So, results are in from the semi-finals of the Game Crafter challenge to design a hidden movement game – a game in the vein of Scotland Yard or Letters from Whitechapel in which one or more players have limited information about where another player/s is/are on the map!

I already wrote about the overall experience of taking part over here, so this post is about reviewing the feedback I received.

Unfortunately, my entry – Maid in Sherwood – didn’t make it to the finals. Both judges game the game decent scores for meeting the criteria of the contest. along with the rules, theme and description. However, as I was not able to construct the finished form of the game, it was marked down for being lacking in action shots – a totally valid criticism, especially on a site where it’s so easy to see or watch many of the available games being played.

My lowest scoring area was for the game’s art, which I have… mixed feelings about. I still think the board does a good job of “4 our us are medieval tacticians plotting over this map of the woods” and is pretty evocative, but I’ll certainly take this on board.

I think my biggest takeaway, as is often the case with these things, is that I’m not necessarily the best judge of my own ability in different areas… for example, I *thought* I was terrible at writing rules and laying out rulebooks, and better at graphic design… but I think there might be some cognitive bias there based on which of those activities I enjoy doing more.

Overall it sounds like I should have more confidence in my ability to produce a rulebook… after all, it’s just a user-facing version of the design documentation I’m used to doing professionally.