Air Superiority

I'm enjoying the game design course I signed up for.

The first real assignment was to design a World War I game where the primary objective of the players could not be territorial control, or capture/destroy.

Since that would leave out most of the trench warfare, and with my exposure and research I had done for Canvas Eagles, I made an airplane technology game.
Even with the standard caveats, it hasn't been tested enough; it needs more detail; I was rushed - I'm still pretty happy with the mechanics. It expresses the concepts I was trying to get across. Give it a try if you get a chance.

AIR SUPERIORITY
by DKWD

In World War I the ground battle had quickly settled into a locked battle of the trenches. In the air however, the war quickly drove research into the new technology of air warfare.

Goal:
In this two-player game, you have to try and move your technology along in aircraft development while preventing your opponent from doing the same.

Contents:
these rules,
the Technology Chart,
17 counters (9 for each player, and 1 timeline marker),
and some 6-sided dice (up to 10).

Set up:
Decide which side the players Place a counter on the Timeline on Fall 1914. Each player places a counter on their Resource track on the 10 and a counter on the Technology track on the first box.

Game play:
Each turn represents the development in 6 months of the war. Both players’ turns take place simultaneously for each step.

Assign Resources:
Each player’s Resource track will have a marker showing the current value of your country’s resources that they can allot to air superiority.
You can use the resources to buy planes at any of the current levels available to you (at applicable costs) – just move the Plane markers up one for each purchase. Some planes will allow you to make Resource attacks or Dogfights. The starting planes will only allow you to make Resource attacks.
You can also use the remaining resources to purchase rolls on the Research Track. Rolls are purchased at 1 roll per resource – move the Research marker up one per purchase.
Once all your purchases are made, reset your Resource track counter to 10 for the next turn. You can’t save resources from one turn to the next.

Research Roll:
The counter on your Research track indicates the amount of dice to roll to see if you can develop the next level of technology.
If you roll a 6 on any of the dice, you may advance your marker on the Technology track to the next level. You may only advance once per turn regardless of how many 6s you roll.
Once you have rolled all the dice allowed, reset your Research track marker back to 0.

Resource Attacks:
Decide which planes which have the capability to make Resource attacks will be doing so this turn. These planes will not be available for Dogfights this turn.
Starting at Technology level 1, roll for those planes making Resource attacks – the value needed to roll is on the Technology Chart. If you roll the value needed, your opponent has to move his marker on his Resource track down one. If you roll a one your plane is lost – move your plane marker on that Technology level down one.
If you lose a plane of a Technology level higher than your opponent has achieved then they may increase their Research marker by one.

Dogfights:
The remaining planes that are capable of Dogfights and did not make a Resource attack now participate in Dogfights.
Starting at Technology level 1, roll for those planes making Dogfight – the value needed to roll is on the Technology Chart. If you roll the value needed, your opponent has to move one of his plane markers on one of his Technology tracks down one (he must decrease one plane if possible – even if that plane type didn’t participate in Dogfights).
If you roll a one your plane is lost – move your plane marker on that Technology level down one.
If you lose a plane of a Technology level higher than your opponent has achieved then they may increase their Research marker by one.

Advance Timeline:
Advance the marker on the Timeline one level.
When the marker gets moved to Armistice, the game is over. The player who has the highest technological level is the winner. If both players are tied at the same technological level, then the player with the most planes built in the highest technological level would win. (1 level 3 plane would beat 4 level 2 planes).
If it is still tied then the player with the higher Resource level would win a minor victory.

If Armistice is not reached, return to the Assign Resources step.

[The format on these are a bit wonky in this medium - leave enough space between the numbers to use counters]

GERMANY
Resources: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Research: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Technology: Planes
Type 1: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Basic planes – no guns Resource attacks only (6) Cost - 1

Type 2: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Stable planes – no guns Resource attacks only (5-6) Cost - 2

Type 3: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Mounted guns Resource attacks (6) Dogfights (6) Cost - 2

Type 4: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
May shoot through props Resource attacks (6) Dogfights (5-6) Cost - 3

Type 5: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Fighter planes Dogfights only (4-6) Cost - 3


Fall - Spring - Fall - Spring - Fall - Spring - Fall - Spring - Fall - Armistice
1914 - 1915 - - 1915 - 1916 - - 1916 - 1917 - - 1917 - 1918 - - 1918 -


BRITAIN
Resources: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Research: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Technology: Planes
Type 1: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Basic planes – no guns Resource attacks only (6) Cost - 1

Type 2: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Stable planes – no guns Resource attacks only (5-6) Cost - 2

Type 3: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Mounted guns Resource attacks (6) Dogfights (6) Cost - 2

Type 4: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

May shoot through props Resource attacks (6) Dogfights (5-6) Cost - 3

Type 5: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Fighter planes Dogfights only (4-6) Cost - 3

BSG - big fraking deal

Battlestar Galactica.
So we finally got around to watching the finale of Battlestar Galactica. We haven’t been impressed with the series and kept watching in the hopes that it would pay off. It didn’t.

The show had very little in the way of humor. I know war is supposed to be grim – but at least Space Above and Beyond had humor. The main things I wanted from this show – dog fights and cylons were few and far between. Now, when I say cylons I’m referring to the walking toasters or even their new upgraded version. The flesh-covered cylons, whining on about their goals, didn’t really impress me. I didn't like the dogfights and their garbled space communications. Shan pointed out that your two hotshot pilots, Starbuck and Apollo, did very little actual flying.
Part of what really hurt it was the glacially slow pace of the series. After the first two seasons they had just got to Cobol and they were heading towards Earth. This was the story from the original two hour pilot from the old series. They set up a colony which was destroyed – the resistance all being led by cylons.
That also might have been the issue – most of any characters that we actually cared about all ended up as Cylons. They made a big deal about the number of survivors – but we never really see any stories about any of the survivors. We didn’t care anything about Baltar – so any storyline with him was a waste for us.
The ending was pretty poor as well. After 6 episodes of nothing happening, they mention a singularity which automatically forshadows them being displaced to the past. A bit of a battle and then a poor version of Earth2.

