Need some ideas or suggestions for a new sporty and competitive but complex board game I am creating.

It’s called Leviathan Hunt(Note this might change if I can come up with something better)

The plot: the plot of the story or game like background is the game is where the world is mostly underwater. Despite the legacy of the old sports that are still played in domes and stadiums this new sport has attracted a lot of popularity and was originally a way for colleges and submarine designers to test stuff out but it gained a lot of popularity making it go pro. But teams of 6 control a small or medium submarine like vessel and go on a week long match or journey that’s cut into phases. They are given a destination and area of the ocean and a number of leviathan classes. They must go and hunt either kill or capture with capture giving you more points, a leviathan whether it’s big or small with different behavior and looks and shapes. They have to track it,hunt and then capture or kill it. And then hall it back. Teams can rest overnight or day depending on the species they wanna hunt and prepare accordingly.

The players face extreme dangers and difficulties and the submarines can be damaged. From fighting leviathans to water and weather and terrain hazards.

Player count: 2-12 The game can be played from either 2 players or 12 players I was gonna make it 4 only but a friend convinced me otherwise. 2 players aka they control the submarine and all the people in it or 12 players with each player controlling their own person.

Gameplay: players choose from either a small submarine which offers speed and agility but can be damaged easily or a medium submarine which can be slow but put up a fight against larger leviathans. Both subs come with abilities that only the navigator or the player who controls the submarine can use.

If there’s 12 players than each player decides on their role from the 6 they got.

Captain:can give boosts to the crew from work speed or give them an extra card or turn.

Navigator: the pilot of the submarine. Can use actions or cards to perform movements and maneuvers to gain the edge in the hunt and can also control the sonar and track the leviathans.

Engineer:the engineer works on the submarine keeping it operable at all times and repairing it if needed. Can deploy cards that can boost the performance of the submarine and so forth.

Harpooner: the main combat player of the crew. They can operate weapons on the submarine or they can dive and provide outside help to capture or kill the prey.

Support: the support can do everything but what the captain can do. They can play cards to help the harpooner or pilot or engineer and so forth and also do a certain action of another role in a turn and they can heal.

Co Captain: in case the captain gets killed or injured the co captain can retain the captains cards and play and they are basically an extra support player.

Cards and how it works: both teams must take a deck of cards. 1 set for each role and shuffle them. 1 set on the prey slot shuffled and turned over. Then the terrain slot with it turned over and shuffled and then the events slot with the cards turned over and shuffled.

The prey cards are what leviathans the player will hunt. They have to turn 1 over but if they don’t like it they can put it back into the pile and shuffle it but the next one they get they have to hunt. All leviathans will have a name and size along with strengths and weakness and behavior patterns. Some leviathans are more active at night or day. Some are more active in cold environments or warm environments or some are more aggressive when there’s a storm or some are more likely to escape. Some can be fast and agile whilst others can be big and durable. But each card will showcase a health bar, a suppression bar if you want to capture, a behavior pattern and size and name.

The event pile is when after 2 turns the player or team must turn over an event card which can either result in a negative or positive whether it’s a mechanical failure or a positive like the ocean is calm which makes things easier.

The terrain pile is the pile where the team or player will draw from and that will be the hunting grounds. For an example like a deep trench system making navigation difficult and hard to see or a polar like terrain making it where the leviathan in the hunt can be more deadly in the cold.

Players in their roles must take and turn over 4 cards from their respective piles making that only 4 cards can be in a hand and 1 played each turn. When they play a card they must use another.

Turns and decision making: teams or players must decide what submarine they’re gonna take which will be the secondary board while they have to decide what weapons to bring and such(still coming up with more)

There is a day and night cycle with 3 turns being day and 2 turns being night. Both putting players in certain challenges.

Phase 1 tracking: the first phase the teams/players must go to their respective terrains and track their target to their best of their abilities. Each time you use a tracking card or ability the player can roll 2 8 sides dice and if it lands on a number higher than the leviathans rank that means they have found it.

Phase 2 hunting and fighting: players can chose use turns to fight whether its ability or cards. But the Leviathans fight back so each time the players roll the dice to attack the leviathan can roll a defensive to the attack and vice versa.

Phase 3 2nd hunting and fighting: if the team/player lost sight of the target they can use this as a tracking phase or find new prey phase. If the hunt is on they can still attack.

