Author: Reeziiverse

This Story Based RPG is a wild adventure throughout unknown lands, in which our main protagonist, Osiris, is tasked with finding parts for his crew’s fallen airship, which has found itself crash landed on a plethora of floating islands. Throughout the story, we learn about a race of mechanical beings called the Custodians, who are referred by the townspeople as mecha-men. These mechanical beings have been living underground for centuries, only coming to the surface for maintenance and repairs on the town’s infostructure. For years there has been peace between Mecha-Men and humans; however, ever since the islands split apart from an unknown mysterious reason, the mecha-men have been rising to the surface far more frequently, and far more upset at the humans. However, none of the townspeople truly know why this is, and after listening to their leader, Chancellor Topaz, everyone starts to believe that the mecha-men are just a crazy and violent race of people. After 20 years have passed since the splitting of the islands, tension has gained between the Mecha-Men and the humans; and with the Chancellor still in office, hysteria towards the Mecha-Men has only grown. It is around this time that we find our protagonist stranded on one of the islands from his fallen ship, and when he attempts to find parts, he is also told by townspeople to “take care of” some of the Custodians. After hearing how bad of a race of beings they are, Osiris decides to battle a few Mecha-Men, which inevitably leads him to one of their underground dungeons. Here he discovers the truth. Mecha-Men are suffering now worse than ever, mainly due to the fact that the energy they received from the original island’s core for centuries, is now fragmented into 7 pieces, which in turn makes them weaker. And to make matters worse, we now know that the reason for the core’s splitting, was not a freak occurrence, but rather a deliberate attack taken out on the mecha-men by the Chancellor in an attempt to harness the core’s energy for himself. Now Osiris has a new goal; protect the custodians and fight back against the evil government that has been spreading lies to its people for decades.

After the first playtest, I had to learn how to balance out the difficulty level of the battles, as they were either far too easy or far too hard to win when encountering one. After going into RPG Maker MZ I made tweaks to this aspect of the game’s mechanics, as well as making adjustments on minor details such as character face images which play out for the important characters, as well as adjustments on the map layouts, soundtrack, and dialogue, to make things seem more navigable for the player.

The message I wanted to portray in this game is to never judge others based on another person’s perception of them. We see this heavily in today’s society with politicians spewing lies about entire races of people, labeling them as murderers and rapists, when in reality, life without these said people could make life for everyone else far harder. Overall finding the truth in every situation and having humility for other people, and not judging them before you get to know the entire story is a life lesson that I think everyone should learn.

My next steps with this game is to truly flesh everything out, and have more events such as mini games and especially a boss battle between the crew and the Chancellor. During the final boss battle, I want the chancellor to exhibit his full range of magical powers, as well as morph into a monstrous demon of some sort. Once we defeat the chancellor, Mecha-Men return to their peaceful custodian state of being in which they help out the humans now that the townspeople have learned the truth about the Mecha-Men as a whole, rather than listening to lies spewed by their evil leader.

one of my videos wouldn’t upload but I showed it in class still :/

My modular board game, Invasion, was originally inspired by an experience in class with virtual games that introduced me to the concept of socially aware game design. One of the games that sparked my interests was Factorio, a game centered on resource extraction and automation. While its gameplay mechanics are impressive and engaging, I found myself disagreeing with the underlying narrative: the player’s advancement depends on the destruction of the planet’s native ecosystem, which is portrayed as an endless horde of alien bugs. This depiction not only dehumanizes indigenous resistance but also reinforces a colonial exclusive mindset that doesn’t give the Natives any true chance to win. So, I took it upon myself to introduce a similar concept, only this time with two opposing sides; each with advantages and disadvantages attributed to their culture.

after looking back in my discography, however, I came to realize that I took quite literally no pictures of the prototyped version of this game, that is except for a few aftermath photos of what it looked like after I had torn it up and used it to create the final iteration of the game.

The picture seen here is just half of the base part, which connected the rest of the modular tiles on top of it through a slitted grid of 43 segments for modular tiles, also cut out with that same material, foam board. I guess I was so wrapped up in creating a finalized version of this game, that I didn’t take the time to document the prototype to my wishes. Especially since I was so focused on iterating the game until I had such a clean final product. In the end, my new goal was to make a colonizing/defending/battling simulator civ game like Civilization 6 or Settlers of Catan; However, first I needed to figure out how to refine the game mechanics, as originally when I had built the prototype, the only playability that I had accomplished was movement and action cards. However, this seemingly made the original play tests of the game feel very un-dimensional and flat. Kinda lacking a sorta thrill if you will. So, I decided to hit the white boards in the laser cuter room and begin working on a mapped out description of a battle system.

