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<blockquote data-quote="Pedantic" data-source="post: 8964433" data-attributes="member: 6690965">This is just an argument that game design is hard, and the designers of this LARP failed to do it well, given their goal was not to incentivize a hard choice between several unacceptable outcomes. I think it's fair to say that simulation focused designs are certainly more difficult and offer more failure points, if for no other reason they necessarily must be more complicated to achieve their goals than narrative ones.A Few Acres of Snow is an interesting, clever war game that combines area control with deckbuilding...that has a consistent, reproducible strategy that results in victory for one side every time, and thus is a failed design despite being a product of the generally accomplished Martin Wallace. It took years after the game's publication for it to really come to light, and eventually Mr. Wallace proposed a series of changes that make the game more interactive again. The game was generally well received though and the core gameplay loop went on to inspire other titles, both by Wallace, like Mythotopeia, or others, like Hands in the Sea, by Daniel Berger.The design flaw in A Few Acres of Snow pointed out where more development was necessary for the game to achieve its goals, but isn't really evidence that the underlying design ethos or gameplay system is problematic. Just that game design is hard.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pedantic, post: 8964433, member: 6690965"] This is just an argument that game design is hard, and the designers of this LARP failed to do it well, given their goal was not to incentivize a hard choice between several unacceptable outcomes. I think it's fair to say that simulation focused designs are certainly more difficult and offer more failure points, if for no other reason they necessarily must be more complicated to achieve their goals than narrative ones. [I]A Few Acres of Snow[/I] is an interesting, clever war game that combines area control with deckbuilding...that has a consistent, reproducible strategy that results in victory for one side every time, and thus is a failed design despite being a product of the generally accomplished Martin Wallace. It took years after the game's publication for it to really come to light, and eventually Mr. Wallace proposed a series of changes that make the game more interactive again. The game was generally well received though and the core gameplay loop went on to inspire other titles, both by Wallace, like [I]Mythotopeia[/I], or others, like [I]Hands in the Sea[/I], by Daniel Berger. The design flaw in [I]A Few Acres of Snow[/I] pointed out where more development was necessary for the game to achieve its goals, but isn't really evidence that the underlying design ethos or gameplay system is problematic. Just that game design is hard. [/QUOTE]

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