For the past week we have been filming some footage that can be used to put together a demo video for the game. While these clips aren't ones that are going to go into a final video, they do give a good preview of some of the games being played.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Galactic Conquest - The Beginning
This blog's purpose is to give an in-depth peek into the production process occurring at Mad Friends Games. For the past year, we have been in the production process on a game titled Galactic Conquest.
Production on Galactic Conquest began during the 2012 holiday season. Eric and I had received a card game in which each card specified an action, modifying other card effects, changing the goal of the game, etc. It was interesting, and after an hour or so of playing we commented to each other that we could easily produce our own version of something like it. We cut sheets of paper into pieces that were roughly card shaped and began drawing on them in pen. We took these cards to play with some family members later that day and tested the game out. The game was a complex nightmare, whose glimmers of hope were overshadowed by the tediousness of gameplay.
We scrapped that game and sat back down at the drawing board. We wanted a game that would be simple to understand yet never repetitive. I had recently purchased a set of 100 dice to expand another favorite game of ours (Liar's Dice), and brought those into the brainstorming process. Out of this process, Galactic Conquest was born.
One of the original hand drawn game cards instructing players to play a minigame in which players take turns stacking dice onto a tower until it topples over. Player who knocks the tower over loses the minigame, and the remaining players continue to play until a single winner remains.
Gameplay in Galactic Conquest is simple enough that it can be explained in 30 seconds. On any turn a player begins by drawing a card, buying capsules or stars with coins (accumulating enough capsules will end the game at which point the player with the most stars wins), rolling a die to gain (or lose) coins, and playing a card. After all players have taken their turns a minigame (like the example shown above) is played in which players gain or lose additional coins depending upon their performance.
The minigames in Galactic Conquest are what make this game something that we are excited to be producing. We have rolled out of our chairs laughing watching a friend spend 30 seconds impeccably setting up dice for Senor Gretzky's Slap Shot Shootout only to hit his first few shots far short of having any chance of reaching the goal, and waited patiently to draw the minigame Forehead Score and Two Dice Ago to test out our abilities on new and increasingly difficult courses.
Current iterations of minigames "Senor Gretzky's Slapshot Shootout" and "Forehead Score and Two Dice Ago"
Production of the game is currently in the alpha testing process. We are playing the game, working out the kinks in gameplay and covering our newest set of neatly printed cards with red marker showing which changes need to be made. We have also begun looking into the cost of producing sets on a larger scale to help us get a better idea of what will be necessary in order to fund this project.
More updates to come soon!
Production on Galactic Conquest began during the 2012 holiday season. Eric and I had received a card game in which each card specified an action, modifying other card effects, changing the goal of the game, etc. It was interesting, and after an hour or so of playing we commented to each other that we could easily produce our own version of something like it. We cut sheets of paper into pieces that were roughly card shaped and began drawing on them in pen. We took these cards to play with some family members later that day and tested the game out. The game was a complex nightmare, whose glimmers of hope were overshadowed by the tediousness of gameplay.
We scrapped that game and sat back down at the drawing board. We wanted a game that would be simple to understand yet never repetitive. I had recently purchased a set of 100 dice to expand another favorite game of ours (Liar's Dice), and brought those into the brainstorming process. Out of this process, Galactic Conquest was born.
Gameplay in Galactic Conquest is simple enough that it can be explained in 30 seconds. On any turn a player begins by drawing a card, buying capsules or stars with coins (accumulating enough capsules will end the game at which point the player with the most stars wins), rolling a die to gain (or lose) coins, and playing a card. After all players have taken their turns a minigame (like the example shown above) is played in which players gain or lose additional coins depending upon their performance.
The minigames in Galactic Conquest are what make this game something that we are excited to be producing. We have rolled out of our chairs laughing watching a friend spend 30 seconds impeccably setting up dice for Senor Gretzky's Slap Shot Shootout only to hit his first few shots far short of having any chance of reaching the goal, and waited patiently to draw the minigame Forehead Score and Two Dice Ago to test out our abilities on new and increasingly difficult courses.
Current iterations of minigames "Senor Gretzky's Slapshot Shootout" and "Forehead Score and Two Dice Ago"
Production of the game is currently in the alpha testing process. We are playing the game, working out the kinks in gameplay and covering our newest set of neatly printed cards with red marker showing which changes need to be made. We have also begun looking into the cost of producing sets on a larger scale to help us get a better idea of what will be necessary in order to fund this project.
More updates to come soon!
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