Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• How clear & compelling is the game's central idea? The exploration of an alien culture through a strict lens runs through the whole game, and I couldn’t stop reading the text. How elegant, useful, & intuitive are the game's mechanics? The use of a stripped down version of the fitd ruleset goes very well in the astrobot section. The more free creation in the world creation part reads easy. How cohesively designed do you think the game is overall? The separation into two phases with different mechanics feels a bit looser, and works against a sense of coherence.
• I love the paired game concept. Creating a world which you later explore more in detail is something I see a lot of people do, using two very different games to accomplish that each time. I am excited to see a game that includes that directly out of the gate though, providing a directed experience. It has some great posibilities for campaign play, or in creating connected games during an event like a convention. The game has simple narrative mechanics, focusing on quick die rolls if they must come up. The exploration phase is what would be considered the meat of the game, since it is where the astrobots travel across the previously created universe and redefine it or themselves. It has a wonderful message about growth and change in there. The worldbuilding phase is sometimes a little too much referencing the rulebook for my tastes, but it can work when you are in the more directorial stance of that mode of play.
• This game captured my heart pretty early on. This game has a really fun and engaging structure for me, thinking about worldbuilding, terraforming, and the long history of a people and planet, and THEN getting to see that history through the eyes of robotic explorers, who are also discovering who they'd like to be, free from their old protocols is a great combo. The through-line of principles and protocols and how they might change over time or express themselves throughout history is very strong to me, and I like the spotlight there.