Speedpainting: Star Wars

Quick speed painting to celebrate the new Star Wars teaser trailer.

Game Commercial

Character Sketch

Quick character sketch attempting Richard Anderson's/flaptraps style

Print and Play: Star Conflict

Star Conflict- Outmaneuver Your Opponent In High-Speed Combat.
Finally finished my print and play iteration of my strategy action-game Conflict. The above image is my illustration for the box art.
My game went through many prototypes and iterration, but by far the factor that was most often changed was the grid. I originally started with a hexagon grid with different shapes, then  I even experimented with 3D papercraft. But after complications with the ease of printing and game design flaws decided to move away from that into having absolutely no grid and units moved by disks flipping each other end to end. This was a popular idea with my playtesters as they felt it was a unique concept they had not often seen.  After every playtest i would ask the testers what they felt about the movement. Did it feel immersive? Did it feel fun? Did it feel Unique? I discovered that I could still maintain the flipping of units and shapes that affected their movement if  I used a triangular grid, something that I had previously not seen.
It was also interesting to notice the gameplay influences from the tabletop games played for class such as Get to the Chopper, Punch!, and Battleship had on my game.
Link to download components: here
Link to download rules and manual: here

tabletop game: Theme and Concept Statement

Name: Albireo

Theme: Sci-Fi space warfare

Concept Statement: "Outmaneuver your opponent and you will be victorious"

Players skirmish using Action Cards and Maneuver Cards. Player's want to destroy their opponent's capital ship while simultaneously defending their own capital ship from fighters. Players have to predict a response to their opponent's actions using Maneuver cards and respond by using Action Cards, these will resolve in a rock-paper-scissors style of combat. Each ship-type will have its strengths and weaknesses  Players will also have to react to unexpected astronomic anomalies.

The game is set in a futuristic science fiction universe where opposing factions clash with each other for dominance. One faction will be Terran-themed with sleek mechanical designs while the second faction will have more organic or abstract designs and insect-like characteristics.  Terrans focus on more precise weaponry such as lazers, missles, and explosives while the opposing faction swarms and overwhelms the opponent with weaker units that are produced faster and can react defensively by using their own ships to create a shield around their capital ship.  The game is named after the binary star Albireo.

Tabletop Game- Brainstorming

1. What if my game had a gridded board ?
2. Would it be hexagons or squares? What advantage do they have over the other? How would the game aesthetics support this decision?
3. What if movement involved flipping the tile over? Different pieces could be different sizes ? Do I want this to feel kinetic? (thinking of like a hexagon version of Warhammer:DiskWars, were flipping a character disc serves the function of measuring distance and movement of a miniature in traditional Warhammer. I find this to be a fantastic and cheap work-around miniatures.
4. Do I want a science-fiction setting or fantasy? How would this affect the movement of pieces?
5. What if my game functioned like a CCG, and had individual card decks? Would it provide more strategy or would it revolve around luck of the draw?
6. Would having cards represent a vendor and player inventory help keep the player and game information organized?
7. Do I want dice rolls in my game? What type of dice and why? 20-sided dice are usually most common in RPGs as the main form of dice. Why is this?Would it turn it into a game of chance? Would lower/failed rolls cancel the ability or provide for a weakened version of the ability while higher/succesful rolls modify the ability through either a variant effect or an amplified version( example Lightning Bolt>roll:1> spark, very minor damage. alt: Lightning Bolt>Roll:20>critical hit> chain lightning: damage  adjacent enemies)
8. How would NPC allies or enemies work without the player directly deciding their decisions?
9. How would my game escalate as it progresses? Do I want the decisions near the end of the game to be taken slower with careful strategy and planning against one powerful foe or do I want it to become hectic and against many foes?
10. What if my game required resources (HP, Mana, Gold, Stamina, etc.)
11. How would a narrative develop as a game progresses? Will this narrative be unique every playthrough or would it have a set narrative? What factors contribute to the former?
12. Will the players be  diagetic characters or would they be non-diagetic?
13. Top-Down or Bottom- Up design? (thinking specifically similar to how Wizards of the Coast designs their Magic: The Gathering sets). Does "flavor" guarantee balance?
14. What themes could a top-down designed game benefit from and how would it impact the mechanics and what type of feedback would it invoke to or from the players? Would a top-down designed game provide a more tactile feel to my game and how would this be reflected in mechanics? (example: vampires>bite> drain blood> drain hp> sticking a pin in Styrofoam to represent damage through a bite?)
15. How can the rules remain clear enough for players to understand the game's terminology? Would something along the lines of a glossary be beneficial?
16. Is it possible to have a  "real-time" tabletop game instead of turn based? could this be done through timers? Is it even possible to do this without the game becoming hectic/chaotic? Could the timer element be used to advance the game in a linear fashion even in a turn based game?
17.  If a multiplayer game (more than 2 players), how would "board politics" affect the game? Would this be encouraged? How can cards/creatures/abilities support this (example: attacking the player with the highest remaining HP results in bonus damage. Even though only one player can come out victorious, how would board politics work if it would lead to an inevitable back-stab from a party. Besides an opponent having a clearly superior board presence that forces co-operation to have a chance at winning (the enemy of my enemy is my friend), how could temporary co-operation be encouraged without it feeling forced or even being required.
18. Hypothetically, a 4v1 scenario. Lone player is the antagonist with a blatantly more powerful deck or army (Examples:  band of heroes vs a powerful necromancer final boss. Game examples: Heroes' Tale TCRPG and the Magic Archenemy variant) could there be an underlying alternate goal for a player? For example, one of the heroes secretly wants to usurp the role of the necromancer, so it tries to disguise the initiation of a series of events or manipuilate the events of the game to lead it to an alternate victory? What if another player was tasked with finding and stopping the traitor player before this happened. Thinking along the lines of Shadows Over Camelot game.
19. If a science-fiction flight/mech based game, how would the board replicate 3D movement through space? Could aerial maneuvers be represented through cards and resolved in a rock-paper-scissor style . (Thinking of like Punch! but more particularly the X-Wing tabletop game, but simplified)
20. Would players be able to interact with each other's actions during another player's turn? How could this be kept relatively simple? For example in Magic the Gathering counterspells and certain instant spells are meant to serve as a respond to actions but due to the game's increasing complexion over its 20+ year lifespan what is refered to as "the stack" has become the game's most complex mechanics as triggers and spells are initiated in order and depending on their complexity can take a long time to properly understand and resolve. Usually I try to break or abuse certain mechanics in magic to add a sense of chaos into the game or find mechanical flaws that lead to infinitely looping effects, and while I do enjoy this it is usually miserable for other players and something so mechanically broken and complicated I want to steer my  game far away from. Even though, I find it somewhat superior to the rock-paper-scissor approach since it is not reliant on blind luck.

