Rules Enforcement

Structure promotes fun! Roller Coasters can be thrilling because of the rails, seats, and safety measures. Otherwise, you’re being thrown around at 60 mph while trapped in a runaway shopping cart. Structure allows you to focus on what is fun in the experience with less worry. Rules enforcement for digital board games does three things: speeds up learning, speeds up play, allows the players to enjoy the game and the other players.

Hedgehog Hop scenarios for selected card

When recreating a title in Sovranti, our developers must become the ultimate and invisible “rules lawyers.” Every scenario and outcome has to be addressed by the platform. Our team not only exhaustively studies the rules, but we work with the publishers to be sure we’re getting everything right. The goal is to allow players to take action in the games with less worry of the rules.

Message reminding the player that a chopstick card can be used

Rules enforcement starts with looking at the game design as a whole and then compartmentalizing it into sections. We put the experience on rails. You may only take the actions of the game when it is your turn and in the order required. Sovranti reminds all the players know whose turn it is and what actions are possible. The active player is only addressed with the options of the moment.

Set up and bookkeeping massively benefit from a rules enforced environment: speed, accuracy, and convenience. However, if players are going to learn, they need to understand the results of their actions. The point rewards, the board shifts, and status updates can’t be automated in a way that the players don’t know what happened or why.

Testing in a rules enforced environment means not only validating the platform but verifying our interpretation of the rules. Since our goal is to make Sovranti the fastest and easiest way to learn these titles, we also have to look at the rules from a first time player’s perspective and test with first time players. Next blog we’ll talk about player prompts and how combined with rules enforcement makes learning/playing games a little easier.

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Release Updates

Planet Unknown

Publisher: Adam's Apple Games

Sovranti Developer: Paul

Planet Unknown civ card selection

As our developers worked on games for Gen Con, Developer Paul focused on implementing the cards for Planet Unknown. We finished adding all the goal cards and started implementing the civilizations cards. Adam’s Apple Games ran a great Kickstarter campaign! All those amazing stretch goals will keep Paul busy for a while.

Things to look forward to:

1. More Civilization Cards

2. Updated Rules and Assets

Sushi Go Party

Publisher: Gamewright

Sovranti Developer: Eric

Sushi Go Party design your own Menu

Developer Eric has been implementing more Sushi Go Party cards; there are 23 types of cards in the game and all have unique scoring functions. Menu selection now allows players to select pre-made menus or design their own. Updates to the player’s layout improve visibility.

Things to look forward to:

1. Random mode for picking a menu

2. Improved messaging during menu selection

Hedgehog Hop

Publisher: Fight in a Box

Sovranti Developer: Chuck

Hedgehog Hop visual cues for tile placement

Chuck has been working the Hedgehog dance floor! Visual cues for tile placement help new players. We’ve improved messaging around play options and the setup for the 3-player game.

Things to look forward to:

1. GenCon debuted the first full version of the Hop and we’re sorting through feedback to see what’s next for the Hedgehogs.