Added New Rules:

Self-sabotage cards:

• Self-sabotage cards should be put in a different deck

• Each character card can only have one self-sabotage card at any given moment 

• Limit on self-sabotage card, one player can only draw 3 in one turn. One self-sabotage per character 

• If you draw a fourth self-sabotage card, and all three character cards are with self-sabotage card, put it in a discard pile

• Maybe: 3 self-sabotages in total = immediate self-destruct 

• Self-sabotage should be unblockable 

  • • (Problem: unsure if nullify card can nullify self-sabotage cards)

Others:

• Self-sabotage cards should be put in a different deck

• Discard a card for a new card, but it takes one turn

• Tactical card “SPY”: Look at another player’s cards and then discard one

Design Changes: 

• The design needs to be illustrated 

• Separate tactical cards from other cards

  • • Change overpowered card colours/design to another colour, it looks too similar to attack cards 

    • Self-sabotage and attack into different colours 

      • • E.g. a different accent or shade. Self-sabotage makes the inside red

• Change the duck character card design to look like other character cards

  • • Rainbow color card 

• Colours look too similar, a lot of cold colours 

• Prototype problem: cards are too small

• Hard to differentiate character cards from specific character attack cards 

  • • Suggestion: Make it pastel to make it easy to differentiate 

Wording Changes: 

• Change the word “MEMBER” to “CHARACTERS”

• SKIP: Skip a player’s turn

Added New Rules:

Self-sabotage cards:

• Attack or self-sabotage cancels out a shield

• Skip can be for any player, not necessarily the next player 

• Each player can have 4 character cards to make the game last longer

• No stacking of self-sabotage card

• Heal can remove any attack, not necessarily the latest attack

Design Changes: 

• The purple is too close to the dark blue

  • • Change the dark purple to light lavender purple

Wording Changes: 

• Tactical card ‘SPY’: add “remove a card after spying” 

Overall: The mechanic is great: but think about the theme

What is good?

• It is fun to play, and the mechanics are fun and interesting

• Likes the idea of skipping, how many times can it occur? When you skip, it speeds up the game

• Likes the trade idea 

• Self-sabotage is horrible but is brilliant 

• Nice work, good job. Just polish up the narrative and the theme.  

What needs to be changed? 

Design:

• The font is too small, even on prototype cards

Rules:

• Whenever you attack the character classes, you keep picking cards that you cannot use because it prolongs the game. Those specific attack cards shouldn't be put back into the deck. 

  • • Put specific attacks for character classes in a separate pile when done: what cannot be reused cannot be reused, and the deck that can be reused can still be in play

Gameplay changes:

• Don’t use the actual names (e.g. Arisan), so you can call it any name you want 

• Speed up the gameplay (skipping, trading) 

• Heal is hardy used 

• Not a lot of shield - may not need the shield 

• Power-up is very rare

• Tactical is used quite a bit

• Needs more power-up to balance the self-sabotage 

Narrative changes:

• Add a sense of purpose to the game. The game started really vague. It is hard to understand the real purpose in the beginning. Why are you attacking, what is the purpose? What are we doing with the game, what is your role as the player?

  • • What are we doing with the specific attack on class and person?

    • What is your role in the game? E.g. Be the last weirdo standing?

    • Explain the fun of it (eliminate the weirdos, and bad people in the university? All the characters are committing things)

    • You, as the player, are the head of the faculty. You are the dean with a faculty of weirdos. 

    • “Welcome to “poop” university, and we have some weird shit. You can play up to 6 faculties. Whichever characters you have here are the members of your faculty. Your goal is to destroy your other faculty members, and the winner rules the university!”

