Alien Cow Rampage: Orion Needs Your Milk! (MAGS JUNE 2014)

[cat]

Played it twice last evening, always dying

I don't quite understand how the calculations are done on how much I have to roll to loot. The trash cans seemed impossible for me.

[Ghost]

Played it twice last evening, always dying

I don't quite understand how the calculations are done on how much I have to roll to loot. The trash cans seemed impossible for me.

Thanks for playing, cat- the game is intentionally hard but you'll get a feeling for it quickly.

Each card that tests your skills in some way has a description on the card text itself; the manual included in the download also states the formula.

The trash cans allow you to loot 2D6 (2 six-sided dice) of scraps, and the base difficulty is 10 minus your agility. You need to roll equal or higher than base diff. + reward with 2 dice- this is true for all skill tests, and only the skill that is tested changes.

Let's say you rolled a 5 for your reward and have an agility of 6, then you would have:
10 + 5 - 6 = 9
and would get the reward at a roll of 9 or higher on 2D6.

Hope that helps you out

Sometimes a certain Invader class will have a hard time getting anything from a loot card- since almost all classes focus on a certain attribute, there is one type of location almost tailor-made for that class, while the others have it harder. Where the Trooper can easily get scraps from a parked car, which tests strength, the Scout is probably less lucky there, since she has the lowest strength.

[cat]

Let's say you rolled a 5 for your reward and have an agility of 6, then you would have:
10 + 5 - 6 = 9
and would get the reward at a roll of 9 or higher on 2D6.

What I don't understand is where the 5 comes from...

[Ghost]

What I don't understand is where the 5 comes from...

Ah, okay- that is the reward- the amount of scraps that was rolled and that you will get from that card. You don't see that roll, which *is* a bit inconsistent. But it's what you'll get, and the higher the reward the "harder" the test.

[cat]

Ah, ok, got it. In an enhanced version you could probably show the dice roll so the player understands what is happening.

[Ghost]

That is a good idea; the whole interface could use some streamlining. I'll get there for sure

Just keep in mind that you don't need to loot every location you can and there's a "good location" for the specialists:

Spoiler

Cadet = roughly equally, slightly below average chance, everywhere
Scout = Quiet House, tests AGIlity
Trooper = Parked Car, tests STRength
Mechanic = Trashcans, tests INTelligence

[close]

[cat]

Oh no, such a good character and then the time ran out

Is is actually possible to get two dice in the fight?

Also for the start: It might be nicer to choose the class first and then power it up with the dice.

[Ghost]

Is is actually possible to get two dice in the fight?

I had that in for a while* but it made the fights extremely unbalanced- so right now, no, you always use one die and power up by crafting weapon bits.

Also for the start: It might be nicer to choose the class first and then power it up with the dice.

Nice idea, noted down!

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* And with several attempts too- there was a gadget that gave you two dice for one fight, there was one weapon upgrade that added the extra die, and there was the idea that a "max value" (strength or agility 12) would give the extra die to melee or ranged combat. Since I had very little time to balance things, none of these made it into the "prototype" that is v1.0.1.

[cat]

I did it! I won the game with the cadet! However, it would be nice to get a more positive end screen - now it looks like the lost screen, also with the music. Could you maybe make another cartoon of the alien entering the mothership for example?

(I hope I don't annoy you with all my suggestions. If you prefer I can also PM you instead of spamming this thread)

[Ghost]

Not annoying at all, I need that feedback! And it's nice to see a Cadet win

Individual game overs were another thing I cut because of timing issues- so yes, there will be nicer screens later. I also have some two unused pieces of music from Jason that will then be put to use.

For now I am collecting everything ANYONE reports/suggests. As long as no game crashers are found I'd prefer to get as much feedback as possible before a new version is released, so keep it coming.

[Rocco]

Did a first run now and really enjoyed it very much.
The overall game design is absolutely brilliant, i love it.
I had an bad ass tropper with i guess 12 strength and 9 defense so fighting was very easy.
But then i found my master in a barbed wire get caught and time was running out, cause i wasn't able to roll the required dice for so many tries, what was a bit frustrating, but so it is with dicegames.

What was your inspiration for this game design?
I can imagine, a film noir private investigation game could also fit very well with this approach.

[Ghost]

Thanks for playing, Rocco!

My main inspiration came from an old Games Workshop board game called "Chainsaw Warrior"- often called "the first non PC first person shooter". It also uses cards to simulate a randomized location (a wrecked town) and it has player stats based on dice rolls. It's almost entirely combat-based though. I also borrowed a bit from the Munchkin games with the classes and the weapon/armour upgrades. Both games are well worth owning, btw- Chainsaw Warrior has aged nicely and is a lot of fun even today (there is a PC version and also an App), and Munchkin is the ultimate party game. If your party has at least two people who know a bit about either role playing, kung fu, space marines, eldritch abominations, vampires, or robin hood

Using the ruleset for a PI game sounds interesting- even more if there were several detectives hunting for clues and tricking each other on the way! MAKE THAT HAPPEN PLEASE!

[Rocco]

Thanks for your detailed explanation, I will look into it.

