Clear Ace Playtest Notes | richarddalmportfolio

Playtest Notes

Playtest 1:

The players consisted of Minh Tran and me. Minh is a 24 year old licensed chef and a worker of Game Stop. Minh is a friend of the designer.
Minh has playtested the game before and was prepared to break my game. The unbiased test consisted of using Skype as I dealt the cards and rolled the die.
The entire length of the game was 20 minutes long.
Unfortunately I lost and Minh won. Minh played all the value two cards in the rounds leaving me vulnerable in the showdown. I only had one ace at the final showdown as Minh had all three. I had to use my value two card in my hand during the showdown.
Minh’s most frustrating aspect of gameplay was not being physically being able to play next to me. He enjoyed how my game was simple enough to be played through Skype. But would enjoy the game more if he was holding the cards in his hands. Even though I blocked my Skype window to play the game with Minh, I had to agree with him that there needs to be physical contact from both sides.
There was one mistake that I made as I dealt the cards after rolling the die. I placed a card that was an ace in my hand that Minh should have gotten. Minh would have won the game if I had not placed that ace in my hand. I only realized this mistake after two additional rounds before the showdown.
One change to my design of the game that I realized was the rules were not written out clearly for empty card piles. My rules state that players need to draw a card from the right pile that contains a card. My playtest with Minh has shown me that if a pile to the right also contains no cards then I need to keep moving right until I find a card to draw from. If I got to the sixth pile, then I would move back to the first pile of cards. Another change dure the initial playtest was the player who rolls the highest at the setup of the game should roll first every round. The importance of this was not to confuse players of who rolls first every time a round starts. Since the die roll is random, neither the first nor second rolls are superior of another.

Playtest 2:

My players consisted of Chris Cullen and Justin Evans. Chris is a 28 year old insurance agent and also owns a local winery. Justin is a 17 year old local high school student. Both players have no relation to the designer.
The game was set up at a local game store on a table and both players were asked to play the game. The unbiased attribute consisted of me watching them play the game in silence only describing the rules as the game began.
The length of the game consisted of approximately 18 minutes.
Justin ended up winning over Chris. Chris kept losing because he was dealing the lowest value cards in his hand and had not enough cards for the showdown to participate.
Chris asked what happens when all the cards were used after the rolling of the die. I explained that a showdown would happen and showed the rules to both Justin and Chris from the documentation. Unfortunately, by the time both Chris and Justin got to the final showdown, Chris could not deal out eight cards from his deck because he only had six. Chris was frustrated with the value two cards and stated that the card needed something special for the rounds when used. Justin also found that winning was frustrating but instantly noted that if he was losing nonstop, then he would probably understand the spectrum of control for each player.
The only mistakes ever made during gameplay were when Justin held a value two card in his hand. He did not use the card right away like the rules stated. Justin did not read the context of that rule and quickly adjusted during gameplay.
In order to change the rule of the value two cards and make the card special, I asked Chris what his thoughts were to help improve the game. Chris stated that the card should have the power to over throw an ace if used. I instantly took a liking to Chris’s idea. I changed the rule slightly with the value two cards and thought about Chris’s idea. If a player has to place the value two card and the other player played an ace, then the value two card wins over the ace. This would ultimately happen during duels or the first round. The aspect of privacy still holds well within the first round and duels because players must place cards face down. I could see playtests where a player has played a value two card and another player played an ace. And the ace gets taken by the weakest card.

Playtest 3:

My players consisted of Zach Champagne and Shima Kamen. Zach is a 25 year old vocaloid producer and Shima a 17 year old employee of her parent’s store. Zach is a friend of Aaron Parish and Shima is a friend of Zach. Neither player has any real relation towards the designer.
The playtest was set up through Skype and I played for each player by dealing the cards and rolling the die. Shima did not have the ability to see me through my camera via Skype. I typed out Shima’s card hand and she responded with her decisions respectfully. The unbiased attribute of my playtest consisted of me playing for both players while having them decide their choice of cards. I e-mailed Shima the rules and screen shared the rules with Zach.
The entire playtest consisted of 45 minutes of gameplay.
Shima won the game and Zach lost because Shima had most of the higher value cards during the final showdown. Shima seemed to have understood clearly the rules and I noticed as she chose her decisions. Zach was equally trying to gain an upper hand but had no luck towards Shima’s cards.
Zach asked about the showdown rounds and stated that he was frustrated with the change in value of the cards. I asked what he meant by his frustration and he stated that the swap of values from the original rounds to the showdown rounds became confusing. I inquired Zach what the original goal of the game was and if he read the rules. Zach re-instated that he did not clearly read the battles rules or showdown rules. Thus making his question answered when he read the rules again. Shima, despite not being able to visually see any of the actual game, found Clear Ace very fun and engaging. She had no trouble or frustration with her gameplay.
There was one glaring mistake that I ended up finding with the chances of this playtest. Though almost impossible; at the end of the rounds and all the cards were drawn except the last two cards. I rolled the die once and drew only one card and I needed to draw another card. Both Shima and Zach laughed that I found this rare occasion to happen in my game. I recounted all of Shima’s deck of cards and found she had 23 cards whereas Zach had 24 cards in his deck. All the 52 cards were there and the unthinkable occurrence happened. The chances of this happening were unbelievable, and I was glad to have found the problem.
The change of this playtest comes from the problem. I made sure that if a player draws the last card from the piles, then the player who rolls next draws a card from their deck to have three cards in their hand if there was only one card to draw from. Again, if the player does not have enough cards to pull from then the player loses (which is unlikely to happen if the situation arises).

