Feb Design Contest: The Shortening

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Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

Minutia posted:

I've been putting the final touches on my system, and I have a few questions about playtests (I wasn't here for the last competition, so I don't know if this was covered last time).
I've already run a quick battle and some skill checks, and my players helped me iron out a couple bugs (things like clarifying rules wording, naming attacks, and changing how a couple attacks work). We have a second session planned tomorrow.
What are you looking for in a playtest? Do you want to see how well players navigate the system the first time they encounter it, or do you want to see what the game looks like once everyone knows the rules well? Do you want player feedback on what they liked or found confusing?
Must the wording and all the rules be finalized before the playtest, or is it okay to revise the rules a little as you play?
I could send in the transcripts for both sessions, but that's an awful lot of chatlog to read. How much do you want?

Its ok to present revised rules. The playtest is the singular most important thing in this contest. If you have a irc chatlog, thats fine. Recording is better, but I realize there are practical problems with this for some people. I don't mind reading a long chatlog. A simple summary of what happened is acceptable, but it will severely diminish your chances of winning

# ¿ Feb 16, 2013 07:29

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 15:27

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

TheSoundNinja posted:

Hey Ulta, are character sheets still considered pictures if they contain sparse words that have been used previously in the rules text? Mine would look like this, and it's the size of a coaster.

If I had an artist draw something cool, the size of a coaster and with just this text (aside from bracketed text), would this count as a picture?

If I'm remembering right all those words appear in the rules text, so that would qualify as picture

# ¿ Feb 17, 2013 02:34

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

Captain_Indigo posted:

Playtest is complete. Going to try and get it typed up before the deadline and may submit for early judging...if I can get it done in time.

Just provide proof that a play test is done, I won't be evaluating them this Sunday anyway, as I have to do the unfinished entries first, and I won't be revealing the winner till after feb 28th. Basically don't stress. You benevolent leader has spoken.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2013 17:26

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

This is early, as I am stepping out on the town in a bit. This is the final phase of the contest! Congrats on those of you who have finished early, and those who have a bit more to go. In this final round, there is only one bonus objective! Playtest someone else's game! Need I remind you that this next bit of scoring will be the final bit. It will be out of twenty points, 5 for presentation, 5 for fluff, and 10 for how well/fun your actual playtest was. The bonus objective will count to this score, so it might come down to if you playtested someone's game or not! Barring that, it will come down to how many bonuses were earned, followed by combined total score of all sections. If those remain tied, I'll roll a die or something. Good luck to the remaining contestants, and to those that dropped out, I hope you finish your endeavors, as I have enjoyed every entry so far!

# ¿ Feb 18, 2013 00:43

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

Holy poo poo UnCO3. Thanks a ton! Added to OP

# ¿ Feb 18, 2013 03:57

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

mepstein73 posted:

...Oh shoot. I missed the cutoff time, didn't I. Crud. I had my artwork and stuff all set, too. Just needed to paste all the text in; I just lost track of time. Super bummed now. Oh well. I got to see a gaming friend of mine tonight instead of posting, so I guess it kindof works out. Kindof.

If you feel like bearing the shame of a loser and receiving a shameful grade this round, that is fine. Effort is rewarded, but beware the terrible shame.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2013 04:36

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

eth0.n posted:

Here it is:

Question for Ulta: I plan to do an audio recording of my playtesting session, and I'd rather not post it publicly. Is there a good way for me to send it to you short of buying the Platinum Upgrade for PMs?

Sure! Send whatever to lockemurph at the G'est of mails.

Also I am not ignoring you! I have been reading and will hopefully finish tonight

# ¿ Feb 21, 2013 23:59

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

All right. I have reviewed all the games. I am literally speachless away by the quality of the games presented. If I set out with the rubric that I made before I started reading, everyone would have either a 9, 10, or 11. Everyone has put forth a stellar product. I am awarding everyone Bonus for this round. That said, several of you have put forth the effort to have your stuff playtested and completed. How I will account for this, I am currently unsure, but it will be accounted for.

