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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

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Thu, 05/26/2005 - 21:00

GeminiWeb

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Hi all,

3 young sons (4,3,0) has definitely slowed down my game designing, but I still plan on getting back into it. I have 3 main games that are half (conceptually) developed & I'm not sure which one to work on. Which concepts interest you most?

Evenstar 5 - struggling outpost on far away planet. Use scientists to repair your failing systems while getting VPs by terraforming, studying alien artefacts and studying the alien flora and fauna.

Greek Gods Game - play a greek god & get VPs by getting your heroes to fulfil quests, having nations conquer cities in your name and being the favoured god for a nation. Each god has a special power.

Yet Another Civ-Game (YACG) - grow your empire depending on yor ability to feed them and draw upon the nature resources around you. Develop technology to help your empire flourish. Compete with other nations for rare resources or trade with them! [interesting fantasy variant where resources are used to power spells, while spells are obtained using a concept like a tech tree),

Yes, I will end up making my own idea up, but I'm interested to hear people's initial reactions to the basic concepts (noting not much detail is provided).

- GeminiWeb

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 01:49

#1

Johan

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Re: Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Hi

GeminiWeb wrote:

3 young sons (4,3,0) has definitely slowed down my game designing, but I still plan on getting back into it.

Soon they will be old enough to help you (and want to help you) do some tests and help in other ways. That will speed up the design (having a possibility to do the first tests at home).
My daughters were 2-3 years when we first introduced them into some really easy games. When I play games with them, I could give them an advantage before we started, but I always did my best. They were really proud, when they manage to beet me. They are now 14 and 16 years old, still love to play games and they still like to win over me (but now they normally have a 50-50 chance).

Quote:

Evenstar 5 - struggling outpost on far away planet. Use scientists to repair your failing systems while getting VPs by terraforming, studying alien artefacts and studying the alien flora and fauna.

This looked a little bit like the first outline for my game Space Traders (you have seen the near final version and that is a complete different game). I removed trading artifacts, explore and a lot more. In the end, only the trading goods remained.

Quote:

Greek Gods Game - play a greek god & get VPs by getting your heroes to fulfil quests, having nations conquer cities in your name and being the favoured god for a nation. Each god has a special power.

If you keep this game with a simple structure, possibility to expand, set a time limit to 1-2 h and the player limit to (2) 3-5 (6), I think that this theme is a winner (and this can be an hit). I would go with this one.

Quote:

Yet Another Civ-Game (YACG) - grow your empire depending on yor ability to feed them and draw upon the nature resources around you. Develop technology to help your empire flourish. Compete with other nations for rare resources or trade with them! [interesting fantasy variant where resources are used to power spells, while spells are obtained using a concept like a tech tree),

I have done some designs (actually there are 4 ideas around this from 4 different angles) of this myself. It is only a rough first design and I have never created any prototype around it. If you are interested in my ideas around this drop me an e-mail and I can write them down and send them to you. I am also open for a cooperation to create a game like this.

// Johan

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 02:06

#2

GeminiWeb

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Quote:

Johan wrote:
My daughters were 2-3 years when we first introduced them into some really easy games.

They already enjoy roll & move games and I have had some success with Carcasonne and DungeonQuest (albeit with modied rules) so there is hope!

Quote:

Johan wrote:

Quote:
GeminiWeb wrote:
Evenstar 5 - struggling outpost on far away planet. Use scientists to repair your failing systems while getting VPs by terraforming, studying alien artefacts and studying the alien flora and fauna.

This looked a little bit like the first outline for my game Space Traders

Wow! That really is very different from what I'm thinking. It's amazing how a similar theme can diverge so greatly.

Quote:

Johan wrote:

Quote:
GeminiWeb wrote:
Greek Gods Game - play a greek god & get VPs by getting your heroes to fulfil quests, having nations conquer cities in your name and being the favoured god for a nation. Each god has a special power.

If you keep this game with a simple structure, possibility to expand, set a time limit to 1-2 h and the player limit to (2) 3-5 (6), I think that this theme is a winner (and this can be an hit). I would go with this one.

Is that all? I think its possible but the expandability could be tricky. The game stalled when I played Camelot Legends and found it had a very similar quest resolution system. As such, I need to revamp that bit in particular.

Quote:

Johan wrote:If you are interested in my ideas around this drop me an e-mail and I can write them down and send them to you. I am also open for a cooperation to create a game like this.

Sounds like it could be a good idea, but I'll probably only run with one of these ideas for the next couiple of months. I'll wait to see which one I choose first!

Thanks
- Bill

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 02:15

#3

Nando

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

My preference is for the one you're most willing to share with the rest of us!

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 02:56

#4

Johan

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

GeminiWeb wrote:

They already enjoy roll & move games and I have had some success with Carcasonne and DungeonQuest (albeit with modied rules) so there is hope!

That is a great start for the next generation of gamers ;).

Quote:

Wow! That really is very different from what I'm thinking. It's amazing how a similar theme can diverge so greatly.