Phase 4 final and returning: teams/players now must navigate to leave the terrain and tally up the hunt points based on time/leviathan size and class/capture or kill.(still deciding on the points values)

This is supposed to be a complex and coordinated board game to put players to the test in a competitive environment whilst hunting the fantasy sea monsters.

If anyone could give any suggestions or ideas or changes or tips or thoughts it would be appreciated!

Hi all, I'm currently prototyping a game on TTS that I hope to refine into a fun party game. Its a game that combines many of my interests—gemstones, archaeology, and weird little creatures. Its for 3~5 players and takes about an hour to an hour and a half. I've written the rules, which you can find here.

Note: there is a lot of player interaction and backstabbing that happens.

I'm mostly looking for players + their own friends to remotely test the game on TTS themselves without my involvement to see if the game is fun without prompting. That being said, this is the first time I've done something like this so the rules might be too much/confusing. In my personal opinion, the game may have a lot of cards but it shouldn't be difficult to learn... All this being said, I may lead active play sessions/testing sessions on TTS if there is any interest.

The link to the Steam workshop page is here.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave a comment or message me directly.

This is my first time doing something like this, so any feedback at all is like water to me. Thank you so much.

Hello everyone!

I’m making a board game where you must complete challenges in order to win, and each turn, you have actions you can do on your turn to work toward accomplishing those challenges. The success or failure of those actions is determined by your real life skill in micro tasks, like jumping over a small item or throwing a ball to hit a target. If you succeed in the micro skill task, you succeed in the action on your turn; you fail the task, you fail the action.

I’m looking for feedback about that system. Does it seem cool or annoying? The micro skill tasks, or whatever we want to call them, are supposed to be very quick so they don’t detract from what is happening on the table, but also to get players up and moving and improve their physical skills in away from the game.

Thoughts?

In my game, you have a little stat sheet that sits in front of you

There are 3 zones, Attack | Defense | Movement

As you play, you and your opponents can affect these these stats through your actions. Things like reducing movement, attack, or increasing defense all common scenarios. There are little +/- tokens that have a black + on a white side and a white - on a black side, you simply place them on the stat as effects occur.

In play testing, I've been using the following language:

1. +/- (stat) ... This is for anything that is permanent, like from equipment you have
2. +/- (stat) until the end of your/opponent's next turn ... This is for lingering effects like being made vulnerable and having your defenses lowered
3. +/- (stat) until your/opponent's next turn ... This is for effects that resolve before you begin your actions on your turn

And while it's worked out fine, there's been a bit of mental fatigue as things stack - you can have + Attack until the end of your next turn & a more permanent + Attack from your equipment and it has taken more time to resolving during gameplay than we'd like.

Before I take my solution to edited cards, here's what I've come up with.

Replace the singular +/- tokens with 3 different kinds

1. A White token with a thin Black rim with a Black + on its front and a Black - on its back
2. A Black token with a bold White + on its front and a bold White - on its back
3. A Dark Teal token with a Light Teal +1 on its front and a Light Teal -1 on its back

Option 1 would be for when the language says "until the end of your/opponent's next turn" and is resolved after the end of that player's next turn. It would be symbolized in unicode font as ⊕ & ⊖

Option 2 would be for more permanent circumstances such as having a special ability that increases your Movement or Attack. It would be symbolized as a bold + & -

Option 3 would be for when the language says "until your/opponent's next turn" and is resolved at the beginning of that player's next turn, before action occurs. It would be symbolized in unicode font as +① & -①

I'm trying to reduce the mental fatigue as much as possible without wildly increasing the learning curve for play. I felt like this was a solid linguistic and tactile approach.

Does this make some sense?

I was trying to create a card game about battle between wizards, but the ide for the gameplay was too similar to the board game Mage Wars, now i'm sad because i was liking the idea and i don't want to plagiarize.

I am creating a new card game called Elemental Clash. I created temporary beta cards and made a rulebook for the game. I do not have many people around me interested in playing card games and was hoping anyone here could play a few rounds with their friends and let me know their thoughts on the game mechanics and the rulebook. I have it on Tabletop simulator, and here is the link to the workshop. Every bit helps as this is my first attempt at really creating a proper game. Also if anyone has any recommendations as to where else I can find playtesters, I would appreciate that too!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3211424168

So I'm finally ready tp test a game I've been working on for some time and I need a way to easily visualize it. When I asked this before awhile back people told me to check out roll20 but as far as I looked, there isn't a way to have a custom game in it. What I'm looking for is just a way to have people be able to move around a map online that's simple an easy, but I don't know if there's anything like that.

