This is where I will place all Alpha tests so I can look back and note what was "good" and what needed work.
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ALPHA TEST #1,2,3
08/10/2017 - 22:18
It works. Its interesting. Even without all of the cards. Its fun. That is a good sign. I still want to test a few more times. I changed the faith die so that it is more risky. It adds a lot more tension. Instead of (blank,blank,blank,1,2,3), it is now (blank,blank,blank,1,1,2). A tiny change, but it fixed A LOT of things.
I am noticing the tension between passion/action, -loyalty/+loyalty, drawing cards/playing cards. All I need to do is find the balance. The base design is nice, all I need to do is continue the polishing stages.
More to come...
ALPHA TEST #4,5
08/12/2017 - 16:59
Some significant obstacles have been removed and polished. I noticed that there was an unhealthy tension between drawing more cards (Studying) and placing down cards to gain loyalty and action changes (Prayer). Instead of your prayers coming directly from your hand, they are drawn from the top of the deck. This streamlines the whole process: you either draw and place in your hand or draw and place down in front of you.
I still need to tweak the Plant and Harvest action so that hardened population cubes are more dangerous (something you really don't want). There needs to be more tension. It is to the point where when all lost/astray cubes are gone, the cubes just sit there until you harvest all of the saved cubes. This = boring. Not sure what to do yet.
Slowing down my progress because I need to start taking time away from the game so I'm not drained of ideas. Some more testing to come!
ALPHA TEST #6
08/13/2017 - 12:45
Lots of tinkering going on....
Current Issues
1). Hardened cubes really do nothing (no sense of tension or urgency)
2). The flow of lost/astray cubes to saved/follow cubes is way to much (after you place one tactic on a population there is almost no need to place another one. I want you to balance between ministering to already reached people and those that aren't; this is currently not happening)
3). Managing disciples (gaining and losing loyalty) is boring.
Current Solutions
1). You will lose loyalty for EVERY hardened cube instead of the difference between hardened and saved/follower when your interaction is rejected through an unmet need (different symbols) and -1 Loyalty when your interaction is rejected through a met need (matching symbols). Also once there are no more lost/astray or saved/follower cubes the population is discarded.
2). Instead of gaining +2 saved/follower cubes you gain +1 cube and +1 Loyalty for a interaction received through a met need (same symbol) and +1 Loyalty for an interaction received through an unmet need (different symbols). I also changed the faith die to read: X,X,X,1,2,2+cube. This will give you the drive to push your luck because you can possibly gain an extra saved/follower cube (1/6 chance).
3). I added another disciple level. The levels now cater to each action type. The actions read as follows: Level 1 = +1 refresh during the watering action for every (three or two not sure) disciples here;
Level 2 = +1 free draw (does not affect the passion/action track) during the grow action for every two disciples here;
Level 3 = +1 free faith roll (does not affect the passion/action track) during the plant action for every one disciple here.
Level 4 = +1 disciple from any population during the harvest action for every one disciple here.
These changes are starting to streamline the game a bit more. There was a crazy change in the watering action when allowing both fruits to be used on a card when you exhaust it. This made building your Spiritual fruits engaging and very fun. Also with the last update of the grow action, I moved the refresh step from the grow action to the watering action. Makes more sense and focuses the grow action A LOT more.
I'll be testing these changes more tomorrow!
ANOTHER FIX
08/14/2017 - 10:49
Current Issue:
1). Increment of incoming disciples almost never changes. This means that the amount of victory points you acquire almost NEVER changes. That is incredibly problematic. You can still play the game and it will be fun, but wow... Every game will have just about the same outcome. That is not what I want.
Current Solution:
1). Instead of solely regarding disciples as victory points, the amount they produce at the end depends on their loyalty. For every disciple you will get 1 Honor no matter what loyalty level they are on. But each loyalty level adds more honor that they produce. The distribution is as follows:
Level X = -2 Honor for every disciple here or removed from here
Level 0 = no additional honor
Level 1 = +1 Honor for every two disciples here
Level 2 = +2 Honor for every two disciples here
Level 3 = +2 Honor for every one disciple here
Level 4 = +3 Honor for every one disciple here
Again, each level also has a special ability linked to one of the four action types, so the honor is not the only thing pushing you to go higher in level. Each of the abilities get more and more powerful and require less and less disciples similar to the amount of honor you gain.
Although, this may seem like a walk in the park, with the current change to the hardened cubes, losing loyalty will happen much more frequently. You must rely on prayer and effective outreach to increase the loyalty of your disciples. At the end of the game, everyone tally's their total honor and adds it to the End of the Age track and if you reach or gain at least half of the honor goal you win! This adds suspense, as no one really knows how much honor everyone has until the very end when the trumpets sound.
ALPHA TEST #7, 8
08/14/2017 - 16:19
Immediately I noticed that the amount of loyalty I was losing was too much. I needed to reel it back a little. Also, the stagnant issues still were present (hardened cubes and saved/follower cubes staying there until you harvest them). So I changed a few things...
Current Issues
1). Losing too much loyalty too soon and too fast
2). Need more movement between population types to shake things up
Current Solutions
1). Instead of your interaction getting rejected when your value is "less than or equal", it is now only less than. Here is what the change looks like:
Matching Symbol (Need is met)
> +1 Softened population cube and +2 Loyalty
= Nothing
< -1 Loyalty
Different Symbols (Need is unmet)
> +1 Loyalty
= -1 Loyalty
< +1 Hardened population cube and -X Loyalty where "X" equals the amount of hardened cubes are at that population.
I also changed the faith die so that there would be more tension and less use (to shorten the action). You can now only roll up to three blanks. If you roll three you can no longer use the faith die for the current population and you lose -1 Loyalty.
2). I have changed the semantics so that all population cubes on the population are technically "lost". Instead of the saved/follower area being called what it is, it will now be called the Softened population area. This makes a lot more sense because when the Scriptures talks about the "harvest" it means people getting saved. It didn't make sense to harvest already saved people.
The mechanical change is during the harvest action. During the second to last step you will, for each population, do the following:
For Un-reached Populations (unrevealed population cards)
Place one Lost cube on the back of the card
For Reached Populations (revealed population cards)
Check to see if there are any Softened cubes:
(Yes) Check to see if there are any Lost cubes
(Yes) Place one Softened cube in the Lost area
(No) Place one Softened cube in the Lost area
(No) Check to see if there are any Lost cubes
(Yes) Place a Lost cube in the Hardened area
(No) Discard the population card and place all Hardened cubes back in the world population pile.
This causes movement and forces players to manage the populations. I will be testing both of these today.
