Time flies when your environment never changes.
Sure, the world has been going crazy. COVID-19, "Murder Hornets", police brutality, escalating politics, strong hurricane season. Seems like 2020 is set to become a recond year for events.
As for me, I've been hiding at home. Seems like it's still not safe to go out.
Which means that I've had plenty of time to devote to home projects. Including making games.
I've spent the past couple of months putting in as much time as I can into Nebula. I've gone through tons of revisions, changing a mechanic here, making a balance change there, all trying to make my game fun.
And playtesting. Lots of playtesting. I'm glad that Tabletop Simulator and virtual playtesting communities exist online. I've gotten many tests in on my game as it's evolved, and I can easily credit those testers for making my game better.
About Nebula: Pull & Write
For those of you interested in what Nebula is actually supposed to be, Nebula is my attempt at a pull-and-write game. I call it a pull-and-write because it feels awkward to me to call a game roll-and-write when it has no dice. Similarly, I would expect a flip-and-write game to contain cards. This game has neither. Instead, this game's randomization engine is pulling colored cubes out of a bag. I don't know of a better term for that, as I don't know of any published games that use this particular mechanic; I will sometimes call it a "random-and-write" game but even that seems kind of off.
Of course, there's more to it than just the cubes. The game's premise is that each player is stranded on their damaged spaceships in the middle of a nebula, using their ship's tractor beams to vacuum up clumps of dust and gas as raw materials to fix their ships. Players get cubes from them bag, then 'spend' them to move around their spaceship, repairing the ship as they go. Ship squares have a cost (in cubes) to repair them, and a benefit (icons) when repaired. Icons gained are marked on the ship status tracks, and the tracks give VP and special abilities at various spots.
Though playtesting, I learned that while the cubes from bag mechanic is interesting, it's not a big enough source of randomness; the game plays all felt the same. Therefore, the iteration of the game that I'm working on right now also has two types of tiles. There are 'upgrade' tiles that give you special powers, and 'goal' tiles that give you endgame points. Both are obtained over the course of the game, and both are an extra source of chaos. And staying true to the pull-and-write idea, the tiles are pulled at random out of a container. (TTS virtual 'bags' hold any type of object, so I'm using those. Not sure how the physical version will shake out; might direct players to use the box lid or something like that.)
Playtest, Playtest, Playtest
Interested in playtesting Nebula? Or interested in just playtesting in general? Or want to get a game of yours playtested? Join an online testing community! You will need two things: a copy of Tabletop Simulator (on Steam), and the Discord chat program. Discord is free! Tabletop Simulator is not, but it's a one-time $20 cost. (And if you're patient, it goes on sale frequently.) Plus Tabletop Simulator has a massive library of games (called 'workshop mods') that are free to download and play. Just add friends!
All of the communities I'm a part of have presences on Discord. Want to join one? It's as easy as finding the right server. Gil Hova (of Ludology podcast fame) has a list of Discord servers that are accepting new people. The servers are at many spots in the U.S., plus at least one server in Europe. (Seems like there should be more; our friends across the pond need attention too!) Whatever time and day you want to play, you should be able to find something that suits you. Try this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XsXtPUtg8oGkirfdVRSPds5ywStqoO2p0fZjbPWSFKI/edit#gid=0
Looking to the Future
In an ideal world, I would be planning on launching Nebula on Kickstarter near the end of this year. I don't know if that's a realistic goal. I'm still hammering out the game's mechanics, though it feels like they're starting to settle down. I will need to start the process of getting publicity for the game. I will need to start commissioning artwork and getting other bits of game polish done. I will need to start pricing out the production process and figuring out costs. I will need to start setting up shipping and fulfillment. I have not done any of this yet. Plus, launching a Kickstarter game around the holidays pretty much guarantees that I'd be fighting with holiday gifts for a slice of people's wallets. It's starting to look like a Kickstarter launch in the first month or two of next year might be more realistic. But who knows; I'm not quite at the point where I can decide this stuff. It all depends on how much more progress I can make on the game in the world environment.
If anyone is interested in helping test but aren't sure how to contact me, feel free to send me an email! (The address is on the About page.) The more eyes I can get on my game, the faster it will become a thing!