Tabletop Game: Deconstruction- Get To the Chopper!!!

Get to the Chopper!!! is a Predator themed table-top game created by Scott McChesney
  

 The Board
The game board consists of a  hexagonal board with 6 different types of terrain tiles. The game's aesthetics are inspired by military aesthetics of camouflage, the Predator franchise, and other classic action movie characters and tropes. It carries a very lighthearted tone that parodies these themes.

 Tiles:
Dirt (brown): Add 1 to all rolls targeting the Predator
Jungle (green): Soldiers can not leave a Jungle tile alongside the same direction they entered. This does not affect the Predator.
Water (blue): Removes the Predator's camouflage.
Medical Drop-(jungle with cross) Works like a Jungle hex. Heals a Soldier's wound.
Fortified (grey)- Soldiers add one attack to all rolls  targeting the Predator and The Predator subtract one from a all attack rolls tar getting soldiers.
Evac (helicopter) Human Soldier on an evac hex can attempt to "Get to the Chopper!!!" at the beginning of its turn.
 The 1-4 tiles are the Soldier starting points. The Predator marks in the tile marked with P.

 Water tiles split the map near the evac, meaning that if the Predator does not successfully eliminate the other soldiers prior to crossing the river, he will lose his camouflage ability and the game becomes increasingly more difficult for the Predator, while Soldiers have a higher chance of damaging the Predator. Rushing up the dirt hexes is a bad idea, as the Soldiers are increasingly closer to the much faster Predator.
 
Goal and Win Conditions:

•  Soldiers get to the helicopter. 
• Soldiers eliminate the Predator
• Predator eliminates all of the Soldiers before they reach the helicopter

It is important to note that Soldier win conditions are somewhat relative, it is possible to feel the feeling of victory if you, for example, sacrifice yourself so your team can evacuate or if only 1 Soldier barely Evacuates. The rules do not specifically state that the Soldiers are competing with each other nor that they are on a team (though it can be deduced they are on a team based on the fact they can't attack each other and it would be counter-productive). Alternatively a player can feel they lost if their character is eliminated.

Game Mechanics and Actions:

Movement: Soldiers can move four tiles. The Predator can move six tiles. Movement is hindered by wounds.

Melee: Melee attacks can only happen when a player is next to its opponent. Players do a an accuracy roll by rolling a six-sided dice. If the number is equal or higher, the player lands a succesful hit. wounding the opponent by 1.

