New Data, New Direction

On August 16^th, 2025, I held my second testing session for Goon Game. However, with the testers being the same as before, I wanted to diverge somewhat from the rote questionnaire they filled out before and focus more on how their understanding and opinion of the game has shifted since the first time they played. From that, I gained a great deal of feedback, ranging from how the amount of spells available to players is causing choice paralysis to certain Commanders and Factions being underpowered compared to other players, to how the board itself was a hindrance to strategy. And it’s that last one that I want to focus on today and into my future revisions, because it feeds into something my testers quite enjoyed: the Reverbs.

Player Feedback 8/16/25

Reverbs are board-wide effects that shift the game rules in various ways. One reverb, for instance, lowers the rate of critical hits every time a unit gets a crit, until every hit is a critical hit. Players reacted well to most of these effects, as they all liked the hint of chaos they provided, making the play state more dynamic. However, their main critique of the Reverbs was that a few of them were underbaked and either didn’t affect the board in a noticeable enough way or hampered players by being too oppressive, making the board even harder to move up. This, compounded by the board's static and admittedly basic layout, made players, such as the one running Brawl, feel like they never got to do anything, as they spent most of their time running up and back to objectives without engaging anyone due to how the board was set up. The exceptions came when a decent enough Reverb hit the field, allowing Brawl to do more and build towards their game plan. Leading me to the realization that my focus shouldn’t be on player factions quite yet, but the board and Reverbs. That is my USP; that is what gives my game its flair. However, going down this path isn’t without risk.

Player Feedback 8/16/25

Back in 2016, Fire Emblem: Fates included a similar system called Dragon Veins: special objectives on the map that, if certain units claimed them, the map would be altered in some way. Moats would dry up, fog would clear, mountains would flatten, or forests would catch fire; either opening a new path or adding a hazard for the enemy units to navigate around. The problem with Dragon Veins, however, was:

A)  They appeared very infrequently.

B)  They could only be activated by five units in your whole army.

C)  Their effects ranged from game-changing to slight annoyance.

Making the feature either something the game forces you to do in order to progress through the map, or an afterthought, ignored nine times out of ten, as it doesn’t shake up the map enough to be worth activating. These shortcomings were then revisited in Fire Emblem: Engage with Corrin’s Emblem and Camilla's Bond Band, both of which gave players access to Dragon Vein effects without having to find one on the map. A step up from Fates, but still mired in the problems of the past, as the only Dragon Vein anyone uses on Corrin is Fog Cloud, and most, if not all, of Camilla’s unique Dragon Veins are useless either because they do not affect a large enough area or give a good enough stat boost. However, it’s this latter rendition that I’m most interested in implementing, as it has more potential than its predecessor.

One of the big things my players harped on, ability-wise, would be a Reverb or spell that altered the placement of hard walls, allowing them to create choke points or new lines of sight on the fly – similar to how Corrin and Camilla work in Engage. A recommendation that I am keen to implement, with the understanding of the pitfalls outlined above. If this is to be a unique selling point, then this feature needs to be worth the player's time. It needs to change the board state tangibly for all players, working along a spectrum of possibilities.

Working at the low end of the spectrum, we can have small stat bumps: effects that players wouldn’t mind having or losing that Plot players would want to remove so they can get to other cards on the spectrum. Pack filler – decent cards to have, but nothing mind-boggling or meta-defining; easy cuts for mid to high power cards which exist closer to the other end of the possibilities spectrum. Cards and effects that affect more than just numbers, but game rules or the physical board itself by removing or adding walls and objectives; turning off conditions; or adding area of effects to objectives. These would be stuff like Pandemonium (the critical-hit Reverb) and Windfall (spawn a new VP objective). To do this, we would need to:

1] Expand on the number of common board effects. Adding things like hazard and buff zones.

2] Redesign how objectives work and determine if these board-altering effects can affect them.

3] Redesign the board so it fits with the changes made in 1 & 2.

      All while keeping in mind that each time the board is altered, it should have a noticeable effect on players and the game as a whole, without seeming like they are the only valid option to the player. This is just another tool in their toolbox. One of the largest and perhaps one of the most useful ones, but not a universal solution to every problem or encounter players face. Mallets and sledgehammers are both hammers, with some overlap, but you wouldn’t break a wall down with a mallet or hand a frame with a sledgehammer.