Demonhunter Version 2.0 now avaliable!

Second version of my prototype Print 'n Play game is now available! Check it out!

From Concept to Final Illustration

I think it's interesting to see how something inventive grows and develops over time, so... I decided to sorta have a little monologue/assessment of how I went about creating the theme for my Print 'n Play game.

It began with some quick silhouette scribbles for character ideas. I knew I wanted the game to be competitive and to contain some sort of resource mechanic (if you read my earlier posts, I made this pretty evident). So... I made up some sort of good vs. evil stereotype. Elves and Demons. But I wanted them to have something in common so there wouldn't be an obvious "bad guy". If that makes any sense. To clarify a bit more, I wanted each side to appear from the same roots, as if to hint they were both just in their reasons for wanting a certain piece of land. That way, when it comes to choosing, the player would go off of aesthetics alone. ...Or whatever they prefer. As the creator, I don't really care which side they pick for whichever reason. It was just something I thought I needed to convey in order to break the cliche.

Then I doodled. A lot. Both sides got a variety of different looks before I started the finalization process, which began a week or two before our illustration part of the assignment began.

Of course, with character comes environment. Especially in video games. So that got some sketches as well. (Also shown in an earlier post.)

Then, these two pieces came about. These were to be the final looks for the two heroes/races of the game, as well as the chosen color Palette. Now, to move onto the illustration!

In the post before this one, I created around twenty or so thumbnails. Out of them all, I chose this one to sketch up further. (I did do four other larger sketches, but this is the only one that matters right now, so..)

After that came linework. This is how I usually start my more complete pieces. Line everything that is close-up or that requires detail. Everything else can be blocked out.

Then comes value blocking. A really annoying part because it requires a lot of tedious brushwork. Coloring within the lines. Ugh.

Now, shading. Also added a few more details to the background to create more depth (as well as show off more game mechanics)

Color, now! Also messing around with the shading a bit.

Finally, a croppsed version (to fit in the 11x17 boundaries) to turn in, with the contrast amped up. All done... until critique, at least!

Storytelling Illustration

Thumbnails for the storytelling/visual aspect of my boardgame!

My mind is all over the place with this one. Limited down to like, twenty of my thumbnails (as shown), and then seven of those that I liked. Might do more than one because I'm pretty quick when it comes to illustration.

Additional stuff, as well! Made visuals for some of the class cards I created for the new PnP version (coming soon! Soon as in, tomorrow):

Don't why they kept getting bigger... My mind magically ranked them by size?

PLAYTEST Part 2 !!

Alright, I went out and playtested "Demonhunter" at least 3 or 4 times and got some pretty good results.

First of all, some balancing issues:
Fire is used to purchase special units like Flyers and Generals.
I had a problem with my original scenario because one user could accumulate all the fire easily and then sweep the other person's team with special units.
So in order to balance this out, I had most scenarios start with a fire piece on the first rows, so each player could grab one at the start of the game.

Another thing I balanced was limiting the size of the army. Originally, you could buy as many pieces as you could afford, but that got crazy and too luck-based.

I also balanced the hero unit and made it so he could roll to retaliate against moves. The reason why I added this was because heroes started chasing each other across the board, and the game became tedious and unfair.

Another huge problem I had with my rules was general clarification of certain things. Also, a lack of visual guides, which would help guide the player.

Things to add:
-Visual Scorecard so each side can keep track, complete with hp bar.
-Visual guide to each class with simple bulletpoints
-Rewrite rules to just be simpler overall
-Difference between the demon general and hero
-General rules page as a guide for small things

Boop boop a doop.

Rules Draft

As much as I'd love to, I'm going to refrain from posting my rules draft for the time being. I don't feel... "safe" posting it this early. So, instead, I'm going to talk about a bunch of problems I faced whilst writing them.


First of all, the size of my grid became a problem very quickly. Using a 6-sided die for moves became a problem in a 5x5 grid, seeing as if you rolled a six you'd fly off the map. So, instead, I'm trying to push for a 7x7 grid. However, this is messing with the layout I created for my original playtest, which sucks because I have to remake most of the assets.
Another problem that came with the gridsize was balancing issues. I tried to keep the number of resources down so players couldn't end up with massive armies at the end of each play. So, a lot of larger maps ended up with more "decimated", or resourceless, pieces.

I ended up finding a solution to my die problem- if someone were to roll more than they could move on a smaller map, they would add up the additional movement points that they lost and could use them to move again. Or I might even implement an additional modifier later. Not sure, trying to keep everything lowscale right now.

Another problem I've encountered is developing the combat system. Creative, interesting combat is difficult. It's a fun challenge, but it really wracks your brain. So far I've come up with a system that involves a small, three "hit" based health system, which can be tracked easily seeing as you only have to deal with a maximum of five units at a time. Pencil and paper is going to be an important kitbash asset in the PnP version. I'm probably going to end up designing a cool place to keep track of all your units. Definitely in the commercial version.

Stay tuned for more updates and the finished rule booklet later.

