Post Playtest: Bar Games Bagatelle

Overall a lot of people tried my game and enjoyed it and I only had a few major issues that would be changed if I had more time to work on this.

My game turned out fairly well with a lot of great pieces that all contributed to the theme.

Building the machine was a lot harder than I originally thought it was going to be. All in all it took about 5 hours to build, with a lot of just trying things, them not working, then trying again. The hardest thing I had to build was the spinners. While they worked ok, the straws they used were too big when compared to the pins causing them to angle and get caught. This issue would cause them to catch the ball and not let the balls fall into the designed pockets.

During the playtest I got a lot of positive feedback. The biggest feedback I got was how great my theme was. As I used cards and other things to make it really pop, my theme was very well received. I think with the time I spent to make each of the objects look like they belong was really well used and nothing looked like it was there just to be there. For example, the guardrail was either made completely out of cards, or carboard covered in cards. The biggest negative feedback I got was how my spinners and bumpers did not work super well. Every once in a while they would get stuck or the ball would bounce over them. This caused some break up in the flow of the game, which I agree was a major issue.

If I could have more time I would lay down the construction paper down first using spray adhesive as it would require less precise cuts and would not allow bumps to form allowing the ball to jump. Another thing I would do differently is the construction of the spinners and bumpers. They both were not super well designed and with more time I feel like they could be very fun to use instead of a hassle.

All assets were created by me minus the cards which was just a generic bicycle deck from Walmart.

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