Creating My Very First Tabletop Game

[@Miscast]

here we goooooo!

[@FrazahhPon]

First thing I thought when this video started: "Scott needs to talk to Trent." 🥳

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Making a game is a great way to make a KZbin channel suffer. Not that I'd know anything about that. BUT it's also very satisfying and fun.

[@jamiewilliams9209]

Selfishly, I'm glad you made a game anyway. ;)

[@gregoryjordan1740]

You should get a new water cup. That old one is getting gross 🤢

[@V1V1D-R0S3]

I thought it was a fantastic series. The terrain, the lore, and stuff was amazing!

[@WylochsArmory]

this

[@luiscandelario5067]

I loved ur series . This would be great for Scott. He , like u, has so much passion for it . It jumps out as u talk about it

[@syntheticblackminiatures]

I used to teach tabletop game design as a college course. My biggest bit of advice to my students was to follow the fun, feedback, and embrace change when it works.

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

I'd say there is one thing that is even more important then that: Make a playable prototype as fast as you can, without carrying if it's beautiful. Put the game to play as soon as posible, so that you can see what works and what don't in order to avoid wastiting time and effort into something that will later be changed or removed. Fail fast, fail better.

[@AdamShelar]

One way to address the melee fighters sticking issue is to have push mechanics, so attacks always knock each other away. Then you could utilize the terrain in interesting ways to deal more damage or add other effects. Good luck with the design process!

[@orkishfury2321]

That could also help with the melee v. Ranged issue, with melee weapons have more pushback which could have little or none.

[@mikebroadwater]

Favorite part of the video: Scott asking people to let him know if he's being wrong on the internet as if we wouldn't do that anyway.

[@benstapleton5319]

A dueling game I absolutely love is Unmatched - each fighter has a unique ability and unique deck with some shared cards between characters. I find it generally captures the *feel* of each fighter really really well!

[@Bloodthirstier]

Yes came here to say this! Unmatched is awesome!

[@Lavasioth]

EXACTLY the game I was thinking of when he was talking about his wishlist. I would also piggyback on this and suggest, if you want to pull back on RNG elements another way to add uncertainty to the game, *bluffing* can be a really interesting mechanic to add to games. And this can range from resources that are blind bluffed in something like opposing attacks. OR movement bluffs, which, if I remember correctly are included in X-Wing.

[@Lavasioth]

Also! If you end up trying out unmatched, I would suggest one of the starter kits but then also picking up one of the wacky expansions that has something like the Jurassic Park T. rex vs Dr Satler. It’s a good example of building a game that gives you a list of space to design. One of the things that can happen when striving for a simple game is you shrink your design space. Think of like, the D6s in 40k. While those are great and simple rules and acquisition. You’re now stuck with all of your ranges are chunked into 17%s. And now if you make something with too many pluses to defense, as an example, you may create someone who is now untouchable by certain opponents.

[@grombatmole]

@@Lavasioth Yeah, I think a bluffing system could work well for parries (perhaps similar to the weighted rock/paper/scissors melee in moonstone)

[@pixyfrog]

Yup... that's a suggestion I was about to make as well.

[@benjaminnoble9565]

This is a board game but its a 1 v 1 fighting game, its called BattleCON: War of Indines. It uses cards to create the attacks and movements of the players fighter, the best part (imo) is you use 2 cards to create different "combos" of attacks. Not sure if this is the route you are looking for or not but maybe it could give some inspiration. Great video cant wait to see what you come up with!

[@nuuskye]

Seconded. One of the best iterations of a 1v1 combat/Street Fighter experience

[@concussion7611]

This! BattleCON could be a great game to look at for ideas.

[@quentingraindorge5243]

You should check out Unmatched for a tight 1v1 / 2v2 pvp game that seems to tick a lot of the boxes you're looking for! (competitive, quick, one model per person, super low barrier of entry, excellent gameplay, ... )

[@Vuig]

Agree! Unmatched was the first game I thought of.

[@spenserharden]

I haven't played it yet, but I also thought of Unmatched based on what I've read about it. It's on my list of games to get.

[@Smooth_Lime_Nine]

​@@spenserhardenno need now😊 We can give our input here and watch this game getting made and finally play the game we watched being built...its going to be epic and I dont overuse that word

[@gavindavis3640]

I definitely echo these comments about Unmatched as checking a lot of the boxes you’re looking for, Scott. Unmatched is 1v1, quick, easy to learn with beautiful artwork and lots of replay ability. A lot of folks in my area gravitate towards it. Good luck on this project!

[@boothy128]

Definitely thought of unmatched too

[@Garrth415]

I'd highly recommend scrolling through GDC talks - theres a lot of them that can be applied to games in general, not just video games. There was a really good one about lessons learned from working on magic the gathering for 20 years. Also I look forward to anything you do, I've got an idea of my own I've been slowly working on in my free time so it'll be neat to watch/compare to whatever comes out of this

[@diSTUD013]

Hey Scott, when you said that you wanted to make a dueling game, the first thing that came to MY mind was Flesh and Blood. While I have little to no experience with the game, it's a TCG that it is centered around you picking a character and suiting them up with armor, weapons and other things. it might be similar enough that you can adapt your game similarly. Hope this helps!

[@Robin-dx5gq]

He plays flesh and blood, mentioned it in the podcast a couple times. Good eye.

[@diSTUD013]

Lol I didn't even know he mentioned it or that he plays it

[@Miniac]

Flesh and Blood is amazing inspiration so a great recommendation! I'll be talking about what I love about it in a future episode for sure!

[@johnthebard]

FaBs design is so cool, especially the hand and blocking mechanics

[@G0Ri11a]

@@MiniacPlease talk about Flesh and Blood. It’s the best table top experience I’ve had through years of competitive card and war games. It’s beautiful in its design.

[@SlavicMoose]

Arena Rex, while not 1 v 1, definitely captures the excitement and smaller scale, individual choices, interaction with the environment, and cohesion you mentioned

[@terrencemiltner1005]

Came here to say exactly this

[@nathanswetye210]

Indeed.

[@Miniac]

Please leave your game recommendations, thoughts, game dev resources in the comments!

[@MrFazurHoelle]

I believe that Conquest First Blood checks quite some boxes and you might wanna look into it wish you best of luck with your plans eitherway :)

[@azzaelulbrinter]

Hi! I'm about to publish a baord game with a professional team of editors and publishers, I also co-wrote a TTRPG as part of a professional designer college thesis. I consider your current ideas nice, like you are in a good path, the biggest problem I see is that baord games that rely on miniatures are usually super expensive, so you will struggle to find a publisher unless you do it yourself (kickstarter?). Some golden rules of game design are: fail fast (test as soon as you can), kill your darlings (don't get attached to certain rules that may pull the game down) and keep testing (blind test specially for someone with an audience, you don't want your fans feelings stop or bend the feedback). Some sources I recommend: "The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell" (I consider this a 101 of game design) Both Stonemmaier and Adam in Wales are published game designers with youtube channels with a lot of advice I also recommend browsing through the Board Game Geek "2 player" tag and see what comes up

[@wunderstudios]

Megaman battle network might be worth a look. Limited movement. Fast and competitive 1vs1. Grid based ranges might help with melee Vs ranged

[@Feserov]

You've pretty much described an Unmatched series game. 1v1 game with single miniature of a character with special abilities, described with cards and tokens.

