Playtesting, Plano Boxes, and Clear Tape

When should you start playtesting?

I come across this question all the time in blogs on gaming. From my perspective, as soon as possible! When you start making a game it becomes like a little baby that you're growing. You get attached to elements that by the time you've finished making your game, will be gone...I promise you! In fact, making a board game is an exercise in non-attachment. Things that you thought would be fun upon conception, turn out to be horrible...and ideas that you wrote off initially, turn out to be the best parts of your game. In short, you can't know just how fun or boring a game element is until you try it!

Getting Organized:

 I keep all of my playtesting supplies in Plano Boxes to make setup as easy as possible. Without an actual board game box and inserts, it helps to be able to get out your components quickly and to keep them organized in betweens plays. Walmart has the one pictured on the right for <4 bucks. Craft boxes also work well...

How Many Times Should You Playtest?

In the midst of my playtesting, I searched the internet for the answer. How many times SHOULD I aim for? Here is a sampling of what people say:

-100 times
-1000 times
-Blind playtesting matters the most
-At conventions with strangers
-100 times after your last rule change
-42
-Until it is the most amazing game ever
-There is no such thing as too much testing
-However many times it takes to get it right
-All, all the times
-Until you get consistent, positive responses
-Depends on the complexity of the game
-Infinity


I got a little overwhelmed looking at all of the advice until I realized that designing a board game is a creative venture and so is the art of play testing. In truth, I ended play testing when I had played the game several times and hadn't made any changes and was happy with the results. Do I know the exact number? NO. Did I end up taking the advice of the many bloggers, sort of. I feel like there is no correct answer. And feeling like the game is never done is an official game designers syndrome that is a real thing.

My first Prototype

My First Prototype and Playtest

1) What did my first prototype look like? 
Here it is in all of its glory. I had long since wanted to create a dice drafting game based on my experiences playing Kingsburg and To Court the King. Because this was my first game, I wanted the game to have a) broad appeal b) get more people to the table to play games with me. As you can see, my first prototype was made using construction paper, dice purchased from the Dollar Tree, and plastic coins from a party store (not pictured).

2) Impressions from my game group.

My Friday night game group has a really neat system where we rotate who gets to pick the game for the night. Every 4th week, I get to bring a game that I'm excited to play. On my night I surprised everyone by bringing Plunder and Duel, my prototype. Brittney, Michael, and Brian were so supportive and enthusiastic. After we played through the game once, we all brainstormed about what would make the game better. I STILL ask the same questions after every play test and they include:

a) What did you like?
b) What do you want to see more of?
c) What do you want to see less of?
d) What didn't work for you?
e) Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

In addition, as we're playing I bring a paper to take notes and jot down comments as they come up. I refer back to my comment sheet when I write up my playtest report to send to my game group.

3) What did my final prototype look like? My final prototype was created in Photoshop and Excel. I should say that when I started to make my game I had NO training in Excel. I would now recommend Excel as THE program to use in game design for use in making tiles, gameboards, chits, cards and so on. I saved documents I made in excel in pdf format and printed at Kinkos. I imagine designers from large companies have high quality printers, paper cutters and so on at their disposal...but I didn't have access to those items.

4) How many versions of my prototype did I make and what were the costs?
By the time I had a final prototype, I was at version 25. 25 different iterations!!! I started mid January, and produced my final prototype mid June. So the whole process, from conception to final prototype was 5 months. Every time I went to Kinkos I spent anywhere from 2 dollars to 20 dollars on the upper end if I had to reprint all of the components for a major overhaul.  Dice, coins, and the cardstock were also figured in...I estimated that I spent anywhere from 175 to 200 dollars when all was said and done.

5) Getting from the first Prototype to my last. What drove production and creativity?
Since I've began the process of creating games I now realize that the first step is always to JUST MAKE THE PROTOTYPE. Both success and failure are temporary. If your first version is terrible, at least you know what went wrong and can modify or start again using elements that you loved and ditching elements that you didn't. Don't be afraid to start. If you never start, you can never finish. I know this sounds overly simplistic, but this is truly the mentality that I took throughout my process. After each playtest, I combined all of my thoughts and the thoughts of the people that playtested with me and I typed up a full playtest report. I used to handwrite all my notes, but now I bring my laptop to playtest nights and update straight to the computer as a time saving mechanism.

6) Future Projects and Failed attempts. Since completion of Plunder and Duel, I made a tile placement game that I spent a considerable amount of time on that turned out to be a complete failure. I'm currently working on a pick up and deliver game set in 1950 New York which is going really well and made it successfully through a great first playtest this last weekend. My failed tile placement game taught me that failure and games that are simply "not fun" are part of the design process. Not every game will be a run away success. Keep cracking away at it and if you're first game sucks, keep trying. Your successful first prototype is always just one playtest away.

My Journey as a Female Board Game Designer

     Board gaming for me has been a life long passion. As a girl I played Risk, Monopoloy, Clue, Scrabble, Battleships, Stratego, Life, and any other classic American kids game I could get my hands on. By the time I went to college at Berkeley I dabbled in card games, Backgammon and Chess. I was eager to try more complex games but had no idea that the world of modern board games was taking shape in Europe and would soon take the USA by storm.

     1999 I started my freshman year at UC Berkeley. Walking the halls of my freshman dorm, I happened upon a group of classmates playing Illuminati, the card game. I sat in on a few rounds and my world was changed. My classmates directed me to "Games of Berkeley" where I purchased Settlers of Catan and started my board game addiction... and the rest is history.
     To the right is my "Shelfie."My board game collection includes close to 80 titles now, I've formed and played in many game groups, and count board game players as the best sort of people in the entire planet. Conventions for me are happy places where I can meet other people like me and play games ALL DAY. And as I say to my friends, "I'm happy the moment you sit down to play games with me."

    After having 2 children, my life changed a lot. I took a break from being a full time nurse to staying home with my kids as a full time mom. During this time at home with my kids, I decided to use my downtime to do something for myself and design a board game.
   So far, the process of making a game has been the absolute joy of my life. I'm excited and eager to share my experience with all of you.
     Over the coarse of the next few months I will share my process for creating my first title "Plunder and Duel." I will cover the research, prototyping, mechanics testing, playtesting, rule book editing, art collaboration, marketing, kickstarting, and all of the ups and downs that go along with all of the aforementioned. Most of all, I'm excited to be able to share the most amazing experience in the world... designing a board game!