Making a Game: The Wizard's Missing Gemstone

 


I would have never imagined myself making my very own solo-rpg journaling game!!!!

My online board-game buddy just encouraged me to try! I make tables all the time anyways when I play my own D&D/TTRPG sessions and I thought it would be cool to tap into that game-designer mindset.

My Process & Goals:

1. I wanted to create a game that is easy for the newbies out there to grasp. I wanted it simple; you roll the dice and let's see what happens! I liked the theme of solving a mystery and talking to NPCs, and I thought the objective was simple and clear. 

2. I wanted to create a visual of a Gameplay Loop. THIS, I thought was necessary. There are some TTRPGs that I've played where I get confused on what to do next, or I constantly would forget a step. I then would end up drawing my own for guidance, so including this visual I thought would be helpful. 

3. I wanted to incorporate different types of dice. In the original design, I only had 1d6 and 1d10. I figured just having those 2 around would be hard to acquire compared to just having a set of dice. So, I brought multiple into the game! I think this would also be beneficial for new players to familiarize themselves with all the various types out there! 

4. I wanted it to be just a few pages long. Without wanting to overwhelm the new player, I thought a few pages would be good enough. Someone gave me the idea to try to format it into a booklet! I thought that might be fun layout, I may try that in a future update.

5. I wanted there to be a space for the player to write how they think the culprit stole Alby's gemstone. A very important skill to have in the realm of solo-ttrpgs is to, "connect the dots." You have all this information out here and how would YOU interpret it? I think that's especially important if you want to do your own session where you will be both the player and DM. 

Things I want to improve:

I'll be honest lol, I am not a fan of how I designed the end of the game. I think it's good, but it could be better. I think for my next update, I'd want the clues to tie with the NPCs. And at the end when you gather all the clues, maybe you have gathered all of Gorath's items, or Dobby's items. 

I also want to incorporate more "choices" that the player can make for themselves. I think it's a bit too reliant on dice rolls, and would want the player to choose what they want to do. I'm worried that might make it a bit more complicated than how I intended it to be... but, we shall see! 

Here's to more learning!


Want to play the game?! Check it out here: https://soloistventure.itch.io/the-wizards-missing-gemstone

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