After replaying Dune II at Epic Port, I realized how much I enjoyed the resource management and base building aspects of the game. The combat is fine but I found myself wondering how much more fun a game like that could be if it took the wider elements of the Dune setting into account when developing mechanics.
Dune II has detailed mechanics for base building, power management, space management, spice harvesting and storage, radar and cartography, worms & wormsign, manufacturing, and terrain types.
What I find problematic is that combat is the only way to win the game. I think that only includes the smallest sliver of the Dune setting, and that you could create a hugely entertaining game by creating mechanics to support the other parts of the setting.
Let's start with additional ways to win. Currently military dominance is the only path to victory. In 4x games, there are usually 4 ways to win: diplomacy / politics, economics, science, and military.
A 4x game is a complex strategic game with multiple avenues to victory.
Let's take a look at what the Dune setting offers for each of those victory methods.
Diplomacy / Politics:
The player garners enough influence to earn their ascension to the Landsraad / Imperial Throne. Influence would be gained through relationships developed with other factions. Influence includes both positive and negative reputation. Actions that alter influence would be worker treatment, people's rights, trading, assassination, assistance, charity, and law enforcement.
Economics:
The player corners the market on spice export from Arrakis, forcing the other factions to surrender. Economic supremacy would be gained through harvesting, researching more efficient technologies and structures, sabotaging opponent's infrastructure, theft, control of all spaceports on Arrakis, and volume of spice.
Science:
The player discovers the secret relationship between the Worms and the Spice, and uses this information to either smuggle a worm off-planet to another ecosystem, or taking the planet hostage by threatening to kill the worms, or terraforming the surface to change the ecosystem.
Military:
The player seizes control of Arrakis by defeating the other martial forces on the planet. Researching military technologies, conquering territories, garrisons and infiltration all help a military victory.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Friday, March 17, 2017
Deck Building Adventure Game, Part 3: First steps
So now that I've got my goals ready (Challenge, Fellowship, and Expression) it's time to build what the game is.
Italic is a game mechanic term
Bold is a thematic term
Who:
The game is built for Player(s). The target group is teens through adults because of the complexity of the interactions. The themes of the game would suit players that enjoy cooperative games with strong thematics, a moderate amount of chance, and many options. The game is not designed for those who desire strictly low chance, a competitive atmosphere, or an abstract setting.
What: (The big one)
I want a game where the player acts to [ overcome challenges using the resources available to them ]. That's the core gameplay loop - most of the play in the game will be this.
A supporting loop is that [ overcoming challenges provides additional resources ] and that [ failing to overcome challenges provides penalties ].
[ Failing too many or key challenges will result in a Lose condition ].
The challenges for a match are selected from a large pool.
Challenges are divided into Sets that share a Theme or Setting.
Where:
Physical copies of the game are built to be played on a table with ample space. Digital copies would be suitable for Windows, Android, and iOS.
When:
1-2 years of hobby time to generate the game, test it, and make prototypes
Why:
To have a cooperative game that combines the play of deck builders with the progression and persistence of adventure games
Italic is a game mechanic term
Bold is a thematic term
Who:
The game is built for Player(s). The target group is teens through adults because of the complexity of the interactions. The themes of the game would suit players that enjoy cooperative games with strong thematics, a moderate amount of chance, and many options. The game is not designed for those who desire strictly low chance, a competitive atmosphere, or an abstract setting.
What: (The big one)
I want a game where the player acts to [ overcome challenges using the resources available to them ]. That's the core gameplay loop - most of the play in the game will be this.
A supporting loop is that [ overcoming challenges provides additional resources ] and that [ failing to overcome challenges provides penalties ].
[ Failing too many or key challenges will result in a Lose condition ].
The challenges for a match are selected from a large pool.
Challenges are divided into Sets that share a Theme or Setting.
Where:
Physical copies of the game are built to be played on a table with ample space. Digital copies would be suitable for Windows, Android, and iOS.
