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Mobilizia - Starcraft/Chess Hybrid seeks programmer and artist

Started by September 24, 2016 06:59 AM
-1 comments, last by ShadowStarshine 8 years, 2 months ago

Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/Mg0B9

Game Basics

Mobilizia was a 1v1 non-luck based strategy board game where the player builds, upgrades and controls an army on a grid based board in attempts to reach your opponents side, thus defeating him/her. The building and designing is based off a tech tree and using a dual economy system (Gold and Research) to make your own customizable army while the battle section is similar to chess, where each type of unit has its own movement and attack options. The game ends up played most similar to a turn based Starcraft.

The game's design offers a lot of depth, multiple possible openings and has so far dodged any oppressive dominant strategies that crush all else.

Game Details

The game is played in two phases, a buying and a combat phase. The buying phase is double blind, where each player buys unit buildings that spawn units, upgrades the current units, or increases their economy. There are 10 different unit types and 22 possible upgrades for those units. Each unit type has its own movement, attack range, health and attack damage and special property/abilities. The game puts these units and upgrades on a tech tree, making sure a sensible progression of possible things. After decisions are made, the players reveal to each other what they have purchased.

After the reveal, a combat phase begins. Unit buildings spawn units onto a grid based battlefield. Each unit on the battlefield will then be able to move and attack and/or using special abilities, taking turns back and forth, until all units have moved. Defeated units go back to their building spawners and can't come back for two turns. Any unit at the end of combat that is in your opponents last two rows, or "spawning zone" scores damage against the opposing player. Deal enough damage, and your opponent is defeated.

The average game is about an hour.

I recently made video demonstration here:

The game's mechanics are all in place and have been thoroughly playtested, it only needs to be programmed. Further expansion on races/units will be explored after the core is built up.

Why a video Game?

Most of the mechanics work as a board game, except for the aspect of secrecy when purchasing your army/upgrades which should be revealed simultaneously. Two main methods were used: Markers on your own personal board indicating what you are purchasing while utilizing a screen, which felt clunky as you had to move the screen on and off again and took up too much table space or a deck of cards, each representing the unique actions you could do, however with 50 cards always in hand and having to sift through them each turn was also distracting, time consuming and felt like you had way more options to consider than you did adding to player confusion.

As a video game, the secrecy can be kept very simply by not showing the opponent your purchases until both players have chosen. While not game breaking issues, having it as a video game adds visual cues like greying out unavailable options will reduce perceived complexity and unit information can be condensed in a more visual pleasing fashion than a manual thus making learning easier.

Development

I created Mobilizia as a board game a few years ago and it was an 8 month process. A couple years later I decided I wanted to make it into a video game and had previously met a programmer from GameDev. The game was at least 50% built, but the programmer has since stop working and stop responding. The screen shots above reflect the work of the team. Although it is very disappointing to have to start over, a lot was learned during development that will make starting over a lot easier. I'm hoping to find someone who can commit to the end, as the game was shaping out quite well.

Interested?

Contact me at RodCKeller@gmail.com and let me know what you bring to the table and how you'd like to be involved. If we are a good fit for each other, we'll talk on skype and get to work! Thank you for your time.

Team Structure

Rod Keller - Designer, Manager, Promotion

All the functionality of the board game was designed, playtested and tweaked by myself into a fully functional game.

Currently writing for adaptations towards a video game, hiring and promotional content.

Talent Needed

Lead Programmer, Partner -

Able to choose a technology.

Able to hire a crew if needed.

Able to do most/all programming of the game.

Basic server work (1v1 matchmaking).

Commit at least 10 hours a week.

Prefer some amount of previous experience.

Artist

I need someone to improve the art assets for the game and who can advise me on a style. My two preferences at the moment are pixel style or colorful mix of realistic/cartoony that games like Blizzard makes.

We need various things like Icons, Backgrounds, Menus and Creature Units. While animation will be nice for things, we will prioritize that based on available time.

Contact Method

Contact me through my email, RodCKeller@gmail.com.

Previous Work by Team

Rod Keller -

Previously I've created a PnP game (Like Dungeons and Dragons) called Free Point System which allowed for fantastical character design possibilities.

I have designed 2 card sets for M:TG as well as competed in a card design contest which I won.

I've also worked on GameDev before with a team to create a small scope tetris close called Techtris, which was successfully completed.

Target Aim

Retail on Steam - PC

Compensation Plan

First and foremost, I just want to complete a working game as a goal.

If we are able to get traction and release the project for money, I'm offering roughly the following contract:

40% Myself

40% Programming

20% Art

Sound to be purchased hourly.

Costs for the game (server fees, software, marketing) to be taken out of all earnings before anyone else gets paid.

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