Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've spent the last few days creating technical specifications for a faction's vehicle fleet. That involved comparing real world analogs (or as close as I could find) and then trying to extrapolate how things like mass, fuel economy and weapons would realistically function in the setting to make a plausible design.

(Hello by the way. I've been hanging in the News & Rumors forum but saw this thread and wanted to join in. Really looking forward to sharing more and learning how others are navigating the tight rope of game design!)

 Valander wrote:
. Ideally would like to publish via Wargame Vault by end of year, but of course that depends.

Excellent! Do not under-estimate the time it takes to sort decent photos, art work, and "in game" photos!

 Easy E wrote:

 Valander wrote:
. Ideally would like to publish via Wargame Vault by end of year, but of course that depends.

Excellent! Do not under-estimate the time it takes to sort decent photos, art work, and "in game" photos!

Oh, I know. I've been collecting art for my other "big project" for years at this point... (Paying artists of course). Since I had the rights to that art due to the way the contract worked (TL;DR: artists I use keep copyright, I have exclusive use rights), I did use some of it for a couple of POD card games, mostly so I could get some experience in layout software and test out DriveThru/WGV's stuff.

I'm debating on whether or not to include photos, since this wouldn't have a bespoke line of models, thus I'd be using other companies' models. I know that happens a lot in the Osprey games, so it "seems" like making sure to credit them and you're probably ok, but I need to research that a bit more before making that call.

Unrelated: Easy E if you wouldn't object, I know you've done some work with Osprey, and I'd be very interested to hear about their payment structure (through DM of course; don't pollute public threads). More because I eventually want to be a publisher of other people's games, too, so I'm curious what Osprey pays compared to some of the other (non-miniatures) contracts I've researched. Or if anyone else would like to share their experiences in that area, again, feel free to direct message me.

Valander- PM Sent. Not sure how much I can help though....

I worked on creating photos and content for a self-publishing set of rules called Turf War.

This year, I am on track to get two more works on Wargame Vault in addition to my other published work.

I also started reading the rules for Rogue Planet for a review on my blog.

I have been making some massive changes to Castles in the Sky as I work on version 4 for Osprey.

The core features of Castles in the Sky are as follows:

1. Altitude and Maneuver
2. Firepower vs. Armor
3. Attrition, Friction, and Critical Damage
4. Command and Control

I have been making big changes from V3 to how Firepower is calculated, Morale, Friction, and more.

The core is still Vertical Maneuver and Attrition, but it is now so much different from V3. I really did go back an kill some of my babies on this one! I did a lot of playtesting on V3, but I will have to go back and start from Playtesting Phase 1. There is so much different now.

The core features of Castles in the Sky are as follows:

1. Altitude and Maneuver
2. Firepower vs. Armor
3. Attrition, Friction, and Critical Damage
4. Command and Control

Not to be a wet blanket, but thats a bit generic, no? You've basically described just about every naval wargame out there, the only difference is you've added in the usually non-existent altitude criteria - which incidentally means it also describes basically every airship combat game out there too.

Intentionally vague because who wants to read a missive on design philosophy longer than the actual rules will be?

Probably no one.


Suffice to say.... I went back and completely re-worked the rules from the form it had before. Is it for the better? I do not know yet...

Intentionally vague because who wants to read a missive on design philosophy longer than the actual rules will be?

Probably no one.

feth, I do. There is a general dearth of intellectual discussion and analysis of miniature wargame design and theory on the internet. Plenty of sources for RPG, but very little for wargames (and a lot of the discussion that is out there mostly focuses on historical wargames and approaches the discussion from the perspective of trying to reproduce historical results rather than make an enjoyable game).

I think there's much better design discussion to be had for wargames out there in the board game world these days. Board game Twitter especially are good.

Yep, I've been following a few on twitter, but IMO its not a good platform for it, nor is it an effective repository of that information for purposes of posterity/future reference.

I spent some time working on tweaks to Wars of the Republic.

I also worked on Castles in the Sky a bit more. I think V4 is written, but I need to go do some playtesting. I decided to move away from using modifiers to Target Numbers and instead went to modification to the umber of Dice rolled. I also made a pretty significant change to how the size of guns have optimal targets and to use them against other targets reduces your dice pools. I also complete re-arranged how the turn plays. Finally, I re-tweaked how Stalling works so it will be a bigger factor in the game.

When I stand back and look at the rules, there is a bit more fiddly bits and rivet counting then I wanted initially. However, as I research the genre and Naval wargaming there are some elements inherent to that genre that I think are needed for people who like that genre.

More babies may need to be killed in playtesting.

I finally finished up the beta-rules for the sci-fi skirmish game that I've been pondering for the last five years, and began working on in earnest when the pandemic hit.

A weird feeling - so much angst and anguish, yet also so much joy and excitement... and It's only the core rules and far, far, far from done...

Four months after last checking my skirmish game, I did more clean up. Been doing this for the last year and half or so, every couple of months spending a day reviewing everything I did.
Feels like it is easier to spot errors, reworking rules, etc... As if you were reading rules for the first time.

Started to do the "official" layout (ie. how will it look when published) as I got to a point where the core rules and mechanics seem very solid, I just need to work a lot on the balance which isn't evident if self-testing.

I predict a few years still before finally getting it all out. Not in hurry as the whole thing was more of an experimental challenge, sort of a tool to get back interested into the hobby (circa 2015-2016).