[@Arachnomen]

This undertaking sounds promising. You have a vision and I am interested in seeing it come to fruition since your vision for this game sounds like something right up my alley! I would recommend looking up GWs "Gorechosen" (2016) if you have not already. Might give you some ideas/inspiration.

[@SPACENOMADMALEV]

What a hype video series, I want episode 2 NOW.

[@paulbotelho3997]

Ugh, FINALLY! THIS was the content I have been looking for, for years.

[@777bogey]

Mage Wars, is a great mage vs mage board game. the mages do summon underlings so it isn't strictly speaking 1v1 but its in the same arena. each mage has a "spell book" that has all their cards. it sort of functions like if you were holding your whole magic the gathering deck in your hand.

[@HonageMaximus]

Freaking love mage wars! Only problem with the game is the sheer amount of mechanics present makes teaching others the game a marathon.

[@marknesbitt6073]

@@HonageMaximus agree and absolutely love the game but people run from it because it is a beast to learn

[@supachigga]

I would like to point you towards Sakura Arms, Combo Fighter, Dice Throne, Gosu X, BattleCON, Exceed Fighting System, and Yomi since others have already mentioned Unmatched and Flesh and Blood.

[@trevclaridge]

I had a few immediate ideas, all of which I hope support the four things on your wishlist: I think it'd be really interesting if your game rules made movement and positioning the key mechanics that all of the others center around. The distance you are to your opponent, and at what angle you are attacking them changes the effects of your attacks/abilities. If I'm 2 inches away and behind them, I do an extra bit of damage, but if they can keep me close to them, their abilities give them the advantage because their attacks are more close quarters centric. A character's abilities might/should also include ways to move either themselves *and/or their opponent*. I could just move backward to get my 2 inch bonus, or I could shove them away (possibly into some terrain that deals damage). I think another way to make moving someone else's character interesting could be that the actual angles that the characters are facing. Each model has to designate a facing direction, and abilities use that direction for special moves (one of my abilities is a 2 inch cone that hits everything North West, North, and North East of my models "face", and one of theirs is straight North charge of 5 inches). A character can have abilities to rotate their opponent around them or rotate themselves around their opponent. Maybe there is even room for optional rules to use a hex grid. I think these movement and positioning rules might be able to bring the "excellent gameplay". I've talked a lot about abilities. I think this where we get "competitive" and "fast". I think it'd be really cool if each player could sort of "build" their character before a duel, very much like you might build an army or pick special rules for some games. I think there can be some system for picking from a set of abilities to create specialized builds. Lots of opportunities for interesting combinations and countering the abilities of opponent characters. As I'm describing this, I'm starting to think it sounds a lot like a battle arena style video game with hero builds. Maybe you take some inspiration there and even have a system of alternating ability choosing/banning. The "fast" part of the above comes with the notion that, during play, it's probably going to become obvious pretty quickly who had the stronger build for that particular duel; one player just had the right set of chosen abilities that effectively and efficiently counter their opponent's. There's two inherent scenarios then: 1) the game ends quickly and the players get to play again, this time choosing a different set of abilities to try a new strategy or 2) the characters end up evenly matched, which is, effectively, going to make another form of fun where tactics and strategy prevail and prolong a close, unpredictable, and interesting duel. Finally is "low barrier". What if there were no die rolls, no randomness at all? What if all you needed to play was the book, which had all rules, stats, and abilities necessary to play? What if the game was mini agnostic? If the abilities are written so as to be exact, with "perfect information", you allow a certain level of tactical thinking that can be very attractive. Not to mention you put yourself in league with some of the most revered "dueling" games in history: chess, go, . . . checkers, I guess. Wargamers are accustomed to a certainly level of inherent randomness from die rolls, so I don't see this absolutely necessary, but worth considering I think. It would certainly help in keeping the barrier of entry low: all you need is the book, a piece of paper like a RPG character sheet to keep track of your chosen abilities, and maybe a tape measure that a lot of people, even non-wargamers, are going to have at least one of already (include a couple of cut outs or plastic rulers and cones in the back of the book or the box set if you're so inclined). Anyways, these are my few ideas. Hopefully they reach you. This has really sparked my imagination, and I'd love to hear/talk more about it. I chat with Evan occasionally on the Once in a Six Side discord. Great vid!

[@franklima]

Movement is key, without the gameplay need to move your figure around it being a miniature game is fundamentally obviated. That would just be a card game. For example an attack should require your figure is in a given location relative to your opponent but then force you into a new location at it conclusion. Forcing the players into movement dance. Move and counter move representative in both figures movement not just the word the player exchange. Given your goal of creating a fast game it is worth considering having the field of play be a grid or checkerboard so people aren’t constantly reaching for a tape measure.

[@sicktricks95]

My other hobby besides miniatures is video game development and design, I have a few recommendations based on my experience designing, implementing, and releasing projects. 1) Do not make your "Dream Game" as your first project. This would be like creating a current Miniac youtube video without having ever painted a mini or edited a video. You can see a lot of game dev youtubers persuing this goal and there are a lot of traps you can fall into when persuing a vision only, which is often what dream games are. 2) Be prolific. Nothing will help you make your next game more than having already made a game or mamy games. Go through the entire process of making a playable experience and getting feedback as quickly as possible. I found a lot of benefit from writing down one game idea a day in a journal, but make sure these are concepts for a game mechanic and not just visions and vibes. see if you can make 30 games in 30 days, or a game a week. Constraints are useful for the iteration process, so consider the smallest possible scope and then see how many unique concepts you can make within that box. Seeing all your shitty ideas on paper can help you see the negative space where the good ideas might be. 3) Start with the most important design decisions first. I see a lot of game dev youtubers building out open world systems and saying they will eventually get around to adding a combat mechanic. Designing a world or characters or factions is fun, but it does not make a game.If you are making a 1v1 game then consider making exactly 2 characters that can fight each other and build a vertical slice of your game from that. If you cannot make a fun experience with 2 characters, the work you put into designing all of the secondary and tertiary systems will not save the project. When analyzing other games, consider what the most essential elements are. You might like the variety in AoS most, but you can take that away and still have a playable experience. I hope this helps, I would love to see game development done in a way that has a high chance of leading to completed projects, regardless of how perfect they are. Good luck!

[@TesseractMinis]

I'd recommend trying Aristeia! by Corvus Belli - it's a moba-like board game, centred around heroes with unique abilities, so it might provide some handy reference.

