In the span of slightly more than one week, Villanostra has gone from this:
To this:
By focusing on the most important aspects of the game–voting on buildings and influencing workers to build them–I dramatically reduced the ruleset, play time, and component count. A three-player test session went from being unfinishable in two hours to completing in 45 minutes (including time for teaching rules and post-game analysis). Ideas from playtesters led to combining the voting and influence tokens, which led to each councilor having distinct moral-based abilities, which also resolved issues with ally selection. The whole game feels more smooth and elegant. Playtesters were enthusiastic.
Next step: Add mechanisms that threaten the village as a whole. I now have some confidence that I can do so without making the game too heavy for the players I want.
Thanks to all my Protospiel Online playtesters for your time, thoughts, and encouragement!
And thanks to The Pitch Project for putting me through the sell sheet process, which helped me clarify and focus upon the core of the game.