Hey everyone!
Got the first drafts of artwork for the board tiles for our next game.
BGDF won't let me upload large images, so I guess I'll just drop links to the BGG gallery.
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3282545/warpgate-evolving-4x-strategy
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3282546/warpgate-evolving-4x-strategy
The tiles will be ~24-28cm each and the board will be combined out of 2-4 (depending on the number of players) of these tiles + the same number of smaller tiles in the corners.
So here's a short list of questions that interest me:
Are planets of both types (larger colored ones and smaller darker ones) distinguishable on the board? (they are probably the most important object on the board).
Is it easy to distinguish different sectors? (bordered with blueish glowing lines)
Do you feel like these should be brighter/darker/thinner etc.?
Are hexes visible? Resources (there are two types, the blue-lined ones are less important)?
Does it look busy? Is it too dark?
Any feedback is highly appreciated!
P.S: Oh! And we finaly got a review from Dicetower on Guards (Spoiler: Sam likes the game). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3GWHr7vDBI
Cheers!
Arty
Comments
It looks great! I don't know
It looks great! I don't know anything about your game, but I would play it just from the look of the map.
The planets are easy to tell apart, and they stick out from the board with a bit of a 3d effect which makes them stand out.
I really like how the sectors get created in different ways based on which tiles are next to each other. The sectors are easy to tell apart, and I wouldn't change the look of the lines at all.
The hexes are visible, but they're hard to see in places. I would make them just a little bit less transparent.
I can easily tell what the blue lined resources are (flag, rocket, beaker, tools), but I don't know what the colored resource icons are supposed to be. They look a bit like blobs.
I don't think it looks too busy. I wouldn't add anything else to the board, but right now, it looks fine.
It's not too dark. The use of color in the tiles is great.
Hope that helps.
Thanks! I`ll post something
Thanks!
I`ll post something about game-play as well as soon as I`ll stop doing changes every other week :))
Updated the tiles.
Updated the tiles.
Sooo... the board art is so
Sooo... the board art is so good that there's nothing to comment, or so bad that there's nothing to comment? :)
Little Hard to Distinguish Between Blue Color Actions
I personally found it a little difficult to tell at a glance the difference in the blue colored icons, for example, fuel & research or build. I was perhaps thinking that each different icon would have a different color or some distinguishing mark to group them together which looks like it is done with the strategic resources (has a circle around them).
Unfortunately, the colored planets seem to dim out the icons somewhat. I would have liked the reversed.
I think the main goal should be for a player at a glance tell quickly what resources a planet offers if colonized or outpost established on.
Just some thoughts.
Yep, I've considered
Yep, I've considered that.
However, unlike outposts (which are linked to randomized commodities), a colonizable planet always produces specific pair of resources(actions), which are also visible on the planet card.
So if I see a Volcanic planet I sort of know which card (and which actions) I`m getting. So having them on the board is an additional reminder.
I was even considering removing those icons altogether and leaving only commodities on the board. So the fact that they aren't that noticeable was sort of planned.
Thanks for the feedback, Edington!
I think ... it's a little BUSY.
You've got a lot going on in that one HEX. But at 24cm in size, I guess it's not too bad. It's the smaller version that is hard to read.
My guess the LARGE version I see on BGG is more acceptable.
But I still feel the board is very busy... Figure that most sectors would have ONE (1) Planet and one "resource" moon.
Also I prefer Asymmetric abilities. Meaning I would give each Player 1 Planet and 1 "resource" moon. But I would make them different - yet complimentary if that is possible... So your Planet can work with the "resource" from your moon.
That's my take on it... We are currently designing Factions for "Tradewars - Homeworld" (it is now possible since we will have a 4 Player Box Format) and we too are working with Asymmetric abilities (Each player has a bonus ability at some point in time - which gives them an advantage in some way...)
Because abilities are asymmetric, they fit the "personality" of each of the Factions!
But still feel the board is a little too busy.
Maybe you could remove all the "Grey" Planets and make the other planets bigger... And allow for two (2) spots on each planet: the planet and its moon. Just an idea... IDK - just trying to see how you can make the board less busy...
