Welcome

This Design Diary is intended mainly to help me keep focused on the process of creating a game from scratch, or almost scratch. I have attempted on several previous occasions to create games or rulesets for games and met with mixed success.

As the title suggests, the working title for my game is Space and Beyond.  Named after the classic Choose your own Adventure book of the same name.  Other than that the only thing possibly in common is that my game is intended to be a choose your own adventure of sorts.

Current Status

Right now I’m still collecting ideas and mechanics and narratives to see how and if I can structure them in a compelling enough way to make an enjoyable solitaire game with a reasonable amount of replayability. To that end I have spent time gathering mechanics from sources like Wikipedia and Board Game Geek.  Mechanics range from simple things like using dice, to more complex concepts like resource management or deck building.  So far I have gathered a list of probably mechanics:  Dice, Cards, Resource Management, Point-to-Point Movement, Risk-Reward, Solitaire Play, Random Encounters, Levels, Press Your Luck, and Loss Avoidance.

Setting

The game will take place in Space (not hard to guess by the name).  In part this is because I can abstract space visually to a greater degree and with less effort. My visual design skills are limited and being earthbound would be much more difficult I think.  It will take place in a fictional universe, but with primarily Human or Human-Like occupants. 

Rules

As you can guess from having not decided the core mechanics yet I am in the very early stages of conceptualizing the rules.  Some ideas I’ve sketched out including having the planets be represented on playing-card sized pieces of cardboard, having 3 danger levels of Planet Deck to draw from as you go further and further from your Home World.  As you venture further both the rewards and risks become greater, which feeds in to the Press Your Luck mechanic a bit.  Space travel itself will be inherently dangerous as well with Random Encounters between planets which themselves will either contain pre-set conditions or adventures, or lead you of to a matrix of some kind based on things like technology level or threat level. Having the planets be decks also has the advantage of adding Replayability to the game: each time you play the set of planets and therefore encounters and abilities will be different. 

As you may have guessed from the accompanying picture, I will be pulling the base planet data using the Traveller Atlas.  This is a rich resource of hundreds of planets all pre-developed at a basic level that includes size, atmosphere, tech level, law level, and more.  I will be adding to this of course but I think using that as a base will increase the speed with which I can get some basic planets mocked-up.

Taken from the 18XX or Crayon Rail games is also the idea of improving your ship along a tree that suits either more agression or more trade.  I’ve noticed other games like Merchants & Marauders also use this concept, and I like the idea that as you progress your ship can improve.

Caveat

There’s so much more work to do, and of course the danger it may never be finished.  Other ideas have come and gone with only a simple scribble.  As stated at the beginning this is just a blog entry, but it does mark the public existence of this project.

Twilight Struggle - ACTS Ladder Launch 19

Headline Phase

US: Grain Sales to Soviets - EVENT
SU: Kitchen Debates - EVENT

THe US pull Bear Trap and uses the 3 OPS to coup Nigeria.  Another African nation falls, but I’m hoping to make some strides there this turn.  Kitchen Debates is just discarded because the US does not at this time have more Battlegrounds.

7 Game Turns

SU: Nuclear Test Ban - OPS
US: China Card - OPS

I try my hand at realignment rolls and the effects are dismal.  I bring Brazil down to almost nothing but not enough, remove all influence in Zaire, and lose Algeria in the bargain.  He uses the China Card to take back Brazil.

SU: Iran Contra Scandal - OPS
US: Colonial Rear Guards - EVENT

I stupidly use Iran-Contra for OPS because I have so few cards worth anything this turn, and succeed in eliminating myself from Brazil completely.  He uses Rear Guards to secure Zaire, Tunisia and add some to Botswana. 

SU: Panama Canal Returned - OPS + EVENT
US: Latin American Debt Crisis - OPS + EVENT

I try to stem the tied in Venezuela, while he takes back the UK and ditches The Reformer.

SU: UN Intervention - OPS
US: Junta - OPS

I’m so short of cards I have to use UN Intervention for OPS alone, adding more to Venezuela.  He uses Junta to take Nicaragua and then Coup’s Cuba right out from under me. 

SU: OAS Founded - OPS + EVENT
US: Arab-Isreali War - OPS (EVENT Cancelled)

More into Venezuela.  He uses my Event to help him take Cuba. This means he now has control of Central America. He also moves in to Finland.

SU: Nuclear Subs - OPS + EVENT
US: Latin American Death Squads - OPS

I try to make Finland a little harder to take, and he uses Nuclear Subs to coup Angola successfully.  I’m now almost out of Africa as well.

SU: Iranian Hostage Crisis - OPS
US: Aldritch Ames - OPS + EVENT

I try to realign Nigeria unsuccessfully, he uses Aldritch to take Finland and annoying show me his probably headline event: Star Wars.

