TL;DR tips
Don’t take feedback personally - in fact, treat that information like gold!
Don’t be afraid to challenge your assumptions about your game. In the end, the players will tell you what’s fun and what’s not.
Only introduce complexity when it disproportionately increases the “fun factor”; otherwise, default to simple.
I got some more playtesting feedback this past week. It wasn’t great.
And that makes me happy!!!
Let’s talk about the major problems Tether is still facing and how I’m going to solve them.
1) The focus is wrong
My playtesters have identified something that I’ve struggled to articulate: the gameplay feels like it focuses on movement and resource collection rather than kicking mutant butts.
In short: “We want more butt-kicking and less logistical planning.”
2) The game starts really slow
It takes about 8 turns, on average, to get a module installed. That’s a heckin’ long time when each turn can take 5 minutes!! We need to pick up the pace dramatically while also retaining the strategic depth that makes the game fun for nerds like me.
3) The mechanics are too “mathy” and nuanced
I agree here. While I definitely think there’s a market for heavier games, I don’t think mechanical “weight” should be added to the game arbitrarily - rather, it should only be added when the “fun benefit” outweighs the additional complexity.
What is working?
A lot of designers would get down on themselves for producing a ruleset that is clearly un-fun, but not me! There’s a lot of good things about this game that I can carry forward into the next iteration:
The modular game board is interesting and flexible
Using dice to track mutant health is cool
The defense modules have interesting and creative effects
Using influence hexes to extend the powers of each player is a good idea
So how will I fix the problems?
The key question is, “how do I fix the problems while retaining everything that I love about this game?”
Well, our targets are (1) faster gameplay, (2) simpler mechanics, (3) more butt-kicking. So let’s talk about those:
To make the game faster, I can cut time-consuming calculations from the action space. No more paying resources to buy player cards. No more tracker cubes to keep track of movement. No more synchronous turns that cause analysis paralysis. Instead, players will take turns using cards as actions until everybody passes. There will be six types of cards, each one corresponding to one of the basic functions of the game. To use that action, simply play the card:
Movement (moving a pawn)
Resource Generation
Attacking
Upgrading Modules
Researching Species
Purchasing Factory Modules
To simplify the mechanics, I’ll change the following:
instead of rolling for resources, you simply get 1 resource per space. Plain and simple
Instead of tracking movement on your player mat, you’ll refer to the movement card
Players will only have one pawn instead of two
Defense modules and players will no longer take damage. It’s just mutants vs. elevator.
No more personal storage. All resources immediately go into the shared central pool.
No more camouflage mechanic
No more player decks - just one shared action deck
To increase butt-kicking potential, I’ll change the following:
Now everybody has the potential to attack with their pawns as well as using the factory modules.
Each action card will have listed “combo effects”, which, if played in the right order relative to other cards, will increase the power of your action.
Player asymmetry will take the form of a combo bonus related to that player’s favored action, as follows:
Geneticist → Research
Pilot → Movement
Marine → Attack
Engineer → Module Upgrade
Scavenger → Resource Generation
Foreman → Factory Purchase
Summary
Playtesting feedback can sting a little, if you let it. But I feel more excited than ever. This game is going to be so much fun. I can already tell.