#ttrpgdev

[biomechttrpg]

Little BIOMECH update (:

BIOMECH is very soon leaving pre-alpha, and I am working on some closed alpha test groups! Once I get a beta, I plan on doing something more open. we'll see how that rolls out. In the meantime while I hear back from some test readers, I wanna talk about some inspirations, and some fun things I have come across and been pointed to. I won't count the weird nightmare I had that caused me to start writing this, but it certainly is a thing that inspired the whole project. - First: Alien. I watched the move at an age that was probably too young, but it left such an impression on me and has remained my favorite horror movie for a long, long time (still is). I think my fascination for body horror stems from my exposure to this movie. - Gurren Lagann: It took my friends 3-4 years to finally get me to watch it? I almost bounced off due to the high amount of Weeb Shit (put a shirt on, kid) but it ended up becoming one of my favorites. There are a couple things that are inspired by a fighting spirit and never giving up; BIOMECH may be horror, but it isn't hopeless.

- Metal Gear Solid: While things *are* in an endless war, I do like to think the message in the base writing is anti-war. I could be here for 4 hours talking about MGS; so I will spare you and say that while it is an inspiration, I'm not looking to do a bunch of Kojima level writing. - Star Wars: I grew up watching the tapes my mom and dad had, i can't help loving it, and I bet there are notes of star war in this thing. It is an inescapable pit in my brain. - Bladerunner: This one is not nearly as surface level, and may only really appear in writing about the system/in a game module I want to write. But I really like how the movies explore humanity, a sense of self, and more. I won't go into a ton of detail here yet. Maybe once I showcase a game module for people to run.

Some other mentions!

Warframe! I started playing it again in the past few months, and some ideas run somewhat parallel to things I had planned for BIOMECH. It's been real fun to play it after barely ever touching it.

Anti-capitalism. Capitalism is the bad guy in the writing. Granted, a GM can use the system to make any story they want, but capitalism fuels war in this story. War is a never-ending evil that fills the pockets of the rich and keeps the rest suppressed and fighting each other for their "all-powerful" leaders.

Multiple game systems, but FFG Star Wars and Call of Cthulhu are the most influential on the system I am making. In the end, I am making something I find fun and interesting and following the path I want. But these games have deeply influenced how I formed some of the base designs.

Pacific Rim/Armored Core/Other Big Mech Stuff: I just like big robot, ok?

And more! I'm gonna let people try and pick some out though (: Now, the one I haven't seen. And some alpha readers, friends, and viewers have asked if i was influenced. I have never seen Neon Genesis Evangelion. I now will not be watching it until I am done with the beta, I feel that would be against my interests at this point when it comes to making something that is authentically mine. Anyway, hope this was somewhat interesting to read. More to come!

[gamesbycass]

Look what time it is! It's the real capitalist holiday of Black Friday weekend (and Cyber Monday) so I caved and put everything on sale.  https://itch.io/s/82222/the-blackest-of-fridays​

[biomechttrpg]

There is one biting weapon (2 if you're loose on definition) in the closed alpha as of right now. there will be more

Important Question: Will there be biting biomechs (please)

I mean, there is a potential. I want to start working on how the game runs this week and get some basic combat rules down. A biting weapon isn't off the table at all though, considering pilots are floated in a chamber inside the core of the mech (I'll get into that later, with a tag for body horror)

Tl;dr, I promise nothing, but that is cool and would likely be a bioweapon as well (:

[scythiumdev]

Writing Reality #2

In the previous post I gave what was hopefully some helpful background for why I started this project. This post hopefully will serve to explain more importantly how I am continuing with it.

Where do you start with Game Development?

This was the question at the core of my mind. Research into examples of other developers and their story of success as independent content creators or small groups only gave motivation based on confirming for myself that my own success was indeed possible. It did not, however, help me with the question of “how”. I had to focus on one part of the process if I was going to go anywhere, so I went after how to write “the story”.

I started consuming mass quantities of RPG and TTRPG media in an effort to get inside the mental processes of the GMs and story writers. We are talking hundreds of hours of reading, listening, watching, and ultimately gaining inspiration. This led to me essentially mentally assessing the individuals responsible for the content to try and better understand what was being put into their works. The process was very helpful, leading me to numerous resources that those same GMs had found personally instrumental to their success and creative processes. Encouraging, but not actually very structurally helpful in giving me an example of an effective process of development.

While I am not a professional when it comes to communication, there’s not a lot that scares me when it comes to writing. My comma placement is atrocious due to my writing style but I have come to terms with those issues and am working to improve. Regardless of that, the exposure to countless impeccably crafted narratives and stories made my own task of creating one myself slightly daunting. If I was ever going to become someone who could create not only a theoretical world to bridge for one’s suspension of disbelief but also an interesting plot, I was going to need to start checking my ideas against outside parties.

