Dear Community,
Hello there, my name is Kojeco2, I'm a new user on the community and I have a few questions about a board game I would like to design.
Before I get started, I would just like to apologize in advance. Being new to the website, I understand how frustrating it can be for those of you who are veterans of these forums, to see someone like me absurdly posting a help thread in the wrong segment. So I would just like to apologize first in case this is against the rules to ask for help in such a context (which you will understand if you read further on) and I would like to thank those of you who will hopefully be accepting of this instinctive form of posting on a forum for the first time.
So, without further apology or adieu, my problem.
I would like a little bit of help coming up with ideas for a board game of my own. I had the idea after reading the book "Night Flight" by Antoine de Saint Exupery. I wanted to create a Board Game based off of that book. But, I have few (if any) ideas about what type of board game it will be and what kind of gameplay it will have. Before going into the design of the game, I would like to give you a brief synopsis of the book:
The main part of the book I would like to focus on is the climax which is near the end. A pilot named Fabien is flying through the Andes Mountains, caught in the middle of an enormous cyclone. This cyclone is shifting his course and throwing him off the main path so immensely that a normally 2 hour mundane flight had become a 6 hour intense struggle for survival.
There is also a character named Riviere, who is quite the military character. Demanding, and showing no pity to his workers, Riviere is the head of the industry of night flights. On an average day he would not feel sorrow for the loss of a worker as it happens on such a regular basis, and he would in no way show any pity for that lost worker, of any of the utterly senseless and irrational orders he gives his workers. He believes that this shapes a task force, subconsciously makes them work harder to earn bonuses for avoiding the unavoidable in their vocation. But Riviere is going through some complexities and torments in his life, he is questioning the meaning of things, questioning his morals that he had so obediently obeyed in the past, and thus feels a desolate sorrow in his mind for the young Fabien who had eventually been lost in the storm after running out of fuel.
So, now that you understand the basic premise of the book I would like to pose my ideas.
1. I had the idea to make this a sort of simple back and forth strategy game like a chess match, except one player were Fabien and one player were the cyclone. They would each take a turn to react and choose their next move. If Fabien does not make it to his destination in time, the player as Fabien looses. But, if Fabien's itinerary is completed before the cyclone can overtake him, the player as Fabien would win.
2. I am indecisive about how the game map would be laid out. Would it be composed of a completely open world map without spaces or fixed paths through the mountains to allow for optimal movement but more difficult strategy? Or would it include a large variety of set paths that the cyclone can take over at once that hinder the movement of path of the plane, and on these spaces there would exist special cards that would say things like (Riviere has started questioning the meaning of work, and has lost his focus, you have lost contact with him and you have lost your original route)? I am perplexed, I guess this will come with time.
Now, I also realize that to this, most of you will chuckle at its simplicity, I have already taken a look at some of the Mother's day contest winners and have decided to lessen my confidence on making an impact on the community with this board game. I have no past sagacity of board games, their creation or how to make them possess good replay value, but I am an amateur unemployed video game designer with plenty of knowledge on RPG game design and replay value in that form of game, so I guess the two are somewhat related.
Thank you to anyone who helps me with this project, it will be appreciated with immense passion.
Sincerely,
Kojeco2
Wow, thanks for such enthusiasm in the replies! I was never expecting to get a full game with all the pieces and gameplay elements laid out, it really would've just been fine if individual people gave me small ideas to work off of, but that is remarkable, both of you, so thank you!
I watched that video and I got a little inspiration actually, I see what she meant how you should be able to create a mood or a theme through the design of the game and the gameplay itself as opposed to the graphics or story. I decided to take into account the different moods I would like to express through the gameplay, and those are:
Fear (of the opponent)
Anxiety (since from the biplane there is no way for Fabien to augur the cyclone)
Anticipation (for what will come next)
Stress (for the anticipation)
Wonder (for the unknown)
Some of these might be extremely difficult to create through a Board Game (they are obviously easy to design in a Video Game), so I thought about what would cause the opponent to feel fear and anxiety. These two emotions are caused by the unknown, (for the most part), and what better way I thought would be to have the gameplay be similar to Battle-ship. You can't see your opponent, but when they start attacking you from beyond your range of sight (well, behind your range of sight I guess I could say) you feel anticipation and anxiety and fear to see if you will survive the oncoming attacks.
