07/09/21: Making progress on a Blood of Meridian ashcan
This week I’ve been pretty heads down working on an ashcan for Blood of Meridian. My friend David has challenged me to get the ashcan and play materials up on itch.io as a playable Beta draft by the end of July. I’m working to make that happen.
In some ways this is easy, because the game has been living in my head for more than a year now, and other ways it’s tough, because I feel like I’m banging my head against the same problems over and over. And, when I do do solve those problems, that means it’s time for more playtesting.
I’m starting to finally see the rational behind folks saying that if you can avoid game design that you should. It’s a job of work.
Anyway, the new thing I’m integrating into BoM is something that I considered back at the beginning but couldn’t figure out how to implement: completing goals for xp.
I’m also trying to bring in some factions that may reinforce some shared interests for the family and push the characters together (since characters not being pushed together was a concern some testers raised).
Ultimately, I like what I’m getting down on paper but the proof will be in the (eventual) testing.