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So, I want to design a game built around mecha, and I want to design miniatures to go along with said game. My worry however, is that there won't be room for my game due to other existing systems (Battletech and Heavy Gear).

I guess the question is: Is the market too saturated, or might there be room for one more?

Your issue will be that everyone will compare it to B-tech or Heavy Gear. It really is going to have to be significantly different or innovative to draw folks away from the familiar. The problem with that is folks tend to shy away from the unfamiliar, especially if it's going to cost them money. A horrible catch 22.

As a side there are a number of other mecha style games out there that have not met with the success of B-tech or Heavy Gear to compete with as well. Reaper's CAV, Mech Attack, Lightning Strike (made by Dream Pod 9 but still a different style mecha game), Ronin, the list goes on and on.

With the crappy economy and the number of available games currently out there I'd say yeah, the market is too saturated to have any real long term success.

There's probably room, but you'd need to do something noticeably different from other games.

Theres always room for another good game. However, if your point is to make a good living or even get rich then forget about it.

Give it a very different style to thefuturistic or manga styles common. My first choice: make it steampunk.

You still have a mech game, but you are no longer competing with Battletech.

sarcastro01 wrote:
As a side there are a number of other mecha style games out there that have not met with the success of B-tech or Heavy Gear to compete with as well. Reaper's CAV, Mech Attack, Lightning Strike (made by Dream Pod 9 but still a different style mecha game), Ronin, the list goes on and on.

As far as I know Ronin is dead and gone. I have a couple of the minis, but never got to play do to lack of players. CAV looked interesting but I didn't like the rules. Where can I find Mech Attack, or Lightning Strike?


Game wise as long as it has a good back story, easy to learn rules, and fluid game play it should do well. I have started rules and back story for a game of my own but will never get the time to finish. If you want it pm me and I'll send it to you.

Well, the point of this definitely isn't to get rich, more like have my own game out there and make a bit of money on the side.

I had considered doing Steampunk, but seeing as I also play Warmachine, there are a few similarities. Also, I'm not sure if I could make Steampunk minis that I'd be happy with... Interesting idea though.

Going along the "different" train of thought, what about more medieval mecha? Mana/magic powered battlesuits (I'm thinking doing it in 30mm scale, so the suits would be 2"-3" tall), wielding swords, axes, crossbows, ect. It'd be interesting to have mages in some/all of them, with magic amplification devices too.

Would this be different and interesting, or just silly?

Goremaul wrote:
Going along the "different" train of thought, what about more medieval mecha? Mana/magic powered battlesuits (I'm thinking doing it in 30mm scale, so the suits would be 2"-3" tall), wielding swords, axes, crossbows, ect. It'd be interesting to have mages in some/all of them, with magic amplification devices too.

Would this be different and interesting, or just silly?

I believe you mean something along the lines of Escaflowne(sp) or Aura Battler Dunbine? Both are rather interesting anime, if you ever get the time to watch them. Either way it sounds interesting.

As far as I know Ronin is dead and gone. I have a couple of the minis, but never got to play do to lack of players. CAV looked interesting but I didn't like the rules. Where can I find Mech Attack, or Lightning Strike?

Ronin, while out of print, is still a very playable game with just about any set of mecha figs you have. Their hit system with the magnets was neat but fiddly. The biggest bonus was customization of your Ronin.

CAV is on it's 3rd edition. I love CAV's reaction system where focused fire is rewarded and nickel and dime tactics are punished. First edition had a "build it yourself" section to modify your CAVs but our group found the stock models destructive enough.

You should still be able to pick up Lightning Strike on the DP9 website. If not a quick scan of Ebay should score you a cheap copy. Think BFG with mechas dueling in between the capitol ships and playing point defense (ala any number of anime/manga series.)

Mech Attack can be found here http://armorgridgames.blogspot.com. A very nicely balanced system. Easy to compare to B-tech but it's not B-tech (I am however using my old Mechwarrior clix minis to play.) You can do a heavy lance vs a heavy lance in about an hour. How long would that take you in B-tech?

sarcastro01 wrote:
Mech Attack can be found here http://armorgridgames.blogspot.com. A very nicely balanced system. Easy to compare to B-tech but it's not B-tech (I am however using my old Mechwarrior clix minis to play.) You can do a heavy lance vs a heavy lance in about an hour. How long would that take you in B-tech?

I just finished an Assault lance game with a relatively new player in 3 hours. It was a city fight and had a couple events that he's never had occur before, and had to show him a few of the rules.

Interesting. On a different note, what kind of science fiction tank battle games are there out there?

Renegade Legion: Centurion
Star Grunt

Goremaul wrote:Interesting. On a different note, what kind of science fiction tank battle games are there out there?

Tanks normally seem like an afterthought instead of the focus. Either that or their boring, dry affairs using only realistic modern tanks. So that could be an interesting route to go.

Besides Epic 40k the other game that uses tanks and popped into my mind was OGRE.

Otherwise for mech games I think you're just going to have to accept that you won't be able to compete with Battletech. It's too big and loved and has been considered the bar for mech games forever. I assume yours would be a hobby project and nothing with the support of a fully fledged gaming company, so probably aiming for a niche role in the market is realistic. Some people love mech games so much that they'll try anything, so you might make some long term converts from that. Others are devoted to one system and won't budge. The biggest player base is probably people who have never played other mech games but are interested in yours because of XYZ feature that sticks out to them. It may be the steampunk genre that does it, or a neat chunk of rules or unique figures. But make those choices because you want to, not because you are intentionally trying to be unique for the sake of uniqueness...because that just gets awkward and the game reflects it.

Well, maybe I'll start playing around with Sci-Fi tanks, see what I can come up with.

Rather than 'real robots', you could make the 'super robots'.

To explain: the current mech systems, you treat the mech as a normal military asset.

Super Robots are more like super heroes, and have totally wacky powers and aren't based off a war scenario.

So if a 'real robot' is Private Ryan, a 'super robot' is Spiderman, for instance.