Space Traders was all that was left when I simplified the game.
The original was game was split into 3 different themes:
- Space Traders (trading goods).
- Space knights (I moved the fantasy knight to space and the goal was to do a lot of quests ( rescue princesses from evil blobs, find the holy warp engine and so on)). The theme lives but I have not yet come up with a mechanism that I like to go with that.
- ... and a space civ. like game. This game was dumped directly after 1 hour of design work (The game was to big).

Quote:

Greek Gods
...
Is that all? I think its possible but the expandability could be tricky. The game stalled when I played Camelot Legends and found it had a very similar quest resolution system. As such, I need to revamp that bit in particular.

No this is not all ;) but it could be a good limitation.
When we played Camelot Legends from Z-man Games one of my friends also wanted to do something around that basic mechanism (but he is working with a fantasy world).

Quote:

Sounds like it could be a good idea, but I'll probably only run with one of these ideas for the next couiple of months. I'll wait to see which one I choose first!

Just drop me a mail if or when you are interested.

// Johan

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 06:45

#5

FastLearner

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Which of those games sounds to me to be the most promising from a publishing angle? The Greek Gods game.

Which of those games sounds like something I'd love to play? The Greek Gods game.

I rolled a d6, 1-2 space game, 3-4 Greek Gods game, and 5-6 civ game. It came up a 4 (I swear!). The Greek Gods game.

There's simply no way around it: you need to work on the Greek Gods game.

(And congratulations on your age 0 child!)

-- Matthew

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 07:09

#6

seo

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Warning! I asked my Magic 8 Ball "should he work on The Greek Gods game?" and the answer was: "My sources say no".

Other than that, I agrre with Johan and Matthew (and his d6): go fo the Greek Gods game. (I just fixed a type when I rote "Geek" instead of Greek, but a "Geek Gods game" sure sounds fun too).

My bet is my 8 ball is just upset because she didn't thought of the Greek Gods game first. ;-)

Seo

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 10:09

#7

Dralius

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

I like the theme of Evenstar 5 the best. I would suggest you develop the game that you think is the best overall idea. Personally with an eye on getting games out for review I am putting my BIG games on the back burner for now and finishing up the simpler ones. It all comes down to what you are trying to accomplish.

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 10:11

#8

Zzzzz

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

After reading the basic concept, I have to agree The Greek Gods game has my attention over the other two. I think it might be the theme, the other two just dont grab my attention and it might be the attached theme. I have never been very interested in space related games, though civ games I do enjoy from time to time.

Not sure what else to say, but The Greek Gods would be my choice, everytime I think of the title I see Clash of the Titans in my head.

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 10:43

#9

Yogurt

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

While I'd love to read another shot at the grail of a (2-hour) civ building game, I'm leaning toward the Greek Gods one too.

I think it's because you say that the gods have to convince heroes to go on quests for them, and this helps me picture the gameplay a little.

Any nifty gameplay ideas for the other two, or are you focusing on theme right now?

Yogurt

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 13:50

#10

KyRez

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

seo wrote:

Warning! I asked my Magic 8 Ball "should he work on The Greek Gods game?" and the answer was: "My sources say no".

My 8 Ball always says that

GeminiWeb wrote:

Greek Gods Game - play a greek god & get VPs by getting your heroes to fulfil quests, having nations conquer cities in your name and being the favoured god for a nation. Each god has a special power.

Sounds quite similar to a game I was working on. I was trying to find a mechanic to let all gods be able to influence any one of the heroes on the field, but in a way that meant once you had a hero, it would be harder for another god to affect him directly.

Likewise, the control of cities so that they gave you some sort of belief points with which to influence/create miracles/etc.

I was using a more general thme myself, but the Greek one sounds brilliant - Zeus has the power of thunder, Hermes speed, Ares gives attack bonuses etc.

Notify me when you're done - should be great

- Jonny

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 15:31

#11

larienna

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Your civilisation game

I just want to add some comment about your civ-like game.

This kind of game look a bit like the "Master of Magic" video game which is civilisation where you replace technology by magic.

I have seen the civilisation board game. On a video game it is OK, but on a board game I don't like it. I think it is way too much complicated and too long to play. If you intend to do the same type of game in a fantasy world, I don't suggest you develop this game.

I am still thinking about making this kind of game in a board game instead of a video game (Since Master of magic is really popular ) without having the same bug as civilisation. I came up with something that could look more like "Bells of war" ( "Axis and Allies" with a bigger map ). You won't have territory development, only military management and maybe some spell you can research to influence the game.

Still,I am not really enthusiastic about this game yet, so I let it sleep for now.

Fri, 05/27/2005 - 16:34

#12

Anonymous

Re: Any suggestions on which game to work on?

GeminiWeb wrote:

Evenstar 5 - struggling outpost on far away planet. Use scientists to repair your failing systems while getting VPs by terraforming, studying alien artefacts and studying the alien flora and fauna.

