Years ago, when my oldest took a class in game design, I helped him with his final project. Specifically, the project was a board game that needed to demonstrate the essentials of theme, mechanics, and playability. We decided early on that we wanted a cyberpunk-themed game, complete with mohawks, cybernetic implants, and ninjas (of course).
Our style of game would be a combination of action/adventure and exploration. The way you would win would be in the vein of victory rush games that rely on completing challenges and meeting objectives in this dark, futuristic, and often sarcastic world.
(One note, I’ve put some cyberpunk artwork throughout this post. This art is part of my general mood board, but they are not official concept art for my game. They are just a way to show you something of what I’m going for visually. I’ve noted the artist where possible.)
We were able to put together the very basics of just such a game, though it wasn’t enough to fully play. We had a lot of fun with the development, though. In the process of putting it together, it occurred to us that we had hit onto something with it. I started developing it further (even after he got an A+ on the project), seeking to create a fully playable game.
Then the pandemic hit. While I did do some development and limited playtesting of it in fits and starts during that time, getting people together to play it became problematic for obvious reasons. Little by little, I was getting the game to a state where others might enjoy it. I’m happy to say that in the last two weeks, we’ve moved a few dozen parsecs toward that goal.
https://www.artstation.com/donglu
Last week, I traveled up to Waterloo in Iowa to visit a group of friends who are some of the biggest board game fans I’ve ever encountered. Among them is my friend R.J. The two of us used to work together many years ago at Score Entertainment. If you ever ripped open a booster pack of the Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Yu-Yu Hakusho, or InuYasha collectible card games back in the day, that’s the company I’m talking about.
R.J. and I sat for several hours during this trip going over the instruction manual I’d put together line by line, tweaking and refining the language for clarity and playability. Then we put the game to the test, seeing how it would hold up. The two of us played multiple two-player games in which R.J. won every single one. In fact, of all the games I played during that week, I didn’t win a single one of them! One was close, however, so close that it came down to a single die roll, and the deciding roll was failed by only a single pip. (I needed a three or better on a D6, and rolled a two.) So close!
While this track record might normally be cause for concern — in that the folks in Iowa were better at the game I created than I was — it just reinforced that I had come to the right place to put this game through its paces. It also meant that the gamers in residence were picking it up fast enough they could immediately get up to speed and start knocking it out of the park.
There were some really tense and cinematic moments. One in particular involved a hacker, a cyborg, a ton of security turrets, the game equivalent of a nasty UNO Reverse card, and the timeliest of timely sixes showing up on a D6 roll. This is what I had been hoping to see — people enjoying the game I created, and let me tell you there’s almost nothing like it.
This was the eponymous Battle of Waterloo, and it was glorious. This battle was not one of cannon and soldiers but mechanics and user experience. Far from a historic defeat, I came away with pages of notes and tweaks for the next iteration of the game. While I still need to address a few things and give some playable characters a much-needed shot in the arm to balance things out, this trip told me that I was actually closer to a releasable game than I could have hoped. I’d say we are approximately 80% of the way there at present.
With all that in mind, I plan to start putting things in order to run a crowdfunding campaign, likely on Kickstarter, for this game next year. It will be the first board game under the Sector M Games banner. There are many things that might affect this timeline, but I will start seeking estimates on what it would take to get this game off the ground and into the hands of players who might want it.
https://www.artstation.com/remzorr
I also plan on doing a periodic developer’s diary on my Patreon in the lead-up to the crowdfunding effort, as well as some reveals (including the name and other good stuff), so if you would like to check that out, give it a look. My Patreon can be found at:
In the meantime, I have a ton of notes to go through and calibrations to make. I would like to give a personal and heartfelt thank you to those who were a part of the Battle of Waterloo. They are: R.J., Caroline, Justin, Mophat, Andrew, Holly, Britt, and Ace. Additionally, I’d like to thank the Dallas-based playtesters that helped get me this far. They include: Travis, Dave, James and Rob. All of you are getting special shoutouts in the acknowledgements section when this game comes out.
Definitely watch this space as more information becomes available. In the meantime, I’ve put together a 1-hour playlist on YouTube for your cyberpunk listening pleasure. Give it a listen! And if you have suggestions for what else should go on it, send recommendations my way.
As I said before, the Battle of Waterloo, or at least my version of it, was a success in my book. And unlike Napoleon, my Waterloo is not an end but a beginning. I can’t wait to show you all what I’ve been working on!
Thanks for reading!
The Sector M 