The Best Tool for Rapidly Prototyping Your Board Game

Summary

In this video, Dave Jola introduces 'Dextrus,' a website designed to streamline board game prototyping and playtesting. By integrating Dextrus with tools like Tabletop Simulator and Google Sheets, game designers can quickly make and test changes, enhancing efficiency. Dave walks through setting up a Dextrus account, creating projects, and using spreadsheets for rapid updates. He emphasizes the benefits of digital playtesting and invites viewers to join his new Discord community for game designers and playtesters. The video provides a step-by-step guide and encourages collaboration within the community.

Takeaways

• 🎲 Playtesting is a crucial step in the board game design process, allowing for iterative improvements.
• ✂️ Traditional methods of prototyping, such as hand-writing and cutting out components, can be time-consuming.
• 💻 Digital tools like Dextrous, Tabletop Simulator, and Google Sheets can significantly speed up the prototyping and playtesting process.
• 📈 Dextrous allows for rapid changes to game components through a centralized project management system.
• 📊 Google Sheets can be used to manage game data, enabling quick, large-scale changes and easy collaboration.
• 🚀 By linking Dextrous with Google Sheets and Tabletop Simulator, designers can rapidly update and test game components.
• 🕹️ Tabletop Simulator provides a versatile platform for digital playtesting, supporting custom assets and scripting.
• 🔗 The integration of these tools allows for near-instant updates to game components, streamlining the playtesting process.
• 👥 A community for beginner game designers and playtesters is being built on Discord, offering resources and support.
• 🔧 For technical issues and detailed guidance, Dextrous provides in-depth video walkthroughs and has an active Discord community.

Q & A

What is the importance of playtesting in the board game development process?

Playtesting is a crucial step in board game development as it helps refine the game, making it more enjoyable and functional, and it can save time and effort by identifying issues early on.

What are the different levels of board game prototyping mentioned in the script?

The script mentions four levels of board game prototyping: Level one is hand-writing everything, Level two involves using spreadsheets and Photoshop, Level three is playing the game digitally on platforms like Tabletop Simulator, and Level four introduces the use of Dextrus for managing game projects.

What is Dextrus and how does it help in board game development?

Dextrus is a website that helps manage game projects by allowing users to set up card layouts and make changes easily without having to alter each individual file. It enables rapid prototyping and playtesting by exporting projects that can be used with platforms like Tabletop Simulator.

How does the script describe the process of making changes to a game using Dextrus and Tabletop Simulator?

The script describes a process where changes made in a spreadsheet are imported into Dextrus, which then refreshes the data to reflect those changes. These updated components can be exported and loaded into Tabletop Simulator, allowing for quick updates and playtesting of the game.

What is the benefit of using Google Sheets in conjunction with Dextrus and Tabletop Simulator?

Google Sheets allows for making sweeping changes to the game's data, such as card names, costs, and point values, which can be seen and edited at a glance. It also facilitates collaborative editing, ensuring that changes made in the spreadsheet can be instantly reflected in Dextrus and subsequently in Tabletop Simulator.

What is the suggested first step for someone looking to rapidly prototype and playtest their board game using Dextrus?

The first step is to create a Dextrus account, which can be done for free, and then start a new project by adding components and layouts as needed.

How does Tabletop Simulator facilitate digital playtesting of board games?

Tabletop Simulator is a virtual tabletop platform where users can playtest their games digitally. It allows for easy online collaboration, the use of custom assets, automation of game mechanics, and the ability to import Dextrus project files for instant access to all game components.

What is the advantage of using spreadsheets for making changes to a board game's design?

Spreadsheets provide an overview of all game elements, allowing for easy comparison and modification of values and text. They also support collaborative work, preventing overwrites and streamlining the design process.

What is the final step suggested in the script for someone who has set up their game in Dextrus and Tabletop Simulator?

The final step is to playtest the game, either with friends or by seeking out new playtesters through communities like the one suggested in the script, which is a Discord server for beginner game designers and playtesters.

What is the purpose of the starter kit provided in the description of the video?

The starter kit is designed to give users a head start by providing a template Dextrus project and a link to a Google spreadsheet that is pre-linked to the Dextrus project, allowing them to quickly begin prototyping and playtesting their game.

