Post

Game designers! Tell me about a feature / mechanic / thing you added to your game... but then you later removed it and that made the game better!

TTRPG, but: GUTGUN had an aiming mechanic in early drafts, with a dice roll to hit your shots. You'd gain an increasingly large modifier to hit rolls as you progressed, until hits were guaranteed. This was to give the feeling of you growing in skill the way you would in a boomer shooter...but...

it slowed the game down tremendously. The most important feeling to translate for GUTGUN was the SPEED of a boomer shooter, and hit rolls just bogged it down too much-- and playtesters felt like their choices didn't matter when they missed. The game is more snappy, tactical, and fun without it!