I recently ran a playtest for an upcoming competitive cyberpunk city-building game. The experience taught me an important lesson: playtest as soon as you have a playable core concept.
It's a weird game that won't be for everyone, but I think some people will LOVE it. :)
I'll post updates as I go. I need at least one more clean playtest before I can start locking in the rules. I'm also hoping to hire an artist (eventually) for this one.
Thanks for this insight. I butted up against this in my current project. I think I did too much before the first playtest, and it was hard to discern what parts worked and what didn't because there were too many moving parts...
One of the best ideas for a combat focused game I’m making was play testing the absolute minimum combat loop. It ended up being a lot of fun, but my friend and I really were not sure how it was going to go until the dice hit the table.
We’re fleshing out the first rough pass at character classes, then moving on to roughing out a few enemy types. We debated stopping to playtest just the character classes, but enemies have to be updated to be inline with the new iteration of classes. It seems like we need to test both at once and then make changes because it seems like a packaged deal.
Considering how rough it can be to setup a playtest date, it can be hard to figure out when is the best time to playtest.
This has been a great bit of food for thought, as always. I look forward to trying Proxwar Zero!
Yes, I think my inability to get frequent playtests might push me in the direction of overdesign. I only get a couple shots at testing so I want to make sure they deliver as much as possible.
I ran into something like this while trying to design an rpg system. In my case, I spent so much time trying to handle everything that I actually wasn't even getting to the playtest. Now I'm trying incremental changes of an existing system instead, and it's going a lot better.
I think that's why I ended up with so much junk in the initial design. I was trying to anticipate all the issues that MIGHT arise during the first playtest. Trying to catch edge cases that may or may not exist. I should have just tested. (But it's SO HARD for me to get playtests scheduled.)
I've been wrestling with a game idea that could be something (or maybe it's nothing) and I think, for my project, playtesting sooner than later will be a good idea (so thanks for this push). I have to wonder though if your Cyberpunk game would have been as strong in the iteration if you had not overdeveloped it. It gave you a bunch of ideas in the playthrough for your players to vibe with (or not) and left you with stuff to jettison and stuff to keep and develop further. Feels like maybe there's a time for both early and late development testing. Maybe depending on how clear the idea is?
Yeah, I too wonder that. I originally was going to write how none of the time was wasted because the game was better for it. Then as I started to think through it (as writing it out helps do) I changed my mind. I do think I went too far on the design before testing. But at the same time, I'm not sure the playtest would have made sense with only half of the game.
It's a tough question. There's probably no correct answer. :)
Proxwar Zero sounds like my jam. Looking forward to hearing about 1.0
same!
I'll keep you posted!! :)
It's a weird game that won't be for everyone, but I think some people will LOVE it. :)
I'll post updates as I go. I need at least one more clean playtest before I can start locking in the rules. I'm also hoping to hire an artist (eventually) for this one.
Thank you!
Every game i play i wish for more faction play. Sometimes a gm will cook a little into it, but it's never robust
Ha. You will enjoy this one. :)
Thanks for this insight. I butted up against this in my current project. I think I did too much before the first playtest, and it was hard to discern what parts worked and what didn't because there were too many moving parts...
It’s hard not to do!
Thanks!
One of the best ideas for a combat focused game I’m making was play testing the absolute minimum combat loop. It ended up being a lot of fun, but my friend and I really were not sure how it was going to go until the dice hit the table.
We’re fleshing out the first rough pass at character classes, then moving on to roughing out a few enemy types. We debated stopping to playtest just the character classes, but enemies have to be updated to be inline with the new iteration of classes. It seems like we need to test both at once and then make changes because it seems like a packaged deal.
Considering how rough it can be to setup a playtest date, it can be hard to figure out when is the best time to playtest.
This has been a great bit of food for thought, as always. I look forward to trying Proxwar Zero!
Thank you for this comment!
Yes, I think my inability to get frequent playtests might push me in the direction of overdesign. I only get a couple shots at testing so I want to make sure they deliver as much as possible.
If a word does ...not.. help with game flow, its blocking understanding of the game - cut it!
Thanks!
I ran into something like this while trying to design an rpg system. In my case, I spent so much time trying to handle everything that I actually wasn't even getting to the playtest. Now I'm trying incremental changes of an existing system instead, and it's going a lot better.
I think that's why I ended up with so much junk in the initial design. I was trying to anticipate all the issues that MIGHT arise during the first playtest. Trying to catch edge cases that may or may not exist. I should have just tested. (But it's SO HARD for me to get playtests scheduled.)
Thanks for your comment!
Yeah, it's hard enough to get regular play sessions, let alone play tests
Yes. :(
I've been wrestling with a game idea that could be something (or maybe it's nothing) and I think, for my project, playtesting sooner than later will be a good idea (so thanks for this push). I have to wonder though if your Cyberpunk game would have been as strong in the iteration if you had not overdeveloped it. It gave you a bunch of ideas in the playthrough for your players to vibe with (or not) and left you with stuff to jettison and stuff to keep and develop further. Feels like maybe there's a time for both early and late development testing. Maybe depending on how clear the idea is?
Yeah, I too wonder that. I originally was going to write how none of the time was wasted because the game was better for it. Then as I started to think through it (as writing it out helps do) I changed my mind. I do think I went too far on the design before testing. But at the same time, I'm not sure the playtest would have made sense with only half of the game.
It's a tough question. There's probably no correct answer. :)
Thank you for your comment!