Game Rule Editing
Six weeks ago I rambled on about the value of an editor for books and games and wanted to share my first editor experience for game rules.
I have a wonderful editor who I know through my day job creating eLearning. She’s been editing the ChuChu Chicken & Pedro the Goat kid’s books since the beginning of the year and it made sense to call upon her for game rules, even though that’s very different from kid’s books. In her work at my day job, she edits software training material; step-wise procedures are something she’s comfortable with.
After several rounds of wordsmithing with family, friends, and my local game design meetup group, I was feeling good on the instructions for Mint Tin Pirates and Mint Tin Aliens. The instructions have to fit on the fronts and backs of 3 mini poker cards, so space is at a premium.
I emailed the Word files to the editor and a photo of the each game setup. Being able to understand how to play without my explanation and without the actual games is something that instructions should be able to do.
A few days later, she returned her edits.
The results are clearer instructions, more concise text through better phrasing and word use, and a better “flow”. The cost for this was about $20 (her hourly rate is $35). $10 per game seems like a bargain to me and I feel more confident about players understanding the rules of play.
Game rules shouldn’t get in the way of playing and should form an initial positive impression of a game.
If you don’t have an editor (and why would you?), give a shout out on Twitter or to a LinkedIn game design group. There are many good editors online and it’s worth the trouble to find one. If that seems daunting, and it can be, The Game Crafter also has an excellent instruction service called Sanity Tests.
Play well! =)
Last of the paper playtesting
Playtesting with cutout paper as playing cards for Mint Tin Pirates and Mint Tin Aliens is coming to an end! The mini poker cards are in the process of being printed and it will be nice to have uniform playing cards that can actually be shuffled! =)
I was originally going to do 300 gram per square metre (gsm) cards with an aqueous coating and leave the 310 gsm linen finish plastic coated ones as a Kickstarter stretch goal. But when I look at a quantity of 200 to 300 of each game for the Kickstarter, the price difference between the two types of cards drops to $100.
Rather than create a false stretch goal for the better cards, the linen ones will be the final ones. The linen finish creates a cushion of air making shuffling easier. Mind you that mini poker cards are inherently harder to shuffle than full-sized cards, so anything that helps make that part of the game nicer and less hassle is important. The plastic coating also makes the cards more durable.
False stretch goals? You know what I mean, taking pictures of your game with wooden cubes and saying you’ll upgrade to meeples at a certain level. Not all game creators do this, and probably not most, but some do and it’s been recommended to me by peers. I can’t do this because I’ll be asking for people’s hard-earned money and that’s never something to play games with (doh! seriously, no pun intended! well, maybe a little). =p
Anywho, I digress! =D
This first set of real cards is for additional playtesting with some hardcore gamers. Once that’s done, the second batch, with any modifications, will get printed for game reviewers.
I don’t know if alpha and beta are ever used in tabletop game prototyping but it’s terminology I’ve been immersed in for years with other endeavors (mainly Sim-on-a-Stick which is alpha software).
The hand-cut paper cards were the alpha version, this set of real cards are the beta release candidate, and the reviewer and Kickstarter version will be the release to manufacturing and official general availability version (gee, sounds so official eh?). =D
