Prototyping and Playtesting

For the first playtest, our goal was to test our gameplay loop, and make sure the movement works as intended.

First Playtest Results

The rules were easy to understand
It was a bit of a slow start with collecting resources.
Players were encouraged to move around the board.

We need a way to figure out who goes first.
Next time we will include traps
We will also separate customer cards based on difficulty.

Second Playtest Results

Liked that it was late-game focused.
Wanted to move while picking up customer cards.
Would like to keep movement in one direction.
More points per customer card, customer cards being split up by difficulty also worked well.
Trading worked well.
Resource cards seemed to be balanced.

Going to change the board so there's a more linear progression
Editing rewards so customer cards are worth more
Going to have players start at ten reputation points
Going to try out moving and drawing customer cards

For the second playtest, our goal was to test the balance of the resources. Can players collect enough to feel comfortable drawing a customer card, and are they moving through the different biomes to collect all cards. Also testing trap cards.

Progression of the Board

For the third playtest, we worked on balancing character advantages, resource gathering, the game board, and pacing.

Third Playtest Results

New style of movement worked well
They didn't like the penalties from passing around the customer cards that couldn't be completed.
It's slow paced, didn't feel like it was ever going to pick up.

Keeping the new board and movement
Discussing changing the way customer cards are laid out and chosen
Recipes need to be altered

Final Playtest Results

Recipe changes worked very well
Change in the way customer cards are laid out and chosen also worked well
Slippy's advantage did more harm than good at times

Fine-tune character advantages
Once all the pieces are produced properly, everything should go smoothly

For the fourth playtest, our goal was to properly balance the recipes and finalize how we're organizing customer cards.

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