Howdy Folks,
Last week we had the chance to showcase Barrage Digital at Bologna Play, one of the biggest Italian fairs dedicated to board games and everything that’s related to tabletop gaming. It was an incredible opportunity to meet players face-to-face, watch them interact with the game, and hear their thoughts in real time. Whether it was seasoned veterans of the board game or newcomers just discovering Barrage, the feedback we received was as diverse as it was valuable.
In today’s diary, I want to share some of the most interesting takeaways from the event — what players loved, what surprised them, and the small (and not-so-small) things we’re thinking about improving as a result.
6. Players Feedback
“It really feels like playing the board game.”
Let’s start with something simple an joyful. Many players praised the fact that the digital game has the same feeling of its tabletop counterpart, both in terms of aesthetic and information architecture.
One of our goals was to design an interface which could be easily recognizable by the tabletop players, and thankfully most of them were able to interact with the game with little-to-no explanation. Automations were particularly appreciated; even though Barrage is not a game with a complex table setting phase, the digital version saves a lot of time and can bring down the match duration significantly.
“Some text labels are hard to read.”
Some players complained about certain text labels, which were deemed to be too small. Readability is quite the issue with an interface so cluttered, even when it comes to popups - bigger popups cover more information on the background. All that it takes is to find the sweet spot.
“I keep forgetting to end my turn.”
A lot of times, players forgot to pass their turn after performing their action. This sometimes lead to think the game was soft-locked or simply unresponsive, but all it took was really to pass the turn.
Our insight: the End turn button might lack of some visibility.
“The end game popup still lacks some information.”
Players were slightly confused about how the end game calculations are performed and what exactly gives Victory Points at the end of it. Specifically, it was unclear how end-game objectives were calculated, along with the Victory Points for untapped water and remaining resources.
Seems like an additional info task before the game end is necessary!
“The AI needs to be competitive.”
People want a genuine challenge when it comes to Barrage. The AI needs to be both easygoing for newcomers, and skillful enough for more experienced players. We are working on two level of difficulty for our AI, hoping to accommodate everyone.
And for the most seasoned players, don’t forget that multiplayer exists too :)
“What about an iPad version?”
As of today, Steam is the only platform we are targeting with Barrage. As we were mentioning in the previous answers, the UI is quite complex and some information are already small enough on the big screen of PCs. We will consider an iPad version only when we can guarantee an optimal user experience for our players.
Bonus round: “OCCHIO MALOCCHIO!!”
Believe it or not, a customer stopped by to do the typical Italian gesture to avoid jinxes towards the screen, before running away into the crowd. We were not aware of a curse over Barrage, but we promise we’ll be wary towards any evil misconduct around the game.
Until next time,
Amintiri