Tag Archives: Playtesting

Card Game Update; Work continues “Master of Spies”!

What’s up with this Card Game?

Card game play mechanics are just about complete and the official rules have been written. A couple of new “Action” Cards have been added to the game to smooth out game play, and a few have been removed since they did not “make the cut” during play-testing.

indie card game for kickstarter

All the artwork for Master of Spies has been finalized and will soon be added to the card game. A new design for the game’s “chits” has also been completed and will be manufactured in the same time period. New prototype decks will be produced using this artwork and review copies will be sent out to some game review websites very soon.

Recent Play-Tests and Kickstarter

So far the clear majority of our recent play-tests for “Master of Spies” have resulted in positive feedback, so we are excited to move forward into the next stage of development. Hopefully we can bring “MoS” to Kickstarter soon (Early 2017? Keep posted).

We still have some play-testing notes to comb through, but overall this card game is very close to going into production.

What’s next? We’ll be digging out our second game, clean away the dust on it and resume development on that one as well, Rob has also teased us with a project he has been developing that has some local flavor!

Things continue to be busy here at MR20!

Your beloved Taskmaster,

Steve R.

Last 24 Hours of Our Kickstarter Campaign for Master of Spies

Will the last 24 Hours of the Kickstarter be as exciting as the first?

Kickstarter Crowdfunding Indie games
Nervously watching the Kickstarter in its final hours

It all comes down to the next 24 hours (where’s Kiefer Sutherland when you need him). We are a little less than $2,500 short of our Kickstarter goal. A long shot? Yes, but we’re not going down without a damn good effort.  As I’ve said in earlier posts it’s been a learning experience and I plan on writing a blog post after similar to my “5 Things I Learned About Myself At TotalCon 2016“, but I need to wait to see how the story ends.

Of you are reading this before March 30th 10:00am EST, please got to our Kickstarter page and back us! Share with your friends.!

If we don’t make it, it’s not the end, we’ll take what we learned and revamp, retool and rest the campaign in a few months and try again.

 

Thank you for your support, no matter how small, it all means a lot!

 

Stephen P (a.k.a. The Creative)

Total Con 2016; Five Things I Learned About Myself

Our trip to Total Con 2016

Total Con 2016 has come and gone. For us at Move Rate 20 Games, the last year was spent play testing, making demo copies and planning for this, the 30th year of Total Confusion and it all came together perfectly, though not without a few bumps along the way. But, I wanted to focus in the blog on what I learned about myself over the convention and the previous year in prepping for it.
Total Con 2016 With Move Rate 20 Games

Stuff I learned about myself at Total Con 2016

  1. I love to teach kids how to play games. When they are into it, you can’t get a better experience than explaining how a game is played to a young mind. They pick stuff up so fast and in doing so enjoy the game so much quicker because they grasp it within a few minutes. James (a.k.a. The Gamebreaker) and we came to the agreement that younger players don’t have and preconceived notions about what a game is or wondering if the mechanic is the same as another game they’ve played; they just want to play and have fun.
  2. Not every game is for everyone. This is a no brainer, but it get’s driven home every once in a while, when a person sits down to play and you can tell their just not jazzed about your game, or they don’t see the “tactics” or “how the mechanic works” and let you know they’re not impressed. I’ve learned to deal with that, not take things personally, listen to what their saying (since if you hear the same complaint enough, it may be part of a larger design issue). Most of all I’ve learned to move on, think on all the other folks who played and loved it.
  3. I use “italics” way too much. It’s a pretty big deal when an industry legend plays your game, and likes it. Frank Mentor sat down with us on Sunday morning and played Master of Spies. I was nervous, who wouldn’t be, this guy has been in the gaming industry since the 80’s, worked with and was friends with Gary Gygax. He said the game had a “solid mechanic” and his only “complaints” were about card design. He gave us lots of feedback on the graphic layout and pointed out that I use italics WAY too much on cards, making things more difficult to read. So now I need to put a picture of Frank near my computer with a text balloon saying “Stop using Italic fonts!”
  4. When in “Costume”, bring everything you’ll need to the table,
    Looking good in a Frock Coat
    Here I am all dress up at Bartholomew Vahn-Mott, merchant and Trader in the world of Eldinar.

    including water, snacks and a fan. I like to think I come to an event as prepared as possible, which paid off. Since we we in an interior suite at the hotel I brought a small desk fan so the room wouldn’t get stuffy. Well, Saturday was unusually warm and being in an undershirt, a “blousey” shirt, a frock coat, plus a sheep wool and leather mongol hat, I was a little sweaty. So I asked my lovely wife Naomi to run back to the room and grab our fan. It was a life saver and prevent the frock coat from needing to get dry cleaned.

