Before P3, I had never really thought about the concept of a systems game besides just a spreadsheet masquerading as a game with light theming. I figured we could make something educational that fit the prompt, but that stayed a little dry. I did not think that the game would be personal and cool–it was connected to my own life, being in a band on tour and attempting to get the whole thing to stay together.
The core idea was simple in principle (technique x style x audience), and it worked in practice too. Technique can be stacked for sure, but if you bring the wrong style to the wrong place, the crowd is not going to get won over. We really looked a lot of different variations of the game, and they all “worked,” but it was clear that nobody felt like they were actually working to manage a band.
When we began to cut features, by taking out phases of the game, cleaning up the shop, adding Fame, fixing style bonuses, etc. is when the ecosystem started actually operating. A player with real band-forming experience was able to concord that it is, indeed, hard to find a drummer.
It seemed like the game was living in between strategic and expressive playstyles. The players who liked strategy games min-maxxed their decks and timed big plays opportunely, and other players got excited by naming their band fun things and listening to the music that I put into the game.
I think what I’m taking forward is the idea of “scaffolding the system” instead of just front-loading information. Our flowcharts and player boards with formulas were all a bit much, so we needed to turn the rules into an elaborate song-based rule card, instead of people having to look at the complex systems as systems. I’m thrilled by it. Yippee, go battle of the bands.
