Personal aims objectives
I want to make a puzzle strategy board game that requires a little brain use. The game needs to be won by playing cards reasonably, changing the opponent’s near-successful ending, or carefully overall arrangement.
Critical reflection – documented feedback from playtesting
Post-production experience for the first time: There are too many types of cards, but fewer cards. Therefore, sufficient “normal cards” cannot be guaranteed. So that it is impossible to continue the game. On the basis of the original rules, 2 “function cards” have been reduced and replaced with scene cards.
Optimized experience: The experience found that the mechanism is not interesting enough. Because there are few cards, game victory conditions rely on luck to win. And the rules of the game are too complicated, but the game is more boring to play, which can easily lead to a bad experience for players. And because there are too few cards, it can’t support three people to play. Further optimization is required. I made the following changes during the optimization process:
- Simplified the rules of the game and no longer have players in opposing camps. The number of players has also been reduced from 3-4 to 2.
- Add the deleted “function cards” back and delete the “scene card”.
The final adjusted rule of the game is:
Story backdrop
In a distant country, many witches are living. These witches always have some strange competition, for whose herbs are the most disgusting and whose magic looks gorgeous. Now, they aim at the princess. The palace guards are very strict, and they can quickly recognize any magic. Until the end, only two witches get into the palace smoothly. Now, the two witches, ready to compete for who can quickly match the recipe of the poison, kill the princess first.
Composition of the game
| Type of cards | Material cards | Material cards | Material cards | Material cards | Magic card | Purification card | Recipe card |
| Name of cards | Mouse’s Tail | Fishbone | Worm Juice | Wolf’s Eye | Hair | Tear | Recipe |
| Number of cards | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Material cards: There is only one pattern on the card, a card with a mouse’s tail, fishbone, worm juice and wolf’s eye. Each pattern represents the one-flavoured ingredients needed in the recipe.
Magic card: There is only one pattern on the card, which is the hair of a witch, and can be pulled out to become any material. This card can represent any of the ingredients.
Purification card: There is only one pattern on the card, for tears and teardrops can make any cards on the table invalid(expect magic card).
Recipe card: The recipe for the configuration of the poison, each card surface is composed of a pattern of four materials, and the required materials need to be placed on the table according to the instructions of the recipe, and players can make the poison.
The recipe card has the same size as the material card size.
Play the Game
The game requires 2 players. Players who take their turn have 4 options, can only choose one of them:
- Draw a card and leave it in your hand, you can play it later in any turns but not this turn.
- Play a card to the table.(If there are currently no recipe cards on the table and the player have the recipe cards in hands, they must play the recipe card first.)
- Exchange the position of 2 cards which are already on the table.
- Throw away any cards.
P.S.Only one recipe card can exist on the table, and the newly played recipe card on the table must replace the original recipe.
When one of the players poses the pattern of the material on the recipe, the poison is successfully crafted, and the winner is born.