On Sunday of this week (2 March), I will be testing a combination of corrections (#9 and #10). These two (2) corrections have a new feel to the game, especially with a focus back on trading and earning/unlocking starships.
I have the corrections for version #11 already on the way from The Game Crafter (TGC)... I should hopefully have them near the end of next week.
I will be having another 2 player playtest soon thereafter. This will be the (hopefully) final version of the game. All that will remain are some minor game rule issues such as considering Trade starships as defending starships, allow Trade starships to attack, etc.
Again all those change do not require new cards, just changes of the rules in the rulebook. So we're almost there...
I have also decided that next week I will contact another Publisher. The current one isn't being very communicative and so I have no idea if they like the game or not. Let alone know if they would be interested in publishing it!
Comments
Another playtest done
So by adding the unlocking of starship, the game slowed down a little bit. Also players were not very lucky with their *Initiative* rolls so many foiled attacks occurred.
This time the player who won by accumulating the 200 quickSilver.
That is great news and finally brings back the "Trade" aspect of the game. She won by using two Trade starships earning 50 points (2x 25 points). Had she not done this, she would have probably lost the game...
Watching the game, her strategy was to buy all the card on the table... and did so before her opponent. Her opponent on the other side of the table was more focused on using the Trader role to accumulate more quickSilver.
The game was won only by a difference of 15 points. So things were rather close!
And Homeworlds stayed at 18 points (undamaged) on both sides of the table.
Although we talked about the "Tactic" cards, I still had not received them from The Game Crafter. So we did not use "Tactics" in this playtest session.
But I feel that on several occasions it would have been interesting to roll an offensive initiative roll twice (2x) or to have lowered the opponents Resistance to 3 (instead of some of the BIG 5)!
So overall it was a good game and it seems as if the game is almost ironed out. Again Trade starships were not used much BUT that's how the player beat her opponent (who was a little more aggressive than her).
Can't wait to playtest version #11 of the prototype (= the Tactic cards)...
Good report.
Good report.
Update from the publisher
Well it seems as if the publisher we have been dealing with is *somewhat* interested by our game.
I can't say YES for certain - but they have taken the time to review our rulebook which still is quite voluminous to read considering it is about 30 pages.
What they have told me is that they will get back to me sometime this week in regards to the rulebook.
So I guess the decision will be based on our rulebook... I would have been willing to send down two (2) copies of the game for some playtesting (by the publisher) as we move to a more firm version of the game (Prototype #11).
I guess I should wait a little bit longer - since the publisher still has manifested interest in the game! :)