 

Yaaaaaay

Concept Statement and Theme

My concept statement for "Demonhunter" will be "Quality versus Quantity".
This seems kind of vague at first, but after thinking about the strategy of the game in my head, it seems to revolve around choosing particular resources in the first phase to get a strategical advantage as opposed to gathering as many as you can. When I playtest it, we'll see if my theory is correct.

The theme/art for the game will be based entirely on the narrative side. The narrative is short and sweet, so it doesn't complicate things that much-- the game's narrative is summed up pretty much in one word: "warfare".
The setting is a forest that is being demolished, so all the pieces would be pictures of things set in a background that could be rearranged and still make logical sense.

Each one of the little icons on the pieces that represent the resources would be done in an elvish-style to represent the homeland of the hunters.

As far as the color schemes go:

Color scheme for Demon Designs.

Color Scheme for Hunter Designs.

The two opposing sides would have their own schemes, but I think for the entire scheme of the board I'd use the Hunter scheme, since the fight occurs on their territory. For the tokens for the demons, though, their designs will all be around this one scheme, with variations of teal-green, yellow, and a saturated red. As well as whatever values entail under those colors.

Here's some concept art:

I plan on doing some simple vector art in a combination of photoshop and illustrator to make the board and the chips/cards for the game.

Brainstorming Session: Theme, Mechanics

So our big assignment in game design now is that we're creating a Print 'n play board game. Which is awesome, 'cus I've always wanted to create something like this but never really found a good place to start. Anyways...

I have my mind set on a certain theme. So I've thought of different mechanics that can work around that theme, since I'm still not entirely sure how the game should be played. I don't know if I want it long, short, simple, (relatively) complex, etc...
My theme is a thing that I'm going to call "Demonhunter" for the time being. I'm looking to create a competitive 2-4 player game that possibly involves collecting resources, chance-based movement, different game phases, and a set space for the players to work in, unlike in Pocket Civ, which did not come with pre-determined space.

In this game, there would be two different sides of the board. This is a mechanic I know I want to keep for sure. However, I'm not entirely sure about whether or not I want to make it possible for opposing sides to cross over into each other's territory. This depends on the balance of the game. If the goal of one of the phases is to collect resources quickly, then could the opposing player steal the main player's resources from their side tactically?

Another mechanic, specifically about the space, is the shape of the board. Is it a basic square, grid pattern that the players move across linearly, or is it a bunch of hexagon pieces that the player puts together, in order to spice up the game everytime? I think the hexagons /might/ be a better idea, especially if resources come into play. I could include cards that indicate where to place the resource pieces and have special challenge versions of the game. If I create a grid setup, do they come apart, or are they all together? If so, should I create resource tokens instead of tiles to change up the game? And if more than two players want to join, should I add on additional rectangular pieces to each side in order to join up?

After the game starts, it's important to consider the game's central mechanics.
If I were to do phases, I was thinking about a resource collection phase and a fight phase, to keep things simple. The players would use the resource phase to collect various resources such as stone, wood, fire, etc., which could be traded in before the fight phase for different types of soldiers. Then these soldiers are used in the fight phase.
There would be four different types of soldiers to, yet again, keep it simple. Each would do different amount of damage to one an other (like rock paper scissors). For example, a regular "soldier" class would be effective against a "magic" class. Then a "magic" class would be effective against a "flying" class. Then, in order to balance everything out, both sides would have a "hero" class. Hero classes would be effective against /all/ classes, so the player wouldn't have to worry about getting enough resources to purchase every class. This allows for strategy on the player's part and careful expenditure of resources.

There is a problem with this system, however. If all classes are semi evenly matched against each other (there is also a disproportional amount of luck required, seeing as you and your opponent cannot know about your opposing armies), what is the point of gathering different resources? Well, you can sort of see your opponent's strategy based on what resources they go for within the time limit or turn limit (idea pending).

But, in another case, a different system to try would be classes that do more damage but also cost more resources. So, depending on what you earn, you can get a bunch of low cost troops and swarm, or you can buy a one or two big guys and deal out a ton of damage. However, keeping track of damage is another thing to consider, and may be difficult to manage.

The fight phase, and the game ends when one team is wiped out, or, alternatively, the hero is killed, for hardmode. The resource phase has a bunch of different ways it could end: a. when the entire map is leveled (all of the resources have been expended), b. time runs out, or c. the players have taken a set number of turns. Leaning towards a or b as an option, but could probably be played either one of these ways.

Alternate Versions of Theme:

Another version of the game I thought of was one with a ranking system, and health points. This I found more difficult because health points on PnP games is generally (from what I've seen) a sloppily done mechanic that is annoying to keep track of.

The player would start with the lowest rank. After collecting a certain amount of resources, they would get higher, the higher the rank, the more specific resources. If the one of the two, three, or four players meets, then one can chose to attack the other.

With an idea like this, balancing comes into play. Because of the open-ness of attack, I'd like to say that a player rolls the die in order to decide how far they move. The map would need to be medium-large for a game like this, so a player can keep their distance from another if they want to.


I'll post more versions if I think of them. In fact, I'd like to create a game that can be played in many different ways, because it'd keep things interesting. However, for this assignment, I need to narrow the scope to one main, effective version, in order to learn how to execute and balance a game correctly.