Beyond the Reach: Warning! Hull Breach!
Sigh. It had to happen, I suppose. Just last night, I received a comment, pointing me over here.
For those of you who don’t go home with strange links, it takes you to a brand new board game coming out called Space Cadets. In this game, you take on roles such as…
The Captain. The Engineer. The Weapons Officer. The Helmsman.
Yes, all of these are roles in my own game. In addition, each person has a console in front of them representing their part of the ship.
In addition, this game looks really fun and awesome. I’d be happier if it didn’t.
As a result, I need some help from all of you. I now need to figure out what makes my game different, and doesn’t look like a rip-off.
To begin with, my game actually uses ships traveling around a map or tabletop, rather than being a bit more abstract like this is. It should play much more like a war game.
Secondly, it’s cooperative, as well as competitive, in that you have teams fighting against teams.
So… I need your help, readership! Help me steer the course out of this asteroid field! (Just never tell me the odds.)
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Well, first off, Space Cadet is using a variety of mini-games at each of the crew positions. There’s also some implication of a a dexterity/puzzle element. Your game appears to have more consistent and integrated mechanics with a focus on strategy. Space Cadet is aimed at the party game while you seem to be focus on the social war gamer.
Given a choice between the two, I’d rather stick with you approach since I’m also a fan of Battlestations and the Star Trek Simulator.
–
TAZ
I’m not convinced that you’ve got a problem here… A war game versus a variety of mini-games with dex/puzzle elements is pretty different. Elements of the game are casually similar? Not so much an issue.
You’re probably right. I’ll just have to ensure my vision stands apart from theirs.
I think the question should not be “How is my game already unique” but instead “How can you make tweaks and improvements that make yours better.”
TAZ,
Thanks! I’m going to be Playtesting soon, I think. ready to take it to the next level.
As a wargamer from way back, but now more of an RPG gamer, my first thought is that it will be hard to get two teams of 4-5 together. Well, at least for most of the gaming groups I know. The larger the team per ship, the harder it is to get enough people to play. It does sound like a cool concept anyway.
The other thing would be to put a lot of ‘reasonably plausible’ science into the scifi aspects of the game. Since science is always moving forwards, this can date the game if you aren’t careful, but at the same time, can ground your game a little bit more in psuedo-reality than one that gives (at best) passing mention to * last * week’s theories. Above all, make sure you understand how FTL & the other core ‘technologies’ like shields & weapons are supposed to work in your game and make sure that everything else is consistent with that vision. I’ve done a couple of articles on FTL at Campaign Mastery that might be a starting point.
Mike Bourke´s last [type] ..In Someone else’s Sandbox: Adventuring in an established setting