Creating My Own Game and minis Q&A.


  • I have written a few rules on my own on the past and actually ran them at conventions but my latest project has been a doozy.

    For the most part, the game I created is functional but still requires testing still but the hardest part is the after.

    I know all about concept work and the need to hire artists who can draw out what I envisioned and such but it's the after. The ultimate end goal.

    I have been toying with the idea in my head of approaching WGA about my game idea and most of all, create the minis for my game but approach the idea of being something I really haven't seen anyone do.

    I know that the designing process of the die casts is very involved and the minis have to be designed to ease manufacturing and yet still look great as well as how much you can pack into a sprue and how much you can pack into a box. Alright. But what if the idea of the range is too broad to squeeze into a single set? There is always the option of making a second set to couple onto the first but even then, I am sure there are things that the designers would wish they could fit but there is little justification to make a 3rd set.

    My game to be brief had humans as a basic troop but you can swap out X number of humans for others races and the stats reflects this swap. So with the wide array of troops available, that is already a probable 2-3 sets worth of accessories and options just for a squad. Hoping for a platoon but that's about 27 troops without command at 3. So 30 in one set before we go into weapon options, head options, body types, gender types though the armor I envision  pretty much moots that flat out. Still, for a set of 30, say 6 a sprue, 5 sprues total; I am limited to 6 poses. Ok.

    What about the idea of expanding this set with not only option sets but also 3d printable options as well. The poses that can't be in the main set like lying down, crawling or shooting on one knee among other poses that will have to be cut from the process. What do you all think of that?

    I will also elaborate more on my concept of the game too in the future if allowed.



  • Hey that's really cool! A friend of mine and myself have been working on a game ruleset that we wanted to post on Kickstarter in the coming year and we're thinking about approaching WGA and a few other companies about model support too. The game is more mythology based and miniatures agnostic but the Persian and Aztec boxes are totally usable. 

     

    Would your game be sci Fi or fantasy?


  • @Ethan Gilbert 

    To be fair, fantasy BUT it takes place in a modern era setting; borderline near sci-fi but hard sci-fi with a touch of magic here and there.

    I am tempted to approach Osprey with this once I get the TO&E charted out.


  • I've been testing my own game out for the last 5 years or so.  It's almost ready to approach a publisher or I may just publish myself on WargamesVault.  I just ran a successful Kickstarter to make my own miniatures so I've been all the way through the process now of getting minis to production -- that was a 3 year process with a lot of mistakes.  

     

    I highly recommend reading Delta Vector's serries on game design: http://deltavector.blogspot.com/search/label/Game%20Design

    And then join the mailing list and put your game out there to get played and critiqued.  The feedback I've received from that group is amazing.  Be prepared to have all your assumptions challenged -- but that's a good thing!  It will make your game all the better for it.

    There's a post in the archives of the DV group that is specifically about what you need to have when you approach Osprey.  It's by someone who has sold 2 rulesets to Osprey so it's pretty valuable information. :-)

    Cheers and good luck with your game!  When you are ready for feedback, post it out somewhere and we'll give it a try.  

    Best,

    Nicholas


  • Wow. Thanks a lot!


  • @Kein Fisher Another thing you can do is exercise your game design muscles by participating in the One Page Rules Jams that come up twice a year.  The next one is in May.  I've never done one myself, but the results always have some real treasures in them. 


  • Before I do post, is it ok if I post links that leads to my rules and material for my game?


  • @Kein Fisher by all means post your rules (or at least a link to them here)! This community appears to be a great source of potential playtesters, might as well try and get as many as possible to have a read and play with them to see how well they work and provide feedback. I plan to do the same with my expanded rulesets for SPQR and Ravenfeast once I've finished them.

    Does your ruleset have an open points architecture that allows a player to create their own units and calculate the points for them accordingly? If not I would highly recommend it as it will offer boundless potential for fan-made armies and units, all using 'official' points values.


  • @Kein Fisher 

    I hope you'll post your material.

    You are 1.  Not posting anything competing with WGA on the WGA forum.

