Week 5 - Play Testing

This week we conducted a play test of our revised games from last week. Having new testers provided us with a fresh perspective on our game so that we could work out the last of the game's kinks. Our play test goals included figuring out what aspects of our game to test and asking players ample questions about those aspects. We were looking to find out which features players enjoyed most about the game and which features they did not enjoy or felt needed change. There were several new features of our game we were looking to test this week. We wanted to see how drafting the budget cards would affect game play. We were also curious about whether the new point system we created for the budget cards and changing the rules about how a player wins the game would change perspective on the game and it's replay ability overall. We wanted to know if the players felt the action cards helped or hindered his or her chances at obtaining budget cards. Lastly, one of the most important things we wanted be sure each card was equally powerful during game play. Many important points arose as the two play tests went on. We noticed that the players were having a difficult time obtaining budget cards; they were either a couple of dollars away from the exact price or way under. The players suggested lowering the budgets even more or creating even-numbered budgets that were easier to obtain. To fix this issue, we decided on creating budget cards with price ranges instead, so that as long as players had items that added up to a number within a particular budget card range, they could obtain that budget. The players also mentioned the trouble they were having "buying" items with uneven prices, such as seventeen dollars or forty-two dollars because of their lack of one dollar bills. To fix this issue, we doubled the amount of dollar bill cash cards in comparison to the rest of the cash cards we had in the cash card pile to evenly distribute the power of every cash card amount. We also realized that our change of drafting the budget cards and creating a point system to win the game definitely worked better in terms of the games likability. It created more chances and different ways to win the game, improving the game's replay ability like we had hoped. We also clarified and updated the games set of rules to make sure the players were not confused about how to play game. After conducting two play tests and hearing all the positives and negatives of our game, were hoping these changes resolve all the kinks and create an exciting and fun gaming experience for every player this week!