Hey folks,
I've been designing a game called Heaven and Earth, where two players use their eight pieces to capture their opponents Emperor. The catch being that each piece consists of a Body and a Character, an exterior and an interior if you will. The body defines how the piece moves and which pieces it can capture, whereas the character alters this in various ways. Also the Emperor is a character, so you'll have to figure out during the game which piece it is you're after.
However, there are some things I'm not completely sure about, so I'd love to hear your opinion on them.
The theme of the game is oriental / ancient China / Chinese mythos with Dragons, Pandas, Nightingales, and Emperors. But the mechanics are more that of an abstract game; a combination of chess and Stratego is how I usually introduce it.
For playtesting, I'm currently using a rather abstract gameboard and simple wooden disks with red and green stickers and black letters on them, but on the final product I was thinking of a more sophisticated look. The wooden disks seem to fit the mechanics perfectly, but instead of black letters I thought some simple chinese drawings would be more suitable.
Also, the gameboard is supposed to be a map of sorts; either player starts on one and and through the middle runs a river, going from the mountains in the west to the beaches in the east. In its current form, it's just colored hexes that somewhat resemble this, but I was thinking about having an artist draw the actual board; adding hills, forests, litte cottages etc.
It would be mostly eye-candy, though, since only a few spaces on the board need to be marked; for instance the river has no relevance to the game.
[1] The main question I have is, would the theme be too distracting for the abstractness of the mechanics? Or would they help keep the game light and pleasant to play?
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Other than that, I have some minor issues I'd like to hear your thoughts about.
Since it's rather difficult for players to remember which piece is which, I'm having them write it down on a small piece of paper. Since it was a bit of a hassle finding books etc to hide them behind, I figured making player aids that can be placed as a cover would work; they'd also make it easy for a player to see what each piece does.
[2] But perhaps this is too clumsy?
And/or can you think of a more elegant solution? I think adding extra pieces would ruin the simplicity and beauty of the game, so I'm a little hesitant to come up with good ideas.
Lastly, some naming issues.
The center 7 pieces of the board are only accessible to the Panda, the Nightingale, the Lotus and the Queen. The idea is that these pieces are somewhat weaker and less violent than the other pieces, and are therefore provided a safe haven - except for the fact that they can capture eachother just as easily.
In the Dutch version (my native langauge), it's called "het Vrederijk", i.e. "the Empire of Peace", but in English I found "the Garden" to be more intuitive; especially since the actual 'peace' aspect of it has been removed during early development.
[3] Would "the Garden" (and retroactively "de Tuin") be less confusing than "the Empire of Peace"?
I have a piece called the Bodyguard, that can be sacrificed at any time in order to save another piece - e.g. when you Emperor has unexpectedly been captured, you can sacrifice your Bodyguard to make sure you don't lose the game at once.
[4] Is the name 'Bodyguard' too modern? Is it suitable for a piece that sacrifices itself from a thousand miles away?
Also, the Hunter is a piece specifically designed to counter the Elephant and Panda, both rather strong pieces. I suppose the idea is that an Elephant provides Ivory and the Panda, well, is just pretty and makes for a great Empress' robe or whathaveyou.
[5] Is Hunter a suitable name for this piece, since it doesn't hunt for Tigers or Dragons?
Finally, one of the latest revisions added the Engineer. It's use is pretty simple, when captured, the capturing piece is removed as well - kinda like a bomb, I suppose.
[6] Do you happen to know a nice word for someone who makes explosives? Or perhaps a different name altogether?
I wholeheartedly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
It can be hard to remember which unit is what, i also think. Your best weapon against the hardness of learning the game and remembering the rules is integration with a theme and visuals. It is much easier to learn and remember something if we can relate it to something else we know. It is immensely easier to recognize something if it has a distinct image.
Good point. I didn't fully realise that the theme is what keeps the game light and playable.
Hmm, Sanctuary might work as well.
Another option is Paladin, but that doesn't feel oriental.
Yeah, Champion sounds ok as well. Or perhaps Guardian?
Someone who captures/kills someone else but is also lost? Maybe "berserker" or some name that also relates to recklessly atacking?
Well, it's not actually an aggressive piece per se. I'll have to think about this one.