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Hey Chris, this is incredible and an amazing coincidence! I think I will take it as a sign... stay tuned for future iterations of this game! Haha thanks for sharing this and thanks for thinking of me. Do you have a Twitter account or anything for your game designs? I'd love to keep track of what you are working on too.

Thank you for the feedback nonetheless. A big next step for me is to check out some of those programs so thanks for this list of suggestions. I think I will check out CardMaker.

Thank you Jeff, it has a lot of work but thank you for your words! I especially liked how you said it could be a game that educates people without being educational, that is my goal with all games I make! So thank you.

Yes thank you so much for taking a look at it Robin! I have absolutely learned a lot and I will be updating this game in the near future. I really appreciate you comments on the theme and roles, I will definitely use you words as motivation to make it better.

Thank you so much first of all for trying it. BELIEVE ME, I know it is a rough draft. A week is a short amount of time and I am very new to the game making scene. So your feedback is IMMENSELY appreciated and literally a pick-me-up since I was worried no one would even try my game.

I really agree with your input, there needs to be streamlining. After trudging through the rules writing, I agree that some mechanics simply need to be cut out or tweaked. I did originally want the players to build the forests as well, but it seems that is clunky and you are correct, no skill or player decision really involved in that part of the game. The whole point of the game is to prevent the forests from degrading due to negative kelp points from urchins or crabs. 

I like the thought of having humans play a bigger role, this would drive home the "save the environment" hook. And no worries, I am a biology teacher hooked on the idea of making ecosystem micro games so I am in it for the long haul so I will keep working at it. But my games only get better if people try them and give me feedback, so THANK YOU AGAIN. 

Also, sorry about printing it... that could be another reason why no one played it. It was my first attempt at a print and play and I had NO IDEA how to make one... I should give gimp a try. Right now I use Inkscape. I like Inkscape, but it sounds like it is not friendly to print.

Hey my wife and I played your game and we loved it! It went very smoothly, almost without hitch. I personally LOVED your theme and the mechanics. I loved mixing the secretive element along with the public element of scoring, and they seemed really balanced. Your pictures were super helpful and your rules were very well written. As a science teacher who is trying to make science themed games, I really appreciated your time and effort you put into explaining the science behind vaccines in your rules. THANK YOU!

I did have a couple of rules related questions:

1. Should there be a discard pile for the research cards? We almost ran out with just two players so I was thinking maybe we were discarding too much...

2. After we complete a row/column and we score points for a completed research card are we supposed to replace that research card we completed with a new research card? It did not say to do this in your rules, but we did it because it felt natural. 

3. If we complete a row and a column on the same turn, do we get to discard and replace 2 research cards and look at 2 secret disease cards?

Again, loved the game! In case you are keeping track of stats, we played it with 2 players. The score with just the research cards was 5 - 3. The score with the end game scoring with 4 - 5 with overall final scores of 9 - 8. 

Hey me and my wife played your game. We had  a lot of fun and we WON! I have further comments for you, but I chose to send it to you in a twitter message, so check there soon! Thanks for the opportunity, it was such a fun concept!

The "protect adjacent squares" upgrade was my favorite one! It protected my playground from garbage at least 3 times and was a huge reason why I was able to make a comeback. I feel like that upgrade and the "free bin it" one were most beneficial to me.

 I actually agree with you as far as the 2nd winning condition goes, makes sense to me. I cannot think of another way without losing the game's simplicity.

Hi Robin, my wife and I played your game tonight. We had a great time and really enjoyed it! We thought the theme was super fun and creative. We also loved how accessible it was, most of your components were things that we had already in our house. My wife loves set collection card games, especially Phase 10, so she loved this game. I sent you my notes and thoughts concerning your game mechanics and game play via twitter (I was not sure how to just message you on itch).

I really enjoyed playing your game! I tried it 1 player and it seemed to play just fine. I was nervous because I had 4 garbage explosions within my first 3 turns!! But I LOVED the upgrades because it really helped me to strategize and regain control. I was 1 garbage piece away from losing at one point, but ended up winning by gaining 6 upgrades. It did not feel like a win though because I did have so much garbage left on the map.

In case you are keeping track of stats... I made it to stage 4 on the progress sheet, played in normal mode, gained 6 upgrades (hold up to 4, adjacent square pick up, free move, free pick up, bin cost 0, protect adjacent squares) and had 14 garbage pieces in the end.

I had a few questions regarding the rules... 1. If the garbage explodes and one of the adjacent squares is a "mud" square, would I need to mark two squares on the stage tracker? 2. In the negative effect "add a mud spot" if I add a new mud spot but there is already a garbage piece on that new mud spot, do I need to mark a square in the stage tracker?  3. In the negative effect "roll an extra time" is that just a one time effect or is it now a permanent extra roll?  4. At game end, in the losing condition, does garbage that a player is holding count towards the end game losing condition? 

Last thing, I think there is a typo in the "Build a bin" description. I think you wanted to say "between four squares" and not "between 4 circles." Unless I am misunderstanding the rule.

Sorry this is really long... but I really enjoyed your game and was super impressed by how simple, challenging, and fun it was! Well done!

View the project page for a how to play video!

If anyone needs a video to help you learn how to play this game, I did make one. Having a hard time uploading it to this page so just shoot me a message and I will send it to you.