• The game is a parody and a spoof. The theme of “WEIRD”

  • • Quirky things and stuff you say to lecturers, faculty members

    • Have defend word cards  

    • Stick to the theme 

• Maybe: Problem with a specific character attack that eliminates the character immediately: maybe don’t need them just focus on the action 

  • • Remove the color-coded attack

    • Play with just the action

    • Be creative about the attacks (terminologies: “This character is disgusting, he didn’t wash his hands, so -2)

    • Try to play without the colour, play with funny terminology

Make the narrative more concise 

• Sabotage and Self Harm: Rename attack cards to sabotage cards (aka you’re trying to sabotage the other faculties) 

• Attack Cards: Need to change to things where you’re attacking the other team (e.g., hacking into their system, cutting the elevator wires, sending a fake notice)

  • • From Dr Charles: Be creative about the attacks (terminologies: “This character is disgusting, he didn’t wash his hands, so -2)

(Change the ones in blue)

• Don’t use the actual names (e.g. Taylors, Arisan), call it any name you want 

• “Welcome to ‘??? university’, and we have ‘some weird shit’. You can play up to 6 faculties. Whichever characters you have here are the members of your faculty. Your goal is to destroy the other faculty members. The winner rules the university!”

  • • University Name Ideas

      • • Anarchy Academia (anarchy)

        • Clown College 

Rules

• Put specific attacks for character classes in a separate pile when done: what cannot be reused cannot be reused, and the deck that can be reused can still be in play

Gameplay: Attack-only Cards

• Power-up / Heal cards: 

  • • From 4 to 8 - repeat each one twice

• Remove the color-coded attack

• Play with just the action

• Try to play without the color, play with funny terminology

• Playtest with another group on Thursday to get feedback 

  • • Change narrative and attack cards after

Playtest Plans

• No attack only cards.

• With no color coded attacks.

• More power-up and heal cards.

• Can discard any amount of cards in your hand (1 turn) during your turn.

• Increase to 3 turns per player.

Changes for Playtest 3:

• No ‘attack only’ cards

• No colour-coded (except for ‘attack entire class’)

• 3 turns per player

• 4 character cards

• 9 self-sabotage cards

List of ideas:

• Not used: Use the entire character card deck no matter how many players. E.g. for 2 players, 12 character cards each, etc. 

Added Rules:

• If you play an ENERGIZE card, it takes a turn

• You cannot HEAL a dead character 

Design Changes:

• Lighter colour (reduced opacity) for printing 

Wording Changes: 

• Change description: ‘SKIP next 2 actions’ to ‘SKIP next 3 actions’

• Change description: SHIELD- ‘From next attack card’

• One-time only label: UNBLOCKABLE and INSTANT DEATH (‘Instant death’ change from 'Attack to Overpowered)

• Swap and Trade feel similar. 

• Change name: SELF-SABOTAGE to SELF-HARM

Conclusion: 

1. The gameplay is better without the ‘Attack Only Cards’ - using Use ‘Attack Cards’ only

2. Little to no discarded cards because there are no ‘Attack Only Cards’

3. Change ‘Attack cards’ to match our narrative 

4. Stick back to 2 turns only per player 

5. Stick back to 4 character cards, no matter how many players 

Changes for Playtest 4:

Discard your entire hand for one turn

Comments:

• Faster with 2 turns

• Playing a x2 card with an attack card is 2 actions; Additionally, if you heal your card you can take off the (x2 and attack card tied to it)

• Over-powers cards are all one-time usage and unblockable 

• Discarding multiple cards is considered one turn; good for later in the game where players draw cards they dont want.

• CARD DESIGN: the power up + sign and the attack card - sign is hard to distinguish. Make the circle around the -/+ sign red or green.

• 9 Self-sabotage cards out of the 65 total cards (excluding character cards) is a good ratio. (Aim to keep it that way)

Playtester Comments

• Do the colours have any meaning? 

• Did not know about the instant death card and its effect - The player just colour-coded the attack

• Suggested putting the “discarded” tabled cards underneath the character card

• Can self-sabotage be blocked by the shield? Even we were hesitant to reply lmao

• “Is there a different colour blue?” Colour distinctions among blues were not too obvious

• Does the ‘x2’ card take one or two actions?  Even we were hesitant to reply AGAIN 

• Self-sabotage cards are interesting 

• Prefers the ‘self-sabotage’ name. The name ‘self-harm’ sounds too gruesome.

