This week I’ve been sitting with the feedback I received from the Magpie Game Design Festival and figuring out my path forward on the game I designing, Blood of Meridian.

First, I got some good feedback from other designers and the game was chosen for playtesting at the festival ( I’m going to assume that it’s good) and, though the playtest itself was just okay, it did point out some things I need to work on and think about the game. Particularly, what the intended character arc of each playbook is and what the moves in the game are pointing toward the game being about.

I spent the last couple days pulling apart the basic moves and thinking about what each one was doing in the game and whether it was needed. Which lead to cutting out several to see how that changes play. Some of that may go back in later (important lesson: always make new drafts when you are iterating so that you can go back and look at them) or not.

Second, the festival was interesting because talking to other designers really highlighted our common fears about sharing work with a wider audience and getting feedback. No one wants their mistakes or missteps pointed out but it needs to happen to make the work better. I don’t know whether this will make the process less nerve-wracking next time, but I’m hopeful.

So, yeah, this is the boring slog of game design: make it, play it, fix it, and do it all again until it’s good enough (because perfection is a trap and that’s more a reminder for me, that it is for you).