CuseCon Day 2

My apologies for re-starting this blog mid stream. An update regarding Super Snipers:

I will have a lot to debrief when CuseCon is over with, but I did want to share one change that I implemented after the first playtest that I think has really improved the game experience.

Quick Backstory: The game has an Adrenaline Token that you earn whenever you are shot. It's a catch-up mechanic as it is a special shaped piece that you can either use instead of a normal draw (and can place anywhere) or could turn in to use your character's 1-time asymetric power. While these powers are powerful, they are also situational and, playtest after playtest, I watched the majority of players choose placing the adrenaline over the power, or simply forgetting about the power. I kept trying to make them more interesting and even added powers that would remain ongoing once you turned in the Adrenaline, but they were still largely underutilized. Thursday, a playtester remarked that he wanted his power available the whole game; that he should be able to experience the asymmetry of his character for the whole game, not just in this one situation. And it clicked.

Since then, I've been having players have immediate access to the one-time powers every round. And when players get the Adrenaline Token, they now have the ongoing power AND can use the Adrenaline Token as a wild. Immediately, the power uses went up and the feeling of the character being unique did too. And, so far, the catch-up mechanics and balance feels as good as ever.

All the powers have that "it's broken, but if everything is broken, nothing is" thing going on. Which does not mean they are fully balanced. But from what I've seen so far, the game just got a lot more fun.

Kuaket’s 1-time power

Kuaket's power when she has Adrenaline