That old saw about old habits dying hard is as true in game design as anything else.

To stay on track for 4P this month, I’d intended to have a first draft prototype of Canardo’s Dungeon ready for Board Games and Beer this week, but I fell victim to the worst of my bad prototyping habits and disappeared down the rabbit hole of “making it pretty,” sacrificing “getting it done.”

I spent way too long choosing placeholder art assets and colorizing black and white images to get just the right look for the game, and I lost a prime play testing opportunity with the casual game players who are the target audience for this game.

Still, I now have a reasonably attractive deck of cards and that can make a big difference when play testing with non-designers and casual gamers. Later today, I’ll mock up a functional board and tokens with card stock and Sharpies to finish the prototype.

I’ve got a casual game night coming up on Sunday and I’m hoping to get the first of my 4P play tests in there.