During
this final week of our card game design, we had actual game developers come in
to play test our game. We found that for the most part, the developers liked
the concept of Sushi Chef. Creating a sushi roll would be fun thing to do in
real life. Inevitably though, we still had some kinks and issues that were
brought up throughout the game. People had issues with the two-card hand limit,
so we tried increasing it to four cards. This turned out to be successful
because it gives players more flexibility and choices when it comes to trading
and discarding cards. We also realized that we should add more of the rare
ingredients into the deck because some rolls require that one ingredient that
can be near impossible to get at times. Also, our wild cards should not be
labeled “wild card” on the back as we have them; this would not allow the other
players to know if one of them has a wild card. It is interesting to see how
even making one adjustment which we often see as an improvement to the game,
can open up an entire new alley of problems that were not there before the
adjustment. Game design involves constant revision and testing.
Observing
the game developers and how they reviewed each game made me realize that they
are still normal people with normal opinions. Even though they are
professionals, and much more experienced than us students, they still have
varying opinions. The opinion of one developer did not always match with the
opinions of the others. One of them could make a suggestion that contradicted
the suggestion of another, as often happened with our game. Previously, I had a
feeling that all the developers would critique the game in a similar way
because they all work in the same field, but this was not the case. Some
developers enjoyed certain aspects of Sushi Chef, while others criticized those
exact same aspects. In the end though, all of their comments and suggestions
were well thought out, and helped us see flaws in our game and problems we need
to work on.