[#020] Desire paths, playtesting well, and more

Welcome to your weekly dose of board game design!

Almost a third of the way through the year! How are you coming with your designs?

Something I learned about game design this week

So I'm working on a game with some worker placement, and some of the places to go have multiple spaces... but not others... I pictured a desire path:

In real life, desire paths mark where people want to go, and I see it almost like a voting contest where people vote (quite literally) with their feet. Whenever you've seen a paved sidewalk go orthogonally and a dirt path go diagonally through the park, you've seen a desire path.

So, where do people want to go in the game? You may have good reason for restricting the number of times an action can be taken, and your playtesters may mention they wish they could do some action more often...

But let's see what they actually do, not what they say they would do.

Run a playtest without those restrictions in place to see which places are the most popular. Yes, this will change the balance and almost certainly mess with a bunch of other systems in place. This playtest's singular goal would be to see what players do when you remove one type of restriction, which should lead to some insights on their incentives.

This week's tip

Thanks to Adam S. for suggesting this week's tip. Hit 'reply' to send your suggestion!

Who doesn't love a good playtest? Today's all about the best practices for playtesters, whether you're a designer playtesting another designer's game or a rock star offering your time and energy to make a game better.

First, understand the designer's goals for this playtest. We're not playing the game, we're playtesting the game. We'll assume the designer has a specific goal in mind, that they're testing a specific system or change, and not just playing the game

Be willing to play a role or try the part that's changed. The last thing you as a designer would want is to get to the end of the playtest and never have tried the thing you changed. If the designer is newer, you may want to proactively offer ('would you like me to try a specific strategy?' is an easy way to ask).

Listen to the teach. Actively and intentionally listen, not just passively hearing them talk. Put your phone away and put your eyes on the game. It doesn't matter if you've played it before - it's different this time. The strategies / heuristics you used last time? Unless you're asked to use them, assume they won't help you this time around.

Talk through your turn. Why are you doing what you're doing? What are you thinking? Ideally the designer will ask about it during feedback, but people forget. You don't need to cover your entire strategy or what's in your hand, but as you survey the board / your tableau, you can note what you're seeing and feeling.

Take notes. NERD ALERT! Yep, I frequently take notes as I playtest someone else's game. It helps me remember the points I want to raise when we get to feedback.

Save feedback for feedback time. I'm totally guilty of not doing this, and it's something I'm trying to get better at. In a perfect world, the designer would steer the conversation back towards actually playing the game - there will be plenty of time for feedback (and designers, make it easy for playtesters to reach out to you later on!)

Details matter. You don't have to have the answers, but get specific with what didn't work. Instead of 'the balance felt off', drill down. Which system? Which card? Which combination of things? Remember the quantity / amount: too much or too few? Too powerful or underpowered?

What I’ve been working on last week

• Client work

• Playtested Dice Cream, Downward Facing Panda, The Audition, Spin the Banana, Cosmic Cheddar Chase, an as-yet-untitled game, and Mint Tin Monster Mash-up.

• Pitched a game to a publisher

What's coming up this week

• More playtesting

• Gearing up for the UK Games Expo

• Have a meeting with the No Box Games team

• Client work

ICYMI

Last promo for Snorkel, promise - the Kickstarter will be ending very soon! Memory meets Set meets Three Card Monte in a 36-card game simple enough for 6 year olds and thinky enough for Mensa members.

Penrose tiles, anyone? Some cool visuals, and the video has a link to a 'pattern collider' (it's the first link under References):

The Game Crafter's 'Meta-Progression' contest ends May 1st - learn more here.

The Postcards from the Front contest on Itch.io has dozens of small print-and-play games. Enjoy or take notes!

Pioneer Rails (by Matthew Dunstan and Jeffrey D. Allers) from Dranda Games is live on Kickstarter - I playtested this one quite a bit and had a lot of fun with it. Go check it out.

Thanks for reading!

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Thanks for reading, and see you next week!