In which we talk (quite a lot) about how the final level has changed and is still changing.
Hello everyone! If you’re one of our new followers then welcome to our newsletter — and if you’ve been here a while then welcome back! As before, I’m Jess, part of the team and your narrator.
That tricky end game…
It would seem that May is a month of changes. We’ve been doing a lot of playtesting…. seriously, a lot. Library Labyrinth has been to the Virtual Playtesting discord group for a few weeks in a row now, and each time it’s got better. There is nothing like a group of people who know games inside sitting round a table and saying “well, what you actually need is x”. Obviously we won’t agree with all the feedback, not least of all because the feedback doesn’t always agree with itself. Nonetheless, it is really useful.
The part which has changed most is the end game. The first iteration added a competitive element to the game, but that wasn’t quite right. After all, the spirit of Library Labyrinth is about working together, and it seemed strange to throw that out the window when the going got tough. The second iteration had the various horrors popping up in groups, so you needed to fight them all in one go. That seemed to vary too much in difficulty. The current version is one where the movement rules remain the same, but instead of taking books from the shelves, you are picking them from the library trolley…which, of course, you stocked earlier!
We’re also playing around with the objects you might find in the library. Perhaps potions, or a mirror (good for getting Dracula back into his book, I understand), or a musical instrument? We want to keep them, but as yet we’re not 100% sure how and where they’re going to fit in…
Here’s what the board looks like now!
Podcasts!
We’ve also been appearing on many podcasts! Mill and I (Jess) are both on the Who Why What podcast at some point in June, so watch out for that one.
In the meantime, I spoke to Board Again Games, so check out the You Tube video here!
And I’ve also been chatting to the Board Game Community Show here. This was great fun, and I recommend you all go and listen. This one was the most fun to do!
We’ll be at Games Expo!
We’re going to UK Games Expo! It’s in Birmingham from 30 July until 1 August. Mill will be there with prototypes of Library Labyrinth and possibly some free bookmarks to hand out (more about those in the next newsletter) so do give us a shout.
Next steps
Are you a librarian in the UK? Or do you run a bookshop? We are thinking about possibly doing promotional bookmarks, and so we’re looking at places (in the UK) to send them! If you have thoughts about this, please do email us at dissentgames@gmail.com
Could you help us playtest? Please do! We have a Facebook group here.
Also, please do remember to sign up on our pre-launch page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dissentgames/library-labyrinth. Please share as far and wide as you can! We expect to actually launch over the summer.
Library Labyrinth 