[@mattsproats9001]

The best game, that no one plays

[@mattsproats9001]

BUT should

[@Artmesa]

"The Rule of Canage" is a is podcast dedicated to designing better miniatures games. I highly recommend it. Also, Guerrilla Miniatures Games had a podcast which was a little more freeform but was conversations with independent game designers. Definitely worth while to check out too.

[@WoodyREC]

This sounds amazing and definitely fills a niche - you could maybe check out something like the Street Fighter miniature game, it's a ton of fun and does the 1v1 (and even more players) really well! It handles the melee v melee well by adding things like throws, knockback etc to keep things moving around the map and crashing into terrain etc It has counterattacks, to always give both players something to do and think about I think there is a ton you could probably pick out to think about for your own - very excited for this series!

[@benshoup2617]

Having flex for additional players was the first thing that came to mind for me. I would play 1v1 on occasion, but if we could field 4 to 6 players, I’m playing a lot more often. Looking forward to seeing more of the development.

[@sickmary]

Consider a card based system for attacks and blocks with strike locations as designations. A characters weapons armor and skills could effect which strikes get bonuses or special rules, So maybe one character has extra power to strike high while another gets a skill thst allows them to discard a card to replace a block if they tried to block an area their opponent didn't target

[@sickmary]

Each turn you can choose two or three actions. Any combination of move , rest, or attack. For each action you rest you can draw a card. An attack will require you to use one of the cards in your hand . Again any gear or skills your weapon has can modify any action you do. Including defining attack range and extra benefits you might get from terrain or positioning behind or flanking an opponent.

[@GJ_Yan]

Not quite what you're after, but you should definitely check out the melee mechanics for Moonstone. They are really unique and designed to feel like medieval sword fighting.

[@calebtravirca233]

Some things you might be interested in for small combat is-- 1.) Card games such as yogioh, hearthstone, Legends of Runeterra etc. This could come into play with magic cards, traps, armor, small buffs, condition that last one round, ect. 2.) In some MOBAs like smite, have joust a small 3v3 game with only one lane to worry about. I think something simular like having 3-5 home bases for the enemy to capture could be fun 3.) Not exactly 1v1 but maybe later down the line a tag in system, like in fighting games could be cool 4.) One of my favorite things in unique character games is fun abilities and ultimates like in overwatch, Dota, apex legends, ect. I love the content and hope you find one idea helpful, I'm making a game too and it is verry fun but can be challenging at times.

[@Panjax]

The closest thing I feel I have played to something like this would be Inquisitor?? it's an old, discontinued Warhammer 40k game with the big 75mm models and you can have more than one character each but for the most part, the way we used to play it was everyone had 1 dude and you played things out RPG style but with tabletop wargame kind of rules. You likely already know about it but there you are. In the card game world there is the new Flesh & Blood game that is centered around players being a hero and your cards are your weapons, techniques, relics, attacks etc. Either way this is exciting. As someone already in the mini wargaming community anything that has a low upfront cost, like buying 1 model and you're set? sounds great.

[@Miniac]

I've heard of Inquisitor, but never tried it out! maybe I'll pick up an old copy of the rules to see how they did things back then. Flesh & Blood is great and I'll definitely be talking about it in future episodes because it gets a lot of things right for me.

[@Panjax]

@@Miniac Sweet! yeah Inquisitor was like...DnD meets Wargaming? you could play it purely as a game but having characters with backstories and reasons for being there, full campaigns was very possible an intended, I think. I absolutely loved it when I played it and it led to some really fun scenarios. I remember in particular I had a mad Russian Chef Imperial Guardsman who carried all the explosives, trying to jump from one rooftop to the other having just armed a mine, he failed, grated his face down the side of the building and hit the bottom. At which point the mine went off and set off all the missiles he was carrying and everything around him was turned to dust and we were laughing our asses off at how badly it went. I'd think you're aiming for a more narrow gaming experience though? dueling specifically definitely sounds as much. Maybe even having very limited movement and it more be about specific moves, resources etc that you play through. I'm rambling now, great to see how you progress with this! I'm not sure if you'd be able to but try to find someone who has played Inquisitor and maybe run through a game on TTS or something? the actual experience is often different to just reading the rules.

[@KnarbMakes]

That's metal AF. Excited for this Scott!

[@Miniac]

Woop Woop! Glad to have you here, Knarb.

[@stevenbaker3593]

Some thoughts- make sure the combat mechanic is simultaneous, damage is applied at the end of the turn not player round. Mechanics around players being able to control environmental factors, terrain etc can move locked combatants away and effect ranged combat. “Army building” could be equipment purchased and interact differently with certain combinations and both to the owner and against the opponents equipment. For very low figure counts maybe have wound charts for body location and damage to weapons. Let me know if you want any help/guidance with this 😊

[@FrostFire600]

For the dueling game, I like the idea! The first thought that immediately came to mind with two brawlers getting locked into combat over a center square was to maybe have multiple loadouts (like pokemon, but a single character model - Magnetized model bits?) with a "respawn" mechanic to introduce some form of rock-paper-scissors. On your turn you can opt to pull back (maybe having kept resources) to then come in with your strong counter and capture points/kill. Choosing a respawn may cost time/points/other to balance that choice. Another idea is that a deck of cards could act as your actions, allowing you to hold your strike for the larger counter, while you instead hunker down with defense cards. All very vague ideas, but hopefully it's something to get the creative juices flowing!

[@magnusmillerwilson]

First comment because there will probably be a few. Scott, YOU’RE ON FIRE. The animation you have in this video as you noodle on game design is PALPABLE and I haven’t seen that passion from you for the past few videos. It’s really fun to see again! Thanks for bringing us along for this thought ride, and PLEASE PLEASE continue to do these entertaining and pro edited VLOGs on this topic. I’m going to bet that a lot of your audience has played around with the idea of designing a game (or even tried) in the past and would love to watch your process. I know I have! Cheers, fellow Minnesotan!

[@keycorey]

My suggestion was an idea that popped into my head to solve the idea of a duelist focused game where you want exciting movement and interesting choices. My thought is that the environment needs to evolve/be dangerous, and require the attention of the players. Lets say the arena is separated into just a few different zones. At any moment it could start falling apart, portions of it could be vanishing, crumbling around them, or suddenly become affected by weather or wild magic. The floor could literally become lava. Each area has a magic "core" you can interact with to either keep that area safe from wild energy, or tamper with it to help something specific to happen. Then, Depending on your Duelist, each character might have certain immunities to weather, or might be able to take control on the rain with specific attacks. A mage uses an ice spell in a zone that was just flooded to create dangerous terrain or trap their opponent for a turn or so. I think something like this could create an intricate dance of fighting, and having to disengage from their opponent to maintain order in the chaos around them, or potentially fall to the environment itself. Random bonus idea for a theme. You play as deities, this arena is where you go to settle your disputes. Each zone is invested with all powers that govern the universe, and will cause them to plane shift or have a random effect generated. The goal is to find the balance between fighting your opponent directly, and using your godly alignments to alter the reality around you to your advantage.

