Games for all occasions! Birthdays! Interventions! Bitter relationship breakups!
Ran a solo test of Madness this morning with the latest rule change that I came up with after my talk with Nick, and it went fairly well. Took a couple of hours for a 4-player game, but I'm thinking that it would be faster (and tighter) with 4 actually people playing, as I would tend to forget minor details that, as a single player, I would not. As always, certain refinements need to be made, such as some more tinkering with the balance of certain cards in light of the new rules, and I certainly need to keep making adjustments to the UI (even though it is not digital, it is still a User Interface).
As always, I won't know for sure until I run it through a few playtests, but I'm letting myself get hopeful that this might just be (a lot of qualifiers in there...) the core rule twist the game needed to maintain the fun, yet avoid the danger of a prolonged stalemate.
The big change is that now Fortifications not only double as a Crazy Idea Node of your choice (for purposes of victory conditions, only), but they also cost 5 bases -- not actions -- to purchase. The shift to using bases as a currency is key: a base is worth more than the Action spent to obtain it, as it also means that you are opening up nodes to others for expansion, as well as cutting short certain connection lines and pathways. It seems to hit the right balance of risk and reward, and additionally, the move keeps the maps from getting completely choked up and maintains a bit of flow so that the trench warfare pitfall doesn't show up. Even though it took 2 hours for the game to be won, the playtest showed that the game never got bogged down, and also that it's still balanced well enough that any player has a shot to win.
So, now the hard part -- gathering up enough people to run a playtest.
[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]
I'm on the very last mission for "Mercenaries," but I hate the game so much that I had to put it on the shelf, and probably won't return to it for some time. To me, the strength of the game is the ability to, on a mission, scope the area out, plan your attack, and choose your method of attack.
Unfortunately, the game all to often rips that away from you in the missions. Far too many are time-based, which destroys any chance to actually enjoy the sandbox aspect because you have to rush to make it to the site, blast through everything, and then hit your objective. Other missions and just deliberately set up so that there is, in fact, only one way to really give yourself a fair shot at completing it.
The last mission, while I understand is supposed to be hard, is just infuriating. They drop you on an island in the middle of a firefight, so any hope of sneaking around to scope the area is gone, and then you are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Oh, sure, you can call in airstrikes and the like, but first you have to get rid of the anti-air vehicles and helicopters. I am also completely sick of the RPG guys that appear out of nowhere, have unlimited ammo, and using homking rockets that can follow you around cover -- even though when you pick up the same weapon, the rockets only go straight, and you only have 4 shots.
After I was killed for the 6th time in the same spot, before I had even gotten to the meat of the mission, I decided that I had better things to do with my time. I probably will attempt to finish it at some point, just because that's what I like to do, but I also won't fret over it.
It just amazes me the number of horrid game design decisions that made it into the game. And the sad thing is that they are so bad, they totally destroyed any enjoyment I was getting from the game otherwise.
[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]
A friend of mine sent me "Ico" recently, and it has been the perfect balm to the irritating rash that was "Mercenaries." I've always enjoyed the puzzle-style adventures, and "Ico" does a beautiful job of showing how you can create a very compelling narrative with little dialogue. Likewise, it's doing a wonderful job of setting up the relationship between the two kids, through both game design (keep her close at all times, as you never know when those shades are going to attack) and visual storytelling. Perfect example of the latter: when Ico falls from a height that is a bit too high, he will cry out in pain; the princess will always come running over to him out of concern. She can't heal or anything, but it's just the perfect display of compassion, esp. considering that the two kids don't speak the same language (it seems). And, of course, the whole vibration control for when Ico is pulling her along by the hand -- this game is a case study in visual storytelling, and one of the best examples of how video games can be a powerful medium for narrative without the need for wordy cutscenes or endless character exposition.
I'll probably finish it this upcoming weekend, largely because it's pulled me in pretty well.
[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]
Thanks to some help from the always reliable Mr. 188, I was able to get confirmation that my UT3 level does, in fact, work on other people's machines now. I can still work on a couple of minor issues (why the heck isn't the texture mapping to the lift?), but overall, I think I'm going to move that down the priority pole, and instead start working on a new map. I have an idea for a Warfare map, and it'll require me to get more in-depth with creating custom meshes in Maya, as well as give me a chance to play more with the vertical movement element of UT3 that I love (and think is under-utilized).
