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Games Kingdoms: fast two-player board game

Discussion in 'Projects In Progress' started by WakingDragon, Mar 31, 2022.

  1. WakingDragon

    WakingDragon

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2018
    Posts:
    41
    Hello World. If you like board games and strategy then I think/hope that this will be right up your street. The paper-based game is very easy to play and quick to learn, and my partner thinks it is great fun. But she would say that, wouldn't she? So I need some more dispassionate eyes on it.

    TL;DR: Download the paper version here and play test the board game for me please!


    Summary

    Tipping Points is and easy-to-learn board game played against an opponent. Your objective is to conquer the other player. Gameplay lasts between 10-30 minutes.

    Status
    You can print it out and play the game yourself - I have been play-testing it on paper whilst I beat my head against the boring background stuff like building an audio system.

    Resources
    You can download the paper version of the board game in the PowerPoint at this link. Print it out, cut out the pieces and you will be having great fun with a new board game in minutes.

    Feedback Requested
    I would be thrilled if anyone played the on-paper version and gave me feedback on that. I have provided some stuff you can print and cut out to play the abstract game. The areas I am specifically interested in are:
    1. Is it fun? What could make it "funner"?
    2. Is it strategic? The cards bring an element of chance, but I don't want this to be a game based on luck instead of skill. The cards should just add a new level of strategy rather than dominate the game. Do they?
    3. Is it re-playable? Does it get a bit meh after the first few plays?
    4. If it passes the above tests then: are the cards right? is the board the right size? Are there any clarifications to the rules that you think need to be made?
    Roadmap
    This is so early stages but the overall roadmap is to get the abstract strategy game to be super-fun and balanced, and then to add the flourishes. There may be a Minimax AB AI thrown in at some point!
    • Get the paper-based/abstract game to be fun and balanced. If this doesn't work then even Unity's awesome toolkit won't save the game from being bad.
    • Build an abstract prototype version of the game for 2 human players on the same computer: board, rule sets, card system
    • Implement Unity's new(ish) MLAPI online play system
    • Maybe look at a an AI player for single-person play (although there are so many permutations that I think this might be a dead end!)
    • Develop the artwork, assets, animations etc.
    • If we get to here then there is a whole extra layer of strategic gameplay waiting in the wings. But that's a big IF... font size 3000 (and probably currently in Comic Sans).
    Failures and Research
    I am just a hobby developer, but I have been through a lot research and iterations with this game already. There have been quite a few failures and false starts too. If there is an appetite for seeing that background stuff then let me know.

    Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the game!
    Ben
     
  2. WakingDragon

    WakingDragon

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2018
    Posts:
    41
    [UPDATE]

    It has been a while since the original post, but the game is starting progress well. Here is what has been happening...

    Play testing on paper
    The original paper version of the game was play tested with adults and young people (around 30-40 games in total) and this was really worthwhile. I didn't get any interest from posting in any forums, which is a shame, but real life testing has radically improved the game.
    Key things from the play-testing were:
    • The use of cards and coins was really important to make the game exciting and fast-paced
    • Players now feel that it is skill that enables them to win
    • The game is pretty well balanced now, so it is fast-paced and engaging but takes 20 minutes or so to play a game
    • The rules and the cards have had quite a lot of changes - especially the balancing of the number of cards of each type
    I cannot stress enough how important it was to do the play-testing before even touching Unity (sorry Unity!). A few sheets of paper and a bit of printer ink saved days of wasted coding time.

    Building a single machine version
    The plan was originally to offer the game with 3 multiplayer options: sharing a device, playing across LAN and playing online.
    The basic single-computer version of the game (lacking any visual flourish) is coming together. The screen shot shows the board in play, with a highlighted cell, and indicators showing which black pieces will be taken by this move. The core mechanics of the game are nearly done. Before I get on to adding any "juice", I need to add...
    • The card mechanics/rules
    • The coin collection mechanic
    ForumPostCaps.jpg

    Learning Unity Gaming Services for online play
    I had some good and bad luck here. The good luck was that I decided in May to work with Unity's upcoming multiplayer services (UGS), before there was much decent documentation or even the dashboard system fully working. The bad luck was that the documentation was still very much WIP as I was trying to learn it.
    I didn't realise at the time I was deciding on the platform quite how good Unity's offer was going to be, but the decision to stick with their system for everything has definitely paid off!
    I have parked the UGS stuff for the moment, but there is (you'll have to trust me) a working local save/load system and Lobby system that works across LAN and Unity's Relay service.
    I'll return to online play when I have finalised the main game and know what needs to be communicated through t'interweb.

    Learning UI Elements
    After the experience with UGS, and struggling with the mind-numbing tedium of creating UI using traditional Unity tools, I also opted to hitch my wagon to Unity's new UI Elements/Toolkit. Coming from a web background it is super simple to use. It presents a lot of the same problems as the web and still has a lot of limitations, but I am guessing they will improve it a lot before I finish, so I might as well work on that assumption.

    Next steps
    Coming up next: once the card logic and coin system are in I will pop a single player build up here.
     
  3. WakingDragon

    WakingDragon

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2018
    Posts:
    41
    Been having some fun with DallE, using the Bing Image Creator. Asked it to design some sketches for the castle pieces in the game. Here's some of the inspirations for the Water faction castle....
    water castle 1.jpg water castle 2.jpg water castle 3.jpg water castle 4.jpg water castle 5.jpg