I was doing some brain storming on developing a new dice system for an RPG, and trying to think of dice mechanics that I have not seen used in other systems. I was reminded of Perudo (also known as Dudo, Liar's Dice, Cacho) which is a dice game all about bluffing about the value of your dice roll, and others trying to call your bluff. This made me begin to wonder about how you could design a game where people have the ability to lie about their rolls, and potentially succeed/ fail because they bluffed, or did not call someone's bluff.

I understand the divisive nature that hidden rolls already have, and lying at the table can introduce strange interactions. That being said I'm curious how you would go about designing something like this, or if you have played a game with mechanics that function similarly.

Hey guys, I'm in making a slav mythology inspired hex based map with day and time change.

It is revolving around Slav places, mythic stories and their acient telling.

Today i made a package for it, let me know if you like it and want to hear more!

What is the best way to go about getting high-quality pirate ship miniatures designed fast?

I'm looking for non-traditional d6, something with symbols, or -1/0/+1, e.t.c. Google returns a few options- there's a pretty cool d3 design out there- but not as many as I'd thought. Mostly just fancy D&D dice sets. Is there a source out there that carries these sorts of things?

Hello everyone, I was told this was the place to ask for Advice. I'm completely new to this, My best friend told me to design a board game and I don't wanna make this a one off project/distraction.

I'm a huge fan of boss battlers, co-op, card games and deck builders so I'm making a Tokusatsu inspired Boss Battler/Deck builder game with an original world filled with lore and hopefully unique experiences.

I'm basically asking for some advice and tips to the Industry. I want this ATM dream game of mine to be a reality but I don't know the steps and where to go etc. Once I'm done playtesting and everything. I have a friend whose a artist, who'd help out as well.

Any advice will be amazing, pls and thank you.

Hi y'all.

Last year, my friend and I did a boardgame design course. During the class, I developed a game (Professor Wizzlepuff's Element Rodeo). This last winter, we had a slot at the unPub playtest room during PAX Unplugged.

We had a lot of fun and have since busied ourselves with a website and tweaking the gameplay. We're at a point now with both that we're offering up a FREE (no money but also no art) print-and-play version of our first game.

We would be thrilled if any of you take the time to not only download the game but play it! We would appreciate any constructive feedback on rules, gameplay, and whatever else you think we ought to know about Professor Wizzlepuff's Element Rodeo.

You're able to visit the site to get the free game here: https://www.follywise.com/professor-wizzlepuffs-element-rodeo

Thanks for taking the time to read this post (and hopefully playing the game!)

I've recently moved to a new state and don't know anyone here who'd be interested in testing a game. I was wondering how ya'll go about finding playtesters. I was thinking about going to an LGS and just asking people but open to alternatives.

I have created a 1v1 abstract strategy game that is intended to be a boardgame. I created a web version to get play testers playing quickly and easily, and to run simulations to test for balance (pathor.bymarcell.com). The idea of the game is that players are placing tiles and getting points every turn. The game is over when the board fills up. It is well balanced and quite interesting as is.

However, now there's an issue.

Essentially, the game is hard to play over the table since counting points every turn is tedious. Online it's fine, since it is done automatically. I have two proposed solutions to the problem, each with drawbacks:

1. If it ain't broke don't fix it. The game is fine online, just make it a web game and call it a day. Move onto other games.
2. Make it so that points aren't counted every turn, but only on the last turn. This gets rid of tedious counting every turn, and makes it more exciting as the point score isn't known until the end, so you can't be obviously winning well before thr game is over.

Option 1 is simple, and needs no further discussion, other than maybe the fact that I really want to get a game officially published (and am currently discussing with publishers, and this issue is the key feedback I'm getting). Maybe I shouldn't value that?

Option 2 (that I'd like to focus on) would be easy, except that this gives a huge advantage to player 2 who has the last move and can put the board in a state that heavily favors herself. In the current state of the game, the first mover advantage and the last play advantage almost entirely cancel out (tiny advantage for first player, but acceptable, like in chess, since skill overshadows that advantage).

