Hello, Niall here. Today I’m going to be talking a bit about Graveyard Shifters, where its rulebook is right now, and some changes that I’m working on to make the game simpler and more fun.
Part of the design process of creating a board game, especially for newer designers, is simplifying a game to its most fun aspects and removing excess fluff. The first version of Graveyard Shifters, the one that I’m the only person who ever saw, was convoluted and tried to do thirteen different things, all of them poorly. While the current game is vastly improved and simplified from that early draft, playtesting with people has convinced me that there is still more to remove in order to deliver the experience that I want to.
I’ve gotten some consistent feedback that there is too much number crunching. When a player decides to scare a victim, they decide which attribute they are using (Physical, Mental, Temptation, or Supernatural) roll 2 or 3 six-sided dice, add that number to their character’s attribute, add any bonus’ their possessions give them, add up to 2 more actions worth of numbers and then subtract any negatives given by other players. Then the player compares that number to the victim’s total. If they meet or beat that number, the victim is successfully scared. All of these numbers detract from the experience of the game.
To combat that, I am currently working on a prototype that removes the numbers all together and replaces them with symbols. A player will still have to add symbols together, but the math gets much simpler as the victim's number of symbols will be less than the wide range they were. Victim’s strengths against a specific attribute went from 3 all the way to 23 or so in the base game. By replacing the wide range of numbers with symbols, a victim’s values will probably go down to 1 through 10. By crunching those lower numbers on my end, it will still give a range of difficulties to victims, while removing a lot of the mental math I was requiring of players.
The game also employed two currencies, victory points and souls, and for both you would gain by scaring victims. The game ended when someone accrued 10 victory points. Souls were used to transform into a character’s monstrous form and pay for some of the possessions abilities.
As I continue to rework the mechanisms of the game, I’ve decided to attempt to fuse the two currencies together. Now players will have to decide to spend the points they’re accruing in order to potentially gain more. It’ll be a gamble and lean into the push your luck aspect that I want in the game.
Graveyard Shifters was the first time I’d looked behind the curtain of game design, and like many new designers I jumped right in, having no real idea what it took to design a great game. I knew nothing of prototyping, playtesting, manufacturing, even balancing. I wasn’t a part of any board game communities, and had to learn to find the answers to basic questions, as well as to learn what questions I should have been asking.
As I continue to work on Graveyard Shifters, as I work on other games and media, I’ll continue to learn. I’ll be using this space more regularly to communicate my thoughts on the process and give insight into the creative process. A game isn’t just the completed box, it’s the journey of how it got there.
I look forward to showing that process.
Until next time,
Niall
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