Game Chef Entry: Vovetas

So I wrote an entry for Game Chef this year called Vovetas. It's a card game. I've included the link in case anyone would like to take a look:

Vovetas game and cards

I got my feedback on it today, and I'm really torn. On the one hand, people were intrigued enough to actually try to dig into the mechanics and tell me where they thought it needed more work (lots of it needs more work -- it hasn't been playtested yet). On the other hand, the theme seemed to go right over their heads. I didn't get accused of appropriation, which I pretty much expected, so that's something. I just also didn't manage to make a connection with people that I thought I made pretty obvious. The Game Chef ingredients are, I felt, crucial to the game, but a number of my reviewers simply didn't see it. I'm more disheartened by this than I want to be.

I have a goal to actually playtest this, refine it, and bring it to market. I'm going to press forward with this, since the bulk of the game design is actually done, and card games are a direction we've been thinking about at Growling Door for a while now. I'll start playtesting this summer -- if anyone else would like to playtest it and send me feedback, please grab the link above and give it a shot. It works for 3-5 players, and so testing at all levels is helpful. Maybe if I put this through its paces, I'll feel better about it and it'll start to gel. Thanks!