Testing – Encounter Table Games

Feeping Creaturitis

‘Creeping Featuritis’ (or its spoonerisation in the title of this post) is a common problem in pretty much any area where projects are managed. There are lots of different terms relating to it, all reflecting different emphasis – feature creep, scope creep, mission creep, and so on. But they all get to the same essential point: things keep getting added to the plan, and trying to include them messes things up. Close Encounters is no different. Here’s a brief insight into how it’s affecting my development work.

Work in Progress – December 2021

We’re getting close to the end of the year! In January I’ll do a ‘state of the game’ update, like I did this year, but for now let’s look at what I’ve been working recently.

View From the Tabletop: Equipment

I’ve taken a break from the higher-priority expansion work and switched focus to equipment. Partly this is so that I can leave the other stuff for my subconscious to go over, partly it’s so that I can see if adding equipment will break anything I’ve already done. Mostly, though, it’s so that I don’t burn out by focusing on one topic for too long. Burnout is a real thing, and I find changing the task I’m doing can help with preventing it. I also thought it might be interesting to get a sort of snapshot view of part of the playtesting process.

The Playtesting Conflict

Getting the most value out of playtests is a problem when designing a game. Here’s how the problem presents itself to me, and how I’m trying to deal with it.

First Playtest: Mechs

One of the expansions I’ve been working on for Close Encounters is based around big robots that accompany the troopers to add some extra firepower (and perhaps other abilities too). I just got to the point where I could playtest this content for the first time… and it was a bloodbath.

First All-Up Playtest Complete

I took advantage of the long Easter weekend to do some all-up playtesting of the expansion content I’m working on for Close Encounters. Of course I’ve tested all the bits of it before, in various combinations, but I hadn’t done an all-up test of everything at once. This testing cycle was also special because I was getting the perspective of some testers who haven’t seen any of the new content before, so it was a good opportunity to throw everything together and see how it went.

The Testing Continues

Here at Encounter table headquarters, I’m continuing work on expansions for Close Encounters. The basic outlines of the content, at least in first draft form, are ready to go. It all works… in theory. However, as we all know, in theory, theory and practice are the same thing. In practice, they’re not. That means I have to test the heck out of it all, in varying combinations, to find out how it all interacts and make sure there’s nothing unexpected lurking in the bushes.