A game breeds an idea that breeds a game
On the importance of being inspired and being inspiring
It is rare that I can read through a game without stopping in the middle because it gave me an idea for another game. Let me share a little anecdote.
Last week, I posted a thread on Twitter explaining one of the mechanics of my latest game, Derelict Delvers. The mechanic is called Danger Clocks, and it is what I use instead of Hit Points for enemies.
At the time of this writing, the thread has achieved the unbelievable amount of 97,327 views. Considering this newsletter has only 99 subscribers, I’d assume you might have come across it on your timeline, but you case you didn’t (or if you aren’t on Twitter), here’s a transcript:
I'm having a lot of fun with the way foes' health is represented in Derelict Delvers:
Danger Clocks.
But aren't those just glorified, circular Hit Points?
Not quite. Let me explain.
When you create a Danger (say, a monster), you assign it a Danger die, from d6 to d12.
You create a Danger Clock, marking its die size and giving it a name.
The higher the die, the harder it is to beat it, but the greater the reward (we'll get back to it)
When a character hits the monster, say, for 2 damage, the Spawner (the player responsible for controlling monsters) marks that many hits on the Danger Clock.
The marked numbers are now "Weak Spots" on that enemy.
Then, they immediately roll its Danger Die. If the result is a Weak Spot, the monster is defeated.
That Danger Die becomes a Loot Die of the same size, that you can use to upgrade your powers and rolls.
If it's not a Weak Spot, the combat goes on.
Players keep hitting the monster, and the Spawner keeps marking its weak spots until they reach the die size, or a weak spot is rolled on the Danger Die.
The more you hit it, the higher your chances of taking it down, but you never know for sure.
I like it because it gives this "calculated unpredictability" to combat, which I find fun.
There's always a slight chance of your hitting a "headshot" and taking down the enemy on your first hit, and I think that's beautiful.
I can even imagine the celebration around the table if that happened.
(I design games having particular "moments" like this in mind, and this is one of my favorites)
BTW, this is a variation on the mechanic of "That Dungeon Game with Dragons and Stuff", by my friend Igor Moreno, and available at Soul Muppet Publishing
I definitely recommend you checking it out.
Where it came from
As mentioned above, this comes from another mechanic designed by a fellow Brazilian game designer. The original game is a riff off on traditional fantasy dungeon crawlers, and as such, it uses a d20 roll under system for task resolution. One of the checks reads like this:
BODy is used for life checks: when a character suffers damage of any kind, roll a check with penalty equal to the total hits suffered so far. A failed roll forces a choice: the character can be put out of combat or keep on fighting, albeit wounded. A wounded character will die if they fail another life check.
When I read that the first time, my mind went straight to the idea of weak spots, and how it could visually represent the progress you make towards your goal. The use of a circle was one of the questions raised by commenters on the original thread, which was good, since it helped me understand why I chose to do it this way:
Another recurrent question was regarding how to deal with more powerful foes, and the possible use of larger die sizes, so I had the opportunity to explain the concept of combined Danger Clocks:
All of this came from that single paragraph that I read on the original game, and the fact that I allowed my mind to drift off and daydream hacks, interpretations and modifications. Reading games (or anything else, really) with “game designer mode on” offers you this opportunity, and in this case, it actually shaped how the whole game was developed from then on.
Where it goes next
Reading through the responses on the thread made it very clear, very quickly, that I had just scratched the surface on the potential of this technology. Something cool was happening: People were reading something I created and being inspired to do something else with it. I had the chance to experience, in real time, the opposite perspective from what I felt while reading the original game.
Here are some highlights:
Brandon Leon-Gambetta (Pasión de las Pasiones, RADCrawl) had a bunch of cool ideas, and apparently is incorporating them in a game of his!
Of course I said yes, and I’m thrilled to follow the development in directions that I know I wouldn’t have thought of.
You see, that’s the beauty of this story. And that’s the reason I like to share my ideas online (like here) and release my games under Creative Commons.
I can’t count how many times I have been inspired by something I read somewhere else, and even when the final product that derived from that original inspiration is way different from the source material, it wouldn’t have come to existence otherwise.
So I leave you with this: read other works with an open mind, and share your own work with an open heart. You won’t regret it.
A quick reminder that Derelict Delvers is crowdfunding for only 5 more days, and if you want to support the development of the game, I’d encourage you to check out the campaign and share it with your friends! It really means a lot.