3A (10/10) Playable Prototype Post

Prototype before:

Prototype after:

We tested our prototype with 3 people at Terra, a cooperative dorm on Stanford campus. They all self-describe themselves as “plant mxms” and take a part in running Terra’s community garden.

What went well

• Players loved the theme! And the primary green color palette.
• Players really enjoyed having a group win state as it is something they rarely see
• Pulling a mint card from the herb deck was really surprising and fun

What didn’t:

• Mint was not seen as a threat during play.
• Players felt lost and didn’t appreciate the point system or the general goal of filling the board with as many herbs as you can.
• Mastering the plants felt aimless.

Changes:

1. Players didn’t have a clear win state and lacked motivation or aim.
   1. Solution: Goal Cards!
      1. Players draw two goal cards and their win state is reaching one of the two goals.
   2. Goals can include total number of plants mastered on the board or certain planting configurations
   3. Result:
      1. Players have a clearly defined win state and are no longer aimless
      2. Having 2 different goals  allows flexibility in play and gives more purpose to moves and accounts for different shuffling of the deck
2. Players did not feel a sense of urgency or an adversarial force at play
   1. Solution: 
      1. Players start off with 2 different starting mint spots that grow every round. 
      2. Event cards will largely be negative.
3. Board was difficult to read/determine plant radiuses.
   1. Solution:
      1. Create “herb tokens” that are the size of the herb radius to visually block off areas on the board – in addition, we plan on printing out markers for individual growth stages on these tokens to further make it easier to track player progress
4. The actions felt boring and repetitive.
   1. Solution: Actions are largely column or row effects instead of a singular space and we expanded the board from 6×6 to 8×8 – we also altered the effect of actions so that incorrect actions on an herb would set back their progress. This makes it so that players must consider the position and current stage of nearby herbs as to best maximize their actions.
5. Players wanted more opportunities to learn about the herbs and real facts about them.
   1. Solution:
      1. We added a “care instructions” section on the herb cards.
      2. We used event cards to create educational opportunities.
   2. Care instructions include facts that event cards and other mechanics can use to have specific and unique effects depending on the herb.
      1. All herbs should have ⅓ of it regularly pruned to promote healthy and fast growth. Thyme loves to be pruned! So if you prune a thyme at the water stage, it won’t have a negative effect.
      2. Rosemary is delicate and more susceptible to cold temperatures so you should bring it inside in the winter. An event card causes a snowstorm and all rosemaries on the board wither.
   3. Event cards were changed to showcase specific scenarios that have effects grounded in reality. 
      1. Deer, raccoons and rabbits eat your herbs and you lose plants.
      2. Some cards show what an herb looks like when it is covered in mildew, wilting or diseased.