    2.  You are posting something that would motivate one to buy more minis.

    3.  Considering developing/contracting for custom minis.  Something WGA says they do/can help with on their homepage.

    Seems fine to me.


  • I really need to do something about this. By that, I mean I need to keep up to date on stuff. Here are the links to the latest gaming material but I will update this in a month or two as I am updating rules and charts to make things clearer to understand and to ease gameplay.
    Magic & Tech Dropbox

    Magic & Tech Google


  • Had another playtest today and some changes will have to be made again. Mostly to unit stats but I think the mechanics are there; just need some ironing. Expect V0.14 by months end! I hope. 


  • And it's time! For once, I am way early and with that; here is V0.14 of Magic and Tech. Unit cards have been updated as well as upgrade cards and new ones have even been added. Rules have been tweaked and adjusted with some new ones implemented. Enjoy.
     
     

  • I have here a link to a discord that I just created for discussion and playtest results and such about the game.
    Magic and Tech discord


  • The combat witch is being redesigned but here is an initial concept work of the Naratian Army Combat Witch.


  • @Kein Fisher 

    Great looking concept art.

    Have you seen this?

    https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/opencall_wargames/


  • I have not heard of this. Thanks! If this means more playtesting resources then I be more than happy to forward the idea.

    Meanwhile!

    And here we go! Beta V0.15 is done and now live! This was a lot of work and I found a lot of proxies were not made! So cards have been updated and improved so there is less cards to deal with. It is easier to see who is who now on said cards. Some stats have been changed and wording made easier to understand; I hope. So take a look and enjoy V0.15!
     
     

  • V0.16 is in editing and may remain so until next month as I am updating over a hundred unit entires!  See you then.

    Fall-In 2022. A game of Magic & Tech set up.


  • And here are some pics from Historicon 2022.

     


  • @Kein Fisher great concept, remember a little the anime "Strike Witches", but in Land version.


  • @Alessio De Carolis 

    Nice analogy.


  • It looks like I've been found out but yes, Strike Witches was indeed, a major contributing factor but the real story is so much longer about how this became to be.
    But in the mean time, here are the updated lists of units that are in the first two main factions. I am done all of the Naratian units with maybe 1 final check over and I am a bit over half-way done the Penar lists. Next are the Irregulars/ Militants and then the neutrals/ demon cards. I am looking at another two weeks of work before V0.16 is released.  

     

    Narataian Units 

     

    Penar Units

     


  • Hey, guess what?!?! It's time! Time for the biggest update for Magic & Tech since... since it first started roughly ... many years ago. 6, I think! That's right, Beta V0.16 is now live!
    Google Drive V0.16
    Drop Box V0.16


  • As I gear up 0.17 with streamlined mechanics, I found a sculptor who is willing to take on the combat witches. BUT this leaves me with a headache as I originally intended to see if WGA would be interested in at least creating 3d .stl for print but I think my corespondents were poorly worded. Well, wish me luck as I got lots of homework to do to about the 3d print market.


  • The only pic I managed to take during the games. Well, to be exact; a staged photo. The Apache is new to the proxy roster. See you all during Historicon as I work on getting V0.17 ready soon.


  • It’s up! It’s live! Magic & Tech V0.17 is now live!

    Drop Box Magic and Tech V0.17

    Google Drive Magic and Tech V0.17

     


  • @Kein Fisher Great design & concept art. Like the powered legs - a better version of "The Wrong Trousers".


  • @Kein Fisher Great design & concept art. Like the powered legs - a better version of "The Wrong Trousers".


  • @Paul Mitting 
    You accidentally double posted. Yeah; it's been a journey. Hopefully soon the first 3d prototype will be unveiled before July.


  • @Kein Fisher Sorry. Just showing my enthusiasm for the design!


  • It's happening! The first .stl of the Combat Witch are days away from being done! Here are some WIPs of the renders of the Combat Witch!

