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Z-man horror game mailed

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Johan
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Joined: 10/05/2008

I have now mailed (snail mail) my horror game (Horror in Europe) to Z-man. I hope he will receive the game before 1-Dec (that is the deadline). Now it's only to wait and see.
This last 3 month has been tough. There has been a lot to do at work and I also had to negotiate of a job contracts for the next year. On top of that the Z-man monster game that took all my spare time.
This game has been bigger then the games I usually does (it's in this type of game nature). The main issue has been balancing (small rule changes could have big impact on the game). I have put in between 300-400 hours in the game and something around 30 hours of reviewing and test. Still it’s a lot to do on the game. Until I hear something from Z-man, I will have time too continue with other projects.
Without reveling too much of the game, it's an epic battle game between the major Horror races that took place in Europe in the end of the 19th century. All have there own strangest and weaknesses. It’s a mix between a civilization game, a war-game and a German styled game. It has a lot of twists, interaction and backstabbing possibilities. I have played the game several times and I this is a game that I would definitely would buy (or play when I get the chance) (ok I'm bragging ;)).

I would like to thank several people at this forum that has helped me.
Nestalawe for valuable input and the quick proofreading of the rules (I should stop writing in English).
GemninWeb for valuable input.
Bryk that took the time too read the rules. Just to know that you could understand the rules in the shape that there were in was valuable too me.
JWarrend for letting me use his action handling system from Sands of Time as a base for this system. The system is now totally reworked (and you would not recognize it), but that was my starting point.

// Johan

Nestalawe
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Z-man horror game mailed

Good luck Johan!

This will be a fun game to play, and if it comes back for you to rework I will be happy to help out!

Nestalawe'

Brykovian
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Joined: 07/21/2008
Z-man horror game mailed

Ditto. :-D

-Bryk

Yogurt
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Joined: 01/09/2009
Z-man horror game mailed

Good luck, Johan!

I'm going to be mailing my game to Z-Man after this weekend, giving me a few last days to polish the final rules and do some arts-and-crafts work to make my prototype more durable.

Like you, I've had a busier than usual season for work, and I found the development of the game from my outline took drastically longer than I expected, as I discovered new bumps to smooth over or new ideas to explore. Plus, Firaxis released Civilization 4, the villains.

So I slept less.

I had originally comforted myself with the idea I would be able to re-theme the game if Z-Man decided not to pick it, allowing me to submit it elsewhere. "We Were Human Once" is an adventure game, and these systems can usually be adapted to different genres (think Doom versus Descent). Now I'm not so sure. Adapting it would be like creating a whole new game.

I hope to write a Gamasutra-style post-mortem when I'm finished, discussing all the different technologies I used to store, test and produce the game, as well as all the changes that happened from outline to final prototype. Once the deadline passes, I hope a few of the other finalists will write about their experiences too.

Best of luck, all.

Yogurt

GeminiWeb
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Joined: 07/31/2008
Z-man horror game mailed

Good luck Johan,

While I haven't played the game, I will say that reading the rules definitely has got be interested enough to want to play the game!

Cheers,
Bill

Emphyrio
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Joined: 02/10/2010
Z-man horror game mailed

I mailed my prototype to Zev. I'd like to thank jwarrend and siskny for playtesting and feedback, which has greatly improved the gameplay. And I've certainly benefited in more general terms from reading the discussions here about various aspects of game design and mechanics.

Good luck to everyone! Maybe Zev will find himself unable to decide among the submissions, and so will publish them all. :-)

Yogurt
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Joined: 01/09/2009
Z-man horror game mailed

My prototype hit the courier yesterday too. They were going to take an extra week to deliver my box, so I mailed off a bunch of baggies in a padded envelope instead. So professional!

All my playtesting was done locally, because I'm not organized enough to mail bits off to people, but all sorts of BGDF lessons went into the game, particularly about ways to streamline and integrate game elements, as well as production tips.

The best tip for me was using card sleeves to make card prototypes. Super easy with excellent results.

My board on the other hand would embarrass the craftspeople here (think mailing labels and corrugated cardboard) so I won't mention it.

I still intend to write up a postmortem about the software I used to make the design and testing easier. But now it's time to clean all the scraps of paper and rough drafts off my floor...

Yogurt

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