Outlines

00:00

🎲 Efficient Playtesting for Game Designers

This section emphasizes the importance of playtesting in game design. The speaker discusses the challenges of manually updating game components after each change and introduces various levels of efficiency, from hand-written prototypes to digital tools. Dextrus is highlighted as a tool for managing game projects, allowing for quick updates and integration with Tabletop Simulator. The speaker demonstrates how changes can be made swiftly, showcasing the benefits of using these tools for rapid prototyping and playtesting.

05:01

💻 Introduction to Tabletop Simulator

Tabletop Simulator is recommended as a powerful platform for digital playtesting. The speaker explains its versatility in playing and testing games, mentioning features like custom assets, scripting, and automated resources. The platform's ability to import Dextrus project files for immediate use is highlighted. The section emphasizes the ease of online playtesting, making it convenient for friends and strangers to try out new games.

📊 Utilizing Google Sheets for Game Development

Google Sheets is presented as an essential tool for making comprehensive changes to game components. The speaker outlines the advantages of using spreadsheets, such as viewing all values at a glance, ensuring consistency, and collaborating with others in real-time. By publishing the spreadsheet as a CSV file, changes can be easily imported into Dextrus, streamlining the update process for all game components.

🔗 Bringing It All Together: Dextrus, Tabletop Simulator, and Google Sheets

The speaker describes how combining Dextrus, Tabletop Simulator, and Google Sheets can enhance the game development process. They provide a link to a starter kit, including a template Dextrus project and a Google spreadsheet, enabling users to quickly begin prototyping and playtesting. The speaker encourages viewers to subscribe for more tips and to join the Tabletop Craft Discord community for additional support and resources.

🧪 The Importance of Playtesting and Community Support

This final section focuses on the necessity of playtesting and the benefits of community involvement. The speaker invites viewers to join the Tabletop Craft Discord for game design discussions and playtesting opportunities. They mention that the Dextrus website and Discord are valuable resources for technical questions. Tips on optimizing Tabletop Simulator settings are provided, along with a teaser about a potential new level of efficiency in game design.

Keywords

💡Play testing

Play testing is a critical process in game development where the game is tested by players to identify any issues and gather feedback for improvements. In the video's context, play testing is presented as a satisfying yet time-consuming step that can be optimized using the right tools and methods. The script mentions the importance of rapid prototyping and play testing after making changes to the game.

💡Prototype

A prototype in game development refers to an early version of the game that is used to test and demonstrate the game's basic functionality. The video discusses the desire to improve the speed of prototyping and play testing, suggesting that the traditional methods of creating a prototype can be time-consuming and that there are tools available to streamline this process.

💡Dextrus

Dextrus is a web-based tool introduced in the video for managing game projects. It allows users to set up card layouts and make changes to game components without having to redesign individual files. The video highlights Dextrus as a solution for level four of game development, enabling faster updates and integration with platforms like Tabletop Simulator.

💡Tabletop Simulator

Tabletop Simulator is a digital platform that allows users to play board games virtually. In the script, it is mentioned as a tool that pairs with Dextrus, enabling game designers to make changes and play their games quickly. It represents a level three approach to digital play testing, providing a more efficient way to test games than physical prototypes.

💡Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet tool that the video suggests using for making sweeping changes to a game's design. It allows for easy editing and collaboration, which is particularly useful for game development where multiple variables and components need to be tracked and adjusted simultaneously.

💡Rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping is the concept of quickly creating a prototype to test and iterate on ideas. The video emphasizes the importance of rapid prototyping in game development, showing how tools like Dextrus and Google Sheets can be used to make changes and test them almost instantly.

💡Game design

Game design refers to the creative process of designing and developing a game. The video provides insights and tools for improving the game design process, particularly focusing on the efficiency of making changes and testing them through play testing.

💡Level four

In the video, 'level four' refers to a stage in game development where digital tools like Dextrus are used to manage and update game components. It represents a more advanced approach compared to earlier levels, which involved more manual and time-consuming methods.

💡Community

The script mentions the community aspect of Tabletop Simulator and the importance of building a community for game designers and play testers. It suggests that a community can provide valuable feedback, ideas, and support during the game development process.

💡Discord

Discord is a communication platform mentioned in the video for building a community of game designers and play testers. It is used as a place to share resources, tips, and tricks, as well as to discuss game development and play testing.

💡Starter kit

A starter kit in the context of the video is a set of resources provided to help game designers get started with the tools and methods discussed. It includes a template for Dextrus and a link to a Google spreadsheet, aiming to accelerate the game development process.

Highlights

Playtesting is a crucial step in the board game design process, but it can be time-consuming without the right methods.

