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One Billion - A dice game spanning one billion years!

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zmobie
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Joined: 11/19/2008

I need to get this out of my head, and get some feedback about a game idea I had last night.

One Billion is a real time dice rolling game that spans one billion years into earths future. You play a series of unfortunate species that develop sentience, and build civilizations on the ruins of those who came before them. Cataclysms will befall your intelligent cockroaches, and all they will leave behind is a buried technological legacy for your next race of robotic velociraptor slaves to discover and try to survive the next solar flare / asteroid / ice age.

The game is played in a series of timed rounds. Players select a race/ability combination (small world!). This gives you the starting dice you need to advance your civilization. You roll your dice to buy cards, to upgrade your dice, to buy more cards. You collect symbols on the die to develop new technologies, have wars with your neighbors, and generally try not to destroy yourselves before the inevitable cataclysm comes along.

Here's the rub though, you are working against the clock. You roll dice like a crazy person, making split second decisions trying to beat the timer as it ticks down to the next alien invasion that wipes earth clean for the next group of unfortunate creatures.

So with 10 rounds at a minute each, then each second represents about 16,670,00 years. Haha, maybe I'll have to call the game one hundred million instead... Either way... here are some of the mechanics I'm thinking about

1. Upgrading dice - You can use symbols on one or more separate die to upgrade to a die with better probabilities and new symbols you didn't have access to before.

2. Branching die - Once you upgrade to one die type, that type may not be able to upgrade to another parallel type in the upgrade tree. You make a decision, and you're locked into one thing.

3. Locking dice - Cards can 'lock' dice. This will give you a static bonus of certain values that can otherwise be found on other die, but maybe the payout isn't as good... The benefit is that these locked dice don't go away during a cataclysm, and your next intelligent race can discover this technology and get those dice more easily.

4. Race/Ability die - If you are familiar with small world, you'll be familiar with where I stole this mechanic from... but it's dice now, so its different, right? haha.

5. Cataclysm symbols - When your tech gets strong enough, you might be able to trigger the cataclysm a little early. All players add die that roll cataclysm symbols to the center. At some breaking point, you don't need to wait for the timer (this is also my backup plan for if the real-time dice rolling thing doesn't work out).

I'm going to try to build a prototype this weekend if I can muster up the time. Do any of you have experience with real time games, or building these types of tech-trees. What are some common pitfalls I could run into? Anyone have cool ideas for more elements to throw into the game?

Parthon
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Joined: 07/08/2013
This sounds totally

This sounds totally fascinating. How do the cards work, and could you replace those cards with more dice?

This game doesn't sound like any other real time game I've played. With real-time there's no oversight as everyone is trying to roll their dice as fast as possible, so cheating might be a problem, or maybe "fudging" the dice.

I think I would like to know more about possible powers and how the upgrades work. Are dice 100% integral to the game?

It sounds awesome though, racing to upgrade your particular species with powers, then go extinct and hope to pass them on to the next group of species.

zmobie
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Joined: 11/19/2008
Thanks for your encouraging

Thanks for your encouraging words! I definitely can't wait to dig in and figure out how this game is going to work.

As for the specific questions about mechanics you have, I'm not quite sure how some of those things are going to work just yet. I generally try not to pin it down until I'm sitting in front of some prototyping supplies and I can play around with components to get a feel for how it goes.

I really want it to have a press you luck type element, where you can lock dice in early to avoid catastrophe, but if you go for the next level of tech, there are higher layoffs.

In regards to cheating or fudging dice, I know that could be an issue so I might try and make it more of a coop or solo game, so if you cheat you're not doing yourself any favors. I'll post an update here as soon as I get a play test in!

NeoGenesisX
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Joined: 09/09/2013
On the topic of fudging...

I don't think you should worry too much about fudging results. You can take a leaf of out Days of Wonder's Shadows Over Camelot. If you haven't played the game, what happens is when you play the game, as you play cards from the decks, they are played facedown (with only a few that have the option of being played faceup). As a result, it's very easy to lie about what the card is (though there are some cards that you are suppose to fudge if you are the traitor) since the majority of the cards are played without revealing what they are to other players and then sent to the discard pile facedown. Days of Wonders made a mention in their rulebook about the potential cheating and for people to not do it in the spirit of the game. I never had a problem after playing almost a hundred games with a variety of people (well, maybe I haven't caught a cheater yet... lol). When I teach the games, the most asked question is obviously, isn't that just asking for cheating? And how I would answer is simply, "Yes, it's very possible to cheat in this game, but I would like to think that all of you are beyond something so petty."

