by Courtney Shernan

One day in the summer of 2019, I was sitting on the couch with my little loaf Trixie, watching her lick my hand over and over, so I would keep petting her. It made me think about all of the ways that she would get me to do things for her, like standing by the front door so I would take her for a walk or groaning at her food bowl, so I would feel guilty and feed her an early dinner. And then I thought, “There’s a board game here!”

I thought about different game mechanics and decided to create a deck building game with an inviting and accessible theme of being a silly, spoiled dog. I really enjoyed playing deck-building games, but I knew how intimidating they were for me at first and that a lot of my friends and family felt similarly. My goal was to make a game that introduced deck building as a mechanic and captured the strategy under the guise of a cute, light-hearted dog game where you “learn” new dog behaviors to build your deck. The behavior cards would be things like “Wag Tail” and “Sit on the Human’s Lap” that you could play to gain “cuteness”. With enough cuteness, you could complete objectives like “Get a Treat” or “Get Belly Rubs” as a dog trying to get their human to give them what they want.

I spent the whole weekend brainstorming, typing up cards in Word, and printing them out. There were going to be so many fun elements, like polka dot accessories and little rain booties you could add to your deck to make your dog extra cute. I got everything together for the prototype I envisioned, and then I just couldn’t play it. Not that it was unplayable (although it very well could have been) – I just couldn’t bring myself to play it. I thought to myself that there was no way I could design a board game, and I didn’t feel like I had anything even remotely new to offer. I shelved it, and I felt ridiculous for even trying.

A year later in the summer of 2020, my husband and I were quarantining at home and started playing Gloomhaven regularly. I love how the game makes you determine the optimal time to play specific cards from your hand while having the option to get your cards back by resting. I remembered the work I put into Treat, Please! a year earlier, and I thought it would be fun to implement a similar rest mechanic, where dogs could choose to “Take a Nap” to get their behavior cards back from their discard pile, rather than having to wait until they’ve fully cycled through their deck. At that point, I decided to eliminate the deck element of the game entirely, leaving players with just their growing hand of behavior cards and their discard pile.

At this point in my life, I was looking for any kind of creative outlet to focus my attention, and I figured there was no harm in trying to see this through. The idea of having my own board game on my shelf had been a dream for a long time. I went back to my old prototype and completely reworked all of the cards. I also added a board with a house layout to the game, where you could only play certain behaviors if you were in the corresponding room of the house (e.g., you had to be in the kitchen to “Lick the Dirty Dishes”), and the human was also roaming around doing different things, which impacted your ability to get their attention.

After many iterations of playtesting by myself, my husband happily agreed to playtest. His first piece of feedback: get rid of the board! He was totally right; it was completely unnecessary and overcomplicated the game. Instead, I created an event deck, so I could maintain the feeling of the human doing different activities with implications for you as dog. One of my favorites is “The human is putting away laundry”, which gives you the option to “Run away with a sock” for attention.

From there, I had a very rough prototype that resembles Treat, Please! in the form it’s in today:

Playtesting

I knew I needed to start playtesting early and often, but without being able to see my friends and family in person, my options felt limited. My friends and I had been using a digital platform for virtual D&D sessions, and I realized that if I could make my game digitally, my D&D friends would be able to playtest too!

I started off playtesting with my DND friends in August 2020, and it really helped build my confidence with explaining the rules and listening to constructive feedback. I quickly realized that I would need to expand my playtesting circle if I wanted to continue improving the game. My friends suggested that I join the PlaytestNW Discord, the server for a local playtesting group that shifted to virtual playtesting during the pandemic. I was so nervous to join my first Sunday playtesting session and told myself that I would just go to playtest and observe the first time. I reassured myself that if I had a terrible time and felt unwelcome that I could find other opportunities elsewhere. But I couldn’t have been more wrong; I was immediately greeted by the most welcoming community of game designers and playtesters, and it was amazing to see games at all different stages of development. I started regularly attending and eventually got the nerve to sign up Treat, Please! for playtesting in October 2020.

After joining PlaytestNW, my design journey started accelerating, and I was eager for more opportunities to playtest. That is when I learned about the Break My Game (BMG) Discord server, with playtesting events almost every day of the week! After attending my first BMG playtest, I knew it was the perfect place for me. One of the things that stood out to me the most was how well-moderated their playtesting events are and how supportive the community is, which made me feel comfortable sharing my game and receiving feedback from complete strangers. After being a member of the community for awhile, I became a moderator and eventually a playtest event host. Hosting playtests was an absolute blast, and I loved seeing how other designers’ games would progress over time. These online groups also helped me find other opportunities to playtest and network, such as Protospiel Online, Nonepub, and the Tabletop Mentorship Program.

