MCM: Tabletop Simulator pt1

So in the first post on my game Meowy Cat Mess I introduced you into my inspiration and some of the very first steps I took in creating the game. Well after I took the half printed and half hand written cards to Christmas and the family enjoyed it (I am pretty sure they honestly liked it and were not just being nice.) I decided it was time to work on a way to play test with a wider audience.

Prototypes: Ruck!, Meowy Cat Mess, and Connected

The Venue I choose for play testing Meowy Cat Mess was Table Top Simulator. Being that we are still in a pandemic I wanted to get it online. I would have to first mock up all the cards in Inkscape and then figure out how to import them into TTS. I had most of the cards mocked up when I printed them for Christmas, so I just had to figure out how the importing and templates worked in TTS. Its fairly simple to add a deck of cards. You put all your cards together in a sheet as if you were going to print them all on one page then you upload that image to TTS and specify how many cards you have in height and width. You can also upload a single card back image for the entire deck and within a few moments you have a deck built in TTS. Since Meowy Cat Mess is basically a card game I just had to do this 5 times one for each player deck and one for the cat deck. It all went fairly quick and I had playable cards on a virtual table. In hind sight I cannot believe that I was afraid of making the jump in to TTS. I big shout out to Nick for gifting me Tabletop Simulator.

There is a ton you can do with TTS and I haven't worked with it long enough to get the full breath of it.

Adding the board was the last big piece missing and that was even easier than adding the cards. I already had a mock up of what I wanted it to look like and it was as easy as uploading the image. There is a ton you can do with TTS and I haven't worked with it long enough to get the full breath of it. There are a lot of tutorials and facebook groups you can join to get assistance with TTS. I Joined my local game testing group Chicago Board Game Designers and was able to help out play testing and start to pickup on some tips. This group is a very knowledgeable group and very kind in answering my beginner questions.

The Cat Deck in TTS

The snap points feature is going to be real helpful in this game as I have certain spots for the cards to lay and it could get messy quick. This was a feature that a fellow designer from CBGD walked me though. Snap Points are locations where dropped Objects will gravitate towards. It makes it easy to make cards and tokens land in the right location.

Learning Tabletop Simulator skills have been quite useful in getting this game to a point to which I can play test with other people outside my family. I have a lot further to go and some skills to sharpen. Below are some pics of the game as it stands. I do have some clean up to do, the silver deck shifted over a bit some and the yellow deck has some missing icons. Other than that I am happy how its coming along.