Plenty of Ammo

2 Weeks since I've been back from Cologne, Germany, after my 4th GDC Eu / Gamescom.

Managed to get a spot as a Conference Associate again, and it was a blast seeing my friends and making new ones. Went on swag runs, took advantage of free food at parties, expanded my network, and yes, even played some games.

Brought a few games with me this year. Bought Orleans for myself and enjoying losing, Tier Auf Tier for my brother/nephew and even got a free game for free - Gremlins inc.

The conferences were a little disappointing. Most GDC sessions didn't seem that interesting, The games I was most excited about had exclusive videos rather than hands-on gameplay, and I didn't have my friend Alex to get me inside places.

I know I'm going to have a lot of inspiration and ideas from what I did experience, so maybe this blog will see the frequency of posts go up.

Having gained some insight on what makes League of Legends such an exciting e-sport, the first thing that comes to my mind is the lack of turn based entries for professional gaming.

The idea I'm currently mulling over is an arcade flight sim, with timed turns that play simultaneously, with challenges coming from choosing an aircraft and weapons to suit the play style, then carefully maneuvering the aircraft into the correct position, and predicting where the enemy might end up during his turn,

Who knows if something like that would be appealing enough to be as popular as Star Craft or LOL, even if I do make it, but that's the way it goes.  

Post Conference Ideas

Bigor, the Israel convention for roleplaying, miniature, and board games was earlier this week, during the still ongoing passover holiday.

I've played some games I was familiar with, as well as a few new ones, including Yinsh, Cavemen: The Search for Fire and Kings of Israel.

Some were better than others, but the most influential so far has been the Pathfinder card game.

The idea of a co-op game where you can not only customize your deck to match your own style as play but help your teammates during the post scenario trading phase seemed different to me, and I started thinking about implementing and expanding this idea into video games.

I guess MOBAs have some of these elements of helping other people build their characters and form strategies to defend and attack on multiple fronts, but I think it could be pushed even further - if killing mobs gave out experience points to the entire team, which needs to decide on how to distribute it.

What if different characters were suited for different tasks, which would unlock equipment best used by team members going after different goals?

How about players unlocking abilities for their teammates but not themselves?

A game based on combat and magic linking all these abilities seems like the easiest and obvious choice, but I've also given some thoughts to some more unusual themes such as city building, or flying an airship.

Post-KGC Thoughts

The theme of this year's KGC was "Hello World Beyond Korea," and many of the talks that were either in English or simultaneously translated had been about localization, and a lot of that had been about art styles.
One of the keynote speeches was about the Oculus and how much potential it has for exposure when compared with the flooded PC and mobile markets.
I also sat through a session talking about the production of Tearaway, a game with a very fresh papercraft art style, developed by Media Molecule, the guys who made Little Big Planet, another game with an unusual crafted look to it.

All these elements came together for me in the form of an idea of a Super Sentai game for the Oculus rift, putting the player in command of a sword wielding mega robot, trying to defend a city from giant monsters.
I think that taking the cheesy route isn't something that we see a lot and could have a lot of international appeal. Monsters would look a suit built around a person with a central theme, buildings looking like models with camera angles to make them look larger, colorful and nonsensical explosions all the time, and more.
While most of the Movies and TV shows that inspired this - the Super Sentai / Power Rangers series, Ultraman, Godzilla, Voltron, use cool themes for their monsters such as animals and vehicles, I'm trying to think of weird ideas to make my game more unique - such as a mutated chair. ;)

I'm also giving some thought to the control scheme - I don't really see myself strapped into an omnitread  to walk around a virtual world, so they should revolve around a game pad. I've been thinking of giving it "loose" controls, like you find in Octodad or Surgeon Simulator.
I think it fits the Power Rangers theme, in which a group of teenagers jump into a giant robot and somehow they all coordinate their attacks together via gesture.

Looking to the Stars for Inspiration

First, a confession: I forgot my game idea. I remembered it was a good one, so I came back to this very blog, and reading my posts sparked inspiration for a new round of ideas.

Been thinking about Race for the Galaxy and how they didn't introduce combat rules until the 3rd expansion. I hear it's a bad mechanic, but I like the idea of having a game in which you build your engine toward your goal without someone else tearing it down, though they can obstruct your way as they build their own.

To this end I have been looking at the Star Wars universe as my main source of inspiration, and chewing on whether there is enough in if I remove all the combat.
Political intrigue, trading via legal and illegal means, bounty hunters, and more go along in the background, so I think there is something to work with.

I've also been thinking of some of the 4X video games I've played, such as Master of Orion and Civilization and looking for ideas - possible victory conditions in particular.

As I was typing this, I actually thought to look some things up, and an idea sparked - what if instead of playing a supreme leader type of role players took the role of some sort of galactic criminal. Like Firefly, I guess? (Not a huge fan of the series.)

Racing with Shapes

A game idea popped into my head as I was driving home after the regularly scheduled game night, though it had little to do with the games I actually played.

