How would one get on your podcast?
India dev here, working on our first title. Divided.
It’s about a near future America civil war. Plays like if axis and allies and slay the spire had a baby.
Would to chat about it!
u/FTG_V1 — 3 days ago
u/FTG_V1
Ever Had a Playtest Completely Destroy Your Confidence?
I wanted to share an experience I had some time ago while building a board game with my design partner. I think it’s something many first-time designers, honestly, many creators in general eventually face. The playtest that breaks you.
When you spend hundreds or thousands of hours building something, it’s easy to convince yourself the game is close. Maybe a few tweaks here and there and it’ll really shine.
Then you put it in front of people and the feedback isn’t just “needs improvement.” It cuts straight into the foundation of the design. We had that playtest. And thankfully we had play testers that gave feedback we didn't want but definitely needed.
The feedback was thoughtful, fair, and honestly deserved. Which i think made it worse. It exposed issues we had been unconsciously band-aiding instead of solving properly. It didn’t feel like “adjust this balance issue” It felt like “rethink what this game is trying to accomplish.”
That night I went to bed with a knot in my stomach. Couldn’t stop thinking about it. Woke up exhausted but unable to sleep. Not because people disliked a game, but because the project represented something bigger to us: a chance to build something meaningful and maybe even create a future outside the corporate grind.
I’m also the type of person who puts far more pressure on myself than anyone else ever could. So when something fails, my instinct is either to become defensive or want to burn the whole thing down and walk away. Luckily i'm also a bit self ware, but not always.
What helped was giving myself time to process it instead of reacting emotionally and burning it down. I wallowed for a bit. Had some excellent 19-year-old sherry cask scotch. Took a break. After we sat down and went over the feedback and figured out what it really meant. It takes me a minute to process correctly sometimes.
What are the actual problems?
What is the feedback really telling us?
Which issues are symptoms, and which are foundational?
The game improved because of that playtest, even though at the time it felt devastating. Part of the process, a crappy part for me because I'm overly sensitive at times but a needed part.
I think this is one of the hardest parts of creative work: accepting that critical feedback can feel deeply personal while still learning to use it constructively. Sometimes the playtests that hurt the most are the ones that move the project forward the furthest.
I’m curious how other designers or creators handle feedback that fundamentally challenges the core of a project. Have you ever had a playtest completely change your direction?
u/FTG_V1 — 4 days ago
▲ 174 r/boardgames
What board game mechanic instantly gets your attention?
For me it’s simultaneous decision making.
I tend to have my turns mapped out, so in the longer styles games I like to play, I’m waiting 20 minutes then play my turn in about 1 minute. So anytime it’s at the same time, ahh I’m in heaven.
Curious what mechanic immediately makes you pay attention to a game? Or what is your favorite type of thing to do in a game?
u/FTG_V1 — 7 days ago
▲ 133 r/boardgames
What board game unexpectedly became a hit with your mom?
With it being Mother’s Day, I was curious what games unexpectedly clicked with your mom or family.
Could be anything from party games to heavier strategy stuff. I mean just whatever type of games your mom tends to enjoy playing with you or other people?
My mom, is not a big gamer, but I can usually get her to play some lighter funnier games like Exploding kittens.
What work with your mom?
u/FTG_V1 — 12 days ago
Balancing readability vs atmosphere on strategy game with card play
Now cards are not the sole play here with our game, but they are a key part. The game plays like Axis and Allies meets Slay the Spire for context. So a lot of focus is on cards as they can interact with all the systems in the game, even dice rolls.
We’ve been refining the card layout and visual language for our near-future strategy game and hit an interesting balancing act between readability and atmosphere.
The first image shows finalized game play cards with: conditional effects, persistent effects, icon-driven damage types, combo categorization for quick parsing and battlefield state interactions
The second image is some of the raw art direction spread without UI layered on top. We are also adding some key elements showcase real life locations, we liked how it's subtle.
One of the biggest challenges has been. keeping the cards visually aggressive and thematic while still making them readable at a glance during play. you start the game with 4 cards, but you can upgrade your hand to hold more cards. These cards also interact with the types of units actually in the battle. So brevity is key.
A lot of the UI decisions came from repeated play testing: reducing text density (this took forever and is still ongoing, even the picture examples have changes already), moving repeated concepts into icons, creating stronger card-type identity, keeping effect hierarchy readable during combat. later in the game you can have about 6-8 cards in your hand, and if you spec heavily into cards this can get upwards of 10. You may ahve multiple battles to fight before getting a fresh set of cards so having more is useful but we also need to realize anything above 8 start to get unwieldy, so we made sure this was an opt in system.
Curious what people here think:
- At what point does tactical UI become overwhelming?
- Do you prefer cleaner/minimalist cards or denser information-rich layouts?
- Any card games you think absolutely nail combat readability?
u/FTG_V1 — 13 days ago
Balancing readability vs atmosphere on strategy game with card play
Now cards are not the sole play here with our game, but they are a key part. The game plays like Axis and Allies meets Slay the Spire for context. So a lot of focus is on cards as they can interact with all the systems in the game, even dice rolls.
