The Las Vegas Board Game Designers Meetup meets every 2 weeks to talk about game design and run some playtests.
We had a good discussion this time about what the group should work on, with various ideas being floated around.
There was some talk about Kickstarter as a platform for selling games (“do you want to be a game designer, or an entrepreneur?”) and Game Salute’s problematic press (I kind of wish the local who went through Game Salute to distribute his game had spoken up more loudly on this… as it was, I was the only voice saying I’d never been disappointed by them).
We talked about running some game design exercises, including collaborative development, contests, and presentations. Once more, the experiences of Dave from the Salt Lake City were valued. My ideas for running game design contests was not accepted by the group.
The group decided to set 5-6 PM for social hour, 6-7 for game design presentation topics, and 7-9 PM for playtesting. Our location, Panera, closes at 9.
I playetested a card game involving zone control which, I expressed to the designer, I never felt like I was ever on top of strategy, never felt like I was ever able to win. I commented that I wasn’t sure if that was my problem not grasping the strategy, or if it was a game problem. Having spoken later to another previous playtester… I think it might be the game. If so, at least the designer has heard that critique more than once.
That’s it. Our next session is on Monday, April 7th, with a discussion of how to run and participate in a playtest. I’m looking forward to it.