Tin Squadron was as much a passion project as it was an exercise in design, UX/UI, and learning how to communicate complex thoughts and instructions via written word.
Every aspect of this game was developed by me. Including ship design, card layout game mechanics, and instruction manual.
The easiest part of this game was the design and layout. This is the process I had already practiced for years up to this point and knew exactly what I wanted... However, the process of writing the instructions was a surprising experience that revealed some of my own biases that I brought into the process.
From the very get go, watching play-testers set up the game wrong was horrifying as I realized that I had missed basic instructions.
I had prior knowledge of the various mechanics that I wanted to implement into this game, and I knew exactly how it functioned and was to be played... And I wrote it that way.
I quickly realized that my audience didn't have the same knowledge base that I did. I had to strip the instructions down to the simplest explanation of each term and phrase to build up their understanding to be able to play the game correctly.
This process really revealed how important it is to put myself into the position of my audience and understand how THEY will interact with the designs I create.