As I was trying to think of an alternate mechanic from the other racing games I know, I came up with an idea to use different shapes to represent how a player moves his vehicle around a track.
There would be several categories, such as tight curves, open corners, s-curves and a straight or two. Each category would have a number of similar curves shapes, each placed in a separate bag.
A player would choose a bag to pull from, perhaps by using some other mechanic, such as a card from his hand, and attempt to place the curve on the track, starting from his vehicle, hoping to make it fit on the track he is racing on. If he cannot, there will be a damage system in place, which may lead to his elimination.
Curves will be double sided, so that a right turn can be flipped to make a left turn.

I'm leaning towards a sci-fi theme, including weapons.

I also think a campaign mode would work well here. Different race tracks would be provided.
After one is complete, players will assess how they did in the races in a variety of ways, such as the number of curves needed to finish, weapon use, damage taken, etc. and use this information to improve driver skills (one example of an improved skill: pull 2 shapes from the bag, choosing the one believed to be a better fit.)
Winning a race will equal points for the season as well as money to allow for even more personalization.

Enjoying Star Control 3

I know this game gets a lot of beef, especially from fans of Star Control 1 and 2. There's no denying that Accolade mistreated Toys for Bob which is a shame. I'd like to see what these guys would have come up with as a sequel.

Maybe we'll see a new Star Control in spirit if not in name yet.

Star Control 3 may not be considered canon by the hardcore fans. It may have problems, such as from sitting around in the same spot waiting for fuel, weak AI on enemy ships, and the Syreen losing all sex appeal, but I'm having a hard time not playing it.

After playing little else outside of social games, I no longer have to worry about waiting an hour or two to regain my energy so I can go back to the game to click on a few more things. Instead I struggle with quitting the game, as I tell myself I'll only go to one last planet before I go to sleep.

I enjoy the story, the voice acting (set my phone notification to "We are the Mycon, we respond,") the funky puppets, and the wining the fights when the computer provides more challenge than just trying to stay as far as possible.

I wonder to myself if I'll ever be able to spin quite a delightful yarn, while thinking of the different directions I could take.
I think when I finish the game, I'll start playing Shadow of the Colossus, which I never got around to, before I check out the Ur-Quan Masters and what the fans have done with the source code.

Thoughts going out to space again

Been walking on the beach, thinking how I couldn't extract a decent sound from X-Com UFO defense to serve as a notification on my phone. I managed to extract the bubbly button sound I wanted, but it's full of hiss and sometimes doesn't play correctly (that might be the phone or the conversion from .wav to .mp3)

Then the "We are the Mycon" bit from Star Control 3 came to me, and I thought I would try to get my hands on that (proving even more difficult to find, now that I'm home,) which got me thinking about this wonderful series of games again.

If I did something similar, I would like to make ships much more difficult to obtain, with a lot of questing and politics to go through to add one to your fleet. They, in turn, would be much more powerful, customizable and unique to each species. Combat would need to be changed as a result, so the quick melee battles where you bounce like crazy around the screen would have to be replaced with a turn-based or a slower real time system.

I'd also find a way of incorporating research, because research in games in the bomb.

Blood Sweat and Tears

Just some possible theme ideas for my current obsession for a board game with campaign.

Winning player of the first game would be able to pick from blood, sweat or tears, affecting the way the game will play in the future, with subsequent winners having similar choices. Losers will get consolation prizes which will increase their outlook with the frame the winner dictated.

Blood is the aspect of magic, coming from the places in which it is cast. This would introduce more random elements to the game.

Sweat in the physical aspect, brute force in numbers.

Tears are the aspect of faith, power coming from artifacts. Area of effect, indirect fighting.

Syrupy Soldiers

Came up with some preliminary unit types and distribution for 4 players for my Candy Land reconstruction game, in a handy visual aid.



Naturally this would need some play testing for balancing, but the basic idea is this:
Whenever an equal number of forces meet, they are both removed. When one side is stronger than the other, only the loser removes his pieces, giving the winner a chance to advance on his next turn.

King Kandy's Knights are equal to 2 foot soldiers, but follow all normal rules of movement otherwise.
Most units will have to stop at a space where there are other units, even if the player picked up a card that would move him beyond these soldiers. Princess Lolly's spies may ignore this rule.
Gloop doesn't have special units, instead relying on superior numbers of footmen.
Lord Licorice's Legionnaires can push units back at one unit per legionnaire, breaking enemy formations, i.e. a legionnaire moving into a space with 2 footmen can make one of them move into the space behind it, leaving one in the space it is occupying. If it also came with a footman, the Licorice player would win.

War in Sweetland

Been doing my regular walk on the beach, thinking about game genres and annoying mechanics when I started thinking of Candy Land and the possibilities of improving it.
The main complaint people (according to the Ludology podcast and The Dice Tower) generally have about it is the lack of choice, so I came up with a very different game.

