Raw? Because it’s still uncooked. hrmm. Well, the combat and setting hierarchy is complete as is the basic char sheet and win conditions. I’ve wondered over the past few days (of wrestling with dire Mac problems) whether i would just chisel the game down to the combat with a bunch of bookends and submit it for the “14 day” badge.
To my dismay, I had asked myself to finish by the second week. I’m not going to make that but am happy to report that I’ve come to that decision from a position that the game can be better. I don’t want the game to be polished before i kick it to a test document. Part of this decision was in the making about a week ago when the “Ashcans belong in the Ashcan” thread began to ramp-up on S-G. Specifically, the argument sits in a niche of sharing unfinished product as an activity or as learning document. I’m not sure how I feel about that discussion because both sides have really valid points. What I did take away from it was a leery-ness about just finishing. I know the game can be better; It is still evolving heavily in the way mechanics in the non-combat scenes aren’t just pass/fail; and for now, I can still make those improvements.
I am sad that the Combobulator will be going dark. And it’s been great getting feedback on the game as it develops. It’s been even better having a virtual community wrapped around me while I worked on this in the dark for two weeks. I’m certain i wouldn’t have gotten this far this fast without the Game Chef incentive.
For now, I’d like to finish the non-combat storygen stuff by week 3 and use that final week to create a test play document and to get some play test in.
Many of you have been very supportive. Thank you for taking the time to read and leave comments. I hope you’ll check back over this next week to see how things develop. Thanks.