Mutant Pizza

Hello Otherworldly Beings,

This is the first design journal entry on a game that is rapidly developing in my brain and heart—working title Escape the Entity. I believe this to be the next game that I’ll publish post Nine Muses (my debut game).

I know what you might be thinking. “Don’t you have other games listed on your website that aren’t finished? One Last Job? Lingua Franca? What happened to that Color Space game? It’s not even listed anymore!”

You have a point! I do have other games on the docket and I haven’t provided updates on them in a while. I want to assure you that some of them are still in development. Color Space isn’t. I’ll briefly address that before getting into the actual design journal entry for Escape the Entity.

I detail the state of other games in development such as One Last Job, Lingua Franca, and Color Space in the Otherworld Games Monthly article linked below.

Initial prototyping for Escape the Entity

This game came to me fast and hot, like a meal at a fast-casual dining establishment. Truth be told, in the wake of me seeing poor results from playtesting Color Space and deciding to halt development on that game, my frustration lead me to want to make something new.

I wanted to make a two-player game. I wanted it to be competitive. And like any other designer, I wanted it to be fun.

Enter Escape the Entity, a two-player game of cat-and-mouse. What does that mean exactly? Let me show you.

Keep in mind that this is an early prototype. It’s not flashy. The goal of this is to refine game mechanics and playtest the hell out of the game to make sure the core systems work and, most importantly, make sure it’s actually fun.

Good news everyone: it is fun! I’ve playtested this internally with family and externally with designers and the consensus is that there’s a lot of fun in here. There are also core elements of the game that need tweaking. That’s fine, this is my second build of the game. I want there to be problems with it as, in my opinion, if everyone says “nothing wrong” then they don’t like the game and are trying to spare my feelings. (My feelings don’t need to be spared. Telling me you hate my game and giving me reasons why you hate it give me immensely valuable feedback to make it better.)

Glad it’s fun, but does this game work?

In Escape the Entity, one person controls a Ship (arrow-shaped object in the photo) that must visit the four planets (blue marbles) before the Entity (currently an orange circle token, not pictured) is able to devour it four times.

Tell me about this Ship

The Ship uses energy to change its heading and move along the hex grid. It also can acquire Tech Cards to help it combat the Entity. I kept it simple and included only six types of Tech Cards for the sake of the prototype.

What is the Entity, exactly?

This is a space-dwelling creature that consumes ships for unknown reasons. It can create “Blips” (represented by red pegs in the prototype) that it transforms into various anomalies on a subsequent turn. The Entity must devour the Ship four times before it can reach those four planets.

One neat part of the Entity’s gameplay is that it’s what’s referred to as a “tempo character,” meaning the Entity has two different states, each with a limited set of abilities, that it swings back and forth between like a pendulum. Its “Gestating Blips” state only allows it to create Blips (which must be made to create anomalies) and remove current anomalies on the board for reuse later. Its “Birthing Anomalies” state only allows it to replace blips with anomalies or the Entity itself.

There are three types of anomalies in limited amounts at the Entity’s disposal:

• Three Pulsars: One hex tile wide; when placed on the board, the Entity can change the Ship’s heading and their opponent must discard a Tech Card from its hand
• Two Dark Matter Clusters: Three hex tiles wide; the Ship can’t move through them unless it has a Dark Matter Resistance card
• One Black Hole: Three hex tiles in a triangular arrangement; the Ship is pulled two tiles close to it

The anomalies are limited, but the Entity can recall and place them again from Blips.

Then there was the Entity itself. The Entity is brought onto the board through a Blip, same as an anomaly. It can teleport around the board through Blips, but can’t move otherwise. It also can push or pull the Ship to or fro one hex tile, once per turn.

Okay, I’m starting to get how it works, how’d the playtest go?

It went well! Two other designers tested the game. They had a treasure trove of feedback on what was fun about the game and what could be done to make it better.

This journal entry is already quite long, so I’m going to get into the nitty-gritty of their feedback and what I’ll be changing to address that in a future entry.

I don’t want to leave you hanging, though, so the short version of their feedback is: They want more stuff in the game, the Entity’s wealth of abilities is a bit too front-loaded and difficult to remember, some anomalies have odd conditional interactions, and there are some balance issues to monitor—it’s a little too easy for the Ship to win.

All valid issues. I’m already at work on a new build of the game, which I’ll discuss in detail in my next journal entry.

Until then, stay otherworldly, friends…