The same familiar colored cards, brightly colored track and cheerful characters would be used.
While cards could be used to move pawns, one could also choose to use the very same cards to recruit and upgrade troops, used to attack other players in a tug of war, eventually over running them to be the ruler of "Sweet Land."

Players would have variable powers, from the number of troops, to upgrade powers and special spaces on the board itself.

Pretty simple game, but maybe it will be a good one.

4X: Player Boards - Ships

Made a rough mock-up of the spaceship player board (each player will also have a board representing a colony.)
Each ship will be separated into 6 main areas:



-RESEARCH: Each player will start with one scientist meeple, moving it around according to the area which they want to research. Possible effect on this area might include additional scientist or blocking a wedge.

-FIRE CONTROL: Combat may only be initiated when this module is available. May be upgraded with add-ons that provide combat benefits, such as modifying dice rolls or drawing additional cards.

-SENATE: (maybe I can think up a better name) Necessary for political maneuvering, such as alliances or spying. Add-ons will allow for more of these actions, as diplomats (and spies?) can be dropped of on colonies belonging to other players.

-CARGO BAY: The trading module. Can store various goods to be traded with other players or otherwise. I need to do some thinking about this mechanic. More space for goods can be added.

-CONSTRUCTION YARD: Needed to build colonies, ship add-ons, repairing damage, etc. Add-ons would add more of these actions.

-BRIDGE: The core of the ship, destroying this module will force the player to rebuild a ship at his home planet. I don't want any player knocked out of the game, especially due to an unlucky roll, so how much he suffers would need to go down to play testing. Might just go back home and lose one turn to rebuild, or lose goods and add-ons as well. This part might have some add-ons as well, perhaps parts that would protect the bridge or additional improvements.

I may rearrange the parts, as they are linked to combat. Once you lose a fit, your opponent rolls a die to determine which module gets disabled. With a dice modification mechanice, a roll of 2 might be changed to a 1 or 3 to disable a different area according to the winner's wishes. No such ability would apply when losing to anything other than another player's ship.

4X: Combat System

I wanted to have a combat system different from the usual dice rolling I see in similar games, and having card based research naturally brought me to card based combat. Currently thinking of a system based on Donald X. Vaccarino's Dominion. A played would start with a basic hand, Say (x2) 1 damage dealing cards (Basic Laser) (x5) 1 damage preventing cards (Basic Shield) and (x3) Misses to foul up the hand. When facing another player, each will draw 5 and compare - lasers will deal damage, unless negated by a shield. Damage will be dealt both ways, and an attacker may regret his decision. The defender may choose to continue the attack, or may choose to disengage. Through research, better cards may be added to the deck, from pure damage dealing or prevention (advanced laser, advanced shield) as well as special effects, such as a tractor beam to prevent enemy disengagement or guided missiles to target specific systems on enemy ships (something I'll expand on in a future post) Combat may also be engaged against assets belonging to other players (colonies) or to the set up of the game. These could have a set power (i.e. deal 3 damage, counter 4) and the player would need to draw a hand able to defeat it to gain control. After hands have been drawn, they will be placed in a discard pile, and a new hand drawn from the player's deck during the next phase. The discard would be shuffled back into the deck whenever the player needs to draw more to complete a hand of 5 (or more, if he has picked up a card that lets him do so from the appropriate research stack.) A player be able to rearrange his or her deck at a friendly location, replacing cards he doesn't want (such as 'miss' cards) for those he has drawn from the combat research deck. I would need some play testing, but I assume limitations could help the game, such as only replacing 2 cards per turn while in a docking station, with research improving this statistic, or allowing to do so without docking. I think I need to give some more thought on disengaging, and whether an attacker can simply reengage when it is his turn again.

4X Board Game - First thoughts

I am a gamer. Video are my entertainment, inspiration, and I hope that someday soon I can make a career out of creating art for games. About a year ago I was introduced to Settlers of Catan, and I feel in love. It was such a different experience than the Monopolies, Trivial Pursuits and other Ameritrash and I started looking for more of these experiences wherever I went. Snakes and Lattes was practically the only thing I went out for when I last visited my family in Thornhill, ON for 10 days. As someone who enjoys these forms of entertainment so much, I have my own ideas on what I would like to experience, and rather than keep it to myself, I figured it couldn't hurt to write it somewhere, even if no one is likely to see it, judging from my main art blog with it's 19 subscribers. ;) The latest idea floating in my head is about translating the 4X in space computer game experience into a board game. Conquering space is nothing new to board games, and I've played a few: Eclipse, Ad Astra, Galactic Encounters and Star Trek: Fleet Commanders come to mind. None of these, or others I've heard of, have a satisfying research system (with Eclipse being the closest) so I started thinking on how I could do it. Down to business: I think cards would give me the best solution for research. There would be several stacks to choose from, representing different fields of research with a general idea of what advantages these cards would have for the rest of the game. The game would have different victory conditions, such as focusing on combat or research, and these could be mixed and matched to adapt to other players or the cards you have been dealt.