Dexterous is a website that helps manage game projects, allowing you to set up card layouts and make rapid changes efficiently.

Using Dexterous, you can update all game components instantly and export them to platforms like Tabletop Simulator for quick playtesting.

Transitioning from manual changes to automated updates with Dexterous can save a significant amount of time.

Level five in game prototyping allows for instant updates to every card and token in the game after changes are made in a spreadsheet.

Creating a Dexterous account and starting a new project is simple and the free tier provides all necessary functionalities.

Tabletop Simulator is recommended for digital playtesting as it offers a versatile and community-driven platform.

Google Sheets is a powerful tool for making sweeping changes to your game and synchronizing those changes with Dexterous.

Combining Dexterous, Tabletop Simulator, and Google Sheets allows for an efficient and collaborative game development process.

The video provides a starter kit with templates and links to help you get started with using Dexterous and Google Sheets for your game.

Join the Tabletop Craft Discord community for beginner game designers and playtesters to get feedback and share ideas.

The Dexterous website and Discord offer in-depth tutorials and support for technical questions.

A tip for using Tabletop Simulator: turn off the mod caching option to save a step each time you play.

When making changes to your game, keep the same number of components to avoid issues with card art and text.

Future improvements may unlock even higher levels of rapid prototyping and playtesting efficiency.

