Game Maker’s Play Tests Notes #1
- What questions did your players have? Not really any
- How quickly did they learn to play? Pretty quickly, but there are a lot of little rules and different actions that make it more difficult. I was able to explain the rules faster than it would have taken to learn.
- What kinds of interactions did the players have? Playing bad bugs on each other, trying to prevent each other from reaching 5 objective cards first.
- What confused players? A little bit of confusion with how the pesticide works
- What made players excited? Being able to play a bug card, complete objectives, etc.
- What did your players enjoy doing? Same thing
- Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? Not having any protection over the plants that you have. They could be eaten at any time.
Player Questions #1
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Being sabotaged with bugs and losing a plant you planted
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Sweeping the plant cards, sabotaging with bugs.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Have protection for my plants with the pesticide
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Magically hand draw every illustration
- What should be improved with the next version? Specify that you can play the cards in any order, it doesn’t need to be the order that’s on the card.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Strategic, competitive, cute
Potential Changes
- Design the game board to look like plant pots, shelves, or a greenhouse maybe
- Clarify that when dealing cards to players you take it from the top of the pile and not the reserve
- Have names on the back of the cards
- Have more instructions on the cards themselves
- Have a protection over bugs being placed in your garden
- Clarify pesticide rules
- Don’t have the two faceup bugs because it makes it too easy
- Clarify that you can lay down your cards in any order on your player mat
This was a such a fun, cute game! I genuinely really liked playing it! Thank you for bringing it to the gaming marathon!
I think you summarized my feedback well. I would love to see this game continued 🙂
Thank you for playing it with me! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
It seems like through this game’s process, the pesticide mechanic has been one of the main focuses. I’m interested to see how it affects the game.
Yes, it’s been one of the mechanics I’ve struggled to get just right. I don’t want to make it too easy for players to get rid of a bad bug, but I don’t want to make it totally impossible either.
This game’s aesthetic was THERE. Maybe if you’d want, instead of bug cards, what if you had physical bug pieces? Just a thought.
That’s a really cool idea actually. I could easily get a variety pack of those miniature plastic bugs and it would really add to the game. Thanks so much for the suggestion!