DragonMech Battles: Designer Diary #1
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:29 pm
DragonMech has a lot of cool things going for it: Fascinating steam-driven equipment. Creepy lunar monsters. Richly detailed setting. But what's the coolest part of DragonMech? Fifty-foot-tall mechs swinging axes at each other while catapult shots fly by and spells thunder. So we're making a game all about that. Prepare yourself for DragonMech Battles.
A setting with mechs screams for a tabletop combat game. We're happy to oblige. DragonMech Battles drops you into the mech jockey's seat, makes you the chief coglayer, and gives you command of the boarding parties. You'll stomp all over the landscape of Highpoint, battling other mechs and building your own. With simple rules and detailed outcomes, DragonMech Battles lets you turn steam engines, arcane power, and pure muscle into victory.
So much for the marketing copy. You true fans on the message board might like knowing that this game is a joint effort between Dieter "mythfish" Zimmerman and me (Matt "walrusjester" Sprengeler). We're working under the guidance of Joseph "goodmangames" Goodman, creator of Dragonmech and the driving force behind DragonMech Battles. These designers' diaries let us tell you about it in advance, and let you watch how we build it.
For example, we're trying to do two things with our design. We want a simple game. Lots of tabletop combat games have rules with too many details and exceptions, forcing you to spend your time looking things up instead of playing the game. And we want a detailed game. You should have enough options, both in combat and in mech design, that it can be different every time you play. How will we do both things at once? Well, keep watching this space and see. Next time, maybe I'll talk about how I'm reversing all my usual game-designing habits for DragonMech Battles. Or maybe Dieter will explain his combat system. What do you think, sirs?
A setting with mechs screams for a tabletop combat game. We're happy to oblige. DragonMech Battles drops you into the mech jockey's seat, makes you the chief coglayer, and gives you command of the boarding parties. You'll stomp all over the landscape of Highpoint, battling other mechs and building your own. With simple rules and detailed outcomes, DragonMech Battles lets you turn steam engines, arcane power, and pure muscle into victory.
So much for the marketing copy. You true fans on the message board might like knowing that this game is a joint effort between Dieter "mythfish" Zimmerman and me (Matt "walrusjester" Sprengeler). We're working under the guidance of Joseph "goodmangames" Goodman, creator of Dragonmech and the driving force behind DragonMech Battles. These designers' diaries let us tell you about it in advance, and let you watch how we build it.
For example, we're trying to do two things with our design. We want a simple game. Lots of tabletop combat games have rules with too many details and exceptions, forcing you to spend your time looking things up instead of playing the game. And we want a detailed game. You should have enough options, both in combat and in mech design, that it can be different every time you play. How will we do both things at once? Well, keep watching this space and see. Next time, maybe I'll talk about how I'm reversing all my usual game-designing habits for DragonMech Battles. Or maybe Dieter will explain his combat system. What do you think, sirs?