Development Diary

[indiekid]

Updates about the project are posted here - please feel free to leave comments, questions or suggestions.

[indiekid]

https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/diary-13-to-the-land-of-the-geek/

[Jubal]

I like the sound of quests. How do they work mechanically - are there extra items to move around, or does it involve getting heroes to certain places, or?

One other thought; it would be interesting to test the same game, but giving larger points increments for doing things without changing the balance. Do players feel happier if they get 10 points for everything and end the game on thirty than if they get one and end the game on three? I suspect they might, which would be interesting from a design perspective.

[indiekid]

At present the quests are simply a reward for achieving a certain milestone. The Song of Orpheus, for example, rewards a player who has a certain quantity of hero pieces on the board (5 in a two player game, fewer for multiplayer games). The nature of the game means they couldn't really be location-specific. I'm not happy with the current system though. They basically reward a player for doing things they otherwise have no intention of doing, so players aren't bothering. I'm working on a new version though.

Changing the quantity of victory points is a common piece of feedback. "Perhaps each player has one specific artefact on the board worth, for them, not one but two victory points". It's an option, and could possibly be implemented in the quests. The challenge there is that the boards are currently balanced based on available VP's, so they may need re-jigging.

[Jubal]

What I was wondering wasn't simply quantity changes, but scaling changes - if the balance is exactly the same but literally everything is triple the points, do players feel happier about it?

[indiekid]

It's not something I've tried, but I could playtest it. My concern would be gamers of a mathematical persuasion who would question the logic of not choosing the lowest common denominator in the scoring system.

[Jubal]

True - and I guess MoO's target audience might have more of those than it does casual gamers.

[indiekid]

https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/diary-14-iceberg/

[Jubal]

Good post - and the iceberg metaphor is very true indeed!

[indiekid]

A look at a day of board games in an educational setting and an event I'm excited to be a part of https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/01/25/diary-15-beginnings/

[Jubal]

Sorry I can't get there on the third, hope it goes well!

Dare I ask what the pomegranate card does?

[indiekid]

Thanks Jubal! Hope all is good with you. The pomegranate reads "move a stack you control which is in the Underworld by up to two tiles". It's one of the Knowledge cards, which give a bonus to the final action of a turn (normally a stack would only be able to move by one tile at this point). There's another Knowledge card with the same effect: The Helm of Invisibility.

[indiekid]

The big push towards a product https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/diary-16-gone-visual/

[indiekid]

Creating the Lost Island https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/diary-17-atlantis/

[Jubal]

Good job on the mailing list - I wish I could ever get that sort of response when I need help with stuff...!

Fun to have some riffs/themes for other boards too; what're your plans in terms of board construction for a final game? Modular, or?