Full set of Rules
I’ve finally completed a full draft of the rules for the Rugby Card Game. There are a few gaps here and their I’m sure but its pretty much all there and playable.
Prototype Prototype Prototype
Everything I have read about game design says the most important thing is to build a prototype and start play testing it. So finally haven’t ironed out the rules, I was able to build a prototype (I don’t think that order is necessary but it was helpful to me). First I plotted out all the cards in google sheets, including the basic designs. This helped me think about balance in an easily changeable medium. Them I mapped all the cards on to some blank playing cards I had purchases a while ago.
Test Test Test
I’ll be honest, I didn’t play test it much then. I gave the game a quick spin to see how it feels. I’m not very happy with it, which is to be expected I suppose! I’ve started some play test notes to help me track my thoughts and what I think needs to change. Up front, I think defense might be a bit boring and the card distribution is probably too even to be interesting. I’ll play test more before changing anything though.
Next Steps
Now I have my prototype there are two things I want to focus on. One is playing it more, this is not something I’m not used to doing so I will need to practice that act itself! I also need to understand if there are meaningful choices in the game, to insure I’ve not created the illusion of choice (something that might be worth writing about in itself). To that effort I will also write up what the choices the player has, and I will pick a game I enjoy and give it to the same treatment so I can compare.