Polishing the Game

Things have been pretty interesting over the last few weeks. As we neared completion, Matt had some great ideas on how to smooth out the game and make the play experience more elegant. We have a pretty hefty deadline hanging over our heads, so everyone pulled together over the last couple weeks to give Monsterpocalypse that extra polish. We have had a fair number of late nights playtesting and grooming the rules, as well as the figures’ individual abilities. Further, we‘re working on the rarity levels to make sure the figures aren’t difficult to collect.

One of the formats we have given a lot of attention to lately is the (cue dramatic music) Double Threat Format! This puts two of your monsters on the map against your opponent’s two monsters and increases the destructive capability of the game. We have created a few Power Attacks for use only in these games, and the Power Attacks we have now work great in concert with one another if you plan your movement correctly. It is quite the experience, and with a little more playtesting, we will have all of the bugs hammered out for you guys by the time the rulebook goes to press.

I have worked on a fair number of product launches in my time. A strange thing happens in the design cycle. You start off with a whole slew of ideas to feast on. You choose what you like best and run with it. That middle time while playtesting is actually the most relaxed time during the whole process: your wife sees you on a regular basis, you eat your fruits and vegetables, and the game seems to play rather well. As the deadline encroaches, your anxiety rises. As your anxiety rises, you start thinking about the game more and more. The time you spend watching “How its Made” and “Dirty Jobs” during the weekend, gets interrupted with thoughts about the game. Little things become more clear. Things you did not think of as problems become niggling issues you have to deal with. Its like a word problem on the SAT that you are not sure if you got right or wrong. You keep running over what you know about the word problem, desperately trying to validate your conclusion. Then the issues that, due to denial or procrastination, you put off addressing until the end suddenly reappear. Somewhere during this mind twisting madness you find something that you do not like and want to change; and that leads to another change and that leads to another change. All the time, that deadline is headed at you like a rampaging Terrasaur bent on stomping you into oblivion! So you do some extra hours, you playtest a little more, and you rally the people around you to get the job done. This is what separates the wheat from the chaff.

Basically, we are at the point in the design where your wife forgets your face, your mind stays constantly wrapped around the game, and the anxiety of whether people will like it or not haunts you constantly. Pizza becomes the cornerstone of your diet, and you cannot follow a simple TV show for lack of attention. In the end, all this stress leads to a better game, so it is worth it. You have to be choosy about what you address and what you do not address, but if you keep an objective mind and listen to your co-workers, you find the right path. I have been a part of it before and will probably be a part of it again in the future. It’s part of the process of making a good game great!

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Actions Speak Louder than Words!

This is one of those posts that will be about the kaiju genre as a whole rather than just about Monsterpocalypse™.

In my quest to find more critical information about the kaiju genre, I have noticed that many fans of the genre claim that most Americans write off kaiju movies as campy. These fans blame the poorly dubbed voice acting for this problem. This leads many purists to prefer the original subtitled versions of the movies. I have a mess of Toho™ movies with both the original subtitled version and the dubbed versions of the film, which is obviously Toho’s response to this demand from their customer base.

Back in college, I took a class called “Film as Literature” for two reasons. First off, I thought it would be easy – I was wrong. Secondly, it would provide me with plenty of ammunition I could use when critically discussing movies with my friends. That sort of worked out for a while, until they all realized I was still full of the same bull-pucky. The class taught me to channel my viewing into watching all parts of the screen. When I watch a movie, I try to look at the color pallet being used, the “mise en scene” (which refers to the blocking and framing of a scene), or simple things like what direction objects are moving (since English reads left to right, an object moving right to left is suppose to draw certain assumptions from the viewer different than objects moving left to right). In my opinion, dubbing allows the viewer to keep their eyes moving all over the screen and enjoy what the cinematographer and the director have put up there, but there is a flip side to that coin.

During my college career, I also came to appreciate the talent and art that is literary translation. Translators have to make many judgment calls since every word can often translate into many different words. Scansion, inflection, and tone must all be considered. With a movie, the timing of the text becomes important, as some lines may need to travel on and off camera faster or slower than others. With subtitled movies you get to hear the actual actor’s voice, and while you may not understand the language, you can draw conclusions about an actor’s attitude and delivery that may more clearly drive the script home. Thus, subtitling may let you experience something closer to what the director intended.

