After paper prototype testing I’ve decided to move forward with Web (I’m going to come up with a better working title soon). Given the complexity of testing with paper prototypes it has become apparent to me that this is a game best suited for digital. This revelation isn’t really anything of the sort, but one must make sure about these things. The problem is the complexity of the web. If the player is encoding nodes with hidden pieces (see previous post) early game there has to be a way to reference these nodes. Numbering systems get super complex, and using a card with a check-box for every node makes it so the board cannot be dynamically generated with each game. However, making the game digital affords the power to not only create a more dynamic board generation system (which scales complexity and size based on the number of guests), but also allows for a simple interface where a node only offers a selection when it is scrolled over.
In fact the digital version will solve many problems including: game experience time for multiple players (by posting to a server players can play over days rather than sitting at a table for hours), the visualization of large amounts of units (you can see units represented by symbols with numbers at a macro level or as individuals when zoomed in), providing a history of play, and maintaining the integrity of the rules. I’m sure all sorts of problems will arise of course, but that mean more things we can solve, it’s the nature of the beast and how we learn.
For the next iteration I want to experiment with simultaneous turns versus alternating turns, and orders of operations to unit actions. I’m also working on theming (we are talking about constructing the web with ropes, maybe theming the units as pirates, but also exploring other possibilities like a futuristic universe). I’m developing with my good friend and past co-worker Emmanuel Eytan, and we will be making the first version for mobile (iOS and possibly Android). I’ll let you know when we are ready for Alpha testing.