[@keycorey]

Example, a creation core will change its area into a random zone/effect in 3 turns. A god of the undead shadow steps over to the core while their opponent is distracted. Tampering with it so that it is much more likely to become a mass grave site. Allowing them resources to build a bone construct minion to help them turn the battle to their side.

[@the_real_shoes]

Definitely feels like a miniature fighting game which would be sweet if you can pull it off. Also feels a bit like dota 1v1 mid. I can absolutely say that I'm interested and will be following. Any excuse to use my 75mm figures in a game is welcome!

[@Miniac]

Relating it to that 1v1 mid experience is pretty on point!

[@juanpunchhombre551]

@@Miniacave you heard about mini/board game guards of Atlantis 2? Some great ideas there as well. It’s a moba board game (with minis). Pulls it off well.

[@maxpaige6688]

@@Miniac Having some kind of "tower" objective per player gives people a reason to move rather than just meet in the middle, could be worth considering. It could create interesting gameplay if they do damage, just like a tower (or it might just slow things down).

[@redy3tigames]

Ive developed 2 games that i have published. My biggest recomendations are play test for 3x as many times as you rhink is to many. Hire a profesional editor for the rule book. Once it is edited hand it to people and watch them figure out how to play. If it takes them longer than you want it might not be a game is difficult issue it might be a rule book layout issue.

[@ScionKhorva]

When you talked about how do you add in Wizards, rangers, etc to a duel It made me think of Flesh and Blood TCG. I recommend grabbing a few blitz decks to try it out might give you ideas. Edit: last thought, modular options for the heroes will allow for more design space

[@xGamermonkeyx]

Yoooo! I'm very excited for this and especially with the team up with Trent! I love Miscast and love the way he approaches hobby projects with absolute reckless abandon, and I always love seeing other Aussies get a bit more screen time lol! As far as 1v1 and out-the-box experiences go, I think a really good thing to look at would be Battletech Classic and Alpha Strike. When you first said "Duel" as a focus, the first thing I thought of was Classic Battletech, as it can be played as small at 1v1 and also really importantly has a barrier to entry of "do you have a computer to download the free core rules on?". Even if you're not interested in a grid-based system or sci-fi as a setting, it could be a really good thing to check out and take lessons from. Alpha Strike is a bit of a different beast, but also one thats extremely worth looking at as a comparison to Battletech. Set in the same universe, using the same minis and with its own free core rules PDF. Differs mostly in that it's designed for larger, more 40K style combat with whole companies of Mechs and combined arms fighting each other as opposed to one single Lance or less. It's also free movement as opposed to hex-grid based like Classic. I think both have some really interesting lessons and concepts you would find really engaging, and hey they both have a barrier to entry of $0 so why not? I personally think a hex-based Duel game where the faces of your base indicated where you could guard or not, or something has some real potential.

[@rmhtexas5982]

This is easily one of my favorite videos of yours lately. Not to say the rest have lacked anything - this is just uniquely exciting to your TUP crowd. I can't wait for more details about the development. PS - if the name of this game isn't 'Loreless,' it's going to be a big miss. 🤣

[@TooMiniModels]

Have you ever tried Inquisitor: Battle for the Emperors Soul? It was an older GW 54mm game. Much bigger models with really detailed rules. Not quite 1v1 but more like 4v4.

[@HobbyDad_dy]

So, because the game is 1v1, I feel like having it be just a single game lasting 30 minutes would be difficult to be compelling without some ‘cat-and-mouse’ gameplay loop. What if, instead, it was played in a match format, i.e. best 2 of 3? You could get a really tight and fast gameplay loop for a 15 minute single game and longer strategy for a match.

[@Miniac]

I've thought about this briefly but I fear that it'll make the whole experience take too long, but I need to actually start putting some rules down before we rule anything out

[@altarofthedeadgods_wargame]

Hi Scott! We've been developing our game in the past couple of years and I can say that the excitement of problem-solving you showed in this video was so nice to see! that's really the best part of game design to me and I love seeing you being excited about that as well now here are a couple things you might wanna consider: 1) 54 mm scale: this has pros and cons. Manufacturing/sculpting/distributing 54 mm miniatures is more complex than 28-32 mm, which can ramp up costs and make the game less accessible. Also, people might already have 32mm terrain but definitely not 52mm terrain. The pros are to me that you can get a more "satisfying" duel experience with 1 BIG model, and maybe you can justify higher prices and include higher quality add-ons without it feeling weird 2) I can't say what the overlap is between people who want a competitive game and people who own 54 mm scale models. It feels narrow at first glance, but I don't have the data to support it. definitely, something to consider tho, as you choose your target audience. 3) I LOVE the idea of short miniature wargames and you are SPOT ON about miniature games taking way too long. DEFINITELY keep that core idea, it has really proven to be a strong feature of our game, Altar of the Dead Gods. BEST OF LUCK, SCOTT!!!

[@DavidCorsalini]

Unmatched is a great 1v1 game, great art, simple rules, fast to play (and explain).

[@Skyhervagault]

This is an interesting concept. I am relatively new to tabletop gaming, and I agree that the hardest part is getting your friends involved. Unless you supply them with an army, but then they have to want to spend 3-4 hours learning the game as well…..maybe a a duel that forces the two players to engage first, and then after a couple rounds have a “super” charged that does a knock back or stun. That puts the opponent down for a round or launches them. Making this more interesting you could have power ups places randomly on the field. During that odd time of not dueling, players could try to acquire the power ups and then if they are not back in the dueling circle in 3 rounds they take some sort of penalty. And if one of them is. They gain a victory point each round the pit is uncontested. Thanks for awesome videos!

[@RotaFury]

This come's at an interesting time for me because i am working on trying to come up with my own game. I wanted to create and well i have plenty of idea's for Factions and lore and such. It's developing the rules that have tied me up a bit. This helped inspire me further by seeing how you broke down each goal you want from the game. I already been trying to pull from my favorite games and in fact been spreading my gaming to try new games i may never have before to see what i like about them.

[@jans5671]

hey man, do whatever you want but i followed your videos for quite a while and always loved the super positive energy especially in older videos. doesnt matter if you still like to paint or not find what you like and transport positivity- you are awesome at it.

[@RekkinOnTheInternet]

For 1v1 duels, you might honestly want to look at competitive Quake or Unreal Tournament matches to get a sense of what can make so few moving parts so interesting to play. Other than just pure player skill expression, it comes down to the map design (and how well someone knows it) and what pickups are available on them - giving people a reason to move around to find more powerful weapons or securing a shield, knowing your opponent is going to want to do the same, constantly jockeying for position over key items and even entire avenues. I don't know how well it could translate to a tabletop game 1:1, but the core concepts at play are definitely worth examining.

