion, and look at the Chapel. This has a text box roughly 3.5cm by 4.5cm. It's got a single line of text. That line of text is 1 (one) millimeter high. 1mm! For me, it's only clearly readable at half an arm's length even in the bright light of day. (...) Compare this to a more sane game like Glory to Rome, where the font size is 2-3 times as large (text is 2mm high, keywords 3mm and usually highlighted). I can generally read Glory to Rome cards across the table, and can certainly see the important keywords. To heap insult upon injury, not only does Glory to Rome have far more legible text than Dominion it also has...
Read more

Low-High Dice Game

Image
A dice game inspired by the stock market (and playing lots of Martian Dice). Roll a bunch of dice and choose which sets to keep. Choose your strategy wisely! Stuff You Need Two-to-Six PLAYERS A PENCIL and PAPER to keep score Thirteen standard six-sided DICE How to Play The shortest player takes the first turn. On your turn, first roll all thirteen dice. Several dice will have matching results. These are called SETS. (A single die result is a set, too.) You must choose a set to keep. For example, your first roll results are 111124445555 . The sets are four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, and four 5 s. After keeping a set of dice, lock them up in a row. This is called the GOOD TRACK. For example,  you could keep the set of four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, or four 5 s . You decide to keep the four 1 s and line them up in your good track. After keeping a set, you may end your turn or re-roll the remaining unlocked dice. When you re-roll, immediately set aside any results tha...
Read more

One Thing to Avoid in Game Design

Image
When game designer Paul Peterson was interviewed for the upcoming Titans Series of games from Calliope Games, there was one segment at 1:55 that really caught my attention (emphasis mine): "A couple years ago I was teaching people how to play Guillotine and I hadn't played in a while. The first thing I did was say, 'The first thing you gonna do when you open your game is you look through this deck and you take this card.' I pulled out the Callous Guards card and threw it over my shoulder. Everybody laughed. I said, ' That's the biggest mistake I ever made as a game designer in my life.'" Oof. Those are strong words. What's the big deal? For context, the game Guillotine is all about collecting the heads of French nobles during the revolution. There is only one guillotine, with a line of nobles waiting for their grim fate. On your turn, you play action cards to change the order of the line, then take the Noble card from the front of the ...
Read more