Also:
(I did read what you said Mark about how there may be no goal in the fact that the cyclone is a natural element and does not create any progression, but as a player wouldn't you be ambitious enough or competitive enough to create that sense of a goal, to capture Fabien and make him crash? From previous experience with game design, most of the elements I have discovered that create a good game/level/board game come subconsciously, the player isn't naturally going to think that a cyclone has no goal and therefore it would be boring, the player creates the mood that he wants through the gameplay, its confusing, even I admit, I thank you for the extensive amounts of advice and I did in fact take most of the advice, I just felt otherwise on this one point.)
So to sum it all up:
One player is Fabien, he controls one piece, which is the plane.
Another player is the Cyclone, he controls 6 pieces.
The game takes place on a Battleship-esque grid board with pegs going from A1 - 12L, with a vertical panel in between the two players' sides that also has a grid on it
Each grid has peg-holes on each grid intersection where pegs can be placed.
The game starts as so:
Fabien places his piece wherever he wants at the starting row (L). He must also place a piece on the opponent's vertical wall, before the cyclone pieces are placed.
The cyclone player places his pieces anywhere he wants on his starting row (L), but he does not place his pieces on the opponents vertical panel.
The players alternate turns.
If it is Fabien's turn, he can move one space orthogonally or diagonally, and each turn he uses a fuel tank, which he has 35 of (12 X 2 = 24, so 35 seems like a reasonable number with the extra strategy elements).
If it is the cyclones turn, he can move:
A: All his pieces, but only one square each and they all must be in the same direction.
B: 3 of his pieces, one to two squares each and only orthogonally different directions.
C: 2 of his pieces, one to three squares each in any direction.
D: 1 piece, one to four squares, in any direction.
The Cyclone player is allowed to know where Fabien is at all times, but Fabien is not.
The players progress forward, the cyclone player develops a strategy, and Fabien attempts to anticipate the direction of the cyclone.
If the cyclone player makes one of his pieces over to the opposing player's side, the piece is placed in sight of Fabien (on his side). But, if Fabien makes it to the cyclones side first, the vertical panel is taken off, and the cyclone's side is exposed.
NOW FOR THE STRATEGY:
The cyclone player has his six pieces that he can move in rapidly (and haphazardly) throughout the 12X24 map, imitating the unpredictability of the storm. If a cyclone piece lands on the same space as Fabien, Fabien is forced backwards a space. But the cyclone is not allowed Riviere Boosts.
Riviere Boosts is currently a temporary name for these cards the Fabien player can use. You have a limited amount of these and they are completely random. The way these works is that once the cyclone enters Fabien's side (or vice versa), each turn Fabien picks up a card, in an attempt to get lucky with a Riviere Boost.
When the player picks up a card, there is a small chance that they will find one of these Riviere Boosts, the other times the cards will say: "You have currently lost connection with the station." What you can do with these Riviere Boosts is you can either use them immediately on your turn (they are a one time use) or you can save them for later use. The Riviere Boosts give you 'confidence' as a pilot and can affect your movement, as in these example Riviere Boosts:
- You may move one, two, or three squares in one turn. (2x cards exist) You may also skip over cyclone pieces.
- Fuel Salvage: Take one turn without using a fuel container. (4x cards exist)
- You may remove a cyclone piece from the board entirely (1x cards exist)
- You may deprive a cyclone piece of its movement for three turns (1x cards exist)
There will probably be a good 50 cards in total.
To clarify, I actually thought of these ideas before any of you posted with such detailed ideas, and of course, I am not clairvoyant, so I was unable to see many of your responses. But, after reading through them, I actually did change my original plan a lot, so please don't think that I didn't take any of your works into consideration.
Also, two more things:
1. Thanks for the warm welcome!
2. I really like your enthusiasm in your post, and I really like the idea, I didn't want to exactly borrow/steal any of your ideas in fear of angering you (even if you did offer it) but I did take a lot of inspiration from it, and as I said before, what I have posted about the game design idea is actually very different from the original design on paper, and is very influenced from your ideas.
What does everyone think of this idea?