[@subzero47pl]

Im not exacly a game dev just a gamer but I always like when a game has single or coop aspect to it, so its fun to play if your alone or play with firends

[@donjuandon]

I love this idea! One thing is consider it's that with many wargames the defender doesn't have a ton of agency. Defense is often a static stat that the attacker is doing things to overcome. This makes sense, because if you turn every combat into a mini MtG game it'd last for days. Contrast that to something like a dueling card game or fighting video game where the defender is as actively involved as the attacker. Sometimes it's almost impossible to tell who's even on the offensive and the defensive. I think sometime like that would be really cool, vs just taking turns punching each other in the face until someone gives up.

[@lacunalunacy]

Friends Vs Friends is a super fast and goofy lil indie shooter with some interesting card mechanics and a very streamlined gameplay loop. Deathmatch, either single or duos, best of three team kills, and youve got a variety of different characters to play as, and a deck building element to really customize how you play.

[@chezratte1357]

Have you heard of freebooters fate? It is a pirate skirmish game which has a very interesting combat concept, that could be a basis for a dueling game. I haven't really played the game myslef, so not sure how rules exactly are. instead of dice (dice might still be used in addition, but as mentioned above not sure), you got a deck of cards representing the different body parts (head, left arm, right leg etc.), for each attack your character has, you place one of those cards face down on the table, the defender does the same with the body parts he wants to defend then one after the other first the zone that is attacked is turned over, then the zone that is defended at that moment is turned over. If attacker and defender have the same zone at the same time the attack is blocked, if not the defender gets a wound. Dont remember how wounds are resolved, but that sounds to me like good basics, where you can buildt on with additional rules.

[@geancarlok1094]

Hey @miniac I have to say a few years ago I had the same duel idea with map exploring and upgradable characters, but it didnt work out. A few months ago i restarted from scratch, made everything different and in a few days it will be ready to be tested with many friends

[@GamemastersHobby]

Hey Scott! I love the idea and concept of a duel-kind of miniatures game as you describe. I would definitely go out and give it a try. However, a few things come to mind: 1- Someone else already tried and failed so... Lots of research. Games like Wizkids' Shadowrun Duels are a good example of what I'm trying to say: It was a very interesting and fresh concept: Collectable action figures, you only required one figure to play. The figure came packed with gear, dice, rules and measuring tape. Figures already assembled and painted I loved it! But it failed. The fact that you required just one figure and the scale (among some other things like licensing), kept those figures off the gaming tables and on discount shelves. Looking back at game mechanics, concept, marketing, studio administration and design of games like Heroclix, Elder Scrolls: Call To Arms, Wings Of Glory, Dust Tactics, At-43, Aristeia, Warmachine & Hordes, FFG's D&D Miniatures and Star Wars minis from the early 2000's, could help you in the process 2- Be prepare to sacrifice some of your original ideas. Along the way, different factors will force you to leave some of your game features on the drawing board. Maybe you realize that blind-boosters are the way to go. Maybe a deck of tactic cards packed with each miniature (like Warhammer Underworlds) would be more appealing to duel-like customers with experience in card games. Or maybe custom dice like Wizkids Dice Masters? Worst yet: The game is great but no miniatures, just cardboard, cards, tokens and dice. This could be a great thing if the game still has the DNA you want. 3- Talk to people in the industry, make connections (I'm sure you won't have a problem here). For advice and gaming history Uncle Atom comes to mind. Game legends like Paolo Parente, Graham Davey or Rick Priestly are very accessible and supportive. I'm looking forward to seeing how the game takes shape. I'm excited! And thank you for letting us be part of the process.

[@got2win1day94]

Great idea! Love the concept of strategy over the randomness of dice. One idea would be to look into what makes chess such a long lasting and some would say the most strategic game out there. It’s a game of only 9 “characters”. Each with only 1 move (ignoring the the special moves like castling and en Passant). But I find what make chess great is even though the concept is simple you get an infinite amount of scenarios so you don’t need to create them like you said you don’t want to. You can create forts for defence, you can set traps, you sacrifice guys on a suicide runs, set up watch towers, you can force people into a corner and still lose because you miss something. Chess is all about strategy and tactics. Tactics are about getting immediate benefits such as attacking two pieces at once so your opponent has to decide which one to sacrifice. Whilst strategy is setting up your pieces or position so that it could be beneficial in the future but not beneficial right now. Such as tucking your knight in front of enemy pawns in the centre of the board to set up a watch tower. With only two characters it’s going to be interesting how to get this mix of strategy and tactics. How to be aggressive or defensive or sneaky. But I guess it would have to be a range of moves/abilities that can be effective at different things and different ranges. But it seems chess shows you don’t really need that many. But I guess what trying to say is that like chess the “abilities” don’t have to be complicated to get and very very strategic game.

[@danielphipps6309]

Love the idea. As an avid (albeit middling) fighting video game player (Tekken, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, etc.), I love the feeling of a 1v1. The fast pace. Trading "moments" of advantage and disadvantage. Punishing mistakes. Mastering spacing and match-ups. Character variety. Fighting style variety. Conquering combos. Whaky lore. All of it is so rewarding. I absolutely see these elements as transferable to the tabletop. A duelling game would definitely require a unique approach, but I think there are many games out there that could be a feast of game design inspo.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

I'm not sure if this got said, but a good compromise for terrain would be to set the default scale to something in line with the stuff used by scale modellers for dioramas. Alternatively, you can set up the game to have a grid-based system for measuring distance. Players can work at any scale by simply changing the size of each cell on the grid to suit. Alternatively you could look into the system used in Space Weirdos: everything is measured by using sticks with a line down the middle, even area of effect is measured by outlining the area with the sticks. Sticks can be whatever length is suitable for the models being used and it's pretty convenient for players to just buy sticks in bulk for crafting purposes.

[@JG-rw3if]

There was a format for warmahordes where you would "draft a caster" where you would draft the attributes (spells, focus, armor, HP, etc) for your caster. I think something similar to that as an optional format, perhaps with a starting archetype (rogue/mage/archer) would be really cool. Then the game could have multiple formats to choose from like constructed/draft.

[@AdamViklund]

There's a cool game I vaguely remember from the Commodore 64 days called Mail Order Monster. It was kind of a 1 v 1 duel game where you create a monster, then fight it against other monsters. After each match you could buy upgrades for your monster to make them more powerful. I remember it being really cool, but it's been a long time since I saw it, so I could be remembering wrong. But it would be cool to be able to change or upgrade your Duelist over time, so you aren't just playing the same model over and over.

[@aberodriguez4149]

My favorite part of the video something about " Beer and Pretzel " I do wish you the best in creating your game and don't let that fire in you die out. Thank you for sharing.

[@jacobfisher7625]

So, as far as game mechanics that I love one big thing is the way the turns work in Battletech/Alpha Strike is how both sides get to use all their units each turn and damage is dealt at the end of each round, so your biggest unit can shoot at least once even if you lose initiative.

