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Wall of Text or is it just personality type?

7 replies [Last post]
Thu, 02/23/2012 - 05:12
Willi B
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Joined: 07/28/2008

I recently pulled out my latest prototype. It is card based with text, but I have severely limited the text. Some cards are simple symbols (x money - generates y victory points) and others are mostly 2 short sentences or less (comparable to Dominion).

I had a player play the mechanics of the game without reading anything except a couple of cards. Now, this player would read anything from Fantasy Flight, so I think the theme isn't one that attracted him. However, although people enjoy the game and request it, I find that certain people that do not shut down when they have to read inside the game during play and will not read.

I have no problem with this in another game, since this is a prototype and I am trying to solicit feedback I find it hard to figure out what I am supposed to learn from players that die from wall of text (even though my wall is little more than a 2 foot tall hedgerow).

Is it that certain people will not read all 10 Dominion Kingdom cards in the entire game and we as designers are asking too much of these gamers or is it that they tend more towards symbols and will be more responsive to a list of 50 symbols like Race for the Galaxy? OR is it that they are just too lazy to be bothered and will not respond to either?

I am curious how I should judge feedback from these players because they information they are basing things from is one of a person that did not bother to inform themselves of certain pieces of the game. Any thoughts?

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Thu, 02/23/2012 - 08:43
#1
gabrielcohn
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Joined: 11/25/2010
I know what you mean

I have yet to iconographize much of the text in my game, so some of the cards have 2 or 3 sentences on them. Sometimes I feel like players have not noticed what some of the cards do for them, so they fail to play optimally. So, does this invalidate the playtesting session? It's a good question. There is little secret information in my game, so it's fairly easy to help people make informed decisions, but is that then just me playing against myself? To be fair, this is not a common problem, but one I run into with folks who are less hardcore gamers and more people who play some (but not a lot of) games...

I guess that wasn't a helpful reply, except to say, I feel your pain...

-g

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Thu, 02/23/2012 - 09:43
#2
Horatio252
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Target Audience

I think the answer to your question comes from knowing (or deciding on) your target audience. The primary question is whether this playtester is a member of your target audience. If he is, then pay attention. If he is not, then put less weight on his feedback. I do not think two sentences is too much for the hobby boardgamer to read, but it may be more overwhelming for the casual board gamer. I do not think text vs symbols will solve the problem with people not reading.

Also, it sounds like he did not give your game a fair playtest if he did not read the cards. You can not put much weight on someone who did play your game correctly.

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Thu, 02/23/2012 - 10:12
#3
Dralius
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One thing to consider is

One thing to consider is regardless of your audience hobby vs. casual gamer etc.. is that the game market is global and not everyone can read the language your game is written in. They may on the other hand be able to get a translation into their native language at BGG. If your game depends on a player understanding a lot of text then it will limit who can play it.

There is a game called Eine gegen Eine. Google tell me it means A to A. The object of the game is to figure out the rules from the components which are all but text free. It’s a game designs exercise to be exact and not something you play more than once but it is worth playing. We did this at Protospiel 2010 and it was amazing how close the players were in figuring out the rules. This demonstrates that good iconography and component design are as important as text is.

Obviously some games beg for large swaths of text to provide atmosphere but if all that text is doing is explaining a rule that can be related though iconography drop the text.

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Thu, 02/23/2012 - 13:44
#4
Willi B
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Iconography

I've ranted for years that the game industry should have already developed an international symbol set to a 50/50 response. It's times like this that I seem to prove my point.

Why can we not agree on a symbol for drawing a card? For discarding a card? Ugh.

How much time do we waste as designers adding symbols and icons when we should be designing games?

Still, where is the fine line between wall of text for the gamer that would normally play a game of the type tuning out and the wall of icons in Race for the Galaxy tuning out?

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Fri, 02/24/2012 - 15:49
#5
Dralius
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Willi B wrote:I've ranted for

Willi B wrote:
I've ranted for years that the game industry should have already developed an international symbol set to a 50/50 response. It's times like this that I seem to prove my point.

Why don’t you develop this iconographic language and offer its use free of royalty. If enough publishers pick it up it could become a standard.

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Sat, 02/25/2012 - 03:27
#6
Willi B
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Well...

We are somewhat there with some things. Every box has # of players, play time and age requirements.

Why stop there?

I am not a graphic artist but why can't gatherings like ORIGINS and Spiel be opportunities for the furthering of such helpful ideas that would help the industry. The will of a few designers would be a start.

A rounded cornered rectangle with "+1" in the center could be the symbol for "draw 1 card". Let's start the revolution. I am now going to add this to all of my prototypes. Let's get it started. I am tired and typing.

Add one of yours, Dave.

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Sat, 02/25/2012 - 23:06
#7
mdkiehl
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Iconography

I think the card game "Bang" has some good iconography for drawing and discarding cards.

I really see this as the job of the graphic designer who works on your game - to try to develop ways to communicate information quickly and clearly.

This is why I think graphic designers should be more involved in game design right from your first prototype... Or invite some design friends to play-test your games early on. A good looking prototype can also be an easier prototype to play-test, and better play-testing helps you to resolve problems in your game more quickly.

Regards,
Matthew Kiehl

http://mdkiehl.wordpress.com

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