     

    There is so much work to do before I make these available in July as I prepare my website hub, Patreon, videos, articles among other stuff so ... yeah.

    https://linktr.ee/magicandtech


  • The Combat Witch looks brilliant, especially with the heavy weapons upgrade. Would be tough to fight indoors though as her head would touch the ceiling!


  • @Kein Fisher beautiful minis, you should add some characters to the group, such as a not-Tanya the Evil or an Emily Blunt -like as in Edge Of Tomorrow.👍


  • @Paul Mitting They are meant for outdoor fighting though I understand the sentiment. They can be used for urban combat but not good at breaching operations. That maybe for the initiates. I do have plans to create scout variants so maybe they can fit into a building. Maybe. 


  • @Alessio De Carolis As anime inspired as the Combat Witches are; I want to stay away from creating characters that have a semblence to other media.


  • @Kein Fisher Still a very cool design. I did something very similar with my 54mm figures, using the bottom half of cheap plastic robots for the legs and torso and using the upper half of a human toy solider to make a hybrid combat walker.

    I was inspired originally by the "boots" worn by the human survivors in Great Sky River, a wonderful novel by Gregory Benford where they use powered legs to help them flee from vicious Mechs who have taken over the planet.


  • @Kein Fisher 

    I missed you renders previously.

    They look great!

    Thanks for posting them here.

    A little feedback on this one:

    In modern gunfighting/weapons handling the buttstock is mounted higher on the shoulder (that's partially why the M4 stock has a deeper toe than the CAR stock) so as to bring the sights up to the eye instead of having to head cocked over to the side.  

    (Strangely the head cocked over at a near 90 to line up with the sights IS common with new/untrained female Soldiers).

    The renders look great anyway.  All the best!

    EDIT:  Nevermind, looking again the heads aren't hyper cocked over and the elbows look good (no chicken wing).  They look great.  


  • Here they are! Previews of the parts! Some of these were duplicates so there will be notes as to how many will need to be printed in a build guide that I am now writing up.
    I am unsure if I am even allowed to post links to a webstore that is not WGA so PM me for such things. If these succeed; I'll approach WGA again into becoming a partner.

  • So much has happened in the past 3 months!
    The minis are being redesigned but te kickstarter is still a go; for May 2024!
    Historicon 2023 has happened and the game will be brought back for Fall-In 2023. So I hope to see you who may be interested there! In the meantime, here are some pics and V0.18 is now live!

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mjra_TQ-7XvGopUK3_6-E2n4Nl8gL7jH/view?usp=share_link

    https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/azfjvqsr3oby0r93iu20w/Magic-and-Tech-V0.18-Packet.zip?
    rlkey=2x3la3imeiw40rkdr3vys19fa&dl=0



  • These are the latest renders of the combat witches as they currently are. The kickstarter planned for May will greatly expand the number of options available to customize your squad or platoon anyway as you see fit.

    The latest .stl previews of the combat witches as they currently are. The kickstarter will expand upon the number of options to make the combat witches.

    It should be noted that the number of parts to create the combat witches has drastically gone down.


  • Here it is! The 2 player quick starter!

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CYRsvc0yafwf7M5YZ5Bv-mq5-bTwKJNN/view?usp=share_link

    https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2i0hpi8uram8wo7m7xzzf/Magic-and-Tech-2-Player-Quick-Start.zip?rlkey=ut0d1dxcrzs2jgwx1cekt54wj&dl=0

    If you are going to attend this year’s Fall-In, come on by and receive a set after the game ends.


  • There was an issue with some of the unit cards and the gatling weapon stats so this have been fixed. There has been no rule change.
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UROIoTdWLnkKSSe0z7p6WorGaiPPPZGd/view?usp=share_link


  • It is 2024 and I have launched my patreon!
    https://www.patreon.com/officer_factory
    With your support, the 3d print of the combat witch will only improve as well as my game and who knows; maybe one day, I'll approach WGA with the proposal of them creating my combat witches in plastic.


  • Combat Witch 3d Render Preview

    It is as the link says; this is a preview of the 3d renders of the comabt witches.


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