BEYOND THE UNIVERSE: DEV DOCUMENT
- Game was tested by family members. Recruited by pitching the game and asking if they'd like to take part in the production.
- Game was play tested at home on a big table.
- The team wanted to focus on issues regarding pacing, the trap spaces, and the strategy. We also wanted to focus on the overall fun factor of the game i.e. interest.
- Questions asked were:
1: What you enjoyed the most?
2: What you hated?
3: Any rules that you would change?
4: Is the pacing too slow, too fast, or just fine?
5: Any extra ideas that you would like to add/take away from the game?
- The questions allowed for free-form answers based upon the opinions and wide range of possible answers.
- I expected these questions to be a couple minutes, when in actuality the testers took their time and offered well thought out answers that took around 15- 20 minutes.
- The team learned more of the flaws of the trap and wire spaces and different ways to incorporate them into the game. We also learned to consider adding more spaces that a team can move together i.e. more like 5 instead of 3. The play test was very valuable. The play test definitely helped in deciding how to move forward in the overall development of the game. In the next play test, the team decided to try again with the trap and broken wire spaces and focus on adjusting the number of spaces a team can move in one turn.
Beyond the Universe, Test 2, Comrade Gaming, May 1st, 2015, Version 0.5
Who play tested the game? How did you recruit them?
My four best friends who came home from college play tested. I asked them to playtest it and they said sure.
Where did you playtest your game?
In my home.
Testing Focus
What game play issues did the team want to focus on?
We wanted to focus mainly on if the game could be played fairly and smoothly. In doing that, we needed to make sure that the instructions were clear and concise.
Questionnaire
The questions were mostly free-form and aren't expected to take more than a few minutes.
What Happened
I tested the game with four people, two per team. I explained the rules to them and decided to test our previous idea of allowing them to place their trap cards anywhere on the board that they wanted (out of sight of the opposing team). This is where the problem started. Team 1 was the Jedos and Team 2 were the Aliens. The problem arose when Team 2 staggered their two trap cards around the board, but Team 1 placed both of the cards at the very beginning of the board with a one space gap between the two. Team 1 then played an all-moves-on-one style where they moved one Jedo 3 turns every time. By the time the Jedo was halfway through the board, the Aliens had gotten through the second trap. At this point the remaining Jedo sprung forward and attacked the one Alien who was attempting to rush as well. He did this three times, killing the moving Alien. At this point the 2nd Alien was still back at the start, and the 1st Jedo was resuming moving across the board while the 2nd Jedo stayed back and fought the alien as it moved.
Needless to say, the Jedos won. By a lot.
What did you learn?
I learned a good bit about the balance in the game. The team who starts has the advantages because they are able to place their trap cards first and plan around the fact that they know their opponents are going to be hindered.
Player Opinions
All of the players agreed that the game was absurdly one sided if one team got a good (and unfair, as they put it) start. They suggested some changes that I had contemplated as I watched them play.
What Needs to be Changed
A lot of things need to be changed before this is well refined game. First, the board needs to be much bigger and more diverse. By that I mean we need to incorporate different paths for the players to take. The paths however will intersect frequently. The traps will also be set at random by the game itself (based on a dice roll or some other random factor).
The characters themselves also need to be reworked in term of attacks and damage taken. It should be harder to kill them and there should be a penalty for attacking such as the attacker cannot attack again for two turns. Besides attack and defense, the Aliens should start farther back and be given some sort of movement bonus over the Jedos.
Beyond the Universe, Test 3, Comrade Gaming, 2 May 2015, Version .05
- Game was play tested by friends. Recruited by asking if they wanted to take part in the development of my final project game.
- Game was play tested at a meeting location.
- The team wanted to focus on, now, the wire and trap spaces as well as the pacing and the overall movement of the game. Of course, we also wanted to see the reactions of the players to rate the overall fun factor - or if the fun was lost in the movement.
- The questions asked are as follows:
1: What you enjoyed the most?
2: What you hated?
3: Any rules that you would change?
