Hey there card folk, Speedrobo here. In today’s Dev Log I’m going to talk about one of the challenges I have faced when designing and playtesting this game. It was something I did not anticipate as I come from the realm of CCGs.
TWO PLAYER VS FOUR PLAYER.
The game, even though I didn’t realize it, was designed and balanced around having all four players playing at the same time. This would mean that each playstyle, single rush, team combo, player control, and Putin control would all be featured. Each player kept the others in check as both control and rushdown battled it out. Four player games have always been super fun and dynamic.
The problems arose when the game was taken to 2 player. Originally, the two player game play worked exactly the same as 4 players. Each player would choose a Dinosaur Team and deploy their three pieces. Issues started to be shown almost instantly. If one player choose a control team and the other player choose an aggressive one, the non-control player would just get bullied the whole game. With no other players to spread out the abuse, it was a matter of fact. If both players choose an aggressive team, nothing could stop players from just chomping Putin, and the game became luck of the draw on where Putin would move and who would get the win. This was much less fun than the four player variant.
The first thing we tried was having Putin draw 2 cards at the end of each turn. This helped somewhat, but still had the issue of the potential lack or domination of the control players.
The current solution is that in a two player game, players will choose and control 2 dinosaur teams. This essentially gives the same balance as the four player game with the all 4 play-styles being represented and Putin moving the correct amount.
I’ll keep y’all up to date on the progress of the two player format. Rules are still in adjustment as the game is still being developed.
Don’t forget to follow our kickstarter! Thank you!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1557798155/eat-putin-comedic-board-game