Hello everyone! I am a new member and would like to contribute to the forums.
An idea for a board game? How's about an evolution based rpg? Not unlike other rpg's where you have stat cards and hitpoints, etc. The board would have undesignated spaces, such as in warhammer 40k and other tabletops. Thus allowing for more creativity when it comes to board design, and of course, free movement.
You would start off life as a small organism, eating and evolving in the sense that you can eat food, or enemies, or even other players. (But I was thinking that that would only be an ability at a higher level.)
I am mostly struggling with one thing. Piece design. I mean, if your player/monster, whatever, is constantly changing form, then you would need some sort of interconnecting construction-system type toy. And seeing that I don't have anything to make pieces, (3D printer, plaster, etc.) then I think that the best viable option is to buy some cheap plastic children's toys that successfully atain the goal I am trying to reach. (And I refuse to use Legos because they are expensive if you buy the pieces individually.)
So, any suggestions for pieces, boards, etc.?
Idea for an evolution-based board game
First off, welcome to the boards!
I think making this a miniatures game would be quite difficult. You might be able to make it into a very cool board game with an evolution tree similar to Spore (video game). You've got my wheels spinning on an evolution game now.
Levi Mote
Bonsai Entertainment
www.bonsaigames.net
If you want to keep the feeling of seeing the Creature evolving in your hands, I think it would be much easier to use cards to represent the evolution of the creature than miniatures...
A bit like ( shame on me ^^ ) in Pokemon maybe, but with different available branches...
You are a Creature A and eat Gizmo B ---> you can evolve into something from the deck A/B etc.
Using cards is a good idea here. I would go so far as to suggest that your creature be made up of a grid of cards, each representing different parts. As your creatures evolve, you can switch out the parts and upgrade them.
Also, you should totally allow eating of other players (or just plain combat). Players already represent a species as a whole over time - if you die, you just then represent a different individual of that species. Species who win combat get better at it and can gain size, strength, or weaponry. Species who lose at combat get additional speed, camouflage, poison, or other defense-oriented parts.
That's very clever. That really takes the concept of using cards to represent the creature and puts into a tangible mechanic that could demonstrate the evolution over time.
Also, you should totally allow eating of other players (or just plain combat). Players already represent a species as a whole over time - if you die, you just then represent a different individual of that species. Species who win combat get better at it and can gain size, strength, or weaponry. Species who lose at combat get additional speed, camouflage, poison, or other defense-oriented parts.
I REALLY like that. It adds a dimension to the game that your evolution isn't random and it isn't necessarily calculated. It is as much a factor of your in-game experiences as anything. In addition to player interaction, there could be environment interactions, climate changes, etc. that result in mutations happening for a given player or even for all players (i.e. a world-wide event).
Great stuff!!
RK Gabhart
Driftwood Games
www.driftwoodgames.com
I made a card game like this about 10 years ago called Galapagos - not an RPG/miniatures game, but similar idea in a board/card game. Parts of the cards and the whole rules document are visible here, if it would be of any use to you: http://planktongames.com/galapagos.php
I didn't start too far back on the evolutionary chain - everybody starts as more or less a quadruped land animal and adds parts (6 different parts: head, forelimbs, jaw, legs, body, tail) from cards. It's pretty fun, but I haven't ever quite figured out how to make it work consistently as a board game. It's a good simulation, but like reality, sometimes your creatures just die out without you being able to do much about it, and that's frustrating.
I could see pools of die cut parts with common backs, each with a different part on the other side.
The parts would be grouped by how much evolution you need to draw from that pool (Simple, Complex, Animal, Tribal, Cultured).
The parts would give bonuses to your creature's abilities (Speed, Endurance, Intelligence, Charisma) or skills (Stealth, Gliding, Flight, Poison, etc...) or could be turned in to jump your creature to the next evolutionary step.
You could have an area or a larger card / mat where you would gather the parts that make up your creature. Gathering more parts would come through several means (environmental, radiation, space debris, disease, - probably all random event cards)
You could also gather by devouring others (either through combat between creatures of similar development or through eating less developed creatures).
