My second design experiment GATHER is released! Learn the world, lead minions, gather resources, harvest sacrifice for the Gods!

From the testing I’ve done, I already know it’s not as good as I hoped. But that is the point of a design experiment - to learn what works and what doesn’t. I definitely got a few valuable lessons from this project.

Hope you enjoy :)

The biggest failing, and most valuable lesson is now clear. I hoped to evoke a sense of wonder to make the players experiment and learn via trial and error only using non-verbal communication panels (deliberate design limitation). Clearly, this didn't work and ended up confusing / frustrating players. Instead of wanting to discover the world and its mechanics, they felt aimless.

However, I am not sure if it's a problem of initial motivation, not making the mechanics engaging/rewarding in themselves (like in other sandbox games), or simply needing to spell out things more clearly. Any thoughts on that?