Work Work Work

Hammered out more of the new prototype, plus had an ‘AH HA!’ moment.

1) Created the ‘Battle Die’, a single die that interacts with the combat system to calculate results in a clear and easy fashion. Basically the higher your combat value, the better your chance to hit. There is still a chance of a miss or an instant hit, regardless of combat values, but these are 1 out of 6 odds. Also on the die is a ‘Targeted’ symbol, which means you land a hit if your enemy is currently targeted. Basically, everything you need and you don’t have to compare any numbers or ‘to hit’ values.

2) Finalized modules and weapons. Cleaned them up, made sure every module in the game (these are auxiliary bonus systems you can install aboard your vessel) is interesting and not too overpowered. Adjusted costs and abilities. Printed this deck up and ready to start cutting and folding.

3) My ‘AH HA!’ moment came when I was thinking about Scanning. Scanning has 3 uses: avoiding unwanted Tactical Cards, moving safely through board hazards, and finding resources. I’ve been working on Areas of Interest, which are special areas the ship can enter to search for goodies (at the risk of negative effects.) It occurred to me that perhaps resources are never generated on the map, but instead only gotten by exploring the Ares of Interest. Before you could simply scan a Kelp Bed and the Kelp resource would pop up like a pacman dot, waiting for your ship to swim through and scoop it up. One of the big problems with this is that players can very easily fill their hold, making money much easier to generate and driving the whole economy into higher numbers. If resources are buried in Areas of Interest, players have to work harder for resources and I feel the whole mechanic is far more interesting.

Areas of Interest

One of the many methods used to flesh out the world I refer to as ‘Areas of Interest’. These are places which can be found all over, but by a quick randomizer upon entry are each different. They provide unique opportunities and hazards for the players to explore if they dare.

I have been drawing rough sketches for them because I feel like this is definitely an area where theme plays a large part, and staring at a blank page with only words and boxes on it won’t do them justice even in the play0testing phase.

Rocky Area, filled with caves, spires and quarries.

Diving Back In

Its been some time since I posted up here, but I have not been idle. Kalimundar is a beast, and I’ve been putting in some long hard hours to create the next prototype. I feel so good about it though. All the little pieces which felt clunky before or lacking, the parts of game that caused me to despair and cry out ‘This game will never work!’ have been dissolved. There’s much more to do, but the craft is sea-worthy and is being prepped for another voyage.

Concept sketches from my artist friend Mollie.

As you’ll know if you’ve read through many of my other posts, I’ve made a real effort to avoid trying to spruce up the prototype beyond the bare essentials. Just makes everything take longer and then harder to edit (or cut out) because you’ve become attached. But my friend Mollie drew up some creature sketches (plus a very eager looking sheep) and they give me a little glimpse into what the artwork should be like.

Mollie rocks.

Mockup of possible vessel design.

I created this to just take a stab at what the vessels your crew is piloting might look like. Eventually the board will be a highly detailed view of the inside of the ship, with all the rooms, hallways and systems visible.

These hexes represent the regions you have access to with the base game. They represent miles and miles of space to explore, all filled with intricate details and region-specific creatures, vessels, hazards and resources. All this is built out in a revolutionary way that won’t even hog your entire dining room table, I promise.