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Planes of Aria — Introduction of a NEW design

The "working" title of this game was called "Titans" and I had been working with a Swiss Toy Designer a few years ago. Anyways he deleted the forum we had been working on the design of "Titans" and had gone MIA.

I now got some *NEW ideas* for the game after watching a The Dice Tower video from the game Labyrinth. Yeah I'm not at all impressed with that game but it did introduce a "fantastic" mechanic, namely moving of TILES. That's when I got my inspiration...

I decided that "Planes of Aria" would be a magical realm where the Monks of the Royal House could literally travel between planes to various areas which are interconnected but in a state of constant flux. Their purpose would be to relay information to the various locations during their Journey of Enlightenment where they gather Qi (Chi) from various areas of the Realm.

The game is primarily a Worker Placement Game with Tile Laying and Moving. It also has an element of randomness which is one (1) custom d6 (values 0 to 5) which determine how many cards a player may play from his/her five (5) card hand. Players each have three (3) Monks and must travel from their Gateway to various locations in play to gather Qi (Chi).

At the start of the game, each Player receives six (6) cards from his/her Micro Deck (12 Cards) and must "unlock" the path by traveling the journey between the various locations. To do so, they must visit location in the play area and gather sufficient Qi (Chi) to "unlock" it.

I'm still trying to work out WHAT the "unlocked" locations provide as "abilities" or other "benefits". Not sure about this... Yet. More thought needs to be put into the design to figure out how to complexify the design (Why?) I feel that ATM the design is too simple and could use some more "controversial" play.

Comments

Believe me ...

It's not like I LACK in "imagination" ... It is just because I have to think about the possibility of "screwing" with your opponent or NOT?! The game is about Monks traveling the magical realm... This sounds to me VERY EURO... And not at all about "Take-That". Yet at the same time, it is a competition between which of the two (2) or four (4) Players complete their Journey FIRST!

I get the feel of Tokaido in terms of serenity yet competitiveness. I need some more time for this very *early* design to offer up more ideas...

But I'm sure reading this and the OP, has got some people understanding where I stand with this design... It's *NEW* because I finally found a purpose of MOVING those tiles (even though I had the tiles so long ago...) and I have a companion 52 card deck in which people refresh hands to five (5) cards at the end of each turn.

Like I said, I had the tiles AGES AGO: when I was 16 to be precise. That's over 30+ years ago... But at that time I was young and just thinking about a concept that I had was cool with the custom "Tiles".

BTW that 52 card deck is also *NEW*. It allows players to move around the Planes of Aria from one location to another. That is also something that I got inspiration once I saw the moving mechanic with Labyrinth. Believe me the games are VERY different. But they share one (1) mechanic: tile movement.

Note #1: In the shower, I thought some more about what could be done with the design... And yeah there are some cool things. Like Bonuses which require only ONE (1) Bonus to be applied at any given time... Or other Bonuses you expend in order to activate only once... There are plenty of possibilities.

I'll need to do an AUDIT of all the components and then all the various ideas for "Abilities" and figure out all the mixing-and-matching such that I have an exhaustive list of what is possible. Then I can build the "Abilities" from that list and determine which are "too powerful" and those that serve little purpose. Right now, neither-here-nor-there!

I have just BEGUN with the various components

To see what kind of "Abilities" and/or Bonuses that could occur in the game. Like I said I just STARTED and have dozen or so 1-timers so far. Of course this is all too early. I'm just saying that I am working on it...

However I do think these mechanics "puzzled-together" (because it's not a direct fit or obvious how everything will come together...) could make for an interesting game.

I will keep posting updates as I have news concerning this design. Cheers!

Right now...

I've got 30 different and unique types of "Abilities"... TBH that's NOT enough. Well it could be if the game was one entity or a single game.

But in this case, I want the TILES to be sold separably.

That's the whole business of this game: the TILES!!!

I will consider this first list of 30 "Abilities" a first GO-AT-IT and then let me mind wonder about how to infuse MORE variation into that mix.

Like I said, it's still VERY "Early" with this design/concept!

Note #1: I've gone through 50% and taken the number of "Abilities" to 40 (so +10 out of 15 so far). I will continue to FLESH out more details...

Not yet 100% ... I have more reviewing to do ... BUT

Right now I have 71 unique "Abilities"! Not too bad from 30 to 71... But it's not quite over just yet. I still need to do more "research" and figure out more abilities that could be applicable in the context of "Planes of Aria". Will look into this further and report back to you all. Cheers.

Working on another LAYER...

I've got some kind of IDEA about the interconnected Realms in the "Planes of Aria". It's something like the use of "metallic" inlays in the tiles. The 1st Layer is the Realm Tile Terrain. Next the Qi "Chi" for each Realm Tile. And lastly the "Inlays".

I plan for this to be VERY important. My guess is that there will be about twenty-seven (27) unique "Inlays"... Yeah it's a bit a "random number" but signifies that the design will finally mature. Still not 100%... I just get the impression that the "Inlays" will produce "extra" Abilities.

Still need for this "concept" to simmer and shed new light on the game/concept. Regards!

Update #1: These Inlays need to be of three (3) kinds of metals: Brass, Aluminum and Copper. For the different TYPES of locations in and around Aria.

Update #2: I have re-grouped my Inlay Layer into three (3) separate categories. Here they are:

  • Villages, Castles and Fortresses (Brass)

  • Shrines, Temples and Monasteries (Aluminum)

  • Keeps, Dungeons and Strongholds (Copper)

I know that's only NINE (9). But there will be levels once I figure out the representation of each one of those location in the Realm.

Update #3: Managed to get three (3) different configurations per location which is GREAT. In total there are 27 types of locations... I will get to adding this as a component and start to figure out HOW I can "transform" these additions to being affecting "Abilities".

For now that's enough... Going to call in a night (it's Midnight over here!) Cheers.

Still need to work on the LOCATION layer ... But

I reached out to the other Designer that I worked on the "Titans" project. He totally disappeared!

I know from Facebook, he went to Dubai for Work... And that he hasn't been designing much (in terms of wooden toys and such). I do hope that he checks his "store's" e-mail and responds. Because I sent him an e-mail that did NOT bounce back and I did send him a CONTACT request which also seemed to work.

I guess he's flying solo ... IDK. He was a cool dude and really the first kind of Designer that I have ever been introduced to that "make toys" as a side-business. I literally don't know how we started to work on the "Titans" project, It was like over 4 years ago (I believe).

Let's hope he replies to one of those messages. Would be great to re-connect with my Zurich co-designer for the "Planes of Aria"!

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