The first attempt using MDF food!
Once I had the laser cut pieces I was able to take a half-made prototype to Newcastle Playtest at the beginning of October (it was just the ships, I used frantic scribbling on pen and paper to record the status of the ships). We played this four times that evening (two against me, two with me watching) and most of the people who played wanted to play again. It was described as 'fun' which, considering it was it's first real outing and it was half-finished, was very exciting.
Laser cut bits at NewcastlePlaytest
I got the wooden pieces I needed ordered from SpielMaterial a couple of weeks ago and then the ship cards design done and printed last week. Now all I needed to do was play the latest version and start iterating versions to iron out the inevitable kinks.
With these successes under my belt I was keen to make more progress, but I've been focussing on hand-crafting the Zombology print-run so that I've got some stock for sale, so I've not really made any FlickFleet progress. I've decided to do NaGa DeMon again just to give me the kick up the behind I need to crack on with this. I'm hoping that it will force me to make some progress, but also in an ideal world rope in some crowd-sourced wisdom to make the game improve even faster.
And so far, so good. I've had some great feedback on the rules and I've managed to play the game a couple of times at work in my lunch breaks where it earnt the 'I prefer this to X-Wing' plaudit from Chris!
I'm focussing at the moment on fixing any glaring problems (I haven't found any yet which is both bizarre and exciting!) and trying to sort out the point values of the various ships (which I need for free play and to design balanced asymmetric scenarios). I've even taken the prototype with me to Paris (for a 24 hour work trip!) so that I can spend my evening in a hotel facing various combinations of ships off against each other to get a feel for what the point value of each type should be.
In action at lunchtime
I really hope that someone who gets involved with my NaGa DeMon challenge does have access to a laser cutter and I can start getting feedback from a wider variety of people. I think this game has huge potential, now I just need to test the crap out of it and more playtesters means faster feedback!
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6 comments:
No laser cutter.
But, I actually did playtesting and games design support for a miniature game at one point too. So, I will read the rules and see if I can think of some scenarios for you.
Hiya Mike,
Thanks - that would be great! Have another PIP. I'm working on some points values for the ships, which should help with asymmetric scenario creation! I was doing many small scale fights in my hotel room last night to try to work out which ships (or combinations of ships) are better than others.
Cheers,
Jack
Crafting question. I noticed that the top pic showed what looked like a felt/fabric surface. How does that impact the flicking action vs a hard table top? Do you have to round the edges of your ships so they don't dig into the surface as much?
Hiya Not a Cyborg Zircher,
I normally play games on a baize tablecloth (like a pool table). The first couple of games I played of FlickFleet were at home on this tablecloth, hence the pictures. For those games I was moving the ships by hand (like in X-Wing), not flicking them, since I switched to flicking the ships too I've not got round to playing it at home on the tablecloth, just on various shiny surfaces (office desk, pub table and hotel sideboard). I think it will work on the baize, but I don't know for sure.
On of my early ideas was to include a 75cm^2 piece of black baize in the box to use as a play surface, but I'm going off that due to the cost.
The pieces I've got have been laser cut with no polishing, so they aren't totally smooth on the edges and corners.
Cheers,
Jack
Thanks for the info. Oh, I was goofing off this weekend playing with FlickFleet models in Table Top Simulator. Got some issue to address with the scaling, orientation, and how TTS does collision boxes, but it was educational.
Awesome work Not a Cyborg! So good in fact, I feel the need to promote you again, have two PIPs, you're now an Officer Cadet. You can now using the Officers' Mess (you sit on the floor, facing the wall) and the Officers' Washroom (no water use allowed though). And if I catch you in the Captain's Harem I will personally space you (after interrogation to find out what it's like in there).
You have been warned.
Cheers,
Jack
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