Sure, the world has been going crazy. COVID-19, "Murder Hornets", police brutality, escalating politics, strong hurricane season. Seems like 2020 is set to become a recond year for events.
As for me, I've been hiding at home. Seems like it's still not safe to go out.
Which means that I've had plenty of time to devote to home projects. Including making games.
I've spent the past couple of months putting in as much time as I can into Nebula. I've gone through tons of revisions, changing a mechanic here, making a balance change there, all trying to make my game fun.
And playtesting. Lots of playtesting. I'm glad that Tabletop Simulator and virtual playtesting communities exist online. I've gotten many tests in on my game as it's evolved, and I can easily credit those testers for making my game better.
About Nebula: Pull & Write
For those of you interested in what Nebula is actually supposed to be, Nebula is my attempt at a pull-and-write game. I call it a pull-and-write because it feels awkward to me to call a game roll-and-write when it has no dice. Similarly, I would expect a flip-and-write game to contain cards. This game has neither. Instead, this game's randomization engine is pulling colored cubes out of a bag. I don't know of a better term for that, as I don't know of any published games that use this particular mechanic; I will sometimes call it a "random-and-write" game but even that seems kind of off.
Of course, there's more to it than just the cubes. The game's premise is that each player is stranded on their damaged spaceships in the middle of a nebula, using their ship's tractor beams to vacuum up clumps of dust and gas as raw materials to fix their ships. Players get cubes from them bag, then 'spend' them to move around their spaceship, repairing the ship as they go. Ship squares have a cost (in cubes) to repair them, and a benefit (icons) when repaired. Icons gained are marked on the ship status tracks, and the tracks give VP and special abilities at various spots.
Though playtesting, I learned that while the cubes from bag mechanic is interesting, it's not a big enough source of randomness; the game plays all felt the same. Therefore, the iteration of the game that I'm working on right now also has two types of tiles. There are 'upgrade' tiles that give you special powers, and 'goal' tiles that give you endgame points. Both are obtained over the course of the game, and both are an extra source of chaos. And staying true to the pull-and-write idea, the tiles are pulled at random out of a container. (TTS virtual 'bags' hold any type of object, so I'm using those. Not sure how the physical version will shake out; might direct players to use the box lid or something like that.)
Playtest, Playtest, Playtest
Interested in playtesting Nebula? Or interested in just playtesting in general? Or want to get a game of yours playtested? Join an online testing community! You will need two things: a copy of Tabletop Simulator (on Steam), and the Discord chat program. Discord is free! Tabletop Simulator is not, but it's a one-time $20 cost. (And if you're patient, it goes on sale frequently.) Plus Tabletop Simulator has a massive library of games (called 'workshop mods') that are free to download and play. Just add friends!
All of the communities I'm a part of have presences on Discord. Want to join one? It's as easy as finding the right server. Gil Hova (of Ludology podcast fame) has a list of Discord servers that are accepting new people. The servers are at many spots in the U.S., plus at least one server in Europe. (Seems like there should be more; our friends across the pond need attention too!) Whatever time and day you want to play, you should be able to find something that suits you. Try this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XsXtPUtg8oGkirfdVRSPds5ywStqoO2p0fZjbPWSFKI/edit#gid=0
Looking to the Future
In an ideal world, I would be planning on launching Nebula on Kickstarter near the end of this year. I don't know if that's a realistic goal. I'm still hammering out the game's mechanics, though it feels like they're starting to settle down. I will need to start the process of getting publicity for the game. I will need to start commissioning artwork and getting other bits of game polish done. I will need to start pricing out the production process and figuring out costs. I will need to start setting up shipping and fulfillment. I have not done any of this yet. Plus, launching a Kickstarter game around the holidays pretty much guarantees that I'd be fighting with holiday gifts for a slice of people's wallets. It's starting to look like a Kickstarter launch in the first month or two of next year might be more realistic. But who knows; I'm not quite at the point where I can decide this stuff. It all depends on how much more progress I can make on the game in the world environment.
If anyone is interested in helping test but aren't sure how to contact me, feel free to send me an email! (The address is on the About page.) The more eyes I can get on my game, the faster it will become a thing!
RSS Feed