Brass Engine Games Podcast: Recent Episodes
Ben Watkins
Witness the natural evolution of board and card game design as Ben, David, and Mario figure out indie publishing. ben@brassengine.studio
In the original steampunk version, Crew for Hire, players could choose from particular actions in a turn to try and get ahead. In this episode, we discuss how these actions translate to PURE, the Cyberpunk board game.
What if the AI in PURE Cyberpunk game could win? What if the other players had to play against each other AND the game? We explore options to give 13 Spiders gang, the game's AI, the ability to earn victory points (and maybe even win).
The 13 Spiders gang represents PURE Cyberpunk game's AI. The game can punish the players for offending the most powerful gang in their part of the city. Too many offenses, that we call 'Marks', and you might lose some victory points.
After figuring out what to do with Influence and Tech, the conversation continues as we flesh out at least two ways to gain points for each skill in the game.
You win PURE by acquiring victory points (name tbd). To make the game feel strategic, we look to the skills of the game to come up with ways for players to attain points....and maybe even the game's AI can get points too.
In the previous version of the game, locations on the map were associated with specific factions (what jobs you could acquire). In PURE, an idea was proposed to make factions and locations another way to earn victory points. This ties into the story of our cyberpunk game, a turf war following a power vacuum.
In the original Crew for Hire mechanics, players picked up Job cards (like missions) which gave them tasks to earn victory points. Ben has a new idea for PURE that could help reduce the amount of game components and make victory point acquisition more strategy based, and less based on chance. Join us as we continue the discussion of developing PURE - The Cyberpunk Adventure Board Game
How uncomfortable can Mario and David make Ben by mentioning spiders? And how much more uncomfortable does it get when they keep talking about spiders? In this episode, we establish the AI of the cyberpunk game, that plays against the players.
"Crew for Hire" just didn't hold the same meaning for the game after the mechanics of the original were themed to cyberpunk. In this episode, the guys figure out what name the game needs to have moving forward.
In the previous version of our game, called Crew for Hire, the players employed three different skills to accomplish tasks. In this episode, we discuss how the original steampunk skills might translate into a cyberpunk theme.
Working out a symbol for each faction is a careful process of planning and execution. Or maybe we just google it. Find out where our heads are at when it comes to representing the Monocron, Bionetics, and Dregs!
The next Cyberpunk player faction is the outcasts of society. These characters are inspired by Nomads, and the Mad Max universe. They control the gates between the city and the wasteland, and are considered very mechanically minded. Watch till the end to find out the name we give this faction!
Continuing the conversation from the last episode, we dive into the faction representing mercenaries. Heavy body modification and combat oriented, this faction is inspired by Edgerunners. Watch till the end to see what name we figure out for this player faction!
Mario joins us again as we delve deep into the aesthetic of each faction. First up, the Corporate faction. They are a weird blend of Agent smith, Tron: Legacy, Equilibrium, and even Deus Ex. Mario even helps us decide on a name for them!
To help conceptualize the cyberpunk look and feel, Ben and David bring in Mario, the Artisan Rogue to talk style. Mario provided expansion art for Thief's Hoard, and was the original artist for the steampunk version of Crew for Hire.
The old steampunk version of our game Crew for Hire had player factions to determine starting points and what kinds of jobs they could pick up. David and Ben discuss how to translate the idea of player factions to cyberpunk.
Translating the steampunk theme elements to cyberpunk should be easy, right? First thing that David and Ben dive into is potential issues with the map.
Ben and David explore the various cyberpunk game Kickstarter campaigns that were successful in the last few years. Hopefully we gain some insight into what made these games successful, and what we can do to make sure we are up to the task.
Crew for Hire was the next game that Brass Engine intended to fund on Kickstarter and publish. However, the theme of the game has come into question after Ben found out that steampunk is on the decline.