But then I ask myself, with kaiju, do those things really matter? I think the answer is no! When fists start flying and you get down to the action, that is all that matters. Even the movies with a sub-par script and bad acting can be enjoyable once you get to the monster-on-monster combat. There is a lot to be said for the original Godzilla®. The film grew out of post atomic fears and techno-shame, and I can appreciate that despite “the big G” not having any other monsters to tangle with. I can also enjoy a film like All Monsters Attack, which was definitely made for a younger audience and spliced together using monster combat from older films. I actually enjoy the convenient package that this film offers. In something like 100 minutes, I am treated to a “best-of” cast from all of the Toho films. Ultimately, I want to see Godzilla take the head off of Mechagodzilla® (who is my favorite Godzilla opponent at the moment) and watch Mechagodzilla still bring the pain wrapped up in a big blue box with a lovely bow on top.

One of the great things about kaiju is the anticipation of the monsters finally colliding. You know why you are watching the movie: You want to see big monsters slug it out! Every story has to have its own plot, however, so you sit back and enjoy a story about alien invaders, mad scientist, and the like. All the while in the back of your head you hear a younger version of yourself crying out, “When are they getting to the monsters?” You try and be cool. You want to be mature. Watch the whole movie. Appreciate what the director has to offer. Deep down, though, you just want to get to the monsters. You have the remote in hand. With no one else around you might just jump ahead. Finally, the monsters come. Destruction ensues, and leaves you fulfilled and satisfied, your destruction quotient filled while you wait for then next monster battle to roll around.

That is one of the great things about games. You interact with the best part of any story, the moments of conflict. After that, you wrap it up and start a new game. Monsterpocalypse will be offered in a variety of different languages. So, I guess we choose to subtitle our game – but when I play, I see my guys speaking Japanese but only hear the dubbed English (all in my head of course)!

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Hyper: Mega vs. Ultra!

We will run a promotion soon where people can acquire a promotional hyper form of one of the monsters from Monsterpocalypse™, and we had a small discussion about how to refer to this figure. I realized that we haven’t told the public anything regarding the hyper and alpha forms of the monsters. Thus, now I post, so that you will know!

One of the elements that I have noticed in some Japanese works is the elevation of a character (monster in our case) to a higher state of being. The character can tap into “something special” within to unleash powers they could not normally perform. This usually occurs when momentum is on the character’s side or when the character is on the ropes and about to be defeated. To capture the spirit of this, Monsterpocalypse offers players hyper forms.

The alpha form is the monster’s “base” form in which it starts play. During the game you may expend Power Dice to transform your monster from its alpha form to its hyper form, which is actually a different figure with a different set of stats. This allows you to finish your opponent with even more awesome stats and abilities than your monster’s alpha form contained. You also enter your hyper form when your alpha form is destroyed; this gives you a chance to turn the momentum of the fight back in your favor. It also means that you must destroy your opponent’s alpha and hyper forms to win. Thus hyper forms cannot be ignored.

When you get a monster in a Starter or Booster Box, it comes with its corresponding hyper form. Some of the monsters actually have additional hyper forms that provide different twists on the same monsters. You can obtain these through special promotions and events. To distinguish the different hyper forms, we have multiple classes. For instance, the first Monsterpocalypse release has ‘Ultra’ hyper forms, while the ones available through our first organized play events are called ‘Mega’ hyper forms, and there will be even more in the future!

A lot of care has gone into making sure the Mega hyper forms do not outperform the Ultra hyper forms. The design goal for these Mega forms is to provide a different experience with the monster, which is just as competitive without creating an unbalanced play experience. Some hyper forms actually lose advantages that the alpha form possessed while picking up other advantages. For example, the Ultra form of Cthugrosh (The Grand Poobah of the Lords of Cthul) actually replaces his ability to fly with jump but gains a mess of higher stats — practically across the board — and swaps his Summon ability for an ability called Terrify that prevents units from going into base contact with him. His Mega hyper form gets a bump to his stats just like the Ultra version, but trades in all six of the abilities on his alpha form for five other abilities, including Overload, which does double damage if your opponent has over five Power Dice! OUCH!

