I've finished a rough draft of the instructions for my card game "Steps & Stumbles". I've been over the rules a number of times and feel it is time to get another set of eyes on them.
So, if you don't mind could you look over these and let me know if any of it sounds confusing, or if I made some terrible grammatical error?
General feedback is always welcome as well!
Instructions attached.
This game reminds me of a Phase ten, Uno, Gold Thief hybrid. In my personal preference, that is a good thing. OK, so i don't really care for Uno for many reasons, such as the massive amounts of cards you might have to hold but you don't seem to have that.
I love the random dealt goals,(Steps)to work for. The Buying a Card is a nice strategy and of course Stumble cards make for a great "take that!"
The flow of the rules works well and for the moment the only grammar some might point out is the Gotta in the intro and some conjunctions in other areas. I see them as flavor text personally and wouldn't change that. Rules that feel written by a robot are not very entertaining for the most part.
I will look through them some more but this is a nice draft. Nice job on including descriptions and the example, as some seem to omit this useful information. I never felt i needed a pictorial example while reading so that shows a good explanation. Hope many players will stumble across this game. Good work!
Hi there. This game sounds like it's a lot of fun! And the colors you've chosen are different and I think with the right look this game could be played over and over. I'm working on a similar game that's got some mechanics in common, excited to debut it when I finish the rules and playtests myself!
I read through the rules and they seem comprehensive and I understand what's going on. Mostly. I know I have to get rid of my Steps. I know I have to use Stumbles to help me and hurt opponents. I know I have a hand of colored and numbered cards.
But until I read the examples, I don't have a full grasp of what a Step looks like, or what a Stumble looks like. I'm not sure what they do.
If you include a brief portion that explains "Steps want you to complete what's on them to get rid of them." and include a picture of what they look like under that, you've sold me on the object completely. Same goes for the Stumbles. Just a picture of what a Stumble looks like would be great.
I know that when it's done, the card will be in the package, right there to look at. I think it's still nice to know what it looks like before opening and paging through the contents. I know one person who reads the rules before meddling with the things in the box. I'm not friends with that person, but they're real.
I'm not a huge fan of the glossary of terms being the first thing you see before How to Play. It really implies a barrier to entry (that doesn't exist) and I'm inclined to straight up not read it before I reach it. Ideally you only need to tell me what a Step is, what a Stumble is, what I can do on my turn, and what happens when someone Goes Out. I'm ready to start playing after that. Everything else is an overload of info and it turns me off to playing the game. You can tell me after the basics what to do, but I want to start playing ASAP. Just my opinion.
Your game looks really neat, and I hope you find a way to get it to us soon, because I'd love to play!
Posted a rules feedback pdf in proofreading forum as i couldn't seem to get the link to take here. Sorry about that, hope it helps a bit. Can't wait to playtest!
Here is a link to some comments, in red, for ease of use.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ACh26wknLVtyY6p3-SZyYqHljPZKsNmrASvQWs_RKS4/edit?usp=sharing
A journey of a thousand Steps begins with a single Stumble.
Happy hunting, Rob.
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Thanks for the Comments!
@Chad Russell I look forward to getting your detailed feedback.
@TuscanSun Thanks for giving me your interpretation. I feel like the definitions need to be there, but I'll rearrange it and put them on the 2nd page. That'll get to the meat and potatoes much faster and the second page will be more of a reference sheet.
Thanks guys! If anybody else wants to offer feedback, please do.