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Board Game Uniwar Update
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mistercreepy

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mistercreepy

Messages: 207,
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Hi everyone! I wanted to share with you the progress I've made on a Uniwar Board Game. I am not a professional game designer, although I do have some formal training at the graduate level in game design.

Here's a picture of the paper prototype. Super high tech I know!

Pic of the paper prototype:


link here in case that doesn't work:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3w6cA6Wdh8VWjloaTZlOTI0V28/view

For credit chits I repurposed the credit counters from my Android: Netrunner card game. For damage counters, I've tried both the advancement counters from that game as well as poker chips (but both of them are not very elegant solutions).

Fog of war can be preserved if you keep your units facing away from your opponent until they are within range. However I still have no clue on how to make a buried underling, and thus far I'm just allowing the opponent to see where it is buried. Which is not really a big deal, I know.

For damage calculation, I simplified an algorithm I found in the forums. It's not 100% accurate but it's close enough. (It's also not yet adapted to the recent unit adjustments.) You roll one D20 for each hit point your unit has. The target number you are trying to equal or exceed is found by: Target = 9 + attack - defense +- modifiers. So this is a whole lot more random than the Uniwar App. If this bothers you, just use one of the damage calculator apps you can find online. I made a table with all the target numbers already calculated, but it might be easier to have unit stat cards and calculate the target number every time.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JlTpHRrMZvok2y71NueezTGJApxCzlmLZvR6MfNGvjk/edit?usp=sharing

I've found a company (Gamecrafter) that will make pieces more professionally. The shipment arrives within a week, so I can share that when it arrives.

If you want to try it out on your own, feel free to use the spreadsheet I built. Just print out the unit files that Xavi has shared on the forum, cut them out, slap them into some butterfly clips, and enjoy! If you want to get involved with the next round of prototyping, let me know. If you can think of an elegant (and inexpensive) solution to damage calculation, hit points, and buried underlings, let me know!

Cheers,

-jeff aka mistercreepy

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Feb 06, 2016 03:04

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waxoid

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waxoid

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underlings – when buried, some mechanism where player keeps a face down chit which indicates whether it is directly on or in 1-space in any of 6 directions from where it is on the board. So when the underling is moved chit can change. Therefore opponent only has a general idea where the underling is, like in game.

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Apercent

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Apercent

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How about magnets (for buried underling)? You can use your own magnet to check for underlings if they are nearby any of your units.
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Duaneski

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Duaneski

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I think the best solution is having both players know exactly where the buried underling is. That's the simplest way, and most of the time we know where it is online anyway. Maybe give them an extra bonus attack or something if you feel like this makes them weak.

This is an awesome project, the one piece of feedback I have is: it sounds like you're trying to be very true to the online game, which is great.... But if there's a way to simplify the gameplay, I would encourage you to do that. For instance, rolling D6 instead of D20s, if possible.

I don't think I have a complete understanding of how the game works, so that's really all I have to contribute... <3 awesome job so far
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cmbaptist

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cmbaptist

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So many aspects are involved with underling ability I mean heck, even on the video version there have been more glitches with buried underlings than anything else I can think of. Good luck with your efforts .
Almost calls for a replacement unit. You would probably end up basing every aspect of the game to fit with one unit. ( that kind of sucks anyway)

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Feb 05, 2016 15:27


Psalms 100:5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
mistercreepy

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mistercreepy

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Regarding making the damage calculation simpler, yes I really want to do that. I have realized that I want to make two versions, one of them a faithful recreation of Uniwar, the other something that is more loosely based on the game (three races that are rock-paper-scissors balanced) but has a different friendlier core mechanic. Uniwar is so reliant on being a computer game, I mean, even keeping track of ten hit points per unit is a serious challenge for a physical board game.

Regarding the buried underling, I definitely think I'll just let everyone know where it is. It's not that hard to figure it out in the app, and why add such a crazy level of complexity to a board game.

Check out my next post, the shipment from Gamecrafter arrived, it looks awesome!
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Duaneski

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Duaneski

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As far as tracking damage, you could have a card on it (with a plastic protector over it) with ten boxes and above it the names and stats for that unit.

