Moving Right Along – A Plumbum Post

Well, there it is. I actually did some work after I started tracking it. Especially Tuesday, the creative juices really flowed. 

My challenge this week seemed to be fully realizing what the basic framework I wanted the game to operate in was. 

I think each turn will begin with an overarching threat, the big box hardware store who has contracted cheap, unlicensed local labor to try to fix our customers’ problems. I played Under Falling Skies this week for the first time, and was inspired by its countdown to doom, a concept I had wanted to implement, but had otherwise been unable to do so. I also want the “overboss” to consistently place its own workers in the way, consistently increasing its presence as the game progresses while at the same time taking other actions based on where they land each turn on the tracker, somewhat like what Skies does. It doesn’t hurt that the Polish game maker has my respect simply for being Polish. I served with their military overseas, and have nothing but respect for their warriors. Anywho…

I want the game to have equally competitive points as well, even though personally, I don’t much like competitions. I know many people do, snd that it is a staple of many games, so I want to provide that experience, especially when it fits so neatly into the theme of competing businesses. In order to accomplish this, I elected to move forward with  a much cleaned up version of my original map, which I’m sure will also see many more iterations. In this map, for now players take turns placing workers they accrue throughout the game on jobs after selecting a region, and flipping over a card (giving job details to that worker) corresponding to that region. The worker then rolls dice to determine if the job is successful, or if they encounter some unforeseen problem requiring additional parts or workers, or even have uncharacteristic success! 

I am debating on having a single draw deck versus multiple ones for each separate region, but that seems like a playtesting path to travel later. The benefit to having separate decks is that, like in real plumbing work, you are ver likely to face different issues in different homes, solely because of the region they are in. Giving one area a lot of high water pressure issues to solve versus another dealing with well pumps and flooding country basements would definitely add a sense of realism (and as a plumber, fun?), but at the cost of board space and setup cognitive load. 

My biggest hurdle I am trying to overcome right now is how to enforce overboss unit placement through some form of AI management. I have asked around and been given several helpful suggestions, and am going to try to test them against my own ideas going forward. 

In addition, I am moving this weekend!

So, here’s hoping I’m all set up by Sunday and can keep cranking away! I hope anyone reading has a great weekend.