Curious if people have seen similar issues and had any success with solutions to getting rid of any player's advantage like this. I have a couple thoughts, but none of them feel satisfying, and I would have to test them a lot regardless:

1. Give the first player some free points (really hard to figure out how many).
2. Give the first player an additional "partial" move at the end of the game. (Hard to say how big of a move this should be, anr idnhave to test for balance again for.every possible variant).

Any and all guidance would be appreciated.

Made a card game and just finished up with the box design what do you guys think?

Hi. We have been designing a new modular hex terrain system for a few years and we are finally ready to show it. The terrain is designed with existing games like battletech in mind but we also want to release games that are native to this tile system. We are working on several of our own (including the one in the image here: https://imgur.com/pvaXBM6 ), but are hoping to find other game developers who might want to develop a game that can use this unique terrain.

​

The tiles are a side/vertical joining 32mm hex made from injection moulded ABS with UV printed graphics across the top of the tile. The capabilities of the system are unique, it is a vast improvement on things like Heroscape terrain because the side joining is structurally solid, the graphics are far, far better, and each hex is individual so you can make far more interesting and complex terrain. This can be exploited in game design by doing things such as editing the terrain in game, building bridges and complex structures, and re-assembling the map into an entirely new map between rounds

​

Because the tiles join sideways you are not restricted to certain size/shape boards, you can make anything you like as long as each tile touches another, they are firmly connected and stay in place. You could build anything from a 2d spiderweb to a hollow sphere. There is nothing else out there that I am aware of that can do what this system can do.

​

We do all our own graphics and we have the printing capability in house, so we can literally print whatever we want on the tiles, at short notice, so we can offer completely custom tile graphics to any game designer interested. The test sets so far are in simple, fairly generic grassland/mountain/river but that is just for best testing, a much wider range will be avaliable in the near future.

https://imgur.com/6LwUl1S

So if you are a solo game designer, Indy developer, studio etc. and are interested in developing a game for/with this system we want to work with you, support you, and can ship test kits anywhere in the world for any serious partners. just post here with any questions, or PM me.

Thanks

Hola, I am Marcos and this is my first post on Reddit. Some weeks ago I published Tropical Heat, my second game on itch.io, and I would like to share it with the community. Don't worry, it's free!

https://marcos-dominguez.itch.io/tropical-heat

This game pays tribute to the Canadian TV series from the 90s known in USA as Sweating Bullets. The series followed the adventures of Nick and Sylvie, two sexy private detectives on a tropical island. It was an unpretentious action show, full of silly jokes and beautiful people. I made this game because it was one of my favorite series and I am nostalgic of the spicy adventures of the 90s.

Tropical Heat uses the Fuego System, my humble creation, published here: 

https://marcos-dominguez.itch.io/fuego

I designed the Fuego System with speed and simplicity in mind, because I am a busy person and my friends too. Work, family and responsibilities let us only a few hours per month to role-playing. So we needed a fast and unobtrusive ruleset, with near instantaneous character creation, something ideal for one-shots and short campaigns. I also tried to make an original dice system and I think I got it.

That's all for now. I hope you will appreciate my games (I am currently working on new ones).

Two months ago, I devised a concept for a fast-paced tabletop soccer game. I had commercialized the Subsoccer.com bench soccer game previously, but I hadn't attempted a tabletop version. The game is still on the drawing board.

https://preview.redd.it/o1uecnah6trc1.jpg?width=2500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d50117b66092a169907ef75882a068d500176da

I've been searching for quick-paced soccer games to compare our concept against and to understand the market landscape for such games.

The best games I've come across are Foosball or table soccer tabletop version (though it shines as a larger, stand-alone version), Stiga Football, which is fast and enjoyable, and Binhoboard, which boasts a neat compact concept and execution.

We have our own Subsoccer app, developed for the larger Subsoccer bench soccer games, but it's also compatible with tabletop versions. The app's concept allows anyone to create a tournament in seconds that starts the game without registering.

We have our own Subsoccer app, developed for the larger Subsoccer bench soccer games, but it's also compatible with tabletop versions. The app's concept allows anyone to create a tournament in seconds that starts the game without the need for registration.

We have also filed two patent applications for the game.

I am attempting to develop a set of rules and tools to run a game without a GM for my rpg and the only game I know of that has done this is gloomhaven.

