Playtesting: Inheritance and others

I recently started working on a prototype called Inheritance. What lead to this idea was a game Buddhima showed me. It was a game from Taiwan in which players had to close their eyes, and the sense of touch was used. I thought it would be interesting to try making a game that limited sight, and used touch. I had another prototype that did both, but it didn't seem interesting. It just felt like Werewolf. As I toyed further with the idea, I thought about how people in a coma could still hear the people around them talking, and sometimes they hear the truth and learn the true nature of these people. 

The backstory of Inheritance is something out of Hong Kong TV dramas. The rich business tycoon has just suffered a stroke, and he knows he needs to name a successor in his will. But who should he hand his business empire to? Is that person capable enough to run the business? Is the person loyal to the family business? Is that person his trueborn son or daughter, or in the case of possibly handing the reins to his wife, has she been faithful in their marriage? The tycoon has a secret goal, e.g. he may want to give the company to a person who is capable, and he doesn't care about any other factors. Each potential heir has a secret goal too. Most of the time they just want to be named successor. However sometimes there is someone who just wants to see the world burn. They win if the company is given to someone who is either disloyal or incompetent. 

The heirs have default traits - whether they are capable, loyal or trueborn (or faithful). For example the first wife is capable and faithful, but she is not loyal to the family business. However these default traits may not be the true traits, because of trait cards that are drawn by each heir. The default traits are only what appear on the surface.

An heir's trait cards are placed face-down before them. Heirs can peek at trait cards of other heirs, and openly discuss (*cough* accuse). They can reveal their own cards. They can reveal cards of other heirs. They can give cards to other heirs, potentially modifying their traits. Heirs will jostle to influence and expose one another's traits, and try to convince the tycoon to name them successor. Every round, the tycoon has only one opportunity to look at one trait card of one heir. After that he must write his will. At the end of every round, the tycoon rolls a die to see whether he suffers a second stroke. If he does, he... well... the game ends. The will is read, all goals and traits are revealed. The player or players who fulfil their goals win. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the reactions of my friends who playtested this with me. They loved the drama and the roleplaying. Whoever played the tycoon had to speak unintelligibly, and maybe drool a little. I am excited to work on this. It still has several problems that need to be fixed. I am only testing the four player game now. I need to get this to work at four players before I further develop it for other player counts. I hope this project goes far and eventually gets to a publishable state.  

ButtonShy Games is running their annual competition, with a theme of fear. I thought about using the Shaolin 18 Bronze Men. This would be perfect because ButtonShy makes 18-card games! The fear would be that of Shaolin apprentices facing the formidable 18 Bronze Men, a team of elite warrior monks who assess your martial prowess. This is fictitious and it is from Chinese martial arts novels. The real Shaolin Temple has a fighting technique with a similar name, but it is not the same thing. I playtested my prototype, but it didn't seem interesting. I'm not sure I will continue working on this. 

Jon's potential entry for this competition is more promising. And it is difficult to win. It is a cooperative game about not drawing the ghost card and stripping the deck until only the ghost card remains. It is a challenging puzzle. Players cannot communicate. You try to avoid having to draw a card without knowing what to expect, because it just might be the ghost.  

This is Haireey's racing game prototype. It has been through quite a number of versions. This is a game with some Magical Athlete vibes. I have played two of the most recent versions, and they are a little different. I like both. The earlier one is a bit more strategic. You need to decide which die roll ranges to bet on. Different ranges have different probabilities. Two dice are rolled. Safer bets mean a higher likelihood of moving your car, but it won't move far. If you go for riskier bets, a successful roll means moving far. 

The latest prototype has 3D printed buses by Hwa Siang. 

The the most recent prototype, the core movement mechanism is changed. Every turn only the active player gets to move, and everyone else tries to guess how far he will try to move. Everyone plays a card at the same time. The active player gets to move, but the movement range is reduced based on how many other players guess the correct number. 

The most fun part of the game are the unique player powers. Every player gets to use two powers and they all sound crazy. They are always on powers. One of my powers forces other players starting from  the same space to move backwards instead. 

Rasis brought a new version of his rice field game, Sawah Padi. I have played earlier versions of this, and it is nice to see how the design has improved. The grasshoppers, birds and scarecrows are all still here, but they are handled a little differently. 

The buttons are rice planted by players. If there is a grasshopper in a field, the rice score nothing. The same happens if there is a bird. However if you have both bird and grasshopper, the bird prefers eating the grasshopper and the rice is spared. Scarecrows defeat birds, but they don't help with grasshoppers. 

This is Red Chamber Rummy. It has found a publisher. The plan is Specky Studio will publish both this and Rebels of the Three Kingdoms. They will be part of a set, as both are based on well-known Chinese literary works. I am very happy with how Malaysian Holidays turned out. That was my first collaboration project with Specky Studio, with me being purely game designer and them taking the publisher role. My next two games will be illustrated by the same artist, Lim Chi Qing, and I eagerly look forward to her art. 

This photo above is a horrible hand. 0 (Jia Baoyu) is normally a useful card, but when you have four of them that's not helpful. This is not poker! 

I playtested with Allen and Yee Ling, and we tried the base game and both the main variants. The duplicate meld variant was fun. We made good use of the bonus for making melds that have already been played. At one point I played the 4th set of the 39 meld. A humble 1-point meld was now worth 4 points instead (see below)!

The storytelling variant is a little more complicated and there are more components to manage. I am still thinking about whether the fun is worth the effort. It is novel though. With this variant, every time you make a meld, you check it off a list. The melds in the game are chapters in Dreams of the Red Chamber. Checking off a meld means that chapter has been written. At specific points, e.g. the 4th chapter being written, or the 6th chapter, whoever plays that meld scores a bonus. These bonuses create opportunities and dilemmas for the players. If you have a not-yet-played meld, should you wait and only play it when it will score a bonus? But keeping cards in your hand also means you are potentially sacrificing an opportunity to make more melds.