Worked on my Gargant(building a Mega Gargant) and painted some Bolt Action miniature's up, ontop of that, started to work on the Adeptus Mechanicus codex for 5.5 Edition.

I've been working on the combat mechanics for my skirmish game - I've gone back and reviewed all the combat-related threads I've started or participated in on here and I'm trying to bring all the feedback into a single, fast paced but exciting system.

Current focus is:

- some lots of dice good, single dice bad, oodles of dice bad
- both players have to have things to do during combat
- system has to work for shooting and combat in exactly the same way
- system has to feature non-lethal effects EG suppression, morale damage etc.

I'm aiming to reduce the effects of combat down to a single roll of several dice. It's proving tricky to account for model skill, weapon strength, and multiple attacks in one go, so it's taking lots of attempts and many spreadsheet tables to work out something which looks worth trying!

I posted up Heirs of Empire up on the Wargame Vault.

https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/11064/Blood-and-Spectacles-Publishing?term=blood+and+spectacles

It is based on the Men of Bronze core rules, but modified for much larger armies that have Center, Left, and Right Wings. It also focuses on the Diadochi period (about 50 years) after Alexander's death. The game is scale and model agnostic, but it is a game for "Big Battles" on a smaller budget.

Signed on 3 new artists today to do some interior illos for the solo/co-op Lovecraftian horror minis game I'm working on. Now to get back to doing more playtesting so that I can eventually do the layout and get it on WGV.

Nice work!

I having been reviewing and adding bits an pieces to a number of projects including but not limited to:

1. White Star/Red Star- Korean Air War
2. Under the Martian Yoke- Post-Apocalypse Orson Welles War-of-the-Worlds Survival Skirmish
3. Wrath and Ruin- Assyrian Ancient Battles
4. Fury of the Northmen- Norse "Men of Bronze"

More editing on my (neo-)Assyrian themed wargame.

Need to go out and find some minis for this one too.

I tried sourcing laser-cut hexagonal tiles for game testing. It's quite hard to find them affordably and not with a month delay from ordering to receiving.

Sometimes, it is just easier to use paper cut outs with words like "Library" and "Hallway" scribbled on them for testing. I am a huge believer in paper templates and such for testing. It doesn't really need to look polished at this point.

I finished the latest drafts of Wars of the Republic and Castles in the Sky and sent them off to my editor for review.

 Easy E wrote:
Sometimes, it is just easier to use paper cut outs with words like "Library" and "Hallway" scribbled on them for testing. I am a huge believer in paper templates and such for testing. It doesn't really need to look polished at this point.

Agreed. Proxies, scribbled paper, index cards, pieces of candy... all that is the kind of stuff that you should be using in first stages of any game design, IMO. If you're spending time early on with things like art or making layout decisions, you're focusing on the wrong thing. (Of course, if you're doing something like a dexterity based game this has other requirements, but for pretty much any other games that don't rely on some physical gimmick, you don't need anything more than simple placeholder tokens and the like.)

On my side, no real "work" done other than getting some more art pieces in from some contracted artists. Bathroom remodels kinda suck out any "free time."

My issue is that the game involves lots of hexagonal tokens, and you have to flip them over as you play. Using paper ones not only is taking a long time to cut out (it's like 300 of the damn things) but they are really awkward to flip over, which is in turn impacting the experience of the game.

I found 200 wooden ones for £10, which I'll be putting stickers on to represent the various tiles I need, and then I can re-use them for any future playtesting of hex-grid games!

I dusted off my old project, and figured out what dice mechanic I want to go with after all. I think I may be able to have a good sitdown and work with this.

Sometimes stepping away an coming back adds fresh energy and perspective.

I typically keep about 4 projects in various states so I can rotate them to stay fresh.

My editor officially accepted the copy of Wars of the Republic! I had to cut some of the historical content to fit the size requirements, but it is "delivered"

I also did some work on Only The Strong Survive which included playtesting. This is a game of Dinosaur vs. Dinosaur combat. I think it still needs a bit more chrome to make it special. Right now it is serviceable but not memorable.

Finally, I order some Aeronefs to start doing "serious" playtesting V4 Castles in the Sky. V3 got a lot of playtesting, but I changed up some core rules so back to basics on that one.

I may design terrible games, but I consistently work on them and hit deadlines..... so that's one of my virtues as a designer. LOL

I worked a bit on the rules for another Historical wargame. Viking Age based on Men of Bronze, but tailored to the theme and style of Viking warfare.

Honestly, I can do a lot of different time periods with Men of Bronze as a base.

- Samurai
- Meso-american
- Neo-Assyrian/Biblical
- Late Romans
- Byzantines
- Crusades
- Dark Ages
- Medieval
- Other niche areas

Pretty versatile really and it could keep me busy for a long time.

Today, this designer got paid! Woot!

I also worked a bit more on my Korean Air War game, my Assyrian game, and put Turf War up on the Wargame Vault.

A good couple of days.

I posted Turf War: Gangland Violence in the Prohibition Era on Wargame Vault.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/322357/Turf-War-Gangland-Violence-in-the-Prohibition-Era

Made some updates to the latest beta of my current project and sent out to my group of playtesters. Hopefully get some feedback.

Also got a couple more art pieces in from contract artists.