This sounds something like an idea I had a while ago, began working on, and haven't gotten around to working on. The game was for up to four players, minimum of two. Each player owned a planet and controlled one harvester, and would go around from asteroid to asteroid (or to another player's planet) and do all sorts of things, ranging from collecting resources to damage opponent's buildings. Whoever obtained 12 victory points first won.

Of course I don't want to say too much since I'm still working with the game, but all of the above was just to pretty much rap it up and say that this is the game I would pick.

Sun, 05/29/2005 - 21:59

#13

GeminiWeb

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Thanks everyone. I think I'm getting the feeling is the Greek Gods game is the most attractive theme :lol:

For interest, the main actions available (at the moment) will be:

- recruit (hero / priest / army)
- army (move / conquer)
- hero (land move / sea move / undertake quest)

Gods of choice
- Zeus (sronger heroes)
- Hera (?)
- Athene (wiser heroes)
- Ares (better in battle)
- Hermes (faster heroes)
- Poseiden (safer sea travel)
- Hephaistos (special items)

Mon, 05/30/2005 - 07:08

#14

seo

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

GeminiWeb wrote:

- Hera (?)

Given the many incidents in which Hera seduced or otherwise controlled other gods and heroes, maybe her power might have something to do with temporary controlling other players actions, or forcing them to act irrationally, though not directly under her control? Or perhaps just some sort of invulnerability?

Seo

Mon, 05/30/2005 - 12:27

#15

Hedge-o-Matic

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

I agree with Seo. Hera should be able to influence "controlled" heros almost as well as neutral heroes. Or perhaps, since she's sich a prime manipulator and schemer, have her ability have to do with her interactions with the other gods (the players), rather than the heroes.

Sat, 06/11/2005 - 13:15

#16

dete

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Man, I'd also have to say the Greek Mythology game
BY FAR.

I hope you put in the monsters as well, here are some major ones

Medusa, Minotaur, Harpy, Satyr, Centaur, Siren, Kracken,
Hydra, my fave is Skylla

And where is Aphrodite???
And what about Bacchus???

And if those powers are all the gods give.....
diassapointing...
I would want some cool weapons from the gods!

Sun, 06/12/2005 - 13:46

#17

xantheman

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

I think that the Greek God game sounds like a blast. Maybe something allong the lines of "Black and White" (computer game) meets "Age of Mythology" (computer and board game).

It might be fun to not include any kind of unit building or hiring. Instead, start with all of the pieces on the board as neutrals and then require the players to influence the neutrals to gain control of them.

Xan
www.rentoys.com

Mon, 06/13/2005 - 17:58

#18

GeminiWeb

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

xantheman wrote:

I think that the Greek God game sounds like a blast. Maybe something allong the lines of "Black and White" (computer game) meets "Age of Mythology" (computer and board game).

It might be fun to not include any kind of unit building or hiring. Instead, start with all of the pieces on the board as neutrals and then require the players to influence the neutrals to gain control of them.

Xan
www.rentoys.com

Basic idea is that everything is neutral. If you have the most high priestesses in a nation, you get to recruit armies from that region. Also, that nation will aid your heroes and hinder the heroes of other gods/goddesses.

dete wrote:

I hope you put in the monsters as well,

The quests are primarily defeating all various monsters and some associated tasks (think of the Labours of Hercekles). Bonuses will apply to VPs for collecting related quests.

Mon, 06/13/2005 - 18:48

#19

Pt314

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Will there be different heros with different abilities?
Maybe something like

Hercules: Very Strong, although not very smart.
Perseus: Loves artifacts (Hermes shoes, Hades helmet, Athenas shield/mirror).
Odesseus: Very Smart, although not too lucky in sea travel.
Thesseus: Good at wrestling, Exploring Labyrinths
Achelles: Nearly invincible except for his heel.
Oedepus: Good at solving riddles, although he has fate against him.
...

Mon, 06/13/2005 - 19:00

#20

GeminiWeb

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

Pt314 wrote:

Will there be different heros with different abilities?
Maybe something like

Hercules: Very Strong, although not very smart.
Perseus: Loves artifacts (Hermes shoes, Hades helmet, Athenas shield/mirror).
Odesseus: Very Smart, although not too lucky in sea travel.
Thesseus: Good at wrestling, Exploring Labyrinths
Achelles: Nearly invincible except for his heel.
Oedepus: Good at solving riddles, although he has fate against him.
...

I don't want to over-do it as I want most heroes to be able to have a go at completing most quests. For the moment I am thinking of having each hero described in terms of Brawn. Cunning and Leadership.

Tue, 06/14/2005 - 00:09

#21

FastLearner

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Any suggestions on which game to work on?

I'm so glad your game is headed where it is. When you mentioned the game, I got this whole instant mental picture of how such a game would work, and was disappointed that I hadn't thought of it first. Apparently they're far enough apart, though, that should I pursue it some day, I won't be covering any of the same territory. :)

-- Matthew

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