[@thetimpai7858]

Hey Scott, I'm currently trying to come up with a board game, and as far as the problem of people sticking to the middle of the board one idea I've had is power ups around the map, making them a big incentive so people break apart and WANT to go grab these power ups, alongside secondary objectives, such as a control zone. Can't wait to be first in line to get what you're designing, because the concept is already super fun.

[@maxpaige6688]

Some random thoughts, many of which I suspect you've already considered: 1. You could theme the game around Titans, making the use of these massive miniatures feel thematic and not just coincidental. Also helps solve the terrain problem. 2. You're gonna want to think about how you track game state - can it be done with just a few tokens / dice on the table, or do you need a little card similar to Warmachine's mech dude thingies to track where damage goes? The latter can create really interesting gameplay and can still be fast & simple. 3. Do you plan on making minis for the game? If not, what is the range of "acceptable" mini styles - you grabbed 2 fantasy minis to show your game and left Hovering Skateboard Girl on the sidelines. Could she be used in your game? 4. Do you want players to build a character to fit their specific mini, or find a pre-built character that's close enough? 5. Consider checking GURPS for inspiration. It's (theoretically) balanced & has TONS of options for stuff. It might give you some inspiration, especially if you want to go the character building direction. I'm really looking forward to seeing this get developed!

[@BinxyBrown]

Check out the card game UFS its got some interesting mechanics for blocking attacks, thematically you hava a fighting game character like Ryu or Megaman and you fight 1v1 with techniques from other characters in your lists. I dont think models add a ton to that but i do think you could use cards or hidden dice or whatever to show a series of moves your model does and see if you can get an edge in positioning to get a flank. I also think you have a lot of decisions to make on how superhuman these figures will be, will it be like dragon ball and naruto with all kinds of super speed positioning tricks, or will it be more like a sword dual with small micro positioning being what separates the winners and losers

[@RuleofCarnage]

Hey, not been through all the comments, but I noticed a few people recommending us, which is super cool, so I thought I'd pop in and say, yeah, there are game design resources that aren't about board, card or video games that might be handy... +1 to the recommend for Inquisitor, its not what you're looking for (really at all, except its close relationship to some of the things you liked about Frostgrave) but the rules are 100% free and available to download, and other than Shatterpoint its about the only thing in the scale you're talking about. I think one of the interestingly tricky things you're going to need to look at is the fact that the minis you're thinking about here tend to be base agnostic, or even plain ol' base not having, so it feels like you're going to need to have very true LoS, which for my money is where a lot of the interest in a game like this would need to be generated, high speed ranged battles through very detailed terrain, particularly with dynamic terrain, has a fair chance of working. The mountain to climb is that in a one on one game its very hard to create tension with position, if we're both trying to hit each other or shoot each other, that's a zero-sum relationship and anything one of does in relation to position, the other can just undo. If its not built around position then it probably works better as a card or boardgame, so that has to be to some degree central. Aside from Inquisitor IamRonin could be interesting to consider for its stance concept and of course Osprey's En Garde is a lot about low model count dueling, although it doesn't go down to one a side. Good luck, its a tricky one to figure out, but I don't think its impossible.

[@Miniac]

Thank you for the recommendations! I'll be sure to check out your podcast.

[@davidbrown4849]

Good luck Scott / Trent. There are a number of 1-on-1 fig games in the historical gladiator genre. Try 'Jugular' as an example if you want to see how they approach such a game. The decision points are often things like deciding to attack / defend / parry / move, perhaps with players simultaneously revealing their choice by playing cards or similar. You identify some key constraints, will a game degenerate into just two figs bashing each other, and what re-playability will there be if you only have 1-2 figs in your collection.

[@CraftThriveTv]

YES , i would love this. deffo following this one! If it came to a kickstarter or something i'd definitely back that as well!

[@sdoundakov]

The dueling games I most enjoy all have an interesting win condition, where fighting is secondary to the objective. Athlas:Duel for divinity asks to collect and combine tokens from the map. Keyforge makes you gatheer resource to craft keys. In both games fighting matters a lot as it hampers opponent progress, but at the same time the losing player still feels like they have a chance.

[@loregaming3634]

I would love to support this whole heartedly

[@Explosivo1118]

For 1v1 combat, there are 3 good ways that I see would prevent the 2 models meeting in the middle and never moving. 1. Give weapons optimum attack ranges, a spear would do better at 3 inches, a rogue armed with daggers would be trying to get into base contact. Infinity does a similar thing with its ranged weapons. Models can have ways to move themselves or the enemy back 2. Facings. Give each 75mm miniature 4 facings, using movement shenanigans and terrain etc. to try and get to the back and sides of your opponent 3. Terrain hazards. Give bonus for hitting enemies into or off of terrain. Spike pits in an arena come to mind. The two players can then try and move each other into these hazards.

[@metalman895]

Oooh been looking forward to you tackling this idea for a while!

[@BlackNovaTCG]

@Miniac I don't know if you'll see this, but a resource I would look at is the Magic: The Gathering format Commander. It can be played 1v1 or 4 Player Free-For-All. There's no limit on how many players can participate in a Commander game which can make for fun and whacky chaos if you push past the 4 Player Recommendation. With Commander you have a single main card that determines basically everything about your deck. From what you can use to the recommended playstyle. Not that you can't play in a way that maybe your commander isn't pushing you towards with its abilities. I don't know what your plan on fixing some of the issues with a 1 Model vs 1 Model game may be, but I think you should bump it up to 3 Models vs 3 Models. There's a reason games like Apex have 3 Man Squads as the default mode. It adds variance to games you wouldn't get otherwise and you also get those hype 1v3 squad clutch wipe moments that make your hair stand up. You know what I'm talking about. These are just ideas I'm shooting off the top of my head. I don't think three models per person is a big ask. Especially if the models are pre-assembled. You can also set up two squads that are "meant" to be with each other, but you can mix and match pieces to have a fun and unique experience every time you play. That's really all I can think of right this second with limited information on what you want to do.

[@ArtofCrimms]

A 1v1 game (that doesn't use minis but does play with range and movement through cards and abilities) I'd recommend is Sakura Arms. It has "shields", hp, ultimates, items, skills, spells and a focus of customizing your goddesses. Granted, it's not exactly 1 hero vs 1 hero, but since the game doesn't differentiate from units (it's just you vs the other player), it doesn't matter much, you can take it as "a hero and a supporting aspect/blessing from another hero". Hope you check it out and it helps out.

[@herewardfeldwick8230]

This is really interesting for me: I've been idly trying to map out a concept for a Sumo Wrestling tabletop game, and keep going back and forth between it being more like a tabletop miniatures game, with a battlemap and movement and activations vs a more abstracted system (e.g. a deck-building card game). Will be really interested to see what you come up with.