• “Can I revive?” - Slightly unsure of whether the character can be revived

• Overall: They said it was fine, just the design needs work

General Observations

• Seemingly unsure of how the game works at first glance - the learning curve is present, unsure if steep

• On the first turn, all of Hui Yi’s cards were already self-sabotaged - problem introduced, self-sabotage too likely? 

  • • (It could be a card shuffling issue)

• The learning curve is still present after a few rounds of playing - causing the game to be slow

• Playtester immediately knew how to use ‘Double Attack’ - that’s good

• Quickly understood that self-sabotage can only be tabled once per character - that’s also good

• After a few rounds during the entire game session, haven’t commented on character card names/descriptions 

  • • (Maybe the printing is just too small or there is no illustration, or they are too occupied by the game to notice)

• Confusion of colours occurred twice within the same game session 

• ‘Kidnapping’ card was used to finish off player - kind of unexpected

• Be as outrageous as you want

• You can make the R-rated drawings but work with the design style, not make it so realistic

• Similar messages in terms of theme and artwork 

  • • E.g. Beavis and Butthead, Happy Tree Friends

Settings:

• Two-turn player rounds

• 4 character cards per player

• 1 - 5 discards count as 1 turn

Playtester Comments

• “What does the colour indicate?” 

  • • State in pamphlet: Add colour categories to the pamphlet  

• “I don’t have any more attack cards” - Options not obvious enough to suggest discarding / healing?

• “What does these two colours mean?” - Wasn’t sure multi-class attack cards were meant to be for those coloured classes only

• “Attack class” card can reflect on the border instead 

• “There are different tacticals?” - Didn’t know that tactical cards are a general category

• “Spy” card is powerful 

• “Why are they drawing from two different decks? Isn’t that unfair?” 

• “How many times do we play?” - when using “Energize” cards, the player with it can play 4 turns 

• Likes the names “self-harm” and “suicide”

• Some labels need clarification and description

• Power-up card to power up other opponents characters (self-sabotage card that heals other players) - Could be interesting, suggested by player

• “I think I’m still a beginner so I couldn’t say if it’s taking too long”

• Old colours are not easy to distinguish. The new colours are nicer 

• “Some of the descriptions are confusing”

• “The colours are nice, I like the darker ones”

General Observations

• Generally understands the rules 

• New players take time to make decisions

• Player #1 forgot to play two turns for their round

• Player #1 forgot to lay down self-sabotage

• Player #1 didn’t know players need 5 cards in their hand at all time

• Player #2 thinks “attack entire class” attacks everyone

• Forgot to put overpowered cards in a different pile 

• Thought “Heal” heals the attack cards and not the self-sabotage/ character cards 

• Out of everyone, the playtesters haven’t tried discarding any cards, 3 rounds in

• The instruction makes sense but unsure where to put the cards

• Player #1 eventually remembered to draw cards until 5

• Player #1 tried to give power up to an opponent

  • • State in pamphlet and rules: Power up is only for your characters and not other characters  

• State in pamphlet and rules: You cannot block a block 

• State in pamphlet and rules: “Double Attack” is one turn

• Recurring trend across all playtests, the ultimate duckie faces the most abuse (traded, kidnapped, attacked, instant deathed)

• Player #2 knew how ‘Attack X2’ works without asking - that is good

Comments:

• The illustrations really help bring the card game together

• Design changes to the power-up cards

  • • Change power up to a white border with a black stroke.

• The flow and duration of the game is good 

• The pamphlet needs to be redone because the font is not the same size and there are some corrections to be made to some of the wording

• Add unblockable label to self-sabotage cards

• Add that Ultimate Duckies is vulnerable to all class attacks.