Ranged Attack: Each player has a different ranged weapon. Ranged attacks function nearly identical to Melee attacks, except that the player's target must be within the character's unique range.

Splash Attacks: Splash Attacks are unique to Blain and Mac. They function like Ranged attacks except that they ignore the Predator's Camouflage ability

Wounds: The game's HP. Soldiers start with 2 while the Predator starts with 5. When players are wounded their movement speed is reduced based on what is stated on his character card. Wounds can be removed by either using a Medical Drop found in the jungle or by the Predator's Medipod ability

Accuracy: How likely it is for a weapon to hit. Roll a six sided dice when attacking, if you roll equal to or higher than your weapon's accuracy you successfully wound your target for 1. The roll number can be modified by tiles or abilities.

Characters: Their Attributes and States: 
Each character has unique attributes and abilities represented by their character cards.

Predator- The Predator's objective is to eliminate all other players. He lacks a team, but is compensated by faster movement speed, an additional combat step, a total of 5 hp, and two active abilities.  Camouflage allows the Predator to substract numbers from the Soldier's accuracy rolls against the Predator. These numbers vary based on the distance of the soldier from the Predator. Splash attacks ignore the Predator's camouflage ability. The Predator's Medipod ability is a real threat. If there are no adjacent Soldiers, the Predator rolls a dice and substracts two from the roll and heals itself for that much. Though Predator is significantly more powerful, it becomes increasingly less powerful as the game progresses. If Soldiers work together they can cripple it if a team fight ignites. As a result the Predator works best when it picks up opponents one by one.

Blain: The simplest character in the game. He has splash damage and  is not affected by wounds

Mac: Before or after moving Mac can place claymore mines to possibly  hinder or damage the Predator. Mac can benefit the entire team by causing the predator to change his route and prevent him from catching up.

Dutch: Dutch is the only character that transforms. When damaged he is permanently transformed into Boy Scout

Boy Scout: Gains the Predator's camouflage ability

Billy: When Billy is successfully attacked roll a dice, if you roll a  5 or 6 prevent all damage that would be dealt to you.

Playing the Game:

• Soldiers move first. They can choose to move and to attack with a ranged or melee weapon in any order. The Predator can Move and attack with both a melee and a ranged weapon in the same turn (a total of three actions). Movements can not be split (Example: move 3 tiles, attack, move remaining 1 tile) 
• Players can only use the abilities of  his/her character.
• All attack information is in the character cards
• Roll a six-sided dice to decide on accuracy in combat
• Character abilities that interact with combat such as addition/subtractions and additional dice rolls are checked after the accuracy check.
• Soldiers can cross tiles with other soldiers but they can not land on a tile already occupied by a soldier.

Risk and Reward

• Damaging the Predator can hinder him for a few turns while Soldiers set up on advantageous tiles or rush the Evac tiles, but the Predator can heal so they must be quick.
• Dutch can become significantly stronger when damaged by turning into Boy Scout, but if he doesn't heal fast enough he is opened to a finishing blow.
• If Soldiers chose to gang up on the Predator from the start, they have to account for its superior speed, additional combat step and healing. It carries the risk the Predator will eliminate some of them, but they could also win the game.

Role of Chance

Chance can be a deciding factor on the outcome of the game. If players miss all of their attacks they will be left in a state of disadvantage. Playing as Billy can provide a ridiculous advantage if you are lucky enough to hit your rolls successfully. For example, in one of my play-tests I played 1v1 as Billy and got all the way across the river by either the predator missing his shots or being lucky enough to roll a 5 or 6 in respond. There is a lot of room for mistake when doing this though, and I was eliminated a turn after crossing the river. Chance can be modified through the terrain hexes or abilities, so no side has a consistent advantage of chance. I would say with the exception of Billy's overruling ability, chance is a constant advantage and disadvantage for both sides.


Skills Players Learn

• Soldier players must work as a team to succesfully reach the evac hex. Coordination and cooperation can lead to all Soldiers succesfully evacuating.
• Alternatively Soldiers can be advantageous and capitalize on their teammate's demise or situation to rush the evac point while the Predator is distracted.
• The Predator must learn to read the board and predict the Soldiers actions while swiftly eliminating them one by one.

Other notes:
A mechanic I really liked was how movement across jungle tiles worked and interacted with Soldier players.. It prevents Soldier players from bundling up together since they ultimately can not land on the same tiles and they are naturally seperated when they cross the jungle. This prevents the game from becoming exceedingly difficult for the Predator, who is not affected by this. as it allows this player to ambush one of opponents when they inevitably stray from a group.