Tower of Doom – update

The Tower of Doom prototype is well on its way to being finished.

Completed –

• Tower painted – three levels
• Monster cards completed – to be printed
• Event cards 95% complete – to be printed

To be done –

• Tower blocks need icons representing monster or event – have white Sharpie to complete task
• A couple more event cards need completing – Trap Door, Cloak of Invisibility
• Hero dice need to be made – have Yahtzee Junior dice which I will convert using stickers
• Player boards need to be created to keep track of health, equipment, and tower level

Still some work to do but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Elementary my Dear Watson…

I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and that translates into the quest to make a game of deduction.

Deduction = The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

I think there is a fine line between reasoning and just the process of elimination.  Below is a list of games that use ‘deduction’ and my thoughts on them followed by what mechanics I want to see in my deduction game.

1. Clue (Cluedo) – to me the idea of deduction in this game is very loose.  This games is a race to eliminate options by information you are GIVEN by the opposition.  Not impressed.
2. Scotland Yard – reasoning used to deduce where someone has been and where they might go ~ there is a process of elimination but the information is not given it is reasoned.  One of my favourite games.
3. Mystery of the Abbey – similar to Clue but direct questions are asked between players so although elimination the game requires reasoning in respect to what questions a player will ask of his opponents.  A better version of Clue but still a race to eliminate the suspects.
4. Castle of the Devil – players belong to one of two guilds and by voting and reacting to certain events players roles are deduced.  This has promise.
5. Battlestar Galactica – secret voting for or against events and the actions taken throughout the game allow for the deduction by reasoning.  Are you the toaster?  I like the mechanics in this game but it can take a while to play.

There are other games out there that I have not mentioned but want to try.  In my game I would like to have the following 3 mechanics:

1. Actions that may reveal the players’ goals.  Obviously a player may take actions that will ‘confuse’ or ‘mislead’ the other players.
2. A voting system – events occur and people vote on the event.  Again allows for the misleading of other players.
3. Direct questioning of other players, a la Mystery of the Abbey

Now I want to come up with a theme so that I can work on fitting in the mechanics so that they work.  Any suggestions?

Storage Wars – game idea

I posted an interesting thread about a game idea based on the show Storage Wars on A&E.  In this game players bid on storage units that are being auctioned off after the original owners have defaulted on their rent.  However at the end of the thread I was pointed to a game already designed called Auction Junktion.

While the theme is identical the game play would be somewhat different.  The goal would be the same – to get the most money!

What is different about my version:

1. Potential set collection

2. A reveal where all players get to see some items in the locker

3. Cards that allow for a secret reveal of other items in the locker

4. Secret items that no one sees – these could be of high value or worthless

Right now this is on the back burner – but maybe not for long.

The Tower of Doom – monster cards

I’ve been fiddling around with making the monster cards for the Tower of Doom game.  Using the Magic Set Editor, I chose the Vs. System template to create cards.  Royalty free artwork from the Free Classic Image Archive was used for the images.  If anyone knows differently about the art used then I encourage them to tell me so I can remove the image and replace it with another.  I created the backs of the cards in Photoshop.

     

     

The Tower of Doom – stage 2

The last Tower of Doom picture showed you the 5×5 18 level tower in bare wood.  It has now been painted to give three distinct levels (pics below).  Stage 2 complete.

Stage 3 will be to add icons that represent events that are met by the heroes.  Stage 4 will be to lacquer the blocks so that they slide more easily and don’t scratch.

           

Sophie’s initial idea for a game

Sophie’s Idea

Theme:  Animals are collecting food but have to get past a sleeping dragon in a cave.

Waking the dragon:  Gets too noisy – animals running or a whole bunch of animals running past the cave.

If the noise reaches level 10 then the dragon wakes up.

Thought about using cards or dice.

My ideas to help Sophie’s idea:

Each player has 15 cards – 5 x1, 4×2, 3×3, 2×2, 1×5

Players play cards moving up a noise track if they reach a certain level they wake the dragon but the higher they go up the track the more food they get.  Players push their luck to get higher up the track.  They don’t get their food until it returns to their go again.  Other players can add cards along their track, however, if the total on each level passes a predetermined value then it is too noisy and all lose their place and return to their homes (see diagram below)

The Daily ‘target’ Show – Part 4

Camping, family and other things got in the way of my daily posts BUT I have made progress on the Tower of Doom.  The blocks have all been primed and are now being painted.  There will be three levels – light grey at the top (easy monsters), medium grey in the middle (medium level monsters), and black at the bottom (seriously evil monsters!).  Hopefully have a picture for you tomorrow.

 

My new co-designer

I am going to ask my 7 year old daughter Sophie to help me design a game.

She will come up with the theme, characters if necessary, and what will be the goal of the game.  I promise it will not be roll and move!  I will post our idea later.

The Daily ‘target’ Show – Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of the Daily ‘target’ show.

Last Episode – the target was to have all 100 blocks sanded and to have them primed

Update – all the blocks are sanded – not polished but smoother than rough cut (see pic below) and have been given  a coat of primer (they are in the garage drying)

Next daily target – to check primer coat and to start painting a third of the bricks pewter grey.  This may take longer than expected as need cash for paints.  I will continue working on the monster and event cards.

Question of the Day – is there an ideal mix of ameritrash and euro out there?

The Daily ‘target’ Show – Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the Daily ‘target’ show.

Last Episode – the target was to have all 100 blocks sanded.  Was this completed?  Let’s see…

Update – less than half the blocks were sanded BUT white primer and grey spray paint were bought!  So this means that target #2 is to finish sanding the blocks and to spray paint them with the first coat of primer…stay tuned

Comments – what can I say???  Sanding 100 blocks is a laborious and dusty task but it shall be done.  Along with cleaning the house and folding the laundry.  An exciting day ahead!

Question of the Day – what is your favourite movement mechanic?