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I really hope this gets funded!

aka_mythos wrote:It looks like the $9000, is to get the money to do a print run of a printed copy of the rule book. Its probably enough to cover setup costs and some number of copies beyond the number of contributors.

Again, I can't speak for Joshua, but from my own experience doing a Kickstarter for my comic I know that you need to raise enough money to:

- Print your books (not just enough for the contributors. You need enough money to finance a print run. That's often the whole point).

- Pay for contributor rewards.

- Pay for shipping for both your print run and the contributor rewards.

- Pay the writers, artists and graphic designers, photographers and rules developers who actually create the book's content.

That all takes a lot of money. Very likely some (or even a lot) of the content creation and design work for the book is being done by Joshua and Vincent without any expectation for the Kickstarter covering what they would normally charge for those services. That's just how it is when you publish your own game/book. You do work for free that you would often charge other people hundreds or thousands of dollars for. I wouldn't be surprised if hiring a talented Lego designer like Soren eats up a big chunk of that budget.

Anyway, that's all speculation on my part based on my own experiences.

Ok, all paid up for the glossy book, I think I may need to get some new lego ahead of time to prepare .
Joshua, is there any specific current lego sets you would recommend that will give a good supply of suitable bricks?
At the moment we have a fair whack of SW, space police and city.

Hey, Jake, you're fundamentally right: most of this money is going to people. We're actually seven people on this project right now: Vincent, Soren, me, Vincent's son Sebastian, editor Thor Olavsrud (of Burning Wheel), and two illustrators, Richmont Gan and Emilee Denich. I like paying people. People put money to the best use, after all.

A lot of it is also going to pay for LEGO. I'm working out ways to make it cheaper or at least higher volume, but the stuff's expensive and when volume gets even modesly high like the 28 kits we're promising, it's a shocking amount of effort and money to assemble. Believe me, we wish we could do more and better kits for less money.

Plus, of course, the print run.

Spiraleddie, just as soon as I can (tomorrow, I hope) I'll be posting both Pick-A-Brick numbers and instructions (draft though they are). You'll be able to see the pieces you've got, what you can substitute, and what you need.

Captain, you can help that happen! Pitch in a buck if it's all you can spare! $10 gets you the PDF.


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aka_mythos wrote:Ummm... here's a few questions...

First, despite being kinda moot, what is the scale of the mechs?-Like are we suppose to imagine a person to be 1-brick tall?-2-bricks tall?-Or what? I don't think it matters too much for the mechs but for terrain, I think it does.

A human is 7 plates tall. Mobile frames are pretty much pickup truck-sized.

Second, the implication from everything is that a player uses about 5 mechs. Is that a solid "you get 5 mechs" or is it just an average sized "force"? What is the standard supported range of force size?

You can field between 4 and 7. Scoring is balanced on the assumption that, if your general (or cell leader, or whatever) sent a lot of machines and materiel to the battle, they must need it real bad, so you have to do more to win. If you're underequipped or understaffed, on the other hand, it means your work is cut out for you: capture stuff like crazy because it's worth a lot; conversely, in that position, losing guys loses you points (and therefore initiative) fast.

Third, are there size classes of mechs?-If so what are they? And how does that relate to the "model" size?-It appears the average size is about 10-bricks tall, 4-5-bricks wide.

The nominal size of a frame is 6 bricks tall, though we don't really care if you exceed that in your model; cover works the same for everyone, though you can certainly take "small" as a blue (i.e. defensive) die, as long as you have a way to note its damage on the model (I like a trail of smoke that makes it so everyone can see where it is once it's taken damage to its "smallness"). The only real representation of size is that, if you don't have all four equipment slots filled, your guy is extra fast. That's also true if your guy isn't weighed down by any ranged weapons.

Fourth, the rules appear to allow for the free form design and construction of your mechs... is that carried over into weapons as well?-Or are there fixed arsenal, where the player just says "this lego weapon represents the standard M10-Missile Launcher"?