Speaking of disease, it would be awesome if simple organisms could infect more complex ones. Or maybe have parasitic or symbiotic relationships. Biology is full of crazy stuff that would make interesting events or builds.
Combat could end with the victor copying a part from the defeated.
If you don't make this game, I think the rest of us will. lol
If you don't make this game, I think the rest of us will. lol
Amen brother!!! I really, really like the direction this is headed. If you decide to do nothing with it, I say we form a coalition and design it collaboratively!
Also, you should totally allow eating of other players (or just plain combat). Players already represent a species as a whole over time - if you die, you just then represent a different individual of that species. Species who win combat get better at it and can gain size, strength, or weaponry. Species who lose at combat get additional speed, camouflage, poison, or other defense-oriented parts.
You pretty much took a back burner idea I have written down and put it into a post. I also had a similar notion like the OP to base a game on evolution, and I was thinking pretty much that exactly.
If you don't make this game, I think the rest of us will. lol
Amen brother!!! I really, really like the direction this is headed. If you decide to do nothing with it, I say we form a coalition and design it collaboratively!
I agree. It's crazy how similar some of our ideas all wind up, and how much better they become when we get together with them.
:-) seems that everybody is or has been working on an evolution-based game.
A while back, i finally completed my take on the concept and make some Artscow decks for it (3 decks worth, had to wait for a special discount). Here are the links if you fancy a look:
http://www.artscow.com/gallery/card/wartemia1-p8828q7h5wbq
http://www.artscow.com/gallery/card/wartemia2-xzy9tl6butdg
http://www.artscow.com/gallery/card/wartemia-ee85xsnoyedm
There were a few issues with scaling/resizing so the cards didn't come out as expected. And the art is terrible ;-)
The game is called Wartemia (subtitle: when sea monkeys go to war). All creatures are essentially sea monkeys (Artemia salina) and players get to add traits to make them better able to deal with the different ecosystems they are in (represented by ecosystem cards that dictates what food is available (phytoplankton/zooplankton).
Why sea monkeys? The little critters are very resilient (which negates player elimination) and have displayed vast array of traits and adaptations so i pushed the idea a bit further and came up with Wartemia.
The cards have different backs (head, body and tail) and the flip side shows whatever adaptation you can add to your critter. So you always need to choose between playing cards on your existing creatures or save them to produce offsprings (for which you need one of each head, body and tail segment).
Points are scored when a creature feeds on the last food token of an ecosystem card which gets replaced by a new one immediately.
Quite a rough description but you get the gist of it (i hope) :-)
Unfortunately your links don't work for me. I'd love to look at your game, sounds fun.
Thank you for all your suggestons. I like the game "Galapagos", but do not think that my game will go in that direction. I primarily plan on usng boards representing an area of different terrain, (think: tundra, jungle, grasslands, shoreline, and, possibly, volcanic.)
And to clarify, I WILL include the ability to eat/attack other players, but to let new players adjust, I will might only allow it at a certain level. Or if, forsay, a yu-gi-oh! style attack points where you can only attack if your attack points are higher than your opponents. But of course there will be ways to overcome your opponent if your level is lower, possibly using dice rolls for attack bonuses. Or maybe there would be an armour class like in D&D.
(Wow, this game is coming together all in my head, I better start writing more stuff down!)
For some reasons, the links were not working last night when i set them up (thought Artscow was spazzing) but i just tried now and looks like they are fine. Can you try again and let me know if the work?
Yeah, they work now. Thanks.
Did this game ever see production in any form?
Did this game ever see production in any form?
Nah ;-) Just bullied my local group of playtesters into dozens of iterations (should have seen the first prototype done on Word) until i was happy with the gameplay/balance.
First off, thank you for your warm welcome. I do I agree, (but may regret) that using cards for creatures is wise, and it adds a sense of real nature like that in which your evolution is random. (think: survival of the fittest.) I have never played spore before, but the game may give me more ideas for mine.
-Thank you