[@Harrythebotar]

I feel like something that would really help this kind of idea is the "Wrapping" around it. Picking from something that helps really fuel the mental image of brutal, fast and compelling one on one combat. The example that comes to mine is old school gladiatorial combat. Think ancient Rome. Two gladiators enter the area, usually of different types of "Classes" (There were multiple different schools of gladiatorial combat, each utilizing different styles of equipment from swords and shields to nets to javelins) and duel. To prevent the whole "Two melee meet in the middle and just stay there" issue by having mechanics around fighters needing to disengage, regain stamina or gaining the crowds favor for buffs, creating windows for both fighters needing to step back, or creating opportunities for more enduring fighters to press the advantage. I think this is a really cool goal and wish you the best! Good luck!

[@Slurgical_3D_Terrain_Channel]

I like that new format. I would totally watch it and follow it. Wish you the best in your game design. You have been a huge part of my growth along with Black Magic Craft, Miscast and many others. Overall thank you for your channel and sharing your passion.

[@gagelara7620]

Someone already recommended Mark Rosewatter's GDC talk on making MTG, that's a must watch. Also Raph Koster's GDC talk titled "Practical Creativity" was a literal *game changer*, I rewatch it at least once every couple months. More game-centered suggestions, having a large library of actions (possibly represented by cards, but not necessarily) will help fill the need for variety left by using only one mini. Consider making dash attacks, dodge reactions, and movement combos a a key element if you want to avoid the problem of duelists touching bases until one dies. Really excited to see where this goes, sounds like a really fun idea!

[@noticedninja1757]

I have a Bachelors of Game Design and Development, this is a good idea. There's lots of small scale skirmish games out there that are really good. You have a good concept for an area battle game here. My suggestion, regarding your terrain, release terrain pieces with each character. When setting up the games, deployment is not only the model, but also the terrain. Terrain wont just be LOS blockers and barriers, you can make terrain that buffs and debuffs the opponent, or you can make a dynamic terrain system that uses it for much of the strategy. That can create a very interesting system, that fixes your terrain scaling problem, will help profits, and would create something new and dynamic.

[@morteng.lauridsen8068]

Also if way to make something competitive, but still somewhat accessible is making you rules like Magic, where you have a short document that explains the basics, and a comprehensive rules document that defines everything within the game, and layout rules for how things interact, and how to resolve thing that happen at the same time. But that will probably require some kind of digital rules destribution or support

[@dahSweep]

A duelling miniatures game sounds amazing! I would definitely try it out. One thing I would want to see is other models that interact with the duel. Like spells being actual models that float around (like endless spells in AoS), or maybe a necromancer type character that can summon a skeleton that lasts for a turn and then disappears, or a warrior that throws his axe and it lands somewhere which is represented with a model and it could maybe do a pulse AoE thing around it. If you're only gonna have one model that you play with, I think other things that come and go that are also represented on the table would help to really sell it as a miniatures game! Oh, and check out Unmatched. That is pretty much a duelling game, with some minor characters and tokens that you only control. It's really fun, with some amazing art, but the models are really bad.

[@TheClangfor]

Heck yeah, I'm here for it dude, can't wait!

[@thatJoshieJosh]

On the movement mechanics, to prevent your dualists from just sitting base-to-base in the center forever: I would recommend looking into the art of historical combat for inspiration, like HEMA specifically. You can build upon the theory of distance and sidestepping guards with swords and pole arms and extend that to range and magic. In combat there's really only ranges like clenched in grapple, close enough to grab, close enough to strike, farther than striking distance, and unengaged entirely. Then you have the angles - you can be front on to your opponent's guard, giving them the most defensive position. Then you can be shifted to a side of their guard, giving you slight advantage. Then obviously if you can get their back, full advantage. I don't know currently how this doesn't end up as just a circle dance, each player just moving and striking, but maybe there can be *reasons* to not move to the side, or a give and take choice between changing position and charging up a bigger attack.

[@ManmadeHorrorsBeyond]

Hey Miniac, Im not sure if this project is still chugging along buy if it is, you might want to check out this game called En Garde by alternative armies. I haven't played it but I watched some videos about it on a channel called The Joy of Wargaming and it seems like some of the ideas might be useful. this is a really cool project and id love to see more devlogs in your style!

[@bombboy575]

Hey man! I think that one place that you may be able to get a lot of insight from as far as a 1v1 game is concerned is the ultimate 1v1 competitive gaming experience, which is none other than fighting games! While obviously a fighting game isn't a perfect parallel into miniature games or tabletop games by a long shot, I think that a lot of the EXPERIENCE of playing a fighting game could port over well into the mindset of this new game you are undertaking. It could also help to get some ideas how melee and ranged characters could potentially interact as well as give you some insight into how to make different melee characters feel unique and different from each other. I've been following you for a long time and intend to support this new game as much as I can.

[@NinetaleHobbies]

I've been working on a vertical skirmish game for about a year and have found the experience a lot of fun. A fun exercise is to give yourself a weekend or a couple of days and make a rule set/game. It helps you flex your decisive muscles and how to trim the fat quickly. An idea that came while watching your video would be to make movement a big part of your game. Something like: when you attack you can move your opponent or yourself. This could incorporate terrain into the game. I.E. knocking your opponent into something and doing damage or letting you get the high ground for a bonus. Adding elements of the board could add a neutral "third Player"

[@MasterRaccoon9000]

I'm in the process of working on a game with Black Site Studios (Tempus Mortis) and I would highly recommend working with them in conceptualizing your ideas. Our game is a MOBA inspired hero focused miniatures game. We chose this theme as there isn't really anything on the market that resembles a MOBA tabletop game other than a handful of boardgames. If you are trying to capture the Doom feel, then you need; - badass monsters - variety of monsters - loot drops - weapon pick ups - frag points (first to XX frags wins) - Badass heroes - Badass theme My next project will be a solo miniature game inspired by The Purge. :)

[@jasonplays4332]

Air Land and Sea is a great 1vs1 card game. Players get dealt a hand of cards at the start of the round. This leads to coming up with a battle plan and attempting to execute it as your opponent does the same. It also has an interesting mecanic where you can concede a round, this leads to bluffing, deception, and crazy moments. It made me wonder if "bouts" of combat would be satisfying. Good luck!!

[@darrinscott6612]

Good for you for taking the dive! A 1-v-1 duel game like you described has a lot of potential, even if it doesn't match my psychographic profile as a gamer. One of the concerns you mentioned is terrain. One of the things you might look into is affordable terrain dueling environment packs you sell yourself, or even include in the starter. MDF and papercraft terrain (like Battle Systems) is a solid option for man-made objects. For rocks, you can encourage players to just pick up appropriate-sized rocks from their backyard. Trees are more difficult, but it might be possible to include some cheap plastic trunks and branches and some foliage you can stick on. Failing that, you could just do 2d boards, but that is a little boring for mini wargaming enthusiasts, though board gamers won't mind.

[@jjcouch5]

It’s a great video and I’m excited for you! Building a game sounds like a lot of fun! I’ll be watching this series for sure!

