My first feedback

I sent out the first (very) rough draft of the game concepts and mechanics (I hesitate to actually call them "rules" yet) to a few close friends via email this week. Unfortunately, I hadn't gotten any feedback as of this morning, but my fortune changed as I was able to go to lunch with three of them and explain the game to them in detail. Turns out it's easier to get people to listen to a game design than to get them to actually read a 3 page design document.

So we spent an hour at Buffalo Wild Wings (yum!) licking our fingers and going over the general gameplay and concepts. Many great questions were asked, and it made me feel good that I had ready solutions to most of the issues that they came up with. Not all of them, but most. Together, we came up with solutions for the others and talked about how to generally tighten it up.

One of their first concerns was theme - "Couldn't you have come up with something more umm... interesting?". And then one of the others (who'd actually read my design doc) piped-in, "That was my first thought too, but wait til you see what he's done. It's cool." Again, made me feel good.

Turns out, the theme was really never a concern for me because I knew that I was planning on the game having Supernatural elements in it. It wasn't just a "see who can collect the most beaver skins or build the most teepees" game. It's got Rainmakers calling lightening storms and divining hidden burial grounds, and summoning ancestral spirits! And hopefully, it'll be cool.

So at lunch we added some new elements, and refined a couple more. The most encouraging thing I left with was hearing the excitement in their voices when they'd say "It sounds awesome. I can't wait to play it. When can you have it prototyped?"

Good question! First step: get the wing sauce off my notebook. Next step: Prototyping.