  5. Your Goals can be reached. Three years ago we set a goal to have the game we were developing at the time (a.k.a. by its working title, Project Lightning Sword) ready to show our friends by Total Con 2015; which we did plus having an early version of Master of Spies to show as well. Our next goal was to be an exhibitor at Total Con 2016, have a Kickstarter ready to go and get Frank Mentzer to play test it. After a year’s worth of play-testing, networking and planning we managed to get all that stuff done. Our Kickstarter will launch in a couple days (Feb. 29th) and I believe we are as ready as we can be.

So there are the 5 things I learned about myself at Total Con 2016, now we begin to set our goals for Total Con 2017, which will probably have something to do with Project Lightning Sword getting a proper name and a Kickstarter next February.

Stephen P.
a.k.a. “The Creative”

Total Con 2016 Report By The Taskmaster

So another Total Con has come and gone!

Total Con 30 was great fun and a real success for MoveRate 20  Games (despite the fact that I missed a Constitution Check and had to leave early Sunday with a stomach bug!).

The demos for our upcoming game, Master of Spies, all went great and all feedback from players was positive as we head towards the Kickstarter on Leap Day!

Kickstarter project Master of Spies at Total Con 2016
Our exhibition table set up for Total Con 2016

I would also like to send out a personal set of thank you’s to the people who went above and beyond this past weekend:

Naomi Price: Thanks for giving us a hand all weekend at the demo table. Takes a special kind of person to put up with me all weekend! More mudslides anyone?!?!?

LB (a.k.a. Robert Lynch): Thanks for all the help at the Rivendell vendor Table.

The Team at “Thunder” Role Playing: Thanks for your time and patience in answering all our questions and we look forward to working with you guys in the near future.

Don Higgins: Thanks for agreeing to do that ‘last minute’ art job we threw your way!

And a special shout out to Mr. Frank Mentzer, who not only came to Massachusetts a day early to game with us, but also played Master of Spies with us. Your insight and wisdom is invaluable sir…..!

See you all for the Kickstarter launch on February 29th!

The Taskmaster

Master of Spies Rules for your perusal.

I decided to post the rules for Master of Spies so people can take a look at them and comment if they make sense to people who never played the game before.

Please try and be constructive in your critiques and thank you.

(2/15/16 additional)  Here’s the video on how to play Master of Spies as well

https://youtu.be/2xsKtemQPx8

Stephen P.
Art & Marketing Director
A.K.A. The Creative

Finalized MoS Rules

Ramping up for Kickstarter and February Conventions

I know we’re been quiet here on the Move Rate 20 blog, but between the holidays, gearing up for the next batch of gaming conventions and getting our Kickstarter for Master of Spies set up, there just hasn’t much time to blog, Sorry about that!

Kickstarter!

Anyway, we are planning for our Kickstarter to launch Feb. 29th with a modest goal of $6,000 dollars, you can see the preview here, please comment if you see anything that looks like it could be improved and please be constructive with any comments you make.

Kickstarter project game
Working on the Kickstarter project page.

Setting up the campaign is about what I expected, work-wise; but it can be time consuming to gather up all the info the need as well as set up Backer Levels and Stretch Goal ideas that won’t completely throw off the budget. Another issue is how do you get a frickin’ package to Canada without it costing a fortune? I hope we can come up with some sort of a solution because I don’t want to leave my brothers and sisters to the North out of this.

We’re also in the process of getting review sample together, admittedly we let this slip through the cracks, but I’m busily working on it!

Indie tabletop gaming
Putting the demo deck, rules, chits and contact card together after the big(?) snow storm of 2016.

February Cons & Networking Events!

So here’s a list of where we will be over the month of February to spread the word of our little game and demo it to the public.

Feb. 5th & 6th Captain Con at the Crown Plaza in Warwick, RI
We will be there demoing Master of Spies Friday night 6p to 10p and Saturday from 2p to 6p.

Feb. 9th Board Game Night at 745 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA
A monthly networking/Boardgame night for professional looking for fun and to connect, Meetup.com info here.

Feb. 19th, 20th & 21st Total Con at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield MA
We will have an expo table set up to demo the game and we’ll be there with our friends from Wyrmwood and Rivendell Books & Games.

We are also hoping to get to a few demos at local gaming stores in over the next several weeks as well.

We Take Our Card Game On The Road!

game convention
We will be at table U4 demo’ing our card game “Master of Spies”

As we steadily head into fall, we are getting ready to launch our Master of Spies Demo tour. First stop is Boston Festival of Independent Games on Sept. 12th from 10am to 5pm at the Johnson Athletic Center on the M.I.T. campus in Boston. We will be at table U4! Get your passes here!
As we confirm more stops, we will share them here and to our email list. We will be visiting several local gaming stores, small cons in New England and possible visits in NYC!

