Playtesting our initial concept helped us to realise that we had core issues with the format that we could resolve, while keeping the identity of the game. As such, we created two new concepts that we planned to move forward with, and decided to playtest them both to ascertain which to continue with and which to use as potential reference to improve the other, if parts of it were found valuable by the players.
First Concept – Storyteller
- The first player makes up a scene and writes it down or memorises it.
- They then perform this story on camera for the other players.
- Each of the other players then writes down a story based on the performance.
- All players reveal their stories one at a time as they are ready.
- The first player selects which story they liked the most
- That player then receives 2 points
- This is repeated for all other players until the final player’s turn
- After the final turn each player secretly awards 1 point to their favourite performer.
- Finally all players discuss and award one point to an actor for each of these categories.
- 1 point may be awarded for good use of a prop
- 1 point may be awarded for good use of motion
- 1 point may be awarded for good use of costume
- 1 point may be awarded for good use of sound effects
- Scores are revealed and the player with the most points wins.
- In the result of a tie, either players can agree to leave the tie or vote for the victor
Second Concept – Two Truths, One Object
- The first player picks an object in their room.
- They show this object to the other players and then tell 2 truths and 1 lie about it.
- Other players then discuss which one is the lie, and choose the answer that they believe it is.
- Every player who has the correct answer gets 2 points. The player who presented the object gets 1 point for each player that selected a truth.
- Players who chose a truth can then ask a question about the object.
- The next player then selects an object and the process repeats, with each player having two turns before the game ends.
- If a player chooses an object which has already been shown before on their second turn, their score in this round is doubled, as other players already have some understanding of it making it harder to lie about.
Pre-playtesting Analysis
From previous playtesting we wanted to add an extrinsic goal for the players to work towards, in this case being a simple points system. We realised however that one of our core problems of camera shyness was still going to be present so we decided to keep an eye on that factor during playtesting.
We also realised that there were areas of potential waiting periods for players in the original concept that were addressed in the new concepts, but that could also create difficulty for players sometimes having to track multiple things at once, such as coming up with storys in the first concept while listening to the other players telling theirs.
Playtest Feedback
The primary feedback we got from the playtest was far more positive than the original concept, there were elements of each game that players enjoyed and the session was far more active than the previous iteration. Players especially enjoyed coming up with short stories in the first concept, and while the feedback for the second concept was that it was less engaging, still enjoyed the sharing experience of the second one. The primary issues identified were:
- The first concept gives too large an option space for both coming up with the acting sequence, and the quick descriptions round, limiting this space by changing the language, or adding themes to rounds would be preferable.
- Some players also felt camera shy when it came to the acting portion, which they suggested would also be helped by providing more guidance in what kind of action to perform.
- The second concept felt less engaging as players did not enjoy coming up with the 3 statements for their objects, and the feeling that some players may have been “bragging” with their selected objects led to some minor awkward situations.
- Finally, the discussion and awarding points section of the Storyteller concept was not used, and replaced instead with each player awarding a point to their favourite actor.
- While the points system helped players to engage more with the concept, it also felt less directly related to the game and more of a tacked on system that didn’t lead to much competition.
Conclusion
We decided to go with the first concept for our iterative development stage, and made some changes to the concept to account for the feedback we were given. The new concept looked like this
- Select a player to start the game
- They must come up with a scene and act it out on camera, use of props, costumes, backgrounds… is encouraged.
- Each of the other players then writes down a short description of the performance.
- All players reveal their descriptions one at a time to the acting player as they are ready.
- The first player then selects which description they liked the most.
- The selected player receives two points
- This is repeated for all other players until every player has gone
- After the final turn each player awards 1 point to their favourite performer.
- Points may be awarded for good use of props, motion and costumes or any other reason.
- Scores are revealed and the player with the most points wins.
- In the result of a tie, either players can agree to leave the tie or vote for the victor
Moving forward we also decided that we would find a theme for the game that made it feel more immediately engaging, as we received feedback that this could help players get into the spirit of the game more easily and encourage role play.