GameStorm Prep.

I forgot that I enjoy boardgames.  No, I guess that lie will not work, huh?  I have been lazy.  Yes the truth is, well, so.. honest.  There is a local convention in Vancouver, WA this weekend and I have been working on Wizard's School in an attempt to get it ready for my first public play test.  I have been making minor tweaks, interesting revisions and the occasional sweeping change.  I am very happy with where the design is headed and while I think the core concepts are very strong I am not sure I am all that near to a final product.Tonight I hosted some friends, Sean and Chase, and with Jenni's help we slogged through another partial game.  I have to say that the experience was very helpful and with their help I was able to identify at least half a dozen issues with the game and create some compelling resolutions.  I am going to list them below and speak briefly on their proposed solutions but basically what it all boils down to is this:  I am excited to test again.

1. The most troublesome class, Alchemy, has recently been changed to Enchantments for the better but an underlying issue with the spell book mechanic persisted and made catching up when you fell behind basically impossible. This is bad.  Allowing players the opportunity to overwrite cards in their spell book for an increased cost will resolve this issue and in a very streamlined way allow players to recover from silly mistakes.
   
2. Potions class was a magnificent table hog and due to the rewards structure did not properly create incentives for players after they had made their first or second resource contributions.  This made it feel flat (not enough interaction).  Scoring the class based on the number of potions created as opposed to the number of unique potions created has all but dissolved this issue.  Additionally, allowing the use of the potions has balanced the payout, making it comparable to Enchantments, and added another space where players can interact.
   
3. Magical Writings is the grease that makes your engine churn. However, in the current version the distribution of cards both in your starting hands and those available during the card drafting phase would often not provide players with the requisite flexibility that the spell book demands.  All of the necessary cards are represented, but are mixed with other more compelling but expensive cards.  I am moving towards a series of structured phase decks.  In phase one you will have access primarily to building block cards and as the game progresses more specialized cards will appear.
   
4. The advancement icons on the skill tracks was poorly distributed which caused the pacing of the early turns to be too slow.  Easy fix.
   
5. General Studies, which represents a consolation for lost draft cards, was not being utilized well.  It is in fact ripe design space and I am excited to develop cards for what could develop into an auxiliary strategy.
   
6. To create visual direction, prevent board clutter and drive the overwriting mechanic, I will be adding spaces for the cards a wizard is currently scribing.  This will simplify many aspects of the game in terms of rules complexity, add design space, and emphasize the importance of managing your hand of cards.

Fun stuff ahead.  I will keep you posted as I near a better prototype.