Robot Rumble: The Unpluggening - Update

It's been a while, bgdf. I started designing "Robot Ninjas: The Unpluggening" Summer 2015 and it has evolved nicely these past two years. It's a two player, 10-15 minute card game where robots fight to destroy or unplug each other in a series of escalating fight rounds. While not focused on the game's mechanics, this blog article is going to be an extensive look at where the game is now and where I am looking to take it in the future.

Design-wise, I'm very happy with the game right now. I showed it to publishers at GenCon 2016; it was my first GenCon and talking to publishers there taught me a lot about how to better present to publishers and to design with publisher interests in mind.

Main design areas I am working on now are improving the solo game (initially designed December 2016, could be further streamlined) and designing cards for more Robot characters (I currently have five great robots but this roster can always use expansion).

I am happy to say that I have consistently gotten positive responses from strangers and other designers that have tested the game. One noteworthy criticism I have received is that, because each robot has a completely unique deck of 10 cards and card play is simultaneous, predicting your opponent's action can be difficult when you're playing your first game. So far I have been viewing this as an acceptable feature, especially because more seasoned players love the uniqueness of each character. For a while I tried making players' first games mirror matches to avoid the problem, but then the situations where both players reveal the exact same move in mirror matches were frequent, frustrating, and diminishing to the fun of that first game where I want players to be most excited (plus having mirror matches requires having 2 copies of each deck in the game's components list).

So, with a strong foundation in the game's core rules and consistently positive feedback, I would love to get this game on the roll for publication. I did get some feedback that the design may be a bit niche in its current state. By being a two player fighting card game that uses a track, Robot Rumble competes with designs like BattleCon, En Garde, and Flash Duel, and the limited 1-2 player count could be an issue for some publishers. Expanding the player count would be one way to improve on that.

I consider Robot Rumble to be like a more accessible and faster BattleCon/EXCEED with modular board length. So I would like to see it published, but I may need to find a publisher with a greater interest in the fighting board game niche (e.g. Level 99 Games, Sirlin Games) or personally Kickstart Robot Rumble.

Most recently, I have been working on other projects and submitting games to contests with the idea that I will be able to more easily publish Robot Rumble after I get a different game released. In the mean time, I'm looking to bring it to Protospiels or Unpubs and to show it to a publisher with more interest in fighting games (alongside some other fighting game projects) at GenCon 2017, even if just for their feedback on how to potentially make the game stand out more.

January 2018 update: Robot Rumble was enjoyed by players at the PAX Unplugged Unpub area, the card count has been further streamlined for easy manufacturing, and the game now plays 1-4 players, with a fancy new free for all battle royale in continued development. Game now uses 9 card decks.