Genesis and Early Protype
I have had many projects start and stop in the past. A biproduct of game development and being a creative in general, but this is the game idea that has stuck around the longest; morphing as it goes.
Born from wanting to play a Fire Emblem esc tactics game as the bad guy, I quickly ran into the problem of how I would justify being the bad guys in a satisfying way. The solution, put the player in charge of a Power Ranger Villain and have them command their army of Goons to combat the heroes in their weakly ploys to take over the world.
Originally, I wanted this to be a Video Game, but as I lacked the technical prowess at the time, I focused on creating a physical prototype of the game's core systems including: rules, units, upgrades, items and a map. Those documents can be viewed by clicking the buttons bellow if you want to see the very early stages of the project.
But while much has changed since I first had this idea, I hope is to keep it somewhat absurd and silly as the game changes and evolves. Personally, not every piece of art needs to announce to the word what it is about every second of its runtime and I want to make something that someone can sit down, have a laugh at and enjoy themselves with.
Core Game Rules V1
Rule Booklet V1
The Pivot Point
For about a year or so, I kept to the original idea that this game was, in it's final form, going to be a Video Game. Only dropping that goal once I made it to grad school and choose to make this game my Master's thesis. Pivoting when my advisor asked me: "can you, right now, finish this game by the time you graduate?"
The answer to that question, was no. I had not improved much in my efforts to learn how to program and lacked a larder team to help pick up that slack. But, my advisor suggested that I take what I have and continue on with the goal of making a table top game instead.
That was much more doable within my skill set. So, taking what I had gleamed from testing I had done that semester, I started converting the game from a physical protype of a video game, to a table top prototype.
Details of testing results can be found in the slide deck on the right. While the video is of me going through said slide deck.
Sections:
00:00 - 04:16 Intro + Design Pillars.
04:16 - 09:30 Market Analysis
09:30 - 11:00 Testing Goals + Parameters
11:00 - 17:25 Testing Results + Take Aways.
Prior Iteration(s)
Since the pivot and subsequent boiling down to basics (which you can read more about in my dev log on this website), I have iterated on the core idea of Goon Game three times. In it's current state, I think I can call it systems complete, but how those systems behave and interact are what need the most attention at the moment.
Post boil, the game has also shrunk in scope considerably. Before I wanted three factions with three commanders and nine units each with special abilities, now I am aiming for three factions with one commander each and three units per faction. This way, I get the core of each faction better set up so that latter (in expansions made post launch) I can add more units, commanders and spells to the game that build on that foundation more consistently.
Plot Commander V1
Plot Commander V2
Plot Commander V3
Final Iteration
Right, boiling complete, long story is linked here, short story is as follows.
You really don't know what is an isn't obvious until someone who isn't you plays your game. That could have very well been the tagline for the entire project, but it came into sharp relief post pivot.
With the core of the game better exposed and my focused aimed at refining that in particular, more and more fat was shaved off as the weeks turned into months.
Resources got simpler to manage, rules text became more to the point, and players were tasked with focusing on only a set of rules from the start rather then three. Each brought on by the sudden revelation that I'm far to familiar with my own game for its own good. A hurdle that was swiftly remedied by having someone besides me look at all the game materials for an extended period of time and point to all the bits that raised an eye brow.
By the end of that process I was left with one game board, one rule book, three commanders, three factions, nine units and a bunch of terrain features -- rule book and faction cards found bellow, -- but I hesitate to call the game done.
It's playable, functional at times, yet incomplete. What I have is a a good prototype demo: something that shows off the core of my game well but which is clearly not done and therefore, prime for mutation.
What said mutations will look like, I don't know. I have one idea, but a publisher may have another, so its best left in this metaphysical state for now.