We’ve been refining the card layout and visual language for our near-future strategy game and hit an interesting balancing act between readability and atmosphere.
The first image shows finalized gameplay cards with: conditional effects, persistent effects, icon-driven damage types, combo categorization for quick parsing and battlefield state interactions
The second image is some of the raw art direction spread without UI layered on top. We are also adding some key elements showcase real life locations, we liked how it's subtle.
One of the biggest challenges has been. keeping the cards visually aggressive and thematic while still making them readable at a glance during play. you start the game with 4 cards, but you can upgrade your hand to hold more cards. These cards also interact with the types of units actually in the battle. So brevity is key.
A lot of the UI decisions came from repeated playtesting: reducing text density (this took forever and is still ongoing, even the picture examples have changes already), moving repeated concepts into icons, creating stronger card-type identity, keeping effect hierarchy readable during combat. later in the game you can have about 6-8 cards in your hand, and if you spec heavily into cards this can get upwards of 10. You may ahve multiple battles to fight before getting a fresh set of cards so having more is useful but we also need to realize anything above 8 start to get unwieldy, so we made sure this was an opt in system.
Curious what people here think:
- At what point does tactical UI become overwhelming?
- Do you prefer cleaner/minimalist cards or denser information-rich layouts?
- Any card games you think absolutely nail combat readability?
u/FTG_V1 — 13 days ago
▲ 17 r/boardgames
Do you actually use board game soundtracks while playing?
I was playing Nemesis recently and realized it actually had a soundtrack. Found it trying to search for better explanation of rules. Tried it out and realized how much the soundtrack / ambient audio added to the tension at the table. It honestly changed the feel of the game more than I expected.
Usually we just play random music while playing, but it was kinda cool listening to ambient music that fit the theme. We have played a few time with no music and i honestly feel more tired after long plays like that.
So did I just discovering something that's common knowledge (soundtracks for board games) or is this something that generally fly's under the radar? Do you guys typically do these sound tracks? have background music or just total silence like maniacs?
u/FTG_V1 — 14 days ago
▲ 1 r/boardgames
Looking for our group’s next game and wanted some recommendations.
We’ve played a pretty wide range like Catan, Ticket to Ride, Root, up through heavier stuff like Eclipse and Nemesis.
Some of the group is into RPGs, and I’d like to bring something to the table that leans more in that direction, but I don’t have a ton of experience with RPG-style games myself (I usually stick to strategy).
I’ve heard HeroQuest might be a good entry point, but curious what else you’d recommend?
Ideally something:
Easy to get into (no massive rules overhead)
Still has meaningful decisions
Works well for a group transitioning from strategy games
I’ll obviously bring up the conversation with the group but wanted a few strong options going into that convo.
u/FTG_V1 — 18 days ago
▲ 23 r/BoardgameDesign
We started play testing as soon as we could. Not just to play the game but to get our minds in the right place. There is real value to seeing and touching something you made.
Attached is our current game board, but I also added our iterations, not all of them because well i respect your time haha (we have about 23 iterations on TTS). The very last one is what we started with. Luckily i have a rudimentary skill set for Photoshop. But graphic designers and Artist really help bring everything to life.
The latest edit was making Mexico darker, as we have 1 card that must be played in a coastal state, and I played it in Arizona.... and my partner didn't even blink. Now that says a lot about us and geography, but it also says "maybe we need some contrast here" as Mexico kinda just blended with the ocean. I'll also state that no we are not interested in any ocean front property in AZ.
This game board is near finished. Would love to hear any last minute feedback before we lock this for our review copies.
Anecdotally, I'm curious how everyone here determines their art style? We brainstormed, created a mood board, then took one of our cards and created a few different versions in a few styles before locking in a specific style. We then used that as the template for all work that followed. Has that been everyone else path or do you do something a bit different?
u/FTG_V1 — 20 days ago
We started play testing as soon as we could. Not just to play the game but to get our minds in the right place. There is real value to seeing and touching something you made.
Attached is our current game board, but I also added our iterations, not all of them because well i respect your time haha (we have about 23 iterations on TTS). The very last one is what we started with. Luckily i have a rudimentary skill set for Photoshop. But graphic designers and Artist really help bring everything to life.
The latest edit was making Mexico darker, as we have 1 card that must be played in a coastal state, and I played it in Arizona.... and my partner didn't even blink. Now that says a lot about us and geography, but it also says "maybe we need some contrast here" as Mexico kinda just blended with the ocean. I'll also state that no we are not interested in any ocean front property in AZ.
This game board is near finished. Would love to hear any last minute feedback before we lock this for our review copies.
Anecdotally, I'm curious how everyone here determines their art style? We brainstormed, created a mood board, then took one of our cards and created a few different versions in a few styles before locking in a specific style. We then used that as the template for all work that followed. Has that been everyone else path or do you do something a bit different?
u/FTG_V1 — 20 days ago