Horror Miniatures Game - Preliminary Thread(I'm new to this Site)

Greetings

I recommend foam core for the board. It's easy to cut with a utility/craft knife and it's thick enough to lock easily with the other sections.

I use sticker paper when there is not that much needed. When im doing allot i find it's much cheaper to use lite card stock and spray glue.

I would recomend ither going to conventions, you will probobly find some on who is willing to playtest it there without to much problems. Or you can try and find a local miniaturs gaming group, pr a "normal" gaming group. You should be able to find playtesters there aswell.

You do not need miniaturs to playtest youre game, use pices of paper, pawns, dices of difrent collor, or other things you have handy, you just need to know where the units are and how manny they are. That is al you need to know in a playtest sesion. Playtesting is done to se if the rules and gamesystem work. Not to se if people thing th eminiaturs a nice looking, then you use picturs... =)

Lycka till...

While you are designing the game, you want to keep your costs as low as possible because most likely: 1. Your game will not succeed and 2. You will make a lot of changes to it. If, after a lot of playtesting, it is clear to both you and a publisher that your game is marketable, you're golden. But, at that point, most likely the publisher will produce the game, including all the miniatures.

Publishers are confronted by variety of cost, time and marketing constraints which may not be apparent to a designer. So, most of them prefer the flexibility of having control over the actual production process and sourcing all the components themselves. They will hire an artist to create art/sculptures and most of them have a graphic designer on staff to create the board, miniatures, cards, pieces, package, rules from the art that is produced and the rules you provide them. Then, one or more third parties will physically manufacture it.

Through this process, your vision for the game will become a collective vision and go in directions which you did not anticipate or expect. Sometimes for worse, but mostly for better, this collective production process will make your vision a reality. So, you will have to accept that a lot of the final product is out of your control.

But, prototyping is one of the parts in the process that you can control. And, often times, when you present the first image of your game, it is not uncommon for the final image to resemble it. Afterall, there's probably a reason you chose the theme you did. This is why, personally, I think making a presentable prototype is important. Because, it defines the game. Of course, in addition to the fact that it gets people interested in trying it (either playtesters or the publisher).

I have not made a miniature game. So, I do not know the feasibility of making miniature prototypes well. But, as I see it, you have three different approaches you can take.

First, you can create space size flat game tokens with the information written on it (think ASL).
Second, you can use pawns, dice, meeples, etc... of different colors (as Hulken suggests) and then produce corresponding cards which the players keep in front of them with game information.
Third, you can buy a few of those plastic index card stands which look like an upside down T at a local stationary store and print out a 2d image (back and front) of what you see the miniature looking like. This will probably look and feel the most like a miniature game... while at the same time keeping your costs for prototyping minimal and allowing you maximum flexibility. It will also allow you to use 2D art to depict what you think the 3D miniature should look like when it is produced.

But, if you do care what image you present for your game, you do not want to use other people's miniatures. And, it is not worth your time, nor is it your role in the process of game development, to make the miniatures yourself.

Good luck (in English)