Fierce battle with the Plague!

Getting sick sucks!  Thankfully I can sit on the couch covered in blankets,  drink my tea, eat my soup, and still work on my game.  I came home early on Friday after having a nasty battle with insomnia Thursday night.  It must have made me vulnerable to what everyone is getting sick from right now.  When I got home I tried to sleep when I got home but just couldn't, so I started working on the notes from the play test session Thursday night.  Bryan Pope gave me some great note and suggestions.

Some things I am going to try will change the game a bit but should create a smoother experience. The biggest change will be each player will only get 1 action on their turn.  They will draw an Event Card and then they can ether Move or perform Port Actions.  Then it will be the next players turn.  The thought here is that is will speed up the game and reduce some of the confusion that is happening about what part of the turn it is (Event, Move, or Port Action).  The only question is who's turn it is.  The other thing this does is reduce how powerful multiple sails are (for increased movement) by making it so players who have fast ships don't effectively get two actions.  


The next big change is a massive overhaul to the Event Deck.  There was to much random chaos making the game swing wildly from one turn to the next.  I have reduced the bonuses and negative effects of the Event Cards to prevent a single random event making a significant change to the outcome of the game.


Lastly, I have been working on some custom art for the game.  I have a long ways to go but at least I will be able to start selling the game on The Game Crafter when I have all the art done and the game is ready to be released.

I did a slight redesign of the City Cards to help players visualize what merchandise is available to be bought and sold.  The dark upward arrows indicate the Cargo they are producing.  The Cargo without an upward arrow have 2 small arrows under the price to indicate witch Cargo the city is currently buying.  These are quick prints, so it might be a bit faint to see in this picture.  I have also temporarily changed the Cargo icons to cubes while I work on the new Art Icons.  You may notice that Silk has changed to blue (it was pink) and Wood has changed from to green (it was brown).

Here is a shot of all the cards I have reprinted over the weekend.  That is every card in every deck changed!  This was in addition to designing the new Bounty and Lost Cargo cards after the Event Deck got the overhaul.

I was hopping to play a game this weekend, but considering that I was sick and still got so many changes made, I don't feel to bad about not playing.  Maybe I will schedule something for this week if I have the time from work.