When:
1-2 years of hobby time to generate the game, test it, and make prototypes
Why:
To have a cooperative game that combines the play of deck builders with the progression and persistence of adventure games
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Deck Building Adventure Game, Part 2: Goals and Research
Goals
By defining the goal of the game first, I can measure every mechanic against that goal to determine if it furthers the objective or interferes with it. Using Marc LeBlanc's Eight Kinds of Fun, I've listed the types of fun the game should provide in order of importance:
- Challenge <- Primary
The core concept of this game is to generate challenge. The game presents a problem and various tools; the players must then find a way to solve the problem with the tools at hand.
- Fellowship
A secondary consideration is the feeling you get from cooperating to accomplish a goal. Mechanics should reinforce cooperation and interaction.
- Discovery
The feeling of experimentation with card combinations and seeing new interactions created by different game systems interacting.
- Expression
Playing a deck styled after tactics you prefer and find satisfying
- Narrative <- Secondary
Framing the context and theme of the game in a way where players can construct a narrative out of the sequential events.
- Fantasy
Imagining yourself in the situation implied by the cards
- Sensation <- Tertiary
The tactile feel of the cards, the duende of the art
- Submission
Using the game to pass time
When designing mechanics and dynamics, they should refer to each of these priorities. With all this in mind, here is the basic template for my deck building adventure game:
A Cooperative (Felloswhip) deck-builder (expression) where the players work together to defeat obstacles provided by the Game deck (challenge).
New Project! Deck Building Adventure Game, Part 1
This post is about another project I'm starting. The goal is to combine the play mechanics of a deck building game with the character progression and exploration mechanics from an adventure or dungeon crawler game, with a narrative generating bent.
I've enjoyed deck building games since I first tried Dominion a few years ago. I like that deck builders combine the tactics of playing Collectible Card Games (Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh, Shadowverse) and the strategy of assembling a deck beforehand.
I also enjoyed the stories that are generated by playing through strongly themed deck building games like Legendary Encounters: Alien, and other games like Imperial Assault and Hand of Fate.
I want to fuse the two in order to create a hybrid experience.
I've enjoyed deck building games since I first tried Dominion a few years ago. I like that deck builders combine the tactics of playing Collectible Card Games (Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh, Shadowverse) and the strategy of assembling a deck beforehand.
I also enjoyed the stories that are generated by playing through strongly themed deck building games like Legendary Encounters: Alien, and other games like Imperial Assault and Hand of Fate.
I want to fuse the two in order to create a hybrid experience.
Monday, March 13, 2017
Tabletop Spaceship Wargame Design Part 10, Researching Firestorm Armada v2
Firestorm Armada is a fleet system that is as complex as Battlefleet Gothic but using different mechanics to accomplish dynamics.
Weapons roll pools of six sided dice to determine how effective the shots are at damaging the target.
Weapons have a profile that describes how many dice they roll at each range. These dice are rolled and compared to
Dice that turn up as a 6 'explode' and add another die to the pool. Instead of each success dealing a point of damage, the total number of successes are compared to the target's armor. If successes >= Armor, the ship takes a hit.
After testing out the game I found the exploding dice to be untenable. It resulted in lots of unfun situations, either impossible comebacks or annihilating any chance of a comeback.
The armor system also generates situations where a ship's turn results in nothing if they don't score enough hits. For me that doesn't fly. My target is a few ships, so each activation should be impactful. With the armor system, perfect tactics can be denied an effect due heavily to dice rolls.
Weapons roll pools of six sided dice to determine how effective the shots are at damaging the target.
Weapons have a profile that describes how many dice they roll at each range. These dice are rolled and compared to
Dice that turn up as a 6 'explode' and add another die to the pool. Instead of each success dealing a point of damage, the total number of successes are compared to the target's armor. If successes >= Armor, the ship takes a hit.
After testing out the game I found the exploding dice to be untenable. It resulted in lots of unfun situations, either impossible comebacks or annihilating any chance of a comeback.
The armor system also generates situations where a ship's turn results in nothing if they don't score enough hits. For me that doesn't fly. My target is a few ships, so each activation should be impactful. With the armor system, perfect tactics can be denied an effect due heavily to dice rolls.
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