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The Manhattan Project

Fri, 02/05/2010 - 17:24 — schmanthony
Prototype v2.0

Welcome to The Manhattan Project, a worker placement efficiency game themed around a race to develop atomic weapons programs.

I will be documenting the development of this design on boardgamegeek here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/63628/the-manhattan-project

But I've come to appreciate BGDF as a unique and generally more enthusiastic community specifically when it comes to open comments, criticims, ideas and debates about fledgling hobby designs. I may shift my attention here if this journal attracts interest.

For now, I'll attach the images and the main paragraph from the BGG article. There are a couple of forums on BGG that I'll leave there for now.

-Schmanthony

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A power struggle at the beginning of an atomic age. A revolutionary new technology. Who will use it to build the deadliest arsenal and become the world's dominant superpower?

Manhattan Project is an efficiency game in which players compete to build and operate the most effective atomic bomb program. Players do not "nuke" each other, but conventional air strikes are allowed against facilities.

The game features 5 distinct types of workers. A player's staff of permanent workers activate when removed from their spaces, while "contractors" activate immediately when they are placed - creating interesting tactical situations.

An espionage action allows a player to activate an opponent's building. This is an abstraction that represents "stealing" the technology.

The first prototypes of Manhattan Project will be tested using the ZunTzu game platform.

Comments

Mon, 03/01/2010 - 14:08 — schmanthony

Physical Prototype

I've been doing a lot of work developing the game in Zun Tzu. Now I've finally turned out the first physical prototype. There is a shot of it on boardgamegeek.

Image shows a 5-player setup at the end of a 3'x5' table. A bit more space would actually be needed for 5 players to accommodate the buildings that players will collect throughout the game. Turning the board 90 degrees and centering it in the table would provide adequate space.

The board is spray mounted to white foam core, the workers to black foam core. Other counters are spray mounted to presentation board. Cubes are spray-painted beads from a Mardi Gras necklace. Cards are 1 piece of card stock and 1 piece plain paper in a mini-euro sleeves (45mm x 68mm). Coins are from Brass.

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 02:47 — Phollower

Interesting

This has some great potential I think. I'm interested in hearing how it's working out. I like the idea of some actions taking effect when you remove its worker and some happening when placing a worker. I don't know much about the actual Manhattan Project but the theme is a good one.

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 15:20 — schmanthony

Thanks!

In addition to the link to the main BGG article, above, here is a link to a discussion on BGG that I'm also using as kind of a sign-up list for Zun Tzu play testing:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/493740/the-manhattan-project

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