So:
Sapien Tank
STATS

TANK 1
Hit boxes

tank 2
Hit boxes

Tank 3
Hit boxes

Etc

Then people can use dry eras markets to track damage.

Problem: need to denote tank 1, 2 etc on unit markers as well to correlate.
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Duaneski

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Duaneski

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Damage

On a roll of 4,5,6: 6 damage is done.
On a roll of 1,2,3: 4 damage is done.

Infantry to infantry 1d6 plus terrain modifiers

Infantry to air is one damage plus terrain modifiers

Infantry to GH is 2 damage plus terrain modifiers

GH to infantry is a base 1d6
GH tanks get an additional 1d6

GH to aerial is base 2 damage (eclipse gets +1d6 to this base number)

GH to GH is base 3 damage plus terrain modifiers

Aerial to infantry is 1d6 minus terrain modifiers (looks like infantry can evenly trade with helicopters and garudas when in a forest or mountain... So this will need addressed)

Aerial to GH is a base 2 damage plus terrain modifiers (and gang up will allow them to deal some small damage to tanks)

Aerial to aerial: swarmers deal 1 damage to aerial units plus gang up. Garudas and helicopters deal 1d6.


--------
Reduce all incoming damage to tank type units by 2.

Increase damage to all artillery type units by 3.

Double all incoming damage to engineer type units.

Gang up you could do the same as in game, or a simplified version (anywhere in the front is +1, anywhere behind is +2)


----

I think this is still a fairly complex system, which will more or less reflect Uniwar but be playable for tabletop games. Not sure what system you're using now, obv this would need balancing and testing and whatnot just an idea for you!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 06, 2016 23:50

mistercreepy

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mistercreepy

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Thanks! I will have to give it a try, it looks definitely simpler than my current version. I think I need to grab a buddy and spend an afternoon with dice to see what is the best method of calculating damage analog. Seriously, thanks a lot! It helps to have an outside perspective, I've been tinkering with this for over a year now so I'm probably biased.
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Duaneski

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Duaneski

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  mistercreepy wrote:Thanks! I will have to give it a try, it looks definitely simpler than my current version. I think I need to grab a buddy and spend an afternoon with dice to see what is the best method of calculating damage analog. Seriously, thanks a lot! It helps to have an outside perspective, I've been tinkering with this for over a year now so I'm probably biased.


It started to hurt my head to think about after about 5 minutes, so I'm sure you've wracked your brain on that. So many variables! Glad if that helps though best of luck !
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wookieontheweb

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wookieontheweb

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I really like what you're doing here. I've played loads of table top games too. I have some suggestions for simplifications and board management.

First the hex tiles need holding in place. Settlers of catan have simple straight sections of card that link together with jigsaw connectors. You need 2 types some straight pieces (say 8 ) and 4 × 90 degree corners. You build a box from the pieces and place the tiles within. As long as the tiles are black on the back matching the edges they will be the void and you can create any shape map inside. Want it bigger use more straights.

The random damage adjustment should be way way simpler. I'd suggest getting your own damage dice made up. You can simulate it with a table though. Use a d10. Map the values like this: -2 -1 -1 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2. Have 2 in the box 1 for the attacker 1 for the defender. Do all your normal attack/defence calculation e.g. health, terrain, unit types, gang up then roll the dice to adjust the final result. I feel you may need to break from the original here as anything with multiply is way too hard for a board game, plus and minus is all you should use. Half and double if the numbers are small.

Unit health must be shown on the units. I think a hole punched in the top of the unit cards (at the crease) then slide another piece of card between. It would be long thin and be marked with numbers (preferably going green through yellow to red). Getting it's width right will be critical to it not slipping out of view our popping the unit cards from their holders each time it's moved. Another solution would be lots of bits of card with numbers on them. Cut 2 slits at the bottom making 3 tabs and wedge them on the top of a unit card when it's damaged.

I'd love to help play test it with you but i don't think we're in the same time zone. Good luck and i hope to see it on Will Wheaton's table top one day


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