All that remains is any revisions you wish to make before the 28th, and your playtest.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2013 03:36

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

lord_daeloth posted:

This really has been an inspiring contest. Now, I don't have anything to compare it to since this is my first, but the concept for this month was pure awesome and I think the entries really show that.

Anyhow, reason I came in tonight was to ask this question: For our revisions before the final, are we allowed to make rules changes or modifications and such (as long as they are playtested of course) or are we limited to formatting and minor word changes? I haven't done my playtest yet (hope to get some people together this weekend), but while doing some mock encounters I noticed my math was WAY off for encounters and decided that needed some changing up. I also realized I didn't really include anything for non-combat encounters like I wanted. Probably no space for the latter, but the former is easy enough. So, again, is a change like that allowed?

Revisions after your playtest are kosher, as playtesting will expose flaws in the best though thought out systems.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2013 04:58

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

lord_daeloth posted:

Well, roll20 apparently crashed! Anyhow, thanks for all that helped, I'll be putting up the chat log as soon as roll20 lets me back on.

What the hell, servers say they are up, but I can't get back in :/

Edit: Ok, I give up... I can't load the room and opening the chat log brings up nothing. I hope these are related and whenever the connection is restored I get all of my chat logs... How frustrating.

I had a similar issue at one time too. Make a good effort, but if your chatlog is gone forever, a good description will suffice

Also, We have about 36 hours remains!

# ¿ Feb 27, 2013 12:45

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

Less than 24 hours remain!!

These are the games I currently see as having been playtested
TheSoundNinja's Virtuemancy
Captain_Indigo'sSaffron
Minutia's Dungeons & Dragons: Core
Alien Rope Burn's Houses and Haunting (by Minutia)
mepstein73's Kobolds: Super Short
Error 404's Tellurian
Cardinal Ximenez's RoboSaur: The Time War

Also lord_daeloth did a playtest and it might have disappeared into the aether, but I await summary/comments

# ¿ Feb 28, 2013 01:32

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

TheSoundNinja posted:

Hey, if I helped to playtest as a player but didn't actually run the game, do I count as having playtested someone else's game?

Yes.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2013 02:06

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

So I've got a long weekend ahead of me. I may or may not notice if someone posts something by March 3

# ¿ Mar 1, 2013 00:39

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

Still working! I'm committing to have it done by Friday.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2013 12:59

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

An apology, I was not as productive on this as I wanted to be, being productive on other things. I am closing, but this weekend I must head out of town, so updates to follow.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 14:29

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 15:27

Ulta: Oct 3, 2006; Snail on my head ready to go.

Ah hem!

This was crazy tough for me to do. Suffice to say, everyone has put out a quality product, and their are no losers here. There are however, winners.

Saffron by Captain_Indigo has climbed to the top of the four page heap. For me, this game was the complete package. I liked it mechanically, there was great fluff, the presentation was good, and the playtest was engroessing to read. It was submitted for short review and Captain_Indigo helped playtest Caverns and Wyrms. On top of that, there's a PBP game of it going on right now.

Saffron, however, isn't D&D. Its something like DitV crossed with Polaris if I had to pick something. This part got really close. After weighing over things, it came down to fluff and presentation.

Congratulations to Dungeons INC by Dirk Gently. Your presentation and fluff are great and wonderfully compact. Its silly but still D&D.

To all of you, I will strongly encourage you to participate in the March thread and put those final bits of polish on the games, and expand to more than 4 pages if you feel you need to. A lot of you have just the right amount of stuff.

Seriously, everyone, congratulations on a spectacular contest. It was a pleasure to judge, and it kept me very entertained.

The winners please contact me about prizes and the like, either via pm or lockemurph at the google's mailing service.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 03:42

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > Feb Design Contest: The Shortening

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