Overall the battle system added a huge benefit to the game’s final touches, as well as a touch of excitement that I knew the final game needed. A big change that I inevitably ended up incorporating into the final rules was also the un-inclusion of an Event card deck/system, in which originally I had planned on making it so that every time a player rolls a 13, they must draw an event card, which would in turn determine how that round would play out, with advantages and disadvantages towards certain sides throughout the gameplay. Later on, I tried incorporating the concept of drawing an Event Card before every round. However, after completing quite a few play tests at home, I then decided that I didn’t want to junk up the rounds with too many mechanics. So, in turn, for the final set of rules I decided to axe this completely.

Another game iteration that I changed throughout the process of polishing this game into a wonderfully crafted final product, was the look and feel of the board and tile pieces themselves. For every piece, I had originally planned on having a numerical value on each tile correspondent to that said value, as originally I thought this would help aid the player in understanding how to play better, and although when I removed these numbers, the overall class reactions seemed to originally be against that decision, I still fully back my decision to remove the numbers as it not only makes the game look more aesthetically pleasing, but with only 3 numerical values to remember, I thought it was also a fun way to get players to learn and actually comprehend how to play, rather than being told what to do. I also upgraded from a spray painted foam board cut out, to a series of evenly 3D printed clean cut tiles with texture and character to them, which I then painted when completed.

I accomplished this clean finalized look by combining 3D models that I was able to find off of the internet, with an excruted hexagon shape, and meshing the two together in blender before sending it to print as an STL file. Above are some examples of what the 3D models of the physical pieces looked like before they were sent to the printer.

I then decided, I wanted the actual board piece itself to be something a little more crafty than a cut out foam board, so I hit up the wood shop in efforts to create a base that all the modular pieces could live on out of plywood. I also cut this board to be a hexagon, to go with the hex aesthetics of the game.

With a little paint work, I ended up making the overall look of the game beyond what my original expectations for it were, and I couldn’t be more happier with how it turned out. Below is a video describing in depth, step by step detail of how to play the game, Invasion.

Overall, I think that there was a huge difference in what took place at my apartment, vs the play tests that went down at school. Anyone I introduced the game to at home seemed to take more of an interest in the game, as they were not only seeking a thrilling and fun experience, but they were also willing to learn about how to play and have strategy and all that good stuff. Simply with the original rule book that I had for everyone in class, this wasn’t enough. Nobody was receiving the hard core understanding of mechanics and why certain things are the way they are throughout the game. I found many of my classmates questioning the game before taking the time to understand it; which is totally fine. However, for some reason it was night and day in terms of enjoyment of the game itself. My friends at home truly took a liking to what I had created, while in school, it felt almost as though they were looking for things to change, not for the better, but rather for the easier route of not having to memorize complex game mechanics with layers and steps to them.

Finally, I decided that a great way to help my peers understand the game more without it feeling like a bore to them, was to add an in depth visualization/instruction manual to go with the finalized version of the game. Here, I showed not only how certain mechanics worked in the game, but I also laid everything out in a much more visually appealing way than I had the original instruction sheet; as the original instructions were simply words conjoined all over a google doc, which understandably can get dull quickly for certain players who are more visual learners.

Overall, I think this project was a great experience for me in terms of learning how to take a concept and fully flesh it out. I mean everything from minor detailing on the board itself to a visualizer to go with the game as though it was in a box at some game store. I also learned who my target audience for this game was. My one nerdy friend Johnny seemed to like it the most, and he has ran quite a few DnD campaigns before. All around I had fun making this and would recommend that everyone uses the resources provided by the school as without these resources I wouldn’t have been able to complete such an amazing piece of work in such a short amount of time.

sorry for the poor audio // some of it was cut out of this entirely for some reason idk why

from a far it doesnt look like much but when animated this is rlly cool

This is the Lord chancellor, he is 16 X 29 pixels big, and his art style was inspired by Akira Toriyama’s art showcased in Chronotrigger, with a less chibi style look to him, and more focus on the shading, highlights, and color variants.

Rees

1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?

The fact that there wasn’t a clear enough direction with the game

2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?