Playtest 4:

My players consisted of Garrett Haney and Adam Harris. Garrett is a 19 year old community college student and barbeque employee in Oklahoma. Adam is a 24 year old online business associate of Kalypso. Garrett is a friend and Adam is a neighbor of the designer.
The playtest was set up via Skype with Garrett and I invited Adam over to my house. Adam played for himself and I played for Garrett only allowing him to make the decisions. The unbiased nature of this playtest consisted of me observing gameplay by playing for Garrett as he faced Adam. Garrett was e-mailed the rules and I showed Adam the rules via my computer.
The entire playtest consisted of approximately 37 minutes.
Adam won the game while Garrett lost because Adam won five showdown rounds over Garrett. Adam played his cards accordingly towards his goal and made sure that Garrett was one step behind him.
Adam asked questions about what happens when with the card values added to a player’s deck and if the value two card rule still applies in the showdown. I explained that the higher value cards in a person’s deck are important for a player to obtain if the game continues to the showdown. Garrett asked about using an ace and what happens during a battle. I explained that the rules state an ace only gets to be used once and then the card is added next to your deck. Adam was the only player frustrated with one aspect of the game. He felt that the rule for always placing a value two card needed refinement. Garrett had no problem with the game and enjoyed the experience.
One mistake that was made during gameplay was accidentally me revealing to Adam that I had an ace in Garrett’s hand. Adam caught a glimpse in Garrett’s card hand and called me out on the mistake. I revealed to Adam a significant game changer that would have gone unnoticed.
The biggest change made after the playtest was Adam’s argument about the value two card rule. Adam did not like the rule of always having to place the value two card down if a player had one in their hand. He said that the rule makes sense for the original rounds, but felt that the showdown rounds were unresolved towards the rule. I asked Adam what would be ideal to change the rule altogether and he stated that there should be no restriction to the player during the showdown. He also explained that the value two card needed some special attribute during the showdown just like the rounds before the showdown. In the end, the value two card rule changed only during the showdown. The restriction of the value two card rule was removed and the card has the power to over throw a King. Adam mentioned that the tension of the showdown should pick up for both players if they are not always losing because of having to place a value two card.

Playtest 5:

My players consisted of Ellie Langshaw and me. Ellie is an 18 year old community college student that works locally in a grocery store as a cashier. Ellie is a coworker to the designer.
The playtest was set up in a local library provided with the materials I brought along. I gave Ellie sometime to look over the rules of the game and then began playing. The unbiased nature of this test was an observation of all my pervious playtests combined into this final playtest. Ellie seemed to understand the rules within 4 minutes of gameplay. I wanted to playtest the game myself with another player to find the ultimate results of my game on this final playtest.
The playtest took roughly 20 minutes with the initial set up procedures.
Ellie won the game and I lost. Ellie lucked out with drawing a value two card before the showdown to add to her existing hand. I had to reveal my card as I lost the last round and chose to deal my ace. Ellie had all the aces except my one ace and the odds of her having to play a value two card as I played my ace were unbelievable. Her value two card trumped my ace.
Ellie asked about the value of the cards making sure she understood what they meant. At first, Ellie thought that the lowest value cards of the game were the better cards. I re-instated that the rules say the highest value cards are the success of a player’s gameplay. Ellie also asked about what happens when a card pile is gone. I explained that the rules state to move to the pile to the right to pick up a card after the die has been rolled. The only frustrating aspect about Ellie’s experience was losing rounds. Ellie did not like losing at all and she tried her best to win every round.
There were no major mistakes made during gameplay. However, there was one minor mistake of compiling the card piles. The third pile of cards was missing an eighth card. A simple recount of the card piles was done to show me that mistake.
There were no changes made after this playtest. Everything seemed to work solid and had no glaring mistakes upon gameplay.

Playtest Notes

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