This is definitely not a series we will pick up. As much as I like the CG toasters, I can’t justify the rest of the mess. I might get the movie Razor to get a simple taste of it and possibly the mini series, but the rest of the series is a wash. If the seasons were in the $10 bin I would still have to really think hard about if it was worth it.

Lots of people were raving about it being the best written sci-fi series though. I can’t help but wonder if, like Saving Private Ryan and Titanic, these people haven’t seen a lot of the genre. Your mileage may vary.

a busy week for the Grim Reaper

Ed McMahon died on June 23. Some remember him as the host of Star Search or from waiting for him to delivery the Publisher's Clearing House prize, but I remember him as the announcer from the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was the host and from the Al Yankovich song "Here's Johnny."

Farah Fawcett died June 25. She was one of the original Charlie's Angels, replaced by Cheryl Ladd. She was also famous for her posters - most remember her from her red bathing suit one by I remember my cousin Kevin had the one of her on the bike. She was a babe who also played some pretty serious roles - like the Burning Bed and Saturn-3.

Both will probably be overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson on June 25.
Say what you want about his plastic surgeries or his penchant for hanging out with monkeys and kids, he also played a major part in the music and entertainment of our youth. People tried to dress like him - with the red leather outfit and the one glove; tried to act like him - from the moonwalk to the crotch grab; and people tried to sing like him.
His impact on the then-fresh vidoes was immense - Bill Jean, Bad, Ebony and Ivory, not to mention Thiller. I've been trying to get a copy on DVD of Thriller - especially with the Making of Special with John Landis. As a Werewolf in London and Vincent Price fan, the Thriller video and song had a big impact on my youth.

Summer School for gamers?

Sorry for the late notice - but I just heard about this from Steve Jackson Games.

Game Design Concepts
This is going to be an online course covering the process of making a game from idea generation to prototyping to playtesting. The instructor is Ian Schreiber, who wrote Challenges for Game Designers , and has been teaching game design at Ohio University for a couple years.

The course has no registration fees except for the required text, but classes start on Monday, June 29. Go to the site above and send them an email that you are joining in. If you are intruiged, but don't have the time to commit or don't have the required text, then you can follow along with the lectures on the blog.

Having designed a few small games already, it sounds like it should be pretty interesting. Plus, the book looks like a good buy. I'll let you know when it arrives.

Jugger quotes

In getting together my notes, I watched the Blood of Heroes again - more with an eye to the game and an ear for quotes. The following are some of the good ones.

The opening scrawl: People no longer remembered the Golden Age of the 20th Century. They didn’t remember the miraculous technology or the cruel wars that followed. They didn’t remember when juggers first played The Game or how it came to be played with a dog skull . . .

When he found out how long they had lasted when Sallow's team had challenged the League team:
Young Gar – 26 stones! That’s all, 26 stones and you received the attention of the League?
Sallow - We were the only ones who ever lasted that long – and two of us were still standing. Was a good game. Played very well.

In the elevator down to the Red City:
Kidda – How deep do we go?
Sallow – Very deep.

Sallow's old league teammate Gonzo warning him not to challenge:
Gonzo – Sallow, you’ve got one eye and two good legs. It’s bad enough up top. But don’t f*ck with the 9 Cities.

and my favorite one; the one that sums up the game:
Gonzo – Lord Vile, I’ve broken juggers in half, smashed their bones, and left the ground behind me wet with their brains. I’ll do anything to win. But I never hurt a soul for any reason but to put a dog skull on a stake, and I never will.

Bone - Daddy

In cleaning out older emails, I found this one I had sent to Doombuggyproductions.com (when they were still active). It explains how we made the Jack Skelington (and how to make similar figures). It never made it on their before they were lost so I'll post it up here.



For the body of Jack - we used pvc pipes - the grey ones are electrical conduit ones - they were cheaper than the water ones. The joints are all pvc fittings. The chest was bulked out with layers of 1' foam and bubble wrapped to soften the edges.





The costume was cut from scrap material and hand sewn. The limbs were covered in black foam pipe wrap and the legs and arms were glued together after the costume was attached.
The head was sculpted in plasticine and a copy was made in paper mache. Blank newspaper was torn into thumb-sized pieces. Instead of fiddling with dipping them into glue and applying them, slightly thinned (with water) white glue was painted on, a few pieces were applied, and more glue was brushed over them. The teeth were more fiddly, so facial tissue was used there. After about three good layers were applied, the head was flipped and paper mache was applied the same way to the back of the head - not quite overlapping. The two halves were gently removed and the plasticine was removed - using a plastic spoon and fingers mostly. Two small squares of foam with holes for the neck were paper mached to the front piece and then the back was paper mached on. Once the two halves were joined by more paper mache the face was painted - primed black then off white.




The hands were wire around a foam palm. The fingers were wrapped in masking tape and the entire was painted - primed black and painted white.

The suit still needs the pinstripes painted on and the spider bow-tie needs to be made. All told he is about 8' tall.

Short for a trooper?

So, even those I had lost my camera, I was able to find some pictures of the kids in their Clone Trooper armor from the Valleycon website.