Transcripts

so you have a new board game in mind or

maybe you're already working on one

whether it's your first project your

eighth or your 200th play testing is a

crucial step in the process and one of

the most satisfying but without the

right method it can eat up a lot of your

time to just get your game playable each

time you make a change time and effort

that could be spent working on your game

instead of working on getting your game

to the table you might be thinking it'd

be nice to improve how rapidly you can

prototype and play test after making any

changes if so you're going to love this

when I started making games over 10

years ago I started at what I like to

call level one I handw wrote everything

on pieces of paper that I would cut out

maybe you're smarter than I was and

you're at level two and you use

spreadsheets in Photoshop and print

before cutting out you could be at level

three where you play your game digitally

on something like tabletop simulator let

me introduce you to level four dextrus

is a website that you can use to manage

your game project it allows you to set

up card layout so you don't need to

design and make changes to each

individual file one feature that makes

this so special is the ability export

that project dexterous paired with

something like tabletop simulator allows

you to make changes and play your game

incredibly quickly but we're not

stopping there in this video I'll walk

you through what you need to reach level

five where you and as many others as

you'd like can make as many sweeping

changes as quickly as you'd like that

will update every single card and token

in your game near instantly I want to

show you what this looks like

immediately so check this

out so as you can see here this is one

of the main spreadsheets for our game

and I want to use it as an example for

how I can make a a lot of changes really

quickly so let's say after last night's

play test the best way to move forward

is actually to rename every card

overflowing strength and that also the

cost of cards was actually pretty

confusing and we like the idea of

everything costing a single slice of

pizza and then lastly the point values

were pretty low and we really think that

the best way to move forward is to make

everything worth 99 points and as

quickly as that we are able to go play

test all of these changes come over into

dextrous and we tell it to refresh the

data and update to all the changes that

we just made you can see that everything

is now called overflowing strength cost

one slice of pizza and is worth 99

points next thing we need to do is

export this and tell tabletop simulator

to update its information to the new

changes you give it just a couple of

moments it runs through a loading bar

and as quickly as that we are able to

jump into tabletop simulator so this is

a snapshot of one of our games recently

played and you can see that all the

cards are still individually named have

different costs and are worth one to

four points now we want to play test our

changes so we go back to the main menu

and that part's actually important I'll

explain that later let's create

ourselves a new

game and as quickly as this we can now

see that everything is called

overflowing strength cost one slice of

pizza and is worth 99 points there was a

time when I would make all of those

changes one page each card at a time one

image one text field this is the

difference between level three and level

five recently my buddy and I went back

to the drawing board for our game but by

using the tools and method in this video

we were able to rapidly prototype and

play test our game into a very good spot

in just about a month and a half all

right so what do you need to do this

let's walk you through the Steps step

one create a dextrous account you want

to make a game something you can rapidly

prototype and play test at lightning

speed use dextrous simply go go to their

site and create an account the free tier

is more than enough to do everything

you'll need once you've created your

account you need to make a new project

so go to the project page and hit the

plus sign to create a new one in the top

left you can give it a name start by

adding a component but each component

needs a layout so select the new layout

option a layout is a template for a

component imagine a set of cards or

tokens in your game that all have the

same format you can make more the

interface is fairly self-explanatory on

the left side of the screen you can

import images and control the size of

text across the top you can create

layers and you see them in a list on the

right here's a few examples from our

game you can play around in here as long

as you'd like or you can make a simple

card and come back to make it look

pretty later at any time you can export

your cards to be printed or better yet

and more importantly you can export as a

tabletop simulator file this allows you

to load all of your components at once

into TTS so you can play virtually with

your friends on Steam step two tabletop

simulator so you're making a game but

you need to play test it I think that

play testing your game digitally is the

way to go when it comes to rapid

prototyping and play testing it is

infinitely easier to get your friends

together to play your game online than

it is in person I should know I've run D

andd 5 it's also infinitely easier for

strangers to try it out digitally as

well tabletop simulator is my platform

of choice to play test my games it is a

virtual tabletop where you can play and

do pretty much anything you can think of

it's a Community Driven game that cost

$20 on team where people have uploaded

every board game I've ever thought to

look up it's a great platform to play

games which makes it a great platform to

play Test games depending on how

involved you wish to get you can program

just about anything you can think of you

can import custom assets automate games

with scripting automatically count

resources you can even place a virtual

tablet on the table that you can browse

the web or open PDFs with this guy is

the limit and most importantly when

importing a dextrous project file you

have every component you've ever

designed instantly ready to be sh and

use at a moment's notice but we can take

it even a step further step three Google

Sheets when making a game the best way

to make sweeping changes is through the

use of spreadsheets you can see

everything at a glance because every

value is right there listed next to the

others you can compare the wording of

effects side by side change the VP

values of every card all at once make

sure every card's name follows the same

theme change how many of each card are

in your game and sort by every variable

you have spreadsheets allow you to take

it a step further you can set up

reference pages for shorthand or you can

make pie charts showing the percentage

of card types and categories in your

game but I think the biggest benefit of

working on your game in Google Sheets is

that you can edit with as many others at

the same time as you'd like most other

platforms or methods you're stuck

working on each file individually and if

anyone else is helping you you tend to

overwrite each other's work you can

spend as much time as you want

customizing your spreadsheet by

publishing this to the web as a CSV

dextrus can make all the changes you

make here to all of your cards with a

click of a button when you have all

three things dexterous tabletop

simulator and Google sheets working

together it's like assembling each piece

of Exodia you win the game if you want

to try it out there is a link in the

description where I have provided

everything you need to do this yourself

it's a starter kit it'll walk you

through step by step to download a

template dextrous project with a link to

a Google spreadsheet that you can copy

for yourself that is linked to that

dextr project this way you can hit the

ground running with most of the work

already done for you feel free to

reverse engineer it for your own

purposes if you are interested in more

helpful tips for game design be sure to

hit that subscribe button so you don't

miss when the next tabletop craft video

is released and there is one final step

to follow step four play test so you

have your game in mind and a good idea

on how to rapidly prototype it now you

need to play test go get some friends

together and try it out but maybe you

could use some new friends or a fresh

set of eyeballs to take a look at your

game if that's the case then you can

come join me in the tblop craft Discord

I'm starting a new community on Discord

for beginner game designers and play

testers and I'm filling filling it out

with all of the best resources I can

find all the Lesser known tips and

tricks and best practices like the

method in this video if that sounds cool

you can find a link to it in the

description of this video I think that

this could be a cool place to gather

like-minded people who you can bounce

ideas off of and ask their opinion on

specific questions help me build this

community of game designers and play

testers by clicking the link in the

description come say hi once again there

is also a link in the description that

you can follow to get a head start on

how to do this for your game just know

that I'm not your guy when it comes to

spefic specific technical questions the

dextrous website has in-depth

step-by-step video walkthroughs for you

if you learn best that way and if you

have specific technical questions the

dextrous Discord is the perfect place to

ask them talk to the guys who made it

they're great at responding to questions

I hardly know enough to make this work

in the first place so go talk to them

about the how and why it works a quick

tip and a lesson learned I would suggest

turning off the mod caching option in

tabletop simulator this will save you a

step each time you go to play also when

making changes to your game keep the

same number of components if you don't

you'll notice that the card art and text

are split between each card awkwardly

hopefully if you run into that issue

you'll remember this bit in the video

also my buddy Rob might have recently

discovered the secret to unlocking level

six fingers crossed join the tabletop

craft Discord if you want to learn more

about that once again my name is Dave

Jola happy play testing thanks for

watching