April and Allies
All About Feedback
by Mark
In February, we put a lot of effort into becoming more involved in our local gaming community. We studied how game-design, playtesting, and organizing worked beyond the studio's walls. Jason collected business cards while I collected stories. Together, we shaped our vision for what a playtest cycle could look like. As we moved into the recording and designing phase for March, our focus shifted to our prototypes for MMA Gauntlet and The Supermarket Game.
We started our recording cycle with MMA Gauntlet. The game mostly played as designed, but with a few hiccups, including timing issues with activating "fight camp" cards and sequencing 2:1 advantaged rolls. Our Discord community delivered some excellent feedback. Scaling in Auto Battlers is a key feature that listeners familiar with the digital genre missed. They also proposed several clever solutions to scaling that I noted for future iterations. After the MMA Gauntlet episode dropped, we got some feedback about the show...
It turns out that narrating a live playtest of a largely visual and thought-based activity is challenging. A short-form podcast episode might not be the most compelling or salient way to document a playtest process. Feedback about the show made it clear that we failed to describe an Auto Battler clearly for listeners unfamiliar with the genre. Our narration was hard to follow due to the visual nature of a board/card game. We had a bit of a problem.
We frequently discuss our collective capacity on the show. One of our goals has been to create a preparation process that lets us record two shows in one recording session. We actually hit the goal with the MMA Gauntlet and The Supermarket Game playtest episodes. However, we couldn’t simply release The Supermarket Game episode and ignore the same issues from the previous show. Enter Ryan.
Jason pitched the idea of having Ryan be listeners' eyes by providing play-by-play for a re-recording of The Supermarket Game. Ryan is Jason’s childhood BFF and my new good friend, whom I've dubbed "Ryan Parmele" in my contacts. Version 2.0 was a blast to record. Hopefully it solved some of the issues with the MMA Gauntlet episode.
After the The Supermarket Game playtest, we had the chance for a more robust debrief and concluded that the game should focus more on moving and lane-switching than on the time token mechanics. Our Discord friends confirmed that finding and offered other insightful advice. Board Game Casual left us with this gem: "It feels like the biggest thing missing from the game are bonuses (i.e. feel-good perks), whereas it sounded like almost everything doled out was a punishment." This punched me right in my teaching best practices belly. It was a good reminder that when playing to win, a player will do what they are incentivized to do in order to win even if it isn’t the most fun thing to do. We even talked about this again in our planning for the next episode. The game, the business, and the show are moving towards a turning point with the release of the next episode. Stay tuned.
Weekly Written Content
by Jason
In tomorrow's show's bumper (or "cold open"), you'll catch mention of Patreon and additional content. We've come to realize that cramming everything into a 30-minute slot every other week just isn't enough. There's a wealth of information that gets lost in the void. Thus, we sought another avenue, another medium to better engage with our audience. We're kicking things off by regularly uploading articles to Patreon, starting weekly. I have been loving Mark's writing. His 'All About Feedback' story above is an example of the insightful content we aim to offer more of.
Recently, while editing a clip, Mark remarked, "It's going to take a lot of money to make this game." He is not wrong. We deeply appreciate anyone who is able to support our show, regardless of the level of support.
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