For those interested, you can download it here:
http://www.filefront.com/14737823/DM_EngineRoom_Beta_02.zip/
As always, I won't know for sure until I run it through a few playtests, but I'm letting myself get hopeful that this might just be (a lot of qualifiers in there...) the core rule twist the game needed to maintain the fun, yet avoid the danger of a prolonged stalemate.
The big change is that now Fortifications not only double as a Crazy Idea Node of your choice (for purposes of victory conditions, only), but they also cost 5 bases -- not actions -- to purchase. The shift to using bases as a currency is key: a base is worth more than the Action spent to obtain it, as it also means that you are opening up nodes to others for expansion, as well as cutting short certain connection lines and pathways. It seems to hit the right balance of risk and reward, and additionally, the move keeps the maps from getting completely choked up and maintains a bit of flow so that the trench warfare pitfall doesn't show up. Even though it took 2 hours for the game to be won, the playtest showed that the game never got bogged down, and also that it's still balanced well enough that any player has a shot to win.
So, now the hard part -- gathering up enough people to run a playtest.
[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]
I'm on the very last mission for "Mercenaries," but I hate the game so much that I had to put it on the shelf, and probably won't return to it for some time. To me, the strength of the game is the ability to, on a mission, scope the area out, plan your attack, and choose your method of attack.
Unfortunately, the game all to often rips that away from you in the missions. Far too many are time-based, which destroys any chance to actually enjoy the sandbox aspect because you have to rush to make it to the site, blast through everything, and then hit your objective. Other missions and just deliberately set up so that there is, in fact, only one way to really give yourself a fair shot at completing it.
The last mission, while I understand is supposed to be hard, is just infuriating. They drop you on an island in the middle of a firefight, so any hope of sneaking around to scope the area is gone, and then you are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Oh, sure, you can call in airstrikes and the like, but first you have to get rid of the anti-air vehicles and helicopters. I am also completely sick of the RPG guys that appear out of nowhere, have unlimited ammo, and using homking rockets that can follow you around cover -- even though when you pick up the same weapon, the rockets only go straight, and you only have 4 shots.
After I was killed for the 6th time in the same spot, before I had even gotten to the meat of the mission, I decided that I had better things to do with my time. I probably will attempt to finish it at some point, just because that's what I like to do, but I also won't fret over it.
It just amazes me the number of horrid game design decisions that made it into the game. And the sad thing is that they are so bad, they totally destroyed any enjoyment I was getting from the game otherwise.
[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]
A friend of mine sent me "Ico" recently, and it has been the perfect balm to the irritating rash that was "Mercenaries." I've always enjoyed the puzzle-style adventures, and "Ico" does a beautiful job of showing how you can create a very compelling narrative with little dialogue. Likewise, it's doing a wonderful job of setting up the relationship between the two kids, through both game design (keep her close at all times, as you never know when those shades are going to attack) and visual storytelling. Perfect example of the latter: when Ico falls from a height that is a bit too high, he will cry out in pain; the princess will always come running over to him out of concern. She can't heal or anything, but it's just the perfect display of compassion, esp. considering that the two kids don't speak the same language (it seems). And, of course, the whole vibration control for when Ico is pulling her along by the hand -- this game is a case study in visual storytelling, and one of the best examples of how video games can be a powerful medium for narrative without the need for wordy cutscenes or endless character exposition.
I'll probably finish it this upcoming weekend, largely because it's pulled me in pretty well.
[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]
Thanks to some help from the always reliable Mr. 188, I was able to get confirmation that my UT3 level does, in fact, work on other people's machines now. I can still work on a couple of minor issues (why the heck isn't the texture mapping to the lift?), but overall, I think I'm going to move that down the priority pole, and instead start working on a new map. I have an idea for a Warfare map, and it'll require me to get more in-depth with creating custom meshes in Maya, as well as give me a chance to play more with the vertical movement element of UT3 that I love (and think is under-utilized).
For those interested, you can download it here:
http://www.filefront.com/14737823/DM_EngineRoom_Beta_02.zip/