[@Vo1t]

Yes please! I'm hooked. When you were talking about 1v1 and how to balance melee vs range I thought about fighting at or on some kind of objective instead of "just" killing or duelling your mate. So there could be benefits if you are on the spot or with the quiddich or however it's called :D. Really looking forward to any kind of progress on your ideas.

[@Beedji]

I've been working on a tabletop game of my own that takes inspiration from fighting games, mainly Street Fighter. A lot of games have already done this formula, but they feel more like they replicate the experience of mashing buttons as a kid, rather than playing a fighting game strategically as an adult. The first thing that I identified was the rock/paper/scissors nature of fighting games, and try to analyse it using pen and paper and taking notes, making graphs and stuff. What you could do is take the very unique gameplay system of For Honor and try to break it down into small steps that you can replicate on the tabletop, be it with dice, cards, coins, ladders, checkers, whatever... And built it from there.

[@CCMinis]

Love the concept! Really excited to see what you do with it. I think personally that 1v1 would be hard to do, but it pulled off well would be amazing. I wonder how 2v2 would work instead, do you go for a tank and a caster? Or 2 fast fighters to get in their face? Or 2 archers and hope you can pick the opponents off before they get to you? Just a thought!

[@Miniac]

Honestly, I loved WoW's arena system so much and my favorite was 2v2 so that has a special place in my heart!

[@greglohman6750]

Agree the whole idea feels easier to balance with small teams (2-4 per side?) rather than 1v1 - modeled after any number of DoTA games or even FPS multplayer modes?

[@tomdavison1049]

A system I have seen in ttrpgs but not in mini war games much is using a deck of cards. You could give each hero a set of abilities that activate depending on the first card you play and damage dealt on the second card played. This would build in some inherent risk vs reward. Do you use a 10 to deal high damage this turn but lose a heal or pin later on when you might need it. To stop fights being a slugfest you could also make heals require you to not be in melee range because who can honestly chug a potion when you are in stabbing range.

[@PaintHandDan]

Hey Scott! Im excited to see what comes of this!! A game you could look into is "MTG Arena of Planeswalker" It plays as a 1v1 duel between planeswalkers: 💥each player starts with a planeswalker - planeswalker can summon creatures, play spell-cards and take actions on their turn. 💥points-based win scored by kills and control after 'x' turns (or when a player is eliminated.) Game is painless to learn and plays through relatively quickly (I think WOTC repurposed Heroscape for it's "bones") 💪🎞 Im liking these cuts and the chalkboard-bit 😁👍

[@someonewhowantedtobeapunk5782]

Awesome ideas- I love the plan.

[@Raresh789]

Scott, thank you for making this video! I always struggled justifying collecting large display models due to limited shelf space, but I'd probably print some if there would be a game where I could play with them. About your last item from your wishlist, supporting proxies in some capacity by having a few modular or generic character options could bring the cost down significantly for those who already have models that are the right scale and it would make the game more accessible. I'm not asking you to make the game model-agnostic necessarily, just to keep in mind those who would enjoy playing a game with their existing collections, like you at this stage. Also, thank you for bringing us along from such an early stage in the process. My D&D friend group is in a similar game-creation mindset and this video helped me better understand their enthusiasm for making a TTRPG instead of trying to find an existing one that's close enough to their vision.

[@capnskustomworks]

That sounds like some really cool ideas!!! I’m one of the “loves making but rarely plays anymore” sort, but I (and I’m sure many others!) have what I just call “Monster Fight” where it’s just grab a couple (or handful) of figures, my ridiculously out-of-date Monster Manual, and dice, and make ‘em fight. Hahaha! Not the most elegant gameplay, but fun for fun’s sake! I think an idea I’d say for like a “Starter Box” for a dueling style game would be to have maybe 4 or something figures, for types, and very simple assignable stats. I haven’t yet played Mork Borg, but one of the things I’ve loved seeing about it is how it seems designed to easily make repeated “throwaway’ characters as opposed to just long-running campaign survivors, and I think that’d be good with a dueling game that means to be straightforward. Convincing someone to roll up a character sheet can be just as hard as anything else in gaming, so I think easy, simple records that could either level up for tournament style rounds or just be fun one-offs would be perfect!

[@bryanm6826]

Skytear hoard board game comes to mind. 1v1 or 1v AI: fast to set up, learn and play with minimal moving parts. Also Riftforce and Heat: pedal to the medal. I'm thinking about the quick to learn aspect mostly. Hope they provide some inspiration.

[@GammaCyber1]

Coming more from the RPG side of the tabletop hobby, I'd recommend looking at the Riddle of Steel family of Tabletop RPGs. Riddle of Steel, Blade of the Iron Throne, Song of Swords, and Sword and Scoundrel all feature highly in detail 1v1 fights based on historical weapons based martial arts. They often tend to play like Wargames in some ways, with high lethality, allocation of dice pools towards things like defense and offense, simultaneous resolution where you and your opponent perform offensive and defensive maneuvers at the same time, and alternating offensive and defensive phases that use the same pool of resources.

[@cotyplays2122]

One way that could maybe help with keeping players from just sitting in the middle of the field in melee could be terrain cards that may trigger an effect either based on your characters base element or the terrain itself(think Mythic+ effects in WoW) or bonus objectives randomly popping up for powerups and such?

[@Threeohtoo]

A great cheap 1v1 game on steam is Rounds. Its a dueling "roguelike". Controls are simple, just move shoot and parry. But the first round and each round you lose you get to add another ability to your character. So maybe this game could have like a fixed terrain layout, but instead of one long continuous duel the game is a bunch of mini rounds where after each loss you can add a buff to adapt to the apponent's playstyle and/or exploit terrain differently. Helps keep things fast paced and fresh.

[@weakish]

I've been working on a similar game but with the exception that it is 1v1 game where the champions have in depth combat mechanics and datasheets but depending on the champion you either are entering the battle with a handful (2-4) underlings/mercenaries or if your champion is magic based you can summon monsters to aide you. I found when it was just 1v1 i was having a problem getting movement during combat to be interesting. I know this turned it into a very small skirmish game but it made movement and positioning feel a lot better. I'm also working on custom STLs for this but progress is really slow.

[@hillmath9059]

Creature casters’ game Judgement Eternal has a cool mechanic where your dice rolls determine the level of abilities you can use. You have a few options and roll dice to see how much damage and what abilities you can use.

[@michaelbonet9062]

Someone mentioned Unmatched, but another one to look up (probably can’t play) is Pirates of the Spanish Main. It was a ccg with 3d ships and islands and loot and everything that came in one pack was enough to play the game, including tiny dice.

[@JJMata]

"What if you controlled just one dude instead of an army" is literally the question that made Dave Arneson come up with Blackmoor. Some people know it as Dungeons and Dragons these days :) I mean no disrespect with that comment. I think Scott is onto something really cool here and I myself cannot wait to see where it goes!