We’re also asking you all to take part in a fun, community building game we are calling “Where in the World is Oger?” Our dwarven mascot/intern has been demanding a vacation, which we can’t afford to send him on, so the next best thing is to put him in your vacation pictures. You can download his picture by right clicking and choosing “save as”, then either put him in your photos digitally, or print him out, color him in and take a photo with him in an interesting location, in the style of “Flat Stanley”.
Right-click out picture of Oger the Dwarf and put him in your vacation picture, emnail them to info@MoveRate20,con and We'll put them together in a montage of the Travels of Oger.
Right-click on the picture of Oger the Dwarf and put him in your vacation picture, email them to info@MoveRate20,con and we’ll put them together in a montage of the Travels of Oger.
We promise to share every picture we get through our email on the webpage and our Facebook page and if we get a great response we will create a video montage of the pictures. Here are some examples our Beloved Taskmaster, Steve R., had created for inspiration.
Oger the traveling dwarf
Oger visiting the Liberty Bell
Oger the Traveling Dwarf
Oger with Lord Vader
Oger the traveling Dwarf
Oger at Epcot Center
Oger the Traveling Dwarf
Oger on a hike.
-Steve P.

Gamer-geddon 2015 official report!

Gamer-geddon was a great success and we would like to formally thank everyone who attended and the folks who volunteered to help us out on our, hopefully, first of many Gamer-geddons.

We would especially like to thank;
Rivendell Books & Games for hosting, Courtney Christopher & David Gulick for cooking & desserts, Brian & Kelly Estano  for smoked pork & superhero & mana cookies, Zak Lanoue for all around help, Vincent and Patrick  from Mech Deck for coming out and demo’ing their game, Kathy McLean & Mal Moen for the grill, and our friends and family. Especially my dear, sweet Naomi.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Gamer conventionWP_20150627_005 WP_20150627_003IMG_2725 IMG_2722 IMG_2720 IMG_2718 IMG_2716 IMG_2715 IMG_2714 IMG_2710IMG_2721

Now please forgive us if we take a little rest before driving into more game testing and development.

I am typing this in a half sleeping haze, please forgive any typos. -Mr. P.
I am typing this in a half sleeping haze, please forgive any typos. -Mr. P.

Thank you and sweet dreams without creepy clowns,

Mr. P.

 

Another Missive From Our Beloved Taskmaster

Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends!

Another week, another article!

And here I sit; scratching my “follicle-ly” challenged pointy head as I try to think of something to say that will be interesting and newsworthy to you all!

Y’know, the two biggest problems with writing these weekly “state-of-the-business” missives is that:
A. It is hard to write about something that has yet to be released to the general public…and…
B. I have no idea if my words are reaching anyone!

Bored Cat is BoredI mean I am not trying to go for some deep world-changing existential prose here. I am not writing the next War and Peace. I am just trying to keep you all informed on the state of MR20….and this week I hit a roadblock!

I guess could tease out that we do have an “event” coming up in June!

Or that we may be an actual legal company in the very near future!

And that it seems our Facebook page is finally gaining some traction…

Or that, so far, most of the folks who have playtested our first game have actually liked it enough to the point that they even want to playtest it again!

And that having Mr. P at my beck and call is as fun as it seems it is!
(I live to serve, Mr. R.)

Or that all of us here at MR20 are having a blast developing our games, despite all the work that has been and is yet to be done!

Oh well…stupid roadblock…maybe I will just go and re-write War and Peace!

Until next time….stay frosty!

Steve R

A Game Better Than “Cards Against Humanity”?

Crowdfunded Game With A Big Claim

So I saw this come across the feeds today, an Indiegogo funded game that claims the people who have played the Beta Test say “It’s better than “Cards Against Humanity. I’m dubious. For all the copy on the games fundraising page, the only way to figure out how the game is played  is to watch the promo video. The game is called “Crazy Mix ‘Em Ups” and it looks like a cross between a college drinking game and the “Dare” part of “Truth or Dare”. Some of the challenges on the cards were “>Blank< and >Blank<, switch tops.” or “>Blank< play the rest of the game topless.” or “Everyone make a tinfoil hat.” The video includes lots of pictures of young men and women playing the game in their underwear and drinking shots presumably playing the game.

Better Than “Cards Against Humanity”?

Here’s why I doubt the better than CAD claim; I don’t think a game like this will have the same mass appeal. Where CAD allows you to say horrible, politically incorrect things in the frame work of the game, it’s quite a threshold to cross to reach the point of actively doing the physical act described on a card. Last holiday season my wife and I went to a house party thrown by her boss (who was a V.P.) with co-workers and spouses, and we played Cards Against Humanity and were coming up with completely inappropriate combinations for the black cards, but everyone had a blast, because the game gives you license to do so. I don’t see that scenario playing out with this game, no matter how much the game gives you permission to act out, it’s a big step to cross the line from verbal to physical.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just a grump, but check it out and comment below with your thoughts.

-Mr. P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4-7COtpslg