Commentary

I can barely give commentary because this is just such an abysmal turn for me. The game is effectively over unless I get the best set of cards ever next turn.  I’m still king in Asia and the Middle East, but everywhere else I’m drowning and if he doesn’t get some scoring cards next turn the FInal Scoring will do me in anyway.

Obviously I should have used Iran-Contra in the headline phase, but based on the rolls that would have hardly saved me.  I had no good cards for the Space Race, and the OPS of the cards I had didn’t undo the damage of the cards themselves.  I’m sure there were some more optimal moves I could have made, but I just can’t see them right now.

Twilight Struggle - ACTS Ladder Launch 19

Headline Phase

US: One Small Step - 3VP
SU: How I Learned to Stop Worrying

This is a good example of how seeing someone’s headline phase card sometimes doesn’t do a lick of good. This is the second time this game the US is playing One Small Step.  This time it will be good for 3 VP.  My play is aimed at letting me Coup Pakistan.  That will really push Asia in my direction, probably-hopefully irreparably, and I have Asia Scoring in my hand as a follow-up.

7 Game Turns

SU: CHINA CARD - OPS
US: Tear Down This Wall - OPS

With 5 Influence as a Base, Pakistan easily switches sides back to me.  This is as good a use of the China card as I can think of. In return the US coups Zaire successfully.  I strongly suspect he has Africa Scoring, but I’m not about to get in to a contest over it right now, as it just doesn’t suit my hand.

SU: Asia Scoring - -6VP
US: Africa Scoring - 4VP

6VP swings things by 3VP in my favor for the turn but then it’s back to a net +1VP for the US with Africa Scoring.  I’m still happy with the trade-off as Asia is worth more in Final Scoring and I think that’s my target at this point.

SU: OPEC - -5VP
US: We Will Bury You - SPACE

I was not going to get Libya I think, and Muslim Revolution will be more useful for OPS based on the current layout.  -5VP is almost as good a haul as possible for this card and I’m just glad I get to play it this time.  The US successfully moves up the space track and will get to discard a card at the end of the turn.  This is a big advantage as we’re both probably holding on to cards from Mid-War.

SU: Arms Race - -3VP
US: Indo-Pakistani War - OPS

-3VP gives the turn a -7VP swing for me and it’s right back to 0VP.  I’d rather it be on my side but after some bad Mid-War turns I’m lucky we’re only even.  For me another stroke of luck as the I-P War goes to securing Canada and Turkey.  I don’t think he has Europe Scoring, but he could so I need to shift focus over there.  I’m glad not to lose Pakistan, but he would have needed a 6 to take it.

SU: Brezhnev Doctrine - OPS
US: Suez Crisis - EVENT + OPS

One play I’ve been holding on to is taking over Norway, I have the OPS and now is the time.  Taking strong secondary countries makes it very hard to have Domination in Europe.  I need to keep Europe as strong as I can.  The Suez Crisis explains his previous move, I take Influence from France and the U.K., He takes back France and adds to Chile.  This tells me I have some influence coming that way in a moment.

SU: Ussuri River Skirmish - SPACE
US: Allende - OPS + EVENT

I naturally fail to get another rocket in to Space.  This game has been pretty abysmal in that way for me.  Allende pushes Chile to the crazy (9/6).  15 influence in Chile to me is a crazy amount.

SU: Muslim Revolution - OPS
US: South African Unrest - EVENT + OPS

I add all 4 influence in to Algeria.  I could have done several countries but right now my main goal is to keep everything as close to even as possible, and hope the Middle East and Asia kick the win in my direction at the end.  It would take a 3OPS card for him to take Algeria back.  With South African Unrest I add all my influence to S.A., Now he has to use both influence in S.A. and won’t be able to help some of his other positions.

Commentary

Really a turn I can’t complain about.  This turn went at a breakneck pace due to there being fewer changes on the board and more VPs dished-out.  The net swing in VP brought the game right back to EVEN at 0VP.  This was a critical turn because even a slight push towards his direction would have probably put the game out of reach for me.  My position just isn’t that strong, and there are lots of cards that can hurt me out there.  I was really fortunate to have 3 of my events fire off out of the US hand.  When that happens the effect is usually null, but I look at it as better than him getting to use his own cards unrestricted.

As stated previously my endgame is to hold the Middle East (-4VP) and Asia (-6VP) while keeping the other zones close or slightly in my favor Central America (3VP), South America (2VP), Africa (Draw), and Europe (1VP) making for a -4VP swing in my favor right now.  If I can maintain my status or even swing say Africa back to me, it should end up a very close game.

It does occur to me at the end of the turn however that I am not properly taking in to consideration the use of Realignment vs. Coup.  If the cards permit I will switch tactics a bit for the final rounds as I am at favorable odds in quite a few locations.