A paper prototype case study
We will examine in detail a case study from my personal work experience at Another Place Productions. At a certain point during the development of our game BattleHand Heroes, we had to address an unexpected problem. This game was a sequel to our first hit game, BattleHand, and the combat system that was good enough for the first title was proving problematic in the new game.
Questioning a combat system
BattleHand: Heroes is a turn-based RPG in which a player builds a team of heroes, each with a unique deck of cards to fight. The combat system that worked quite well in the original game was lacking the depth to engage a new generation of players.
The first game was released in 2015, and players’ tastes and expectations for games always evolve, which game design needs to keep up with. Players struggled to understand the tactical implications of choosing among the cards at their disposal, how to choose their strategy, and how to correctly react...