Response to last week’s random game idea, Doomed Colony, was way better than I’d expected. Something about either the mechanics or the “save colonists until you regret it” theme really seemed to resonate with people. (Personally, I think it’s because my buddy Kevin Wilson took five minutes to help me tighten the mechanics, so you should go check out his TMNT board game on Kickstarter and tell him I said hi.)
Since folks seem hyped about this game idea, I figured I’d take this week to turn the pitch into a playable prototype.
After all, it doesn’t matter how amazing a game’s pitch might be if the game itself is as much fun as swimming in an aquarium’s shark pool on Free Papercut Day. And the fastest way to test the game’s fun levels is to actually make and play the thing; the sooner it hits the table, the sooner we can find the fun parts and hone in on them.
I’ll be showing my work as I go along. My methods are by no means the One True Way to design a game, but offer One Way That Works For Me And Might Work For You Too. So if you’re interested in seeing how the sausage is made, stick around. This should be a fun week.