Now when you see the promotion that offers you a Mega hyper form, you will know the difference between that and the Ultra hyper form that comes packed with the alpha form of your monster.

And hyper forms are half the battle!

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The Shadow Sun Syndicate

For the last week or two I have been waist deep in Monsterpocalypse™. It’s not easy coming in late to a game’s development and having to learn everything in a short time – but I am having a great time exploring the game, the world, and throwing in my two cents here and there! Playtesting has been a blast, and we are about to put out a fantastic game. The design is streamlined and smooth to play, the interpretation of the genre is on target, and it possesses great strategic depth for those that love challenging gaming.

My mind has been twisting around Monsterpocalypse and only Monsterpocalypse since my arrival. When I found myself standing in my new apartment with unpacked boxes stacked over my head and noticed some of my painted miniatures on the floor, I suddenly realized what it would feel like to be a 150 foot-tall monster. Unlike the monsters in Monsterpocalypse, I resisted the urge to stomp the little guys (they took too much time to paint) and knock over the “buildings” (because those tightly packed boxes hold our worldly goods, and this little role-playing exercise would not thrill my wife). At that moment, I thought about what it would be like to be one of the Zors of the Shadow Sun Syndicate™. Zors are normal-sized dudes like you that can grow to nearly 60 meters so they can take on giant mutant dinosaurs like Terra Khan™ and super destructive cosmic destroyers like Gorghadra™. The Syndicate is like the White Ranger™ or Racer X®. You never quite know where they stand. One minute they are taking down the overgrown demon headed strait for your apartment building, the next they are throwing Defender X™ into your place of employment – and losing your job is no way to start a Monday morning! They always claim it is for your own good and you just don’t see the big picture.

I have a friend with a math degree. He claims that if there is one immutable law of science fiction, it is that all female scientists are extremely hot and sexy. Monsterpocalypse has obeyed this law with the guiding genius behind the Shadow Sun Syndicate, Dr. Arisu Kaneko. This scientifically minded hottie has stretched biotechnology and nanotechnology in her creation of a new type of giant super warrior – the Zors.

I have only seen the first two ninja warriors, but they tend to kick my butt pretty regularly. Zor-Maxim™ spends his time jumping to and fro just out of my convenient reach until he hits his hyper form and starts dealing extra damage with his ninja-rificly enhanced power attacks. Zor-Raiden™ on the other hand, charges in fast and begins striking your monster and units like a series of speed bags in his dojo. No other figure can pull off power moves better than the Zors of the Shadow Sun Syndicate. Further, because of their ninja-tastic ways, they have a high defense to keep them from suffering a lot of damage, which is good, because like most ninja, they do not have a lot of meat on their bones.

The technology does not stop with the Zors though. The Syndicate has mastered teleportation technology. This allows the Zors and their host of escorts and support vehicles to appear literally out of thin air and disappear without a trace upon the completion of their mission – just like a true ninja using those eggshell smoke bombs! Escorting the Zors are a host of Cyber Fighters, Cyber Infiltrators (think Zors, but half the size), Cyber Drones and Interceptor transports, all of which Dr. Arisu Kaneko has punched beyond the levels of normal human technology. ULTRA-HOT!

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Playing with your Units

A staple of the kaiju movie genre are the civil defense forces, flying saucers, and various other little guys that get stomped and swatted by the monsters like tennis balls being hit by rich wives playing tennis with their instructors.

Monsterpocalypse addresses this portion of the genre head on and makes smaller elements a crucial part of the game. Depending on your monster’s faction, the theme of your units will vary greatly. Smaller dinosaurs and beasts from the earth surround the giant dinosaur Terra Khan. The giant robot Defender X is supported by civil defense forces that include tanks and helicopters.

You can use your units to secure buildings and occupy power zones, both of which yield your monster more power dice. You can attempt to keep your units off to the side, tucked behind cover, but they will do you no good. Units need to get onto the field to capture key locations and generate power dice. Of course, spreading them out around the map gives your opponent something to stomp and chew on, so you have to be careful where you place those guys.

Because all