TL:DR, don't worry about the fudging part.

Kroz1776
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Joined: 10/09/2013
Escape

Another good die rolling game that is in real-time is Escape. It is a quick 10 minute game where everyone is rolling dice to try and escape from the temple. Real simple rules, quick and easy to learn. Play it to help you understand the chaos that happens in Real-time die rolling games.

zmobie
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Joined: 11/19/2008
I've watched some videos

I've watched some videos about Escape and I can't wait to try it. This game came to me after demoing Space Cadets: Dice Duels at Gencon, another real time dice rolling game. In that game, players take on the role of a starship crew. Two teams go head to head and duke it out across a swath of the galaxy.

The key component in that game that I found to be quite clever was that you can't roll any dice unless the engineer gives you power. He can only give you power if he rolls a number that corresponds to your station. Weapons stations are a 2, for example. If he wants you to start rolling a die, he has to pass a 2 to you. Once you have one of the power dice, you can roll one die until you 'lock in' a result. Once you lock one in, you give the power back and he keeps rolling.

That game is insane fun, and I started thinking about other games that could benefit from this kind of time-constrained dice roll-a-thon. The first thing that popped into my head was to make a dungeon crawling RPG type thing. Imagine a warrior, taking damage with every die roll of the DM, hollering orders at the cleric who is trying desperately to roll magic symbols for a heal. Meanwhile the wizard is gathering power for a major blast.

While that would be fun, how do you roll play while everyone is screaming about dice? Whatever you do with this mechanic, it almost has to be a party game. So back to the drawing board. Then I watched a video introducing Monte Cook's Numenera RPG. The concept there is that you are on Earth, and there have been 8 advanced civilizations in the past billion or so years who have all risen and fallen, and they all left behind remnants of their civilization behind. I instantly glommed onto that idea, mixed it up with a little Roll Through the Ages, 7 Wonders, and Small World and viola! One Billion is born.

I'm working on two other designs right now, but this one has been on my mind the most lately. I'll keep you all posted!

Kroz1776
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Joined: 10/09/2013
Keep it Simple. (^-^)

This sounds like an awesome idea. I'd just stress to keep it simple, especially since it is a real time game. In escape, one of the expansions adds curses and treasures. In a real time game, even this little addition adds some stress as people are trying to remember which curse does what. Keep the upgrades and such simple so that as people are rolling, they don't have to refer to the rules all the time.

If you do want it more complicated though, I'd think about going the route you mentioned with the cataclysm rolls determining the end of the round. Personally I think it's a brilliant idea for a second way for the round to end.

I have a question though for you. Does your game include a die building mechanic? Or is it more like you trade in a worse die for a better one?

Oh yes, about escape! I've found the game to be a tad easy, so I always add 2-3 extra gems to the gem pool to make it more interesting. Cheers!

GuruForge
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Joined: 10/07/2013
stopping points

Excellent! I loved the theme that I saw in Escape, but I ultimately ruled it out as a possible purchase because there was no natural pause/stopping points! I understand that is what a "real-time" game is supposed to be, but I think one could stretch it in order to include chances for people to catch their breaths (or their children as is the case at our gaming groups). So I personally cannot stress how much I like that you are making your game to have 1 minute rounds! Not only that, but your theme sounds awesome!
I do have to agree with another poster tho and say that right now, it sounds (just from reading is all) that it could use some simplification. Keep in mind also that cards take time to read, comprehend, and utilize. And that could work significantly against you in a real time game... Keep us updated!

Kroz1776
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Joined: 10/09/2013
House Rules to the Rescue

One way you can "pause" escape is to play it until the door closes, pause the soundtrack, back it up a bit and rest. Then when you're ready to go, you can start up the music and wait till the door closes again to start the game back up again. Escape even comes with an egg timer in case you don't have the sound track.

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