There are countless improvements that I made to the game thanks to input from playtesters, but here are a few of the highlights:

• Removing negative interactions and focusing on positive, communal effects to lean into the idea that this is a household full of dogs that are competitive but love each other.

• Shortening the game from 10 to 7 rounds and structuring it as a week in the life of a dog, providing the opportunity to ramp up gameplay during the last 2 rounds of the game (i.e., “the weekend”).

• Reducing the burden of taking a nap by allowing you to play one of your behaviors if you take a short nap instead of losing your whole turn.

Once it became safe to meet up with others, I was so excited to start playtesting in person. Local conventions like Dragonflight and OrcaCon were amazing experiences to connect with my desired audience: dog lovers!

Pitching

Initially, I planned to self-publish Treat, Please!. However, my plans changed when I was invited to participate in the “Feedback Frenzy” pitching event at the online Nonepub convention in January 2021. I never considered the possibility that a publisher might be interested in my game, so the idea of pitching hadn’t crossed my mind until then.

For the event, I pitched to a panel of publishers and game designers and got immediate feedback on my pitch – all of which was livestreamed during the convention. It was a terrifying but exhilarating experience, and honestly, it felt like I was in my element. It made me wonder why I hadn’t considered pitching previously, and I started to believe I had a chance to successfully pitch to an interested publisher if I could find more opportunities like this.

I sought out other opportunities to pitch directly to publishers, including a speed pitching event on Discord through the Tabletop Mentorship Program and other virtual pitch practice events. During a pitch practice event on the Weird Giraffe Games Discord server in March 2021, I pitched to Chris Solis of Solis Game Studio, who reached out afterward requesting to play. We quickly set up a time to play digitally, and then he requested that I send him a physical prototype. It was immediately clear that he understood what I was trying to accomplish with the game, and I was thrilled that someone believed in me and my vision. After some back and forth, I signed Treat, Please! with Solis Game Studio in May 2021.

Design Development

Once the game was signed, Solis Game Studio took the reins and formed an incredible team to take Treat, Please! from a prototype (with a severe lack of cute dog art) to a polished game. I was responsible for playtesting as we worked on some gameplay changes together. At this point, I was focused on playtesting in person, so I could get detailed feedback from playtesters about all aspects of the game, particularly pacing and how the physical components felt.

I was so fortunate that Solis Game Studio encouraged me to be actively involved in the final development of the game and that I was able to provide input on the art and graphic design as it was being worked on. It brings me so much joy to see many of the dogs in my life shine in the adorable artwork of Kiem Hollis.

A love letter to Trixie, and hello to a new friend…

Trixie crossed the rainbow bridge in February 2024 after a battle with cancer. The day we found out there was nothing else we could do to make her comfortable and that it was time to say goodbye was one of the worst days of my life. I don’t know how else to describe my love for her other than saying she was my doggie soulmate. I am so grateful for all of the memories we made together that will continue to fill my life with joy, and I’m grateful for this game that will always bring me right back to those times with her.

We welcomed a new friend, Louie, to our family last year, and we’ve enjoyed learning his quirks and the unique things he does for attention. Like how he growls quietly and stares at you until you lift up a blanket for him to go under or how he loves to jump onto the window sill and sleep in the sun. He is a silly, sneaky boy with a loving personality that has been so special to see as he has settled into our home.

Trixie and Louie have brought an immeasurable amount of joy and love into my life. One of my favorite parts of playtesting was hearing players talk about their dogs and seeing connections form between complete strangers over their shared love of dogs. My hope is that Treat, Please! will encourage players to reminisce about all of the fun and silly memories they have with the dogs in their lives.

I’m so excited to share that Treat, Please! is now available on Solis Game Studio’s website here. And please feel free to share your favorite doggo quirks and stories below – I would love to hear all about your wonderful pets!

And lastly, I just want to say that if you’re toying with the idea of designing your own game, do it. I wish I could go back and tell myself in 2019 to stick with it. Even if Treat, Please! didn’t end up being published, I am so proud of the skills I’ve gained during this journey and grateful for the communities that welcomed me along the way. If there is anything I can do to help you on your journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out.