Early Playtesting
Playtest, playtest, playtest! If you've been in the game development world in any sphere you've no doubt heard this advice. Playtest a LOT. Iterate, and fast. So that's exactly what we did! There's good evidence to support this process, too. The Pottery Class Story is one of my favorites, and is worth a read if this sort of thing interests you.
So that's exactly what I did! Instead of being a perfectionist, I just wrote down the rules, grabbed 3 friends, and we booted up a Tabletop Simulator so that we could play it together!
And it sucked!
The game wasn't fun at all. The scoring felt almost random and entirely based on luck. The rounds could go from ending immediately to dragging on. And usually, playing a card took so much counting and work that it wasn't even fun to play. So I wrote down notes and changed up the cards. Iteration 2 was ready less than a week after Iteration 1. And we played again, and it was only a bit better.
Continue that cycle many, many, many, many, many times. Fast forward to where the game is now, and I am really happy with how it plays. Every time I show it to new players, they have a great time playing. The table is usually filled with laughter and the occasional shout of frustration when someone draws the goose just a little earlier than they hoped. I ascribe the game's fun feel to the rapid playtesting style my friends and I adopted at the beginning of development. This let us make changes without getting to committed to a bad idea, and also let us avoid wasting time developing mechanics that weren't actually fun to play with.
With this, I am excited to announce that Ducks in a Row is just about done with playtesting! The game feel is good, and some work needs to be done on balancing games with more players, but the light is at the end of the tunnel. I am excited for everyone to see the final project. Until then...
Happy Trails!