Lights, Camera, Action!
I have completed the inital work on the Action component in Heart of the Mountain. That's what I'm calling the screen that comes up when you draw one or more cards, choose which one to face if necessary, and then roll dice against it.
This was the most important UI element left to be done in the game. There are still plenty of holes to fill before the game is even playable, much less finished, don't get me wrong. Next up will be a separate screen for when you're turning in cards for XP. But that will only be used occasionally during the game, and the look and feel will be based on this one anyway. The two biggest parts of the interface are the gameboard, where you add tiles and move around, and this one where you face the individual cards you draw and either take wounds or add items to your inventory.
It's starting to feel like this is doable. I know I have a mountain (heh) of work ahead of me, and the artwork challenge is particularly daunting. But bit by bit I'm chipping away at it all. Each major feature like this makes the ones after that much easier.
On a separate note, I've been really disappointed lately with how much the game feels like "multiplayer solitaire". I really want to increase the amount of direct interaction between players. BUT, I don't want to go the Talisman route of just having players beat on each other whenever they're sharing a space. That's only fun for one of the two, at most.
One thing I've already started on to try and fix this is changing the board in the tabletop version. Instead of a square where you each start in separate corners, I'm trying a rectangular board where you all start at one end and race to the other end. This will hopefully make your paths overlap right from the start, so placing tiles can directly affect each other. As a bonus that I didn't even think of until after I finished creating the board, it might allow for more than 4 players.
With this board shape, I can add item powers, or even player powers, that have to do with your proximity to other players. Like, +1 to Brawn for each other player on your space. I'll need to edit a few cards or add some new ones to try this out.
Surprise! I need to do more playtesting!