The fun in this game primarily came from the social aspect of finding out what everyone said about each other

3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?

There wasn’t necessarily any game mechanics besides listen and write, which I can get down with but at the same time I am a sucker for something fun that still makes me think.

4. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?

I would try and give more prompts each round and make it so that players felt like there was more of a structure behind what was being asked, so that it didn’t feel like the moderator was just trying to make us jab at each other’s throats for no end purpose. Again, I’m okay with us jabbing at each others throats as long as there’s still a clear reasoning as to why.

5. What should be improved with the next version

Just more direction really, maybe add some more in depth mechanics. Aesthetic was cool af though.

6. What was the games message

I think the message was to see how “friendly” everyone truly is when we sabotage each other directly for no ulterior motives.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Vk8d6jnuWM_prZlQPjWuGo8ueK84d1TrSZ54-8MABr4/edit?usp=sharing

Here’s the link to everything I’ve been doing lately. I’ve started designing sprite sheets with aseprite, paralax mapping with photoshop, as well as visual programing in RPG Maker MZ.

Can’t wait to show yall

Doctrine is like a set of strategies in military combat, or rules for a medical procedure. Overall, Doctrine is a guideline to help assist people in situations that aren’t necessarily expendable or accessible for beginners in day to day life.

Cognitive Task Analysis is a method used to break down how experts think and make decisions, so that others can learn from them. It is a method typically used to improve performance in these situations, whether that be for the medical field, or for the military.

A “game” that is now a game but was originally was used to train military personel: is Full Spectrum Warrior. This game included Doctrine tactics to exhibit how one should operate in these situations, as well as exhibited strong Cognitive Task Analysis by putting the player in these realistic environments with a lot going on, with high intensity in an environment that is true to real life as well. This game helps soldiers understand the true risk and reward of decision making in these environments.

Just like how soldiers train in simulations, doctors and nurses also train using realistic scenarios as well. Medical Simulations come in a plethera of forms, as there are so many different fields and procedures available for a person to train with. Overall, these simulations act as training for real life or death scenarios and are very efficient; rather than having someone train on an actual person

Each player starts off with one settlement or tribe, as well as 4 Action cards according to their side

For Natives, Claiming a land tile turns that land tile into a tribe. The 7th connected land tile makes a Nation (including the one from the beginning of the game)

For Colonizers, Claiming a land tile turns that land tile into a settlement. Once 3 total connected settlements are achieved (that is, including the one from the beginning of the game), future territories now become villages. If 2 of these connected villages are added to the settlements, the next 2 tiles claimed becomes a town, until the last 2 connected tiles gained becomes a City. In total a City is made up of 7 claimed tiles

An Avatar is earned every time 2 tiles are claimed and connected to the rest of that said developing Nation or City

Land Tiles:

Plains tile- 4

Forest tile- 8

Mountain tile- 10

River Tiles:

Water tile- Uncrossable unless an event or Action card permits it

Movement:

• 1 D6 determines how many tiles one can move
• players can go any direction on the board’s linking tiles

Colonizers:

• Colonizers can move on any terrain, however when crossing native land/Native territories, this give a movement penalty of -1
• If a colonial lands on a tribe tile, this is considered “automatic battle attack mode”
• All land tiles are considered Native territory

Natives:

• Cannot cross or enter colonial settlements
• However, if cornered by colonial settlements, attack mode must be initiated (if won, that tile is now Natively claimed)

Claiming Territories:

• When a player lands on a land tile, 2 D6 must be rolled to equate or surpass the land tile’s value and potentially claim that land
• Retaliation can occur from the opposer, if they roll with 2 D6 equal to or higher than both the distance traveled to the defending opponent’s position as well as the value of the land tile (This is the only form of movement that requires 2 D6) 

Battle System:

• Battle Round:
  • Initiate action card if plausible (one card maximum)
  • Aggressor rolls first
  • Battle Resolution 

• Each player will roll 1 D20 in turn
  • Natural 20 wins automatically
  • Natural 1 is an automatic loss

• Higher roll beats opponent

Forms of Battle:

Form A: Attack mode;

• Can be initiated when one is within 1 tile of opponent’s avatar, or occupied claimed tile if side permits
• Loss of attack = loss of an Avatar
• Success of Attack = Claimed opponent’s Territory

Form B: Retaliation Mode;