Weapons come at three ranges: HtH (up to 1 unit away), Direct Range (everything from 1 unit away to the distance most guys can run in a turn), and Artillery range (everything on the table past Direct range). Add to that the fact that each weapon is worth two dice that can work together or at different ranges (like a sniper rifle that's worth 1 die at Direct and another at Artillery). Then add to that the fact that you can have two of each type of system, giving you either a split of its four dice (Say, 3 dice at HtH range and 1 at direct range for a ball and chain) or taking two dice plus a d8 at a single range (the double-artillery monster in Update 2. You wind up with 36 weapons (if I just did my math right in my head). That means that, altogether, there are about 100 configuration of frame, and... uh.... a kerjillion configurations of company.

Years ago I sold my legos to fund my 40k habit... the irony that I might sell some 40k to buy some legos.

That's my kind of irony!


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Mad4Minis wrote:Looks very cool.

Question though...if it doesnt get fully funded then what? Can we still get a hold of the rules & such somehow?

Oh, hey, missed this question.

If it doesn't get funded (and I'm feeling pretty confident it will — Kickstarter statistically puts my odds at >99% right now, and the project just opened), I'll find a way, probably with a smaller, simpler Kickstarter, ditching the kits. They're really expensive and complicated to assemble and it's work I'd really rather not do. That would make the success point about $3000 less. I'm not going to skimp on the quality of the book, since on of the main reason I do this is because I love making books. I can't skimp on the other creators involved because we already have a contract and it would be unethical in any event.

But instead, I'm figuring out ways to shop out kit assembly because the people keep asking me for them. Then I'm looking forward to answering strategic, tactical, and building questions. Cuz those are fun.

Fair explanation. As a Lego fan and ex-Brik Wars player I look forward to seeing these kits.

I wish you the best of luck - this seems like a cool project/game!


Also...

Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:editor Thor Olavsrud (of Burning Wheel)

Now THAT is a cool name indeed!

Aaaaaand backed. I always wanted a Lego game just like this, now I don't have to make it! Sure, I may never play it, but it looks too cool not to support.

Good luck!

ph34r wrote:Fair explanation. As a Lego fan and ex-Brik Wars player I look forward to seeing these kits.

Heh. Just had lunch with Mike Rayhawk yesterday, in fact. We're having a little discussion about the Kickstarter over there, too.

Thor is more than a cool name. He's a really great person with a cool name.

Thanks, GrimTeef!

Im going to be in for $20.

Any chance of a quick preview on how to build a couple of the Frames? Id love to build a couple for the fun of it, but its been ages since Ive played with Legos and have no idea how you built those.

Mad4Minis wrote:Im going to be in for $20.

Any chance of a quick preview on how to build a couple of the Frames? Id love to build a couple for the fun of it, but its been ages since Ive played with Legos and have no idea how you built those.

For people who have donated there's now a step by step guide to building the ST-07 Chub in the updates section. Super cool!

Oh man, sounds great. I'd play, but I hate how my legos are always mix-matched, and my mecha would look ugly

Regarding the scale, how high approximately in mm is 7 plates ?
It would seem that mini figs are too large to be humans in the game.
In any case I plan on trying out a ST-07 build tonight so will know for sure.
Hopefully I can post a pic or 2.

spiraleddie wrote:Regarding the scale, how high approximately in mm is 7 plates ?
It would seem that mini figs are too large to be humans in the game.
In any case I plan on trying out a ST-07 build tonight so will know for sure.
Hopefully I can post a pic or 2.

I'm not sure what the newest version of the game supports but I've played once with squads of mini figs instead of single mechs.

Here's some pics of cool models at the mini fig scale (not specifically for Mobile Frame Zero though. I believe these are refereed to as hard suits).

OH MY GOD THOSE ARE SO CUTE!

How do guys figure this stuff out? Do they just have containers full of tiny pieces, and work until it's perfect, or is there more to it? Certainly there's a strong stylistic element to it. It's really an art form...

Those minifig suits are excellent, I like Samus wonder where the talent/ inspiration comes from, these look well thought out.

Pardon me for chiming in, but I've been a huge fan of Lego for many a year now.

spiraleddie wrote:Regarding the scale, how high approximately in mm is 7 plates ?

