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SyphenFreht

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So my son and I have recently started working on creating a tabletop game, in the same vein as Warhammer and whatnot, though not nearly as complex (yet). He has little to no experience with them, and I haven't played a decent game since HeroScape. I won't go into too many details yet as it's still in its infancy and we are using copyright protected pieces, I will say that we want to use a combination of dice and tokens, cards, and player generated story telling for turn flow. While we both have a proper understanding of tabletop structure, I wanted to drop this here and get some ideas from you guys, especially in regard to particular mechanics or ideas that you all liked and wanted to see more of through your own experiences. I'm also looking for new and niche ideas to jump from (which of course will get properly accredited when we get picked up by a major TT publisher ).

I welcome and appreciate any and all feedback. Thank you
 

Veho

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So basically you have nothing yet? An idea for a game with some popular IP (is it Marvel? Admit it, it's Marvel), but you aren't giving us any outline of the mechanics, basic gameplay? How many tokens will each player control, one or more? You mentioned Warhammer, so will it be wargaming? Squad tactics? Roleplaying? Does "player generated story telling" mean like D&D roleplaying? Is there a game master? Give us something to work with here.

But here's a piece of advice that's universal to all game design: simplify and playtest. Polish your basic gameplay loop (Obstacle, resolution, reward. Repeat.), everything else is a distraction and fluff that can be added later. What's the basic unit of gameplay? What's the core of the game? Get that right first.
 
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SyphenFreht

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So basically you have nothing yet? An idea for a game with some popular IP (is it Marvel? Admit it, it's Marvel), but you aren't giving us any outline of the mechanics, basic gameplay? How many tokens will each player control, one or more? You mentioned Warhammer, so will it be wargaming? Squad tactics? Roleplaying? Does "player generated story telling" mean like D&D roleplaying? Is there a game master? Give us something to work with here.

But here's a piece of advice that's universal to all game design: simplify and playtest. Polish your basic gameplay loop (Obstacle, resolution, reward. Repeat.), everything else is a distraction and fluff that can be added later. What's the basic unit of gameplay? What's the core of the game? Get that right first.

Marvel? No. So far we're using prefabricated characters from another franchise that died out a few years ago using pre- made, interlocking set pieces from another franchise that was a small time hit about 20 years ago. Utilizing three different card styles, Story, Objective, and Map Cards, players take turns building a play map using the preset six sides tile pieces and giving a somewhat specific ruleset and general storyboard for each play session. Each session has the ability to be built and played wildly different from the previous one due to the nature and unpredictability of card draw. Using a combination of dice rolls and token acquisition is how players move their characters around the board and tracking damage in relation to tackling objectives, whether it be enemy annihilation, target protection or even sneaking from one side of the board to the other. I compared it to Warhammer because the nature of the game allows it to also be played as complex and strategic as other games of its caliber. In terms of story telling, the player building sets the tone for the game, and story telling by each character is encouraged, but not necessary for routine game management, only for game enjoyment aside from initial play setup.

I think I've covered just about everything I have so far? I know with the characters we're using there are different types, so each "type" of character comes with inherent benefits and drawbacks to encourage playing with different combinations of teams. It's meant to be played with as little as two players, and as many as can realistically fit considering current play style.

If I've missed anything, please highlight it again. Hopefully from what I've mentioned through implications and examples you all have an idea of what pieces we're using. I just don't want to explicitly state one or the other because God forbid I get a good idea going just to get hit with a CnD (unlikely but not improbable )

Edit: Typical play flow would be like this-

After deciding the number of players involved, one player draws a Story, an Objective, and a Map card. The Map card determines the parameters of the build area, such as tile type and placement, max height, restrictions, things of that type. Objective cards give an idea of play style, such as having to defeat all enemies or reach the opposite end of the board, etc. Story gives a reason for play, and is generally used to provide tone and reasoning. The "builder", or player who drew the cards, then creates the map and provides the game play style using the three cards drawn. Play ensues at the builders direction, acting as game master, but can also act as a player based on the parameters of the cards drawn. Once the objectives have been fulfilled or are in some way unattainable (players die), play ends. Objective and Map Cards also dictate the number of characters each player controls. Each player has a maximum of five character "slots" to fill. Most characters occupy one slot, while others occupy two slots or even a half (meaning two characters, like minis, can be used in place of one regular character). Each character has two preset, often unique abilities that require dice rolls for accuracy and damage output. Dice rolls also determine overall movement and defense. Those points will need more refinement on my end before I can delve more into them. I'm also trying to include elemental based effects and character specific buffs based on character type, whether it's a base character, a mini, a Giant (hint hint), things of that nature
 
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JesseAdam

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I recently started playing TableTop games. Though I don't have so much experience play them. Because a few months ago, I used my device to write articles on the basis of human biography. In this case, I followed a few websites like https://graduateway.com/essay-examples/biography/ just to get a clear idea about the niche I have been working for. Right now, I will only focus on games because I handle my writing task to someone.
 
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FAST6191

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Smashing mechanics into things is rarely a great way of making something, at least not without considerable underlying understanding of things. It might get it done but you will take a long time to do it.

For the most part board games where serious consideration to mechanics is given tends to fall under the mantle of "German board games" as it seems that is where a lot of the effort went (and if you ever play German computer games, especially the RPGs, it will become apparent). Indeed the main board game award anybody really cares about is the Spiel des Jahres, an annual thing going since the late 70s. Anything that wins one for of those is probably worth your consideration and will likely still be being talked about 20 years from now.

That is an expensive hobby though so a far cheaper, but I would say equally vital thing is
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/characteristics-games
A wonderful book I recommend to anybody even vaguely interested in the mechanics of games and what makes them tick. When one of the authors is the guy that made magic the gathering and the others are equally well regarded... yeah.
If you can't make it through that then you are not going to be making games.

These guys also have some nice talks on game design and how games work

 
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