Just got back after another day’s testing the new teams. Had a different group of playtesters over this time and it worked very well indeed. Building on what we had the first time, plus other games in-between, I think we have the teams pretty close to being done now. This won’t stop me testing them, but it is nice to feel like they’re getting close.
I’ve rewritten the Judwan and the Z’zor so they’re more challenging as well as more fun. The initial draft of both worked mechanically, but neither was as good as it could have been. The Judwan just weren’t fun, and the Z’zor suffered from being bland, which is a shocking crime. Not any more. They now have the biggest and nastiest Guard going, bar none, as well as having Can’t Feel a Thing across the board. Them bugs takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’ 🙂
The Judwan have ended up with an ability which lets them try to move their opponents about, and this helped to give them more to think about. Most players didn’t use it a lot, but I think it was good to have on hand if needed. Interestingly, the last game we played saw it used a lot more, and I think it will come out a great deal more against certain styles of play and certain teams. It’s not quite what I had in mind for them when I first envisaged the team, and is a good example of the kind of compromise which is commonplace. “Compromise” makes this sound bad, which it isn’t. I’d have preferred them to work as I’d imagined, but they didn’t. Far better that they work and are close than they are perfect and unplayable.
The robots’ transforming ability is another feature which takes some getting used to. In some ways it’s a bit of a tease. The temptation is to use it just because it’s there, but in fact the ‘bots probably work best when you’re more restrained. It does, however, offer them a whole new realm of options which makes them rather more thinky to play.
The teams are also highlighting some awkward little wrinkles in the league system, which need a few additions. Structured leagues (and campaigns) are notoriously tricky to balance, and often have very different issues at the beginning, middle and end as teams mature and the balance of power shifts. DreadBall is no different, so I’ll be adding some extra league options in Season 2 to try and balance out some of the more common problems.
All told, it was an entertaining day, and kudos to the guys who travelled for hours to take part. Much appreciated 🙂
Quirkworthy 
Envious of those play testers, obviously. What’ the “gist” of the Judwan ability? A feint type thing, or more of an aikido thing? Intrigued to see what wrinkles will be made in league play for season 2!
The Judwan ability gives them the chance to move opponents about a bit without harming them. It’s a repositioning thing.
Pics or it didn’t happen… ^.^
Nah, just kidding!
Can’t wait to get my ordered four season two teams.
I only thought about pictures at the end of the day and hadn’t got a camera with me. I don’t think there are any (so it clearly didn’t happen). Even if we had it’s not terribly exciting to look at as we haven’t got any of the new models yet so everything is a proxy.
This was my first involvement in any form of play-testing and it was a fantastic experience, so thanks for inviting me to sub in Jake 🙂
@Sebastian: I too have all the Season 2 teams on order and I can’t wait, IMO you won’t be disappointed 😉
My pleasure Sami 🙂
I had an excellent day – hope we were of some use. 🙂
Very much so.
Rich J – don’t know why it logs me as as our club name but still
it all sounds so interesting!!
With the Robots transorming ability, is it like a two stage thing.
Let me explain. lets say my Robot is a Guard, does it have to transform to a jack, and the transform to a striker (with suitable transfomring sounds)
or can it go straight from Guard to striker?
Thanks Jake
It has to go via Jack. It needs different sounds for each of the stages, naturally.
cool,
very interesting 🙂
We really should see if we can persuade someone to do an app with the sounds for each transformation (at the touch of a button).
🙂
That would be brilliant!!