Can someone review my game?

Personally, I think the game as you outline it is a bit to vague and rough to really comment on yet. With most games, the best tweaking occurs with regard to the detailed way that ideas are implemented.

From what you wrote, I personally like the idea of using measuring sticks to move the warriors around ... this gives thought to having very interesting maps/surfaces to play on. No need for hexes, squares, or regions with this system. In fact, you could actually use your miniatures on non-traditional "combat surfaces" -- like an entire livingroom. ;)

The other stuff you mention is pretty generic, seen-it-before kinda stuff ... *how* you make it work in your game will be more important.

-Bryk

A couple things of note:

-I don't understand how the range determination thing has any basis in reality. I would think it should be based on weapons, not speed.

-I think you might consider some sort of very unique mechanic, even it's simply "simplicity" itself, or else you risk doing what's been done a LOT!

-How big is the play area?

-Is there terrain? What does it do?

It's certainly a starting point. :)

There's two ways to make a game. You can start with the theme and work your way into the mechanic, or you can start with the mechanic and wrap a theme around it. Neither way is intrinsically better than the other; both methods have resulted in games both great and lousy.

It seems that you are starting with a theme (battling warriors). Theme-based games can become overburdened by too many complex systems; therefore, I suggest that you try and make your mechanics as simple as possible to start with. Then, as you find twists to introduce into your designs, you can start developing the mechanics to fit them.

For example, you have a combat system that seems to want to pay a lot of attention to the skills of the fighter, but only be moderately influenced by luck. Yet there's two seperate die rolls involved; one for initiative, and one for hitting.

I'd get rid of as many die rolls as possible; either by consolidating them, or by determining results another way. You can probably come up with a better initiative system than a raw die roll. One way designers get around this is through an action point system. In your case, players have a set number of action points to allocate into initiative, movement, hitting, and damage. Players can secretly allocate these points at the beginning of a round, and then reveal them simultaneously. Players with the highest initiative go first. They can move a number of hexes equal to the points they put into movement. Their hit roll is affected by the points they allocated into hitting, and they score damage equal to the number of action points they put into damage. Perhaps one character is fast, and gets a bonus to movement; another has a big axe, and has a bonus to damage; another is a skilled swordsman, and has a bonus to hitting.

It's not a great system, but it eliminates the initiative die roll, and it gives players the feeling that they are in control of the game. From the few wargames I've played, I've found that wargamers enjoy luck in their games when it creates a small element of uncertainty, and it adds to the game's replayability. But wargamers tend to detest games with too much dice-rolling, feeling that the random factor should never be more important than good strategy and tactics.

Once you come up with a ruleset you're happy with, the most important thing is to go ahead and playtest the game by yourself. Miniatures and wargames are usually easier to solo playtest, especially if they lack hidden information (though if this is the game that has fog-of-war, solo playtesting may be trickier).

Here are a few guidelines:

- Don't be afraid to change anything and everything in your game. You may not know that a rule is unneccessary until you remove it. You may not know that a rule is crucial until you try it. If there's a possibility, give it a shot. This applies to your theme, too. Don't be too married to it; if it wants to turn from a fantasy (I assume) wargame into another kind of game, try it. You can always create another game with your original theme, but different mechanics, later on. Just keep experimenting until you find that A-HA! twist that makes your game stand out.

- If this is your first game, it might not be very good. This isn't meant as an insult; it's just my experience, and what I've noticed other designers come up with. There are some people who create good games on their first try, but it's usually more luck than anything else. For your first game, aim for a playable game with a functional ruleset.

- Playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, and playtest. Do it alone, and then try to rope other people into doing it.

- Be honest with yourself. If it doesn't work, it's not an insult to your game. Look for things that don't work and try messing with them.

- When others are honest with your game, they can be brutal. Yet their opinion is much more valuable to you than people who just smile and say, "it's okay." Keep your skin thick and accept their criticism. Better for them to dislike a playtest prototype, than for you to get to manufacturing, and find out people don't like your game then.

- If you can, try to work on a second game. Again, nothing wrong with your first game. But people who are working on their very first game often try to jam everything they can into it ("I've added an auction phase! It comes after the movement, combat, bartering, and evolution phases..."). Keep your games simple; if you find you have extra mechanics that bog down this game, they might work brilliantly by themselves in a different game.

- Keep a notebook. Write down ideas as they come; it's frustrating when they vanish.

- You spent an hour hammering out these rules, but be prepared to spend a lot of time on the manual. Once you've come up with a solid, playtested design, test the manual out by blind-testing. Give the game to a game group, and let them figure it out from the manual. Remember, your manual is your game, just as much as the components are. If it doesn't make sense, neither will your game.

- The other advantage of blind-testing: You won't be around to coach players, and tell them what to do. They can come up with an ingenius way of breaking your game. If they do, thank them and fix the problem.

- If the game doesn't seem to work and you've done everything you can, don't be afraid to ditch it. The time you spent on it has not been wasted; you can take the lessons you learned and apply them to another game.

I hope this helps...

~Gil