• If a retaliation roll beats out the defending opponent’s roll, a battle will initiate for that claim
• Each opponent in turn will roll a D20
• Highest roll wins
• If the defender loses, they must return to the nearest settlement/tribe tile as well as lose their claim of that said territory
• If defender wins, they maintain their claim 
• If the aggressor wins, they instead take the claim
• If the aggressor loses, the territory goes unclaimed

Event Cards:

• At the beginning of each round, an event card will be put into play
• At the end of the round, that Event card is discarded

Event Card Examples:

• Disease: Lose 1 Native Avatar. But If player has only 1 single Avatar, then instead they will lose their turn that round
• Famine: Lose 1 Colonzer, but if player has only 1 single colonizer, then instead they will lose their turn that round
• The Great Storm: Movement Penalty (-2 to all players)
• Awoken Spirit: Movement Bonus (+1 to all Native players)
• War: At the beginning of the round, both players are automatically in attack mode. No further land is gained regardless of the outcome.
• Spy Spawn: Colonials gain one Avatar placed in Native territory. It is up to the Natives before the round starts, whether or not they wish to attack

Action Cards:

Colonial Action Deck:

1. Deforestation: Change a forest tile into a Plains tile
2. TNT: Turn mountain tile into Plains tile
3. Horse and Buggy: Movement Bonus (plus 2)

Native Action Deck:

1. The great seed: Change grass tiles into forest tiles
2. Rock Solid: Prohibit colonials from claiming any mountain tiles for the next 2 turns
3. River Spirit: Allows movement across water tiles exponentially that round
4. Get Outta here – Prohibits the colonizer from entering any Native Territory

ALL PREVIOUS RULES ON AVATARS REFER TO THE BASE AVATARS

ONCE A PLAYER GAINS A CITY OR NATION, ONLY THEN CAN THEY BEGIN RECEIVING THE SPECIALTY AVATARS

SPECIALTY AVATARS ARE EARNED JUST LIKE BASE AVATARS, ONLY IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE GAME

Native Specialty Avatars: 

1. Guardian Avatar: Once a Nation is created, a Guardian Avatar is gifted to that said player to protect that Nation. This Avatar can only move throughout the Nation that they spawn in. they cannot leave their Nation, however, if an opponent wishes to attack any connected claimed land a part of that Nation, the guardians protection reaches throughout the whole Nation and results in a best of 3 D20 battle against the aggressor. If the results end in a loss for the Guardian, the aggressor gets to pick which tile within that entire Nation they wish to claim.
2. The Shaman Avatar – Gained anytime after the Guardian Avatar is put into play, this Avatar can be placed anywhere on remaining Native Land. When first placed, they can invoke a ritual that grants a +2 movement bonus to all Native Avatars as well as a -1 penalty to any Colonial Avatars for that round.
3. The Healer Avatar – Gained anytime after the Guardian Avatar is put into play, This Avatar is the only Native Avatar with the Ability to cross or land on claimed colonizer territory. If a healer goes into Attack mode and wins that battle on colonizer territory, they then turn that claimed land back into Native Land. 

Colonizer Specialty Avatars: 

4. Defender Avatar: Once a City is created, a Defender Avatar is gifted to that said player to protect that City. This Avatar can only move throughout the City that they spawn in. they cannot leave their City, however, if an opponent wishes to attack any connected claimed land a part of that City, the Defender’s reign reaches throughout the whole City and results in a best of 3 D20 battle against the aggressor. If the results end in a loss for the defender, the aggressor gets to pick which tile within that entire City they wish to claim.
5. The Governor Avatar: Gained anytime after the Defender Avatar is put into play. Can move + 2 movement on every roll. However, if a player is killed as this Avatar, that player then loses another Avatar along with it
6. Captain Avatar – Gained anytime after the defender Avatar is put into play. When playing as this Avatar, the player is allowed to reroll their lowest D20 in any battle scenario.

Sequence of a Round:

1. Event card is played
2. Movement roll based on 1 D6 (colonist starts the game)
3. Action card

• Played at player’s discretion
• Draw 4 at start of game
• All cards must be played before replenishment

4. Roll for claim of territory (2 D6)
5. Opposition must retaliate (tile + distance = retaliation)
6. Successful retaliation = battle (retaliation mode)
7. If retaliation is lost, you return to the nearest tribe/settlement tile and you lose your territory claim

Natives and Colonizers

Game Overview Players split into two opposing cultures: Natives (defenders of the land) and Colonizers (conquerors and exploiters of the land). The game board consists of two-sided modular tiles representing different types of land.

