Last week and this week is all about nailing down the rulebook! If you think about it, a board game is mostly just bits of cardboard and plastic. What people are actually paying for is the ability to interact with those components in a hopefully memorable experience.
So how good (or not) your game is depends on how good (or not) your rulebook is!
I think I do a decent job at writing rulebooks, but I’m only part of the puzzle. The other part is getting people to read and give feedback to resolve ambiguous wording, edge cases, and use as little words as possible. So it’s been a bit of a marathon to test the game and review the rules with as many people as possible, and hopefully tighten up the language as best as possible.
Here are the parts of the rulebook that I’m tightening up:
1. Basic Mode
This is where I expect most players will play. There are admittedly a fair few number of steps, which steers the game closer to a gateway-level complexity rather than family-level complexity. I’m mostly OK with this as I envision the typical scenario to be of parents playing with their children, but I would really like the rules to be succinct and quick enough to pick up so they can start playing.
The plan is to probably have a Quick Start guide that is separate from the main rulebook, so they can just use that to play almost immediately, and only use the rulebook if they need to refer for more details.
2. Advanced Mode: The Musafir system
Layered on top of Basic Mode is… Advanced Mode! This is meant to add a meaningful strategic layer for older or more experienced players.
The Musafir system is a major part of Advanced Mode. It’s meant to mechanically reflect the ability to shorten prayer (Qasr) and combine certain prayers as a set (Jama’).
I think this is almost there and just needs some language refinement and a few more tests to verify that the rules are easy enough to grasp.
In game terms, utilising the Musafir system allows you to be more efficient during certain turns, but you need to invest in the right cards first.
3. Advanced Mode: The Sunnah system
A common system in modern board games is an optional alternative scoring method. This provides different strategies for players to experiment with, and also helps to sometimes discourage optimisation and efficiency by creating meaningful tension for players as they agonise between several different valid choices.
In Usolli, this is done through the Sunnah system. This system provides claimable goal cards that require certain card combinations. These combinations would take a few more steps as opposed to the primary pathway to gain points, but the claimed cards provide additional point values that should make the tradeoff worth it. Plus in theory it also serves as a good catchup mechanic.
4. A third mode: Solo!
A popular game mode that is seeing more and more inclusion in modern board games is the ability to play the game all by yourself! Although you may bemuse at the antithetical concept – after all, board games are all about player interactions and in-person experiences – a solo mode is a great alternative when it’s hard to plan for gatherings or when you just want to spend time by yourself (and a board game).
Of course, I’m biased since I love solo-able games: There is nothing quite like soloing Mage Knight or Spirit Island for an afternoon.
To be honest, I didn’t plan on adding one for Usolli as I’m not sure the target market would be interested in it. But I believe I’ve managed to craft the mode to mirror the 2-player experience pretty well! Basically you are trying to defeat the Ustadh (automata) for a high score, and he won’t go down easily!
5. Rulebook dimensions
It doesn’t matter how nice the rules look in Google Docs – you still need to get it sized to fit the box.
A quick test print indicates the font size and layout is readable and nicely sized, so now we’re back to cleaning up the rulebook content before we can organise for a sample copy from the manufacturer.
And that’s a wrap!
Rulebooks – love ’em, hate ’em … can’t live without ’em?
If you’ve ready this far, you probably enjoy reading (or skimming) rulebooks! Why not come and playtest Usolli to give your feedback?
That’s all for this week!