After making extensive changes and adding everything but the kitchen sink, I decided to change the movement rules as well. I then subjected a couple of playtesters to this hobbled together, jury-rigged mess. After an overly long teach by me and a few ambiguous rules, we set out to be the best spiders we could.
Surprisingly, the game held up and the playtesters don’t hate me yet. Some of the components even worked quite well as the players got used to the odd action selection mechanics. The game pace, however, was too slow and plodding. The movement was unclear and there were a few ambiguities in the new rules. I called the game early before the game went off the rails. I need to get back to basics.
I will start by creating a simpler version of the game to help with on-boarding, as suggested by one of the playtesters. This will give me a chance to refine and simplify the movement mechanics and make sure the game is running smoothly before I start to add any additional bells and whistles. This alternate version will be easy to accomplish with a two sided player board. For now, I will call this “Arachnid Light”. This stripped down version will not have the asymmetric spider abilities or the complicated shifting action card tableau. If I can make this lighter version fast and fun, it might fit in a popular game niche of lighter family style games. Adding the additional features in an advanced version of the game should appeal hobby gamers who like a more challenging pursuit of fun. Either way, the game will work much smoother, once I’ve ironed out all the bugs in the basic game play of the light version of game. At least I hope so!
A special thanks to all the playtesters and game designers who have helped me out so far. I hope I can make a fun game for you.
Recent Comments