As Gen Con drifts into the background and I step away from playtesting for a week or so, I thought I’d do a quick update on two other things that occurred this week.
First, while one could claim this may appear to be a somewhat embarrassing statistic, I’ll argue otherwise! I’ve now logged over 500 hours ‘playing’ Tabletop Simulator! The Steam Achievement associated with that is “Addict”, but while it may imply someone has spent 500+ hours playing games, it doesn’t take into consideration that someone may be developing games. The last in-person playtest I was able to conduct was on March 14th, 2020 in Eau Claire, WI. Immediately after that, the pandemic began to spread across the country, and I decided to go fully online for playtesting.
Since mid-March, I’ve observed over thirty playtests of Distilled, lasting roughly 3 hours each (30 min teach + 120 min playtime + 30 min feedback). I think some of that time has paid off, as the other “500” number in the above image is related to people visiting Distilled’s site in the Steam Workshop, many of which appear to have subscribed to (downloaded) the game as well.
In addition to playtests, I often spend hours updating the game itself, often with it open in the background while I’m working between Component Studio, Google Sheets, and Photoshop. In fact, I did a quick check in my favorite stats/tracking app for board games, and it confirmed that I’ve spent less than 100 hours actually playing games in Tabletop Simulator!
While I’ve played a number of different games, much of what I’ve concentrated on has been research – playing games that would contribute to a better understanding of mechanics, features, and themes that could influence Distilled’s development. People often give me a bit of flack for me using the term “research” when referring to the playing and collecting of board games, but it truly is that – a way to dissect how a certain designer or developer solved a problem that I’m wrestling with for the game I’m working on at the moment.
For instance, when Distilled had more of a deckbuilding focus, I sought out games such as Dominion: Seaside, Res Arcana, Thunderstone Quest, Clank! In! Space!, Valley of the Kings, and Quacks of Quedlinburg. These game experiences helped me see how deckbuilding was a positive – or sometimes negative – addition to the game. Now that I’ve incorporated more drafting elements into the game, 7 Wonders, Dinosaur Island, Ethnos, Wingspan, and Between Two Cities have been helpful to play, as each use a different form of ‘drafting’ in their game. And of course, I wanted to try thematically similar games to Distilled as well, such as Brew Crafters, Viticulture, Taverns of Tiefenthal, and Scoville. Whether the theme of alcohol or crafting recipes is covered, it helps to see a different perspective on what I’m doing in my game.
Each of these games has sparked at least some mechanic or thematic element to contribute to Distilled’s evolution, and in some cases, caused me to purchase the game for my physical collection as well. Game Development and Design truly is about standing on the shoulders of giants, and I wholeheartedly embrace that, every time I play one!