Since there is no way these were the first guys to ever do this, I was curious what other titles I can pick up to learn a few different ways to sculpt this kind of system. Any recommendations?

I'm designing a battle game where part of the set up is choosing spells (a player may end up with, depending on their party makeup, between 4-15 spells), and I was hoping to get opinions from both players and game designers about how much text to put on a card.

During my initial design, I opted in favor of more text. The reason behind this is I wanted players to have to go to the rule book as little as possible. The result, however, is a wall of text on most cards. I'm considering changing it up. As an example, here is the text of one card as it currently reads (symbols are unique icons):

ORIGINAL

• FIRE BLAST III
• The caster shoots a fireball at one unit dealing 6 * damage. On hit, targeted unit gets 3 @ burn tokens.
• Image showing what the range of the spell is.

I was considering redoing it in this way:

POTENTIAL

• FIRE BLAST III
• DAMAGE: 6 *
• EFFECT: 3 @
• Image showing what the range of the spell is.

As I see it, the pros and cons are as follows for each:

ORIGINAL

• PROS: Theoretically, a player won't need to refer to the rule book to figure out how to use this card. The icons will be there as reinforcement, and to remind the player what the effects are at a glance, but players won't need to memorize exactly what each icon is and what its precise effect is.
• CONS: Even for a relatively simple spell like this one, the card is a wall of text plus the image showing the range. While a player can guess what the effect is by seeing hte icons and numbers, they'll have to read the whole card at least once to ensure they've understood it correctly.

POTENTIAL

• PROS: Clean design, very little text, lots of room on the card to allow for larger font and icon sizes.
• CONS: Players must memorize the icons and precisely how they work. There are about 10 unique icons, some of which will last one turn, some multiple turns, and some will cause damage, while some will restrict unit movement/action, while others provide bonus movement/action. Even a player with no spells will have to learn these icons to that when other players use spells they know what the outcomes are for each spell.

I'm on the fence. I'm a big fan of cleaner designs, but also a big fan of not having to constantly refer to a rulebook while playing a game. As I've designed it now, the rulebook should only be needed to learn the game, and then to refer to high level, occasional synnergies/card conflicts (e.g. this card says it gives bonus movement, but this card says movement has to be used to extricate the unit. Does this mean that the unit's bonus is used up if if it uses its movement to free itself?). If you play a game enough, you'll memorize all the ins and outs, but I imagined this game being played every so often, and often with new players, so I wouldn't expect all the iconography and rules to be memorized.

Thanks for any and all feedback!

​

I've hit a bit of a blockade in my development process and have been trying to brainstorm the perfect system for resource distribution and gathering for my boardgame.

Could anyone here recommend any essays, videos, or other research that goes in depth into different methods, systems, etc. of resource gathering and management?

I was at Unpub a few weekends ago and someone suggested I duplicate the icon 3 times instead of having it say "+3" which may confuse people. Which seems like the better format?

https://preview.redd.it/hnkux3t0lorc1.png?width=825&format=png&auto=webp&s=7757bd042d812fc4999e9c4096859b9ab938e0b5

https://preview.redd.it/6omu74t0lorc1.png?width=825&format=png&auto=webp&s=df5fef0032fa4b6bcde84e336b8c9a8f71c1b29a

Hello, we are designing a massive wargame reminiscing of pc games like empire at war and battlefront galactic conquest, we are striving to be miniature agnostic while providing huge customization option to help the player design their own units and choosing how they will be represented, the system works with battle happening in space and on planets at the same time with units from both able to interact and provide support to each other either through fire or buffs. We have also added planet colonization, basically base building to turn planets into resource and unit producing bases to help conquer the galaxy. The system takes elements from various other systems and gives them a new twist. I would be very much interested in what you would expect to see from a wargame like this and if you would be willing to play it.

TLDR : Designing something like empire at war galactic conquest but tabletop wargame and would like feedback/suggestions and if you would play it.

https://preview.redd.it/rjb80g74qnrc1.png?width=1370&format=png&auto=webp&s=5d37c354016d4538dfb4792ebd38dd7aceb9fe68

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:dce2ae68-2a63-4faa-adc5-37a3ef59a02e

I have updated the rulebook based on previous notes given to me. Mainly it was adding page numbers, a table of contents and cleaning up the order of information so that one thing led to the next. If you are interested, please give me your thoughts. Thank you!