4: Is the pacing too slow, too fast, or just fine?
5: Any extra ideas that you would like to add/take away from the game?
- The questions are still free form, allowing the players to make their opinions and open-minded answers without restricting them. I expected (in result to my last play test) to take 15-20 minutes, while in actuality it lasted about 10-15 minutes.
- Our team learned from this playtest more about "mixing up" the traps and wire spaces. We also learned that in order to decide who goes first, do something like a dice roll or added team ages, so the team with the highest age would go first. The team found that the pacing "depends on [the players]" in a way and where they placed the traps and broken wire spaces. The playtest was certainly valuable in learning more about the game's flaws from a new perspective. In the next playtest, we plan to adjust how the starting team is decided as well as consider the placement of the trap and wire spaces.
Beyond the Universe, Comrade Gaming, Test 4, v.05 May 3, 2015
Playtest Participants:
Mother and Father
Playtest Location:
Parents Home
Testing Focus:
The general flow and pacing of the game overall, rule clarity
1: What you enjoyed the most?
2: What you disliked?
3: Any rules that you would change?
4: Is the pacing too slow, too fast, or just fine?
5: Any extra ideas that you would like to add/take away from the game?
Results
The general consensus was that the rules were a bit confusing to understand. The idea tossed around was mostly that they needed to either be simplified or explained better in the rulebook. The board itself was also deemed to be a little on the small side for all the various things that were able to happen. The players felt that it was over too quickly and that they weren’t really able to utilize all the features laid out in the rules.
Beyond the Universe, Comrade Gaming, Test 5 v.05 May 3, 2015
Playtest Participants:
Friends, Zach and Bryan
Playtesting Location:
Zach’s apartment
Testing Focus:
The usability of the traps and rules.
1: What you enjoyed the most?
2: What you disliked?
3: Any rules that you would change?
4: Is the pacing too slow, too fast, or just fine?
5: Any extra ideas that you would like to add/take away from the game?
After the game was over, the players felt that the traps were unbalanced. The ability to place them anywhere was a bit too simple and lead to long portions of the game spent waiting. Right at the start players were able to just stop al movement for a long period of time if they used all their traps. This made it a slog and really just not fun to play. Along with the issue of the traps, the rules were again deemed a bit confusing to understand at first. Decided to make more revisions so that the rules were more user friendly.
Development Documentation
The very first version of the game was started on April 21, 2015. It was originally conceived as a board game called Beyond the Universe with a space strategy theme. The original idea for the goal was to either destroy the enemy team through combat, or to be the first to reach the starships bridge to launch the enemy team out of the airlocks. The v.05 rules were also started.
The following week was spent mostly polishing the rules and deciding on the final concept of the game, which ended up being a strategy game to reach the end of the board first while stopping the enemy team. The team decided to stick with the theme of space, where the teams are Aliens vs Jedos, which are our version of astronauts / space marines.
The next meeting we had was to further discus the rules and ready the board and game pieces for outside playtesting. We printed out prototype placeholder game pieces to be used, which were just pictures of LEGO aliens and astronauts. The prototype board was created using cardboard from the supply closet with the details drawn on with a sharpie marker. After this we began our playtests.
The week after we got together again to compare playtesting notes. It was decided that the game board needed to be bigger, as well as quite an overhaul of the original rules. We then started the final v1.0 rulebook based on the data we gathered through our playtests. Originally, players could lay traps wherever they wanted, but in the playtests we discovered this lead to some terrible balancing issues. We decided to have the traps be static placements on the board that players have to cross and draw a card to see if the trap is activated or not. The end goal option to just eliminate the enemy team was scrapped, as it lead to games ending far too quickly. With these rule revisions, we proceeded to remake the final game board. We decided to give it three paths which intersect with each other twice on each path. The paths are now color coordinated to make it visually easier to distinguish which path the player’s piece is on. Certain grid spots are now where the traps are activated. Cards drawn on these spots are now what determines if the trap is activated or not. The final player game pieces were made this week as well. This is the final version of the game that will be presented.