- How many players are the most optimal for this game?
This is a very important since too few players might cause the game to devolve into simply a normal conversation as opposed to the game as it is intended. Having too many players might make it much too difficult to keep track of who could have done what and cause the game to lose its “personal” aspects. To test this we would need to have a rough version of the game completed and test the game with different groups of people. My guess is that the game will work best with 4 – 8 players, since that is usually how many players similar social games work best with.
- Should there be a “shot clock” or time limit for how long each turn lasts?
This is an important question, since otherwise rounds can take far too long and result in players losing interest and the game becoming stale. We would need to to have several set times and gauge how much interest players still retain when players spend long amounts of time conveying their story versus short amounts of time. My guess is that a time constraint of roughly 2 mins per story will work best, as it forces players to think hard and efficiently about what it is that they want to say. This can lead to comedic interactions and dynamics to transpire throughout gameplay.
- How many truths/lies should each player make?
This is important, because having too few truths/lies can cause the game to lose a soul while having too many can overly complicate the game and increase its difficulty. We would need to also have a rough version of the game completed by the time this prototype is tested, but we would need to run several playtests with different numbers of truths/lies created. My prediction is that roughly 5 truths/lies created initially will be ideal for the game, but more can always be added if the game is gaining traction, and players want to continue playing!
