As a teacher I have the added bonus of having school holidays free. But free does not mean that I have had a quiet time as I have been working on a number of projects. The most important one of these to me is the progress of my game Detritus. Progress had slowed due to a number of different reasons but over this break things have been quickly moving back into alignment.
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| A concept image from the artist |
The largest change to this is I have had a meeting with the artist that is working toward giving me a look and feel for the game I have envisioned. I had thought I would need to encourage them to keep going as payment for the work is a while away but found out that they are excited about the project and handed me over a file full of original ink images. The ink style is something that I wanted to include in the game as I have visions that the bound version (which will be a special edition more than likely) will be done in a certain style with handwritten notes. Thus having hand drawn ink images was something that would truly fit into this ideal.
The work behind the scenes has been going on as well. I have had a few other people giving me a hand in broadening the setting and I have been busy working what I have into something that I believe will make it a great resource for game masters and players alike. I have also been taking a close look over the rules that I have defined and critically reflecting on the choices that I have made in them. I have been looking at why I wanted to present the rules in the manner that they are and really deciding if the goal has been met.
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| Another concept piece |
Each decision that I have made along the way has been made for a purpose. I want to give the players a new experience in the game and I am attempting to have the rules I create support the experience. I am also looking at ways that I could supplement the game in different ways to see if other styles are better in providing the experience and how I can involve that in the game. For example, I want the core mechanic for rolling skills in the game to cause a player to feel more comfortable with their character’s ability. I think I have achieved that in a sense of competence mechanics and also a variable number of dice. In general, the better you are at a skill the more dice you will have to a certain level. But once you get to a certain level the number of dice becomes steady though you receive competence bonuses which make you better (most of the time) than someone who is close to the same skill level.
So there is a review of where I am at currently. For those of you that did not realise I am making a game I suggest you look at this post that will give you an idea of what I am attempting. If you like what you read and you are able to assist me as a play-tester for the game (GM’s especially) please leave me a comment here and I will be in contact with you. The game is around 2 months from serious play-testing and so I hope to have two to three groups that are willing to give it a go ready to play when the game reaches that point.
Thanks for reading and keep rolling!