To start, the land is all native land, which consists of forests, rivers, mountains, plains, and sacred sites. However, if a colonizer plays a “Deforestation” card, the forest tile they are standing on gets converted to barren land, making the piece easier to capture and industrialise. 

The map can be rearranged each game for variability, making each playthrough unique.

Each side has unique goals:

• Natives: Protect the land, Expand your tribe, and reclaim your land.
• Colonizers: Exploit the land, eliminate native resistance, and build cities/factories.

Board Setup

• Players randomly arrange land tiles to create a unique map.
• Some tiles are special landmarks (sacred sites) that influence gameplay by being harder for the colonizers to take over (must roll double the tile’s amount in order to complete the action of “deforestation” on a sacred site.
• Colonizers start at the board’s edge and expand inward, while natives start scattered across the map.

Game Play

• Players: 2–6 (split into two teams: Natives vs. Colonizers)
• Map: Hex-based board representing a landscape of forests, rivers, and open land. As well as potential extra barren lands after deforestation which make it easier to claim and take over due to barren land’s number being only 2
  • Grassland (15): Takes a roll of 4 to control
  • Forest (15): Takes a roll of 6 to control
  • Mountain (4): Takes a roll of 10 or higher to control.
    • Mountains cannot be converted into settlements
  • Water (6): Costs one additional move to cross and cannot be controlled or converted
  • Barren land: Created by deforestation of grasslands or forests and takes a roll of 2 to control 
• In order for either side to claim their land, through either deforestation (colonizers), or maintaining balance (Natives), one must place their action card and roll the same or higher than the amount on the Hex in order to claim that said land. (ex: if a colonizer wishes to convert a grass field, they must roll a 4 or higher when they place their action card) 
• Objective: Gain control of the map by converting tiles into Settlements, and progressing towards Cities (Colonizers) or reclaiming them as Wilderness (Natives) all the while gaining tribe members until one becomes a Nation.
• Set-Up: Each player receives 21 landscape tiles randomly selected and take turns building the map. The players will also place their initial settlements during this phase. 
• Each player rolls 2 D6s on their turn to determine movement across the modular board.
• Movement rules:
  • Roll a D6 to move freely upon any Hex that is touching.
  • Colonizers: Move efficiently on industrial land. but are -2 movement points in forests, rivers, and cannot cross mountains ever.
  • Natives: Move freely through natural terrain but have -2 movement points on colonized terrain due to stealth restrictions.
  • Crossing water reduces movement by 1

Card Deck System:

A. Event Deck (Global Effects) If any player rolls a 13 in any scenario, draw an event card affecting all players. Examples:

• “The Great Storm” – Movement is halved this turn.
• “Disease Breakout” – Natives lose some of their people (which means Natives cannot roll next round).
• “Spirit Awakening” – Natives gain bonus strength this turn. (plus 4 on their next roll)

B. Native Action Deck Natives draw from a deck with unique abilities reflecting their connection to the land. Examples:

• “Forest Ambush” – Cancel a colonizer’s move and deal damage.
• “Spirit of the River” – Move units across water tiles without penalty.

C. Colonizer Action Deck Colonizers draw from a separate deck with industrial, military, and expansion abilities. Examples:

• “Rapid Expansion” – Place an extra settlement this turn.
• “Deforestation” – Remove a forest tile.
• “Militia Reinforcement” – Strengthen military presence on the board.

Game Pieces

Avatars:

1. Natives

• Scout
  • Main piece of the natives, roll die to determine movement across board
• Warrior
  • Can hold owned tiles, granting them plus 2 in order to capture
• Shaman
  • Can be placed at a religious site or a tribe to add plus 4 to tile

2. Colonizers

• Explorer
  • Similar to scout, this piece moves across the board to capture tiles
• Militia
  • Soldier piece that can hold tiles, granting plus to in order to capture
• Governor
  • Can be placed at Settlements in order to provide additional support, add plus 4 to the tile. 

Strategy & Balance

• Players can hold onto cards and play them at strategic moments.
• Some cards have conditional requirements (e.g., must control a certain number of tiles before using).
• Deck-building mechanics could be introduced, allowing players to customize their playstyle.

Win Conditions

• Natives Win If they maintain enough sacred sites, restore destroyed land, and or create 2 Nations.
• Colonizers Win If they industrialize 14 numbers of tiles, giving them a City