لطفا منتظر باشید ...
Playtesting
My primary design technique is to create a game first in my mind and play it there over and over again. This can go on for many weeks. When I feel the need for practical playing experience, I finally build the first prototype and play it with my playtest groups. The decision to enter the prototype stage is critical. Moving too early without a clear concept wastes a lot of time, as it is much simpler to change things in one's mind than in a physical prototype. Moving too late may not reveal design weaknesses early enough and may require a complete redesign.
Once the initial concept is properly elaborated, playtesting becomes the core activity of game development. The fun and excitement of playing cannot be calculated in an abstract fashion: it must be experienced. I prepare each of my playtest sessions in great detail-I plan the exact issues I want to monitor and test. During play, I record relevant data about the game flow. Afterwards, I analyze the results and then make necessary or exploratory changes. This becomes the preparation for the next playtest session, during which I can find out how the changes will affect the game. The revolving process usually continues over many months, sometimes years. With experienced playtesters, we spend much time after each test discussing how it went-what worked and what didn't. Often we make changes on the spot and play again. The first stage in prototyping the Lord of the Rings Board Game was to prepare just one scenario and to see how the basic system played. It was somewhat natural to choose the intended first scenario, the departure from Bag End and the journey to Bree. The first test usually brings many surprises. It is a reality check in which my mental picture of the game is compared to what happens with real people. The first prototype was soon extended by the next two scenarios, bringing us up to Rivendell. Initially I anticipated the game would cover eight or ten scenarios, but this was a major miscalculation. Very soon it became apparent that the game was becoming too long; by the end of the first hour, instead of climbing Mount Doom we were only just reaching Rivendell. I realized that I had to focus on the core episodes of Tolkien's story, and as a consequence none of the first three scenarios were realized in the Base Game (though I was later to resurrect the journey to Bree in the first expansion). I selected four main episodes from the story: Moria, Helm's Deep, Shelob's Lair, and Mount Doom, and created corresponding scenario boards. These scenarios were then linked on the summary board with small episodes in Rivendell and Lothlorien. I played and played the game with my playtest groups over the better part of a year-typically three or four playtest sessions each week with changes between each session. In addition, I gave Dave Farquhar a test copy to use with other testers and generate even more playtest results. Many details were analyzed for each board, including the positions of the hobbits and Sauron on the corruption line, cards and shields held by each player, tiles drawn, and number of turns played.
One of the vital tenets of good playtesting is comprehensively to explore every possible strategy and style of play. A frequent error committed by inexperienced designers is to develop a game for just one test group. Of course, to be successful a game must appeal to many different types of players. It must be robust and exciting on many levels, for casual players as well as for experienced gamers. My basic approach in the Lord of the Rings Board Game was to offer the players plentiful but nevertheless limited resources. Beginners usually spend these resources freely, proceeding optimistically through the game until the resources become scarce and they succumb to Sauron. With more experience, players realize that spending resources early in the game will have serious consequences later on. Players foresee future threats and pitfalls, and the discussions focus much more on strategy and risk. The more the game proceeds, the more apprehensive you get, and the greater the need for the players to strategically cooperate. Like the book, the game offers a journey of personal growth. In the game, you have the advantage of being able to play over and over again to do better each time.
