Once I created the first handwritten version of the game on printer paper, I had my roommate-and-best-friend, David Beck, play it with me. And to my surprise, we both had a blast. Winning the house, setting it on fire, fighting over the kids—we both became those horrible people I wanted to lampoon. For the next half hour, we were laughing hysterically. I knew I was onto something.

I hadn’t come up with items in the earliest version of the game, simply referring to things by their monetary value. “Much Better Thing” was obviously much better than “Better Thing.” But, this system didn’t play into what the game was really about.

Ultimately, the core gameplay mechanic is decision-making. Every turn, players are presented two options. But, they shouldn’t simply think about what they want. They should also be thinking about what they want to deprive from their exes. When items were so clearly “better” than one another, it takes away from the difficulty of the decision-making process. I had to obfuscate it somehow.

Winning over the children can be very expensive.

That’s how the child appeal system came into play. In the original version of the game, players would simply win their kids through legal battles. However, it became much more interesting to make custody an end-game result. Taking certain items would increase your appeal to “Billy” or “Sally.” All of a sudden, no item was necessarily “better” than the others. Perhaps getting a $2K Billy item is more valuable than the $10K ring. You do want to win over the kids, right?

I loved playing with the paper version of our game. Eventually, all the cards were marked with scribbles and notes, changing values whenever it seemed like things needed to be rebalanced. But, I needed to start testing the game with more people, and I needed something a bit more playable than flimsy paper. So, I ordered a test deck from Printer Studio. It cost about $10, and I could keep it in my bag whenever I found an opportunity to play with strangers.

Photo via @ignitewonder

I would go to tea shops and pester nerdy/dorky-looking couples if they would like to test my game. To my surprise, a lot of people said “yes.” To my relief, a lot of them actually enjoyed playing. I would take feedback, asking players what they liked, what they would change, and took down notes.

Almost universally, players complained about there being too much math, especially at the end of the game. (It’s a good idea I abandoned that imaginary number game!) Figuring out who had “won” each child was cumbersome, in addition to calculating the value of all the goods that players had accumulated.

The solution I had figured out: make less stuff. In the original version of the game, there were 26 Possession cards. In the latest version of the game, there are now only 14. Making such a sweeping change had a number of effects. Firstly, it makes math at the end of the game much easier: there are simply less cards to add up. It also reduces the amount of available cash in the game, forcing players to sell their goods to get cash to use their lawyers. (And in turn, that reduces the number of cards by the end of the game as well.) Finally, it allowed me to add many more “Instant” cards that typically have hilarious effects. My personal favorite card? The “Alimony” card, which takes half of a player’s cash and gives it to the other player.

As my roommate and I continued to play Divorce!, I was afraid that I would get tired of playing it. How could such a simple game have any lasting appeal? Play testers managed to assuage my fears by coming up with strategies I never considered.

The most powerful and expensive lawyer card in the game.

I remember one player asked me: “Can I burn my other lawyers?” Whoa! The Burn lawyer was created with the intent of burning down the house and car. But murder seemed perfectly acceptable in this over-the-top take on divorce. I said “yes” and simply watched what happened.

Players managed to find all sorts of ways to break the game. Some strategies have now become integral parts of the game. The Offshore Account, for example, wouldn’t have become such a critical card if it weren’t for these early test sessions. Other exploits, I knew I had to “patch” right away.

One aspect of the game I wasn’t particularly satisfied with was the Legal Battle mechanic. Throwing lots of dice were noisy, made a mess of the cards, and relied too much on luck.

There was a lot of brainstorming involved. My roommate suggested that I take away the unique abilities of the lawyers and give every player equal access to them (it wasn’t fun). I tried using different dice for each lawyer (it was too confusing). At the end of the day, the Legal Card system won out. Each Legal Card would feature a 1, 0, or an Instant Win. Each lawyer gives one free card during each battle, and players can buy more before revealing their scores. That adds value to the lawyers, adds some level of mystery and luck, and encourages players to burn through their money to gain the advantage. It is quite possibly my favorite aspect of the game right now.

The Legal Battle system went through many iterations before we were satisfied.

After a few months, I discovered I was having more fun with Divorce! than I ever have. Games actually became longer, as decisions were becoming more tense. More and more, players were shouting: “I shouldn’t have given you that card!” Although shuffling the deck makes the appearance of cards random, players felt complete control over their actions. Eventually, we ended up coining the phrase “regret simulator.” Players would typically lose because of one critical mistake they made during the course of a game.

At this point, I hadn’t figured out how or when I would release Divorce! But then, one day I got an email from Penny Arcade Expo, one of gaming’s largest conventions. A panel I had submitted to them about tabletop games was approved. I would have an audience of hundreds of people. I realized this was a huge opportunity. Should I try to launch the game at PAX?

I decided I had to. Although I would have loved more time to work on design and the marketing campaign, I realized I couldn’t squander this opportunity. If I didn’t take the plunge now, then I would have to wait until 2015. And I didn’t want to sit idly by until then.

The very first art created for Divorce!

I wanted to have a Kickstarter campaign ready in time for the expo. But that meant I had to hire an artist and a graphic designer to create a product that looked professionally created. I had looked through a number of freelance artists, but my roommate told me that he thought his friend Anne Baltazar would be a perfect fit. I was skeptical at first, especially because she had no portfolio of previous work. As much as I wanted to work with friends, I had no reason to hire her.

And then she drew this beautiful image of a sleazy lawyer, burning documents. I took one look at it and said “perfect.”

With Anne on board, it didn’t take long for me to find other friends to join me on this crazy ride. Sunny Nguyen had just finished his career at OTIS and his talent was obvious. I would be proud to have him work as our graphic designer. Beck would slowly become the game’s producer. He had become someone that shared my vision and enthusiasm for Divorce!

Finally, I had amazing friends that would help me in ways I never expected or asked for. Thank you especially to Diana Liao, who became our “community manager” simply because she could. She even wrote a song for our game.