Ames' syllabi

troll riddle run

1. The most frustrating part was getting three riddles right in a row at the end.
2. I had a lot of fun telling the others riddles.
3. I don’t think we should have to guess a riddle right to start the game.
4. If i had a magic wand to change something in this gam( which i do lol) i would make it so you can just start rolling and you don’t have to answer a riddle to start you first turn.
5. the riddle at the start.
6. troll, riddles, fun.

rotten to the core

1. The most frustrating part of this game was the investigation cards, and the spinner not working like it was intended to.
2. The art was really cute, and the game itself when at a pretty steady pace.
3. I wish i had better luck but other than that no.
4. If i had a magic wand id make their be more ways to sabotage other players.
5. Make a better spinner.
6. cutesy, mindful, demure.

Gideons game

1. the most frustrating aspect was it wasn’t entirely finished, some parts were missing and the cards didn’t reflect what was in the rules.
2. the chaos of the cards because some were overpowered if you were just playing with the cards and weren’t looking at the rules for every card description.
3. stock pile good cards, but it is a fun concept to get a new hand every turn.
4. if i had a magic wand i would finish the game.
5. making the card descriptions match what was in the rules.
6. grenade, rocket launcher, chaos.

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

Game Maker’s Play Tests Notes #1

• What questions did your players have? I don’t think the players really had any questions. They understood this game fairly well. 
• How quickly did they learn to play? The players learned how to play very quickly, because it has pretty simple mechanics. 
• What kinds of interactions did the players have? The interactions between players weren’t really a result of any mechanics but players had fun pointing out who was the most suspicious when they kept landing on investigation. 
• What confused players? Some of the cards didn’t make the most sense due to some of our mistakes in creating the cards. For instance, some of the cards made you gain points on the decomposition scale, but in reality, they wouldn’t have really sped up decomposition. 
• What made players excited? I think the story behind it made players the most excited. I think the first paragraph really set the scene for what the game was about and they began to imagine the scenarios of how they murdered their victims. 
• What did your players enjoy doing? Players enjoyed flipping their booklets and looking at the cute illustrations
• Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? I think it was frustrating to some players to roll Investigation so many times because it was a guaranteed loss of points. 

Player Questions #1 

• What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? There was no point in even picking up the Fungi or Bug cards when you land on Snowy on the spinner, because they aren’t worth any points. If you landed on Snowy and also rolled Fungi or Bug then, it was a waste of time with no points earned. 
• What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I think the game is really cute and enjoyed spinning the spinner and flipping the booklet when I moved onto the next stage of decomposition. 
• Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I wanted there to be more interaction with the decomposition booklets. Like maybe the bug and fungi cards directly interacted with each other. 
• If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Create more interactivity with the decomposition booklets besides just flipping the page; how to do that, I’m not sure. 
• What should be improved with the next version? Add the possibility of framing other players when you roll Investigation. 
• Describe the game in 3 words. Cute, sustainable murderers

Game Maker’s Play Tests Notes #2

• What questions did your players have? I don’t really think the players had many questions
• How quickly did they learn to play? Very quickly
• What kinds of interactions did the players have? In this test, players could frame each other once they obtained 3 investigation cards if they rolled investigation on the die one more time. 
• What confused players? The mechanics for framing other players were a little bit confusing, but that was mainly because it was a mechanic quickly thrown in. 
• What made players excited? I wouldn’t say that anything particularly excited the players, but the opportunity to frame other players potentially did. They also liked how cute the game is. 
• What did your players enjoy doing? The players enjoyed flipping the booklets. 
• Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? It was frustrating landing on snowy on the spinner because of the lack of points it gives or landing on investigation so often because you lost points. 

Player Questions #2

• What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Landing on investigation so many times. 
• What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I liked having the opportunity to frame other players this time. 
• Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I still think it would be a good idea to have more interaction with the booklets. 
• If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Make the booklets feel more necessary, more player interaction and interaction between the different game elements. 
• What should be improved with the next version? More interaction with the booklets, build the framing into the mechanics a little bit better. 
• Describe the game in 3 words. Love the creators

Ideas & Potential Things to Change

• Change the points earned when it is snowy and you pick up a bug card or fungi card. I think sometimes the points could be 0 for both scenarios, but it shouldn’t be that anytime you roll bugs or mushrooms and land on snowy, it is a wasted turn
• Maybe add type of the decomposition stages to the tombstone 
• Add and smooth out mechanics to frame another player
• Maybe add an inter-circle that has a humidity dimension that also alters the bodily decomposition
  • This could maybe be a multiplier?
• Change the random events card about the children digging up the body because it just doesn’t make sense
  • Probably just get rid of it and replace it with a different scenario
• Maybe add an event at the end of the game to hide the dried remains
• Detachable body parts on the decomp booklets?
• Operation like decomp booklets?
• Add more interaction with the cards and the decomposition booklets
  • Maybe play the cards on the booklets?
• Maybe add other faces of the die be things that aren’t cards or come up with another set of cards
• Maybe have some spaces on the decomposition scale that make you do something, gain, or lose points?
• Have a punishment for having a certain amount of investigation cards
  • Maybe you are taken in for questioning 
  • Maybe you go to court? Or jail?
  • Maybe you have to skip a turn 
• Have some options for turn actions so people aren’t doing the same exact thing every turn
• In the random events rules, remove the thing about having a scale for points
• Decomposition booklet ideas
  • Maybe make the decomposition booklets a little smaller
  • Make the decomposition booklets flip more easily 
  • Make them clear with stickers
  • Make them like boxes
• Maybe add some blush to the illustrations
  • Some think the illustrations could be gorier too 

• What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? At first, there was no reason for us to not just play all of our combat cards and almost kill the other players in one turn. I think there needs to be an opportunity for more strategic decisions. 
• What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I liked the pixelated art style. Although this type of game isn’t my favorite, I could see it working for your target audience. 
• Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I wanted to have a better way to keep track of my HP, rather than just keeping track of it on a piece of paper. I also wanted to have a store of ammo so that it isn’t just deciding how much ammo you want to use and it essentially means nothing because there was no penalty for running out. 
• If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I would want a lot more strategy in the game.
• What should be improved with the next version? A couple suggestions that I have, in addition to what I already mentioned, would be to include a 3, 2, 1 and then lay down the cards, a better way to keep track of bullets and ammo (physical bullets like in Bang?), make sure that the cards aren’t see-through. I would also work on some of the mechanics so that players can have more strategy. I wonder, too, if there are some fun physical elements that you can incorporate to enhance the experience, aside from the cards. 
• Describe the game in 3 words. Competitive, team combat