Using the ruleset for a PI game sounds interesting- even more if there were several detectives hunting for clues and tricking each other on the way! MAKE THAT HAPPEN PLEASE!

You mean Multiplayer ???
Sounds a bit like Spy vs. Spy, lets see....

[cat]

Hm, I cannot win with the Trooper. I alway die in fights although I have additional weapons and armour and set the highest dice to strength and life

[Ghost]

Hm, I cannot win with the Trooper. I alway die in fights although I have additional weapons and armour and set the highest dice to strength and life

While I can't stress enough that due to the system you WILL always have games where you lose I agree that there is something off. That was to be expected, since this is a first "prototype" but I think there's a need for more than just balance.

It's becoming obvious that there are several issues with the classes- not just the Trooper. I have won the game with him and I've learned that he's most player's first choice but he does not exactly play as you would expect from his description. He is not broken (otherwise there would be no wins) and he is not exactly underpowered, it's just that the rules and mechanics as they are now don't really support a "fighting style".

One factor is that each class is pretty much only as effective as the items they get. The Trooper merely has the most slots for weapon/armour bits, but if you are unlucky and draw bad stuff from the stockpile, you won't get much out of them.

Another thing is that the attributes don't factor very high. Strength doesn't give you that much of a boost in melee. Vitality is much more useful because Life allows you to last longer, but that's about it.

In the end the Trooper becomes a one-trick pony with a trick that doesn't help much. His true strength is, ironically, that he can be very fast. In the second deck he has a much better chance at skipping cow cards and in the last deck he is potentially faster than any other class, but that's not the point of playing a "fighter"- with a fighter you want to be good at fighting, not at running.

I'm very much in two minds how to resolve this issue. I see two solutions:
a) rebalancing all classes and game variables until the Trooper "feels right" and has a better chance at winning a game.
b) rewriting the rules to make for a simpler but more transparent and "gut feeling" game

I'll see what I can come up with

Again, thanks for all feedback!

[Mandle]

Grrrr...Finally got my all 5's and 6's character...Went Mechanic...No disguise or flashbomb...Met the neighborhood watch guy on first card...Died in 3 rounds...

Apart from that: Brilliant game Ghost!!! Has had me entertained all day!!!

With the tweaks mentioned above this could seriously go world-wide viral...

Oh, and here's my quote for the box cover if you deem fit:

More addictive than "Flappy Angry Birds With Friends"!!!

EDIT: Finally beat the game on about my 30th try...Cadet, and made it through with 5 mins to spare

Record scraps carried at one time (to date): 50
Record number of rolls needed to abduct a single cow: 20

Ghost, please add some achievements:

UnMOOvable Object: It took you 20 or more tries to abduct a single cow.
Just Leftover Scraps: 50 or more scraps carried at a single time.

(or somesuch)

[Ghost]

Met the neighborhood watch guy on first card...Died in 3 rounds...

As I type this the game is getting a "house rule" screen that allows to "tweak" the rules a bit. I remain adamant that a boardgame that you just play for the sake of it should have some challenge, but that's MY opinion and why should I scare away someone who wants a more casual approach? I'll include a "safe ride" option that makes sure that no deck ever starts with a fight; that should already declaw the game a little

Ghost, please add some achievements:
UnMOOvable Object: It took you 20 or more tries to abduct a single cow.
Just Leftover Scraps: 50 or more scraps carried at a single time.
(or somesuch)

That is a very cool idea, thank you, Mandle! I would have gone for a "score system" (leftover time etc) but achievements sound much more entertaining! I'll see to get them in, great suggestion

[Mandle]

Cheers mate! I've downloaded ACRONYM onto the classroom computer at my school and have been playing it in game-time with some of my more advanced English-speaking kids.

They all seem to choose the Cadet. I guess he is the most kid-friendly-looking character?

It's been a big hit with Japanese kids! They all laugh when they see the "First Contact" Cadet in his "smarmy/charming" pose.

Without exception, when I ask them "Do you want to play it again next time?" they have all said "Yes! Yes!"...

(Next time I'll make them play the Trooper. They're gonna love the expression on the cow's face...)

[Ghost]

That's just plain awesome, Mandle! Thanks a lot for sharing this, and say hi to your class from me!

For me the Cadet is the face of the game. I drew the Scout first (she's also the only Invader who has a canonical name) but as soon as I realized that there would be classes with differently balanced stats, the Cadet became my "Mario" character- I used him as the "default" for the overall game balance and all other classes are based on him in that respect.
I imagined him as a fun-loving guy who just is really good with people, so making him able to "charm out" of a fight was sort of a given. I think the very simple design of the characters just makes him easy on the eyes so that might count as "kid friendly*"

It's great to hear kids like the game. That's quite probably the greatest compliment a game-maker can get.

__
edit
I don't know if you're familiar with "Happy Days", but there's a bit of the Fonz on that Cadet

[Mandle]

I don't know if you're familiar with "Happy Days", but there's a bit of the Fonz on that Cadet

Then I guess that makes the mechanic Pinky Tuscadero?