Cuse Con wrap up and Super Snipers next Steps:
CuseCon:
I’m a little late getting to this, but I wanted to take a minute while it is still fairly fresh and talk about CuseCon and some of the big things in the works for Super Snipers!
CuseCon is a 4-day gaming convention in Syracuse, NY (where I live). This was my first in-person convention, and it definitely won’t be my last! I had an absolute blast playing, play testing, meeting folks that I’d only interacted with online, and making new friends both local and from out of state. I had scheduled 5 Super Snipers playtests but ended up running 6. The game was exceptionally well received and even generated a little “buzz” in this small convention. I had more people wanting to play than I had time to demo for and that felt very validating as a designer.
Here were the things that people were really happy with:
Fast teach and gameplay: Players could see themselves playing several games in a row, getting this to the table easily, and especially enjoyed the way the pace picks up as the game advances.
Characters and Backstory: This actually surprised me. People really liked the character stories and motivations.
Puzzles: The central Tetris mechanic and the way it is implemented in Super Snipers was definitely the thing people were the most excited about.
Intensity: The hiding, hearing your opponent announce finding you and earning bonuses, and pulling off a victory just before your opponent would led to some intense and joyous moments. Many finger guns were made!
Catch-up Mechanics: Everyone loved how tight the games played and how they never felt they didn’t have a chance. 1 game was 3-1 and 1 didn’t finish in time, but all others were 3-2.
Here are some of the issues that came up during the playtests and how I am addressing them:
Color-blindness and UI issues. I was fortunate to have a color-blind player for one of my playtests and she was able to provide a ton of useful feedback regarding ways I could improve the UI. Plan: I am working with Hwa to implement all these suggestions and have the game color-blind friendly in the next iteration.
The requirements for Isolating Innocents were not intuitive and often forgotten. Players wanted a thematic reason for why they needed to be cut off from the Target borders and they wanted a visual reminder that helped make that rule easier to remember. Plan: Thematically, I’m thinking I will explain it that you need awareness of the Innocents surroundings in order to keep them safe and isolated before taking the shot. Visually, Hwa will work on something to help indicate that Innocents need to be cut-off from the borders.
Players were often confused about when Bonuses could be used. Bonuses are only able to be earned and used in the Target Phase, but Recalibrate Tokens are used in the Locate and Target Phases and this seemed to trip people up until they’d played a Round or 2. Plan: The new Scope Boards should make the Bonuses self-contained with the Target Boards and make it more intuitive that they only matter during the Target Phase.
Players were not using the Sniper’s special abilities. Plan: I was able to make a change mid-convention where I gave each Super Sniper a unique ability that is normally available and an enhanced ability that becomes available when they have the Adrenaline Token. This immediately resulted in players using the powers and enjoying the asymmetry. I’ve since update the powers to work better with this new system and added powers to the automated version of each character to keep the solo mode challenging.
One Player found it odd that the Target Grids don’t match the Location Grids. Plan: This one is resulting in more components but I think it is worth it. Target Grids will now represent a zoomed in view of the Location the target is found at. This means that there will be 2 versions of every Target (I-IV) or 8 unique Targets per character. This has the benefit of adding more variety to the game.
One Player wanted an explanation for why players were “”killed” 3 times before they actually lost the match. Plan: I’m not sure. I feel like the “res pawn without explanation” trope is widely understood and accepted. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
One Player had a concern that the game makes it too easy to cheat when pulling polyominoes out of the bag (ie-you can feel around for the one you need). Plan: The current rule is that you take the first piece you touch. All solutions that I’ve considered to reduce the “ease” of cheating have too strong an impact on the speed and ease of the game (drafting, using a card or dice system). I’m open to ideas and do want people’s opinions about whether a game making it “easy” to cheat is a problem for you??
And here are some wishlist Items I heard from Players. What’s on your wishlist?:
Higher Player counts and team-based games: I’m working on that!
More variety of bonuses, possibly drawn randomly when earned. Maybe for an expansion?
More story: I am currently working on a legacy style campaign mode that would have branching story arcs for each character and have unlockable characters and game modes. It will be focused on being a solo experience, but a second player can fill in the enemy role of the story for the play sessions. Much more story will be revealed through this.
Modular Target Boards. Great idea. No idea how to pull it off
Higher player interaction (ability to impact the other player’s puzzle). I have heard this a few times. And, I just think it introduces a very disruptive element to what is working so well in the game right now. That said, some of the character powers I am working on fall a little more into this category.
I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts here or email me at: galensgamedesigns@gmail.com. Thanks!!