Each plate is 1/3 of a brick, so each plate is 1/8" tall (about 3 mm). So, the humans at 7/8" would be about 22mm.

There are plenty of web pages, books, and magazines on how people come up with amazing creations. I'll admit, I'm always amazed at the creativity of the Lego community. I'm sure I could scrounge up some links if anyone was interested.

jake wrote:I'd play, but I hate how my legos are always mix-matched, and my mecha would look ugly

I've seen a lot of creations start that way. Make it work, then make it pretty.
Once you build something and get the structure down, finding the parts in different colors is a web site away: http://www.bricklink.com
Or you could break all sorts of Adult Fan Of Lego (AFOL) rules and use *gasp* paint!

And just so I'm on-topic. Backed. Excited. May change my donation to $20+ so I get the groovy book.

Your at $8300 funded already, which brings up a question...if we miss out on the kickstarter the rules and all will be going into actual production right? My budget may require me to wait about a week to donate the amount I want and your looking likely to be fully funded by then.

As someone who is just getting into VOTOMS thanks to the most recent Super Robot Wars titles, I have to say your timing is perfect.

I will be definitely going on to donate later today. Which faction is the one with mobile frames that looked like ATs? I really love how those look, I am really looking forward to seeing where this project goes.

Hey, guys, the way you get good at building is the same way you get good at anything: rip off other people, then realize that you want it different, then tweak until you realize you've got something all your own!

The game has building instructions and the guy who's doing them, Lester, has been doing LDraw files for mecha for a while now. http://divnull.com/blog/2010/ldraw-files-for-popular-mechaton-models/

Mad4Minis, the Kickstarter is running for over another month! If next week's good for you, it's good for me! It runs until time runs out, not until you reach your minimum. This was going to be a monthlong project, but I wound up making it 37 days for logistical reasons. It looks like it'll be at its goal before the month starts.

Gitsnak, the ST-07 Chub is used by the United Mars Foreign Legion. They're local guys (for whatever value of "local" matters) recruited by the Solar Union to do their dirty work.

The UMFL is sometimes backed up by the Terran Expeditionary Marines and the Terran Trade Marines, who use ST-09 Rumble Monkeys and other, more reliable machinery. Of course, there are also private, prototype, and less well-known organizations and their many types of mobile frame! Just check out the Flickr group to see how many!

Sooo epic if only i had any lego.....or for that matter money XD

My "Ultra Fists" marines for Mobile frame zero.

Woot, i just got the email stating the minmum amount has been met. Congrats guys


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Ypur ultra fists photso are not working for me

Not working for me either.

THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!

but on a more serious note Joshua is there any possibility of a intro rule set/ something cause i honestly would love to try this out plus see if i can get a friend in it too just a stat line and description of each would would be great.

just so we can get started building and have an idea of what it will be like when it is actually released

Cant wait

Backers are getting glimpses of the rules already! I haven't had time to sit down and write a complete explanation of the rules yet, but I've promised to give enough to get people building just as soon as I can!

Awesome cant wait to see it

oh and congratz on making $10k!

hope you get better soon

My "Ultra Fists" marines for Mobile frame zero.







OK, what am I doing wrong? If you right click on these photo links and open them in another tab or window they work! Why won't they show up in the post?

I'm in.

Joshua I know your game is about SUV sized mechs blasting each other but could the rules work for larger space ships like Soren Hammer Class Missile Cruiser http://www.flickr.com/photos/bricklovinfreakboy/5928270411/in/set-72157627124862315/

Why not just make a lego figure game, with stat lines for the different sets of guys.

I know there are numerous Cowboys, Zombies, Adventureres, city people, EtcEtcEtc that could really do with some love.

Mechs? Why are you jacking with those when they have a Mech line already? They had a superspy line, Pulp line, cops and robbers line, Nijas, Cowboys and Indians, Space Invaders, Aliens, etc.......


A Kckstarter project for some underwhelming .... stuff doesn't do what you could really do with it justice.


The Pirate line is pretty impresive, too. My little brother had himself a good head hunter thing going with some of those Legomegos guys that were doubled as headhunters.