Tag: ESL games

Another update on the development of the Eikaiwa Master board game with a brief review of the on-line systems we’re testing alongside the game.

I’ve been working hard on this new version of the game. You can see from the image on the right that I’ve done a re-design on the board. There are similarities to both v1.0 and 2.0. The rings are still there, and the goal is still in the middle, but now there’s only one route to get there. I was looking at v2.0 and noticed that someone who had a couple of lucky rolls could reach the goal in about four turns. That was way too quick for a game that was supposed to take about 45~60 minutes to play through. The new version requires 19 lucky rolls in a row to make it to the centre, which should extend game play a bit. 🙂 Also, I noticed that when I put the v2.0 board up on Roll20 that having Read More …

So, I play tested the Quiz Master game and it turns out that it’s a challenging game, even for native speakers. Even more challenging to play on-line on a VTT that doesn’t have built in tracking for hitpoints. Cludging together a way to track who had how many points and how many keys was cumbersome. Also, I put way too many bane icons in there. It was super confusing to everyone playing. Getting around the giant board was a problem, too. But the biggest problem? The quiz questions. Admittedly, my sample size was really small, but none of my players did well when it came to answering the quiz questions. The result? I might simplify the board a little then try printing it out and playing it on an actual table. I’m not going to try playing it virtually again Read More …

I talk about creating a new game and a little bit about the design process.