However best of luck with this design @Arty.
Update: How about taking the "starting points" OFF this map and add them as connections to the board? Just another thought. Making the sectors less "crammed" might be better too... You could use a "jig saw" puzzle connection.
The hexes are not "versions".
The hexes are not "versions". The larger one is a 3 player setup - it's 6 tiles randomly rotated and combined to form a board. 3 large hexes and 3 diamond-shaped ones.
There are asymmetric player powers in the game, of course (it's a 4X, after all ;). It includes 6 playable races with special powers + special power for each type of ship. Plus, as you grow your empire you are colonizing various planets(which unlock different actions) which further differentiates what each player can do. Controlling commodities allows you to unlock technologies (which come out in random order and are linked to random commodities). Each player can only research technologies he has commodity access for.
Add to this 4 random hidden agendas for each player (all different), I guess there's no problem with variety here :)
Removing planets is not an option since they are used for fleet movement and distances and the number of planets matters.
The board can look intimidating though. I`m considering making the space darker to give more contrast to the planets and remove unnecessary icons.
Compare with another 4X game
Here's another game that is a 4X in which the tiles look way less busy:
But then again, I wouldn't do a 4X Space Game - Tau Ceti was nominated in the best games of 2016... And is a Sci-Fi Space 4X game...
I personally prefer Tau Ceti's more modular approach which has less busy Space!
But that's just me...
Chris, Warpgate is a game
Chris, Warpgate is a game which relies heavily on the Extermination side of 4X, commanding your fleets and outmaneuvering your opponents.
There's 1 ship per player on that board in TauCeti. In Warpgate it's 12 different ships per player.
It uses a specific mechanism to move those ships around the board which requires a certain number of nodes/planets on the board to work, since distances between planets matter and determine how many movement actions you have to spend to move a fleet of ships from planet A to planet B.
It simply can not work with 5 planets like in tau ceti.
What I`m looking here is feedback on the visual side of things (spaces darker, planets brighter or what not).
While I value your input, suggesting to change the board to look like a board in a different game with different mechanisms simply doesn't work like that.
Here's how Warpgate board is built, depending on the number of players:
(It can scale for 5 and 6 as well, but the core game will support 4 at the get go)
Industrial manufacturing feasibility
It's industrial manufacturing is doable.
Spaces and function
The resource icons; are they offset from the planets so you can still see what resource it will provide you when you have a ship occupying that space (and thereby covering it?) How has that played out when you have ships surrounding the planet and thus covering that resource icon?
For the connection borders (The green bordered, the red bordered, and the "lighter" blue bordered regions), I found it hard to see the light blue border against the nebula art.
richdurham wrote:The resource
This is required as you place tokens on top of them when you explore the planet which are different from control markers which you place on the planet itself when you take control over it.
For the connection borders (The green bordered, the red bordered, and the "lighter" blue bordered regions), I found it hard to see the light blue border against the nebula art.
I agree. I think we should make the nebula background cover the entire area. Then it will be clear where the border is.
Thanks!
ElKobold wrote: This is
This is required as you place tokens on top of them when you explore the planet which are different from control markers which you place on the planet itself when you take control over it.
Related question: has placing those tokens on the resource space (when explored), blocked the space from ship tokens? As in, are the spaces big enough to fit ships and the placed resource tokens?
richdurham wrote:Related
Related question: has placing those tokens on the resource space (when explored), blocked the space from ship tokens? As in, are the spaces big enough to fit ships and the placed resource tokens?
Hexes are only used to calculate distances between planets. You don't have to actually place ships in specific hexes.
Since ships are always "orbiting a planet" (you can't end your movement in deep space), there's plenty of space around planets to place them.
Each player has a maximum of 10 ships on the entire board. And it's very unlikely that more than 3-4 are ever going to orbit the same planet.
Small hexes are around 3cm each. Should be enough to place all your ships around any give planet.
I guess I could post a short demo from Tabletopia to illustrate this better.
Never played 4x, but
Never played 4x, but everything looks good to me. Guards of Atlantis looks awesome in that review.
funamite wrote:Never played
Thanks!