Busy people tend to have busy friends, and that was where I was stuck. My closest friends who were also willing to listen to my project ramblings (willingly or at least with certain degrees of tolerance) were more or less either unreachable or unavailable at my times of peak inspiration. I had to do some digging about my temperament to eventually come to the conclusion that I ought to be writing out my ideas in a conversational way as an alternative to actual discourse. While not as helpful for “sanity checking” my ideas with other perspectives, giving access to these write-ups for later feedback by contacts managed to be an acceptable temporary solution.

Issue 1: Story and Plot -> Temporary Fix Achieved. Sorta. It’s good enough for now.

Issue 2: World-building and Documentation. Heaven help us. The amount of resources for existing systems’ organization is pathetic, let alone availability of an open structured network for dynamic support of multiple systems. The crazy web of how to record a literal universe-worth of details is/was not easy. It seems like locating a perfect system is impossible. 

This ongoing battle will be detailed more in the future posts.

[biomechttrpg]

Working on test characters, and having fun with some special ability ideas. Here's one of em.

Closed alpha testing should start somewhat soon, just gotta wrap test characters and test. After a little polish, there will be an open alpha release with the premade characters for anyone to try!

[gamesbycass]

The first BIG change in the game has actually brought us back UNDER 103k. We were over 105k with some small clarifications and revisions as well as a few additions but now we've changed an entire race in the game to such a degree that they're almost unrecognizeable from the original build while retaining their canon abilities.

[gamesbycass]

Just launched a bundle with 49 other creators to prepare for the upcoming solstice! Games to spread the holiday cheer, stories of horror, and more! So, as the nights grow long and the days grow short, let's gather together and play some games with our loved ones! https://itch.io/b/1618/solstice-fantasy-ttrpg

[gamesbycass]

Revisions and additions pushed us over 104k last night. We're still balancing out the abilities and finding all the gaps in the system but it's coming along very nicely. #ttrpg #ttrpgs #ttrpgdev #ttrpgDesign​

[gamesbycass]

One of the things I love about the revision process is finding better ways of doing things or adding in additional mechanics you hadn't thought of that will really bring a game to life! We just added one that will really make this feel like the source material and have a massive impact on how players approach the game. #ttrpg #ttrpgs #ttrpgdev #ttrpgDesign​

[gamesbycass]

So, um, made a tumblr. Let's see how THIS goes. #ttrpg #ttrpgdev #ttrpgDesign

[scythiumdev]

Writing Reality #1

For unfortunately the last decade I’ve been plagued with such a numerous number of ideas that drowning in them would be the humane path to my demise. To seal this fate, I began taking them down as notes, tagging them for later reference and use with good SEO-practices even within my private system. While some may never see the light of day or even the “sweet release of death” known as the archive or delete button, there are a remnant few that have sneaked by into my (attempt at) To-Do lists for projects.

This series will be about what has become a saga of learning to be a TTRPG (Table-Top Role-Playing Game) developer. Don’t expect large levels of detail about the project within these posts. If you can track down my Discord I am open to questions and ideas there.

“ Viivesi “ - Project Title

So Viivesi as a project is complicated. The idea of it grew over the years from a single character concept into what was essentially the fantasy shell for a full system of reality. When a contact I had told about the ideas indicated that they may have a potential buyer for a franchise pitch, I decided it was finally time to try and put ideas into words.

The opportunity was a very important source of initial motivation to get started on making something that exists as an idea into what could be considered more concrete. Ideally it would be a concept that could be clearly pitched or explained. While the offer eventually was rescinded by the interested party due to undisclosed circumstances, the situation helped me realize that the project was not just another thing that sounded interesting; the project had become a piece of me. 

That realization alone was a bit of a revelation. Creative projects before this had been fueled by my typical personality of efficiency and meeting requirements. It was a passion project, linked very heavily to ideas which appeared in short spurts of inspiration. Somewhat frustratingly, this project was different. Unpredictable and unable to be scheduled, initially the results were discouraging. Not being able to measure the success of the project according to the “Get Stuff Done™” ideals of all my other projects caused me to wrack my mind, looking for a way to force motivation or inspiration to make headway. 

Eventually I came to the conclusion that I could do indirect work on the project when I was not feeling inspired by doing research on other examples of work within the genre of my “writing” project. 

That decision was one of the best mistakes I have ever made. 

I will elaborate on that more in the future posts.

[jetmanjay]

Hi, big post on BIOMECH blog going over inspos! go look at it if you want

Little BIOMECH update (:

BIOMECH is very soon leaving pre-alpha, and I am working on some closed alpha test groups! Once I get a beta, I plan on doing something more open. we'll see how that rolls out. In the meantime while I hear back from some test readers, I wanna talk about some inspirations, and some fun things I have come across and been pointed to. I won't count the weird nightmare I had that caused me to start writing this, but it certainly is a thing that inspired the whole project. - First: Alien. I watched the move at an age that was probably too young, but it left such an impression on me and has remained my favorite horror movie for a long, long time (still is). I think my fascination for body horror stems from my exposure to this movie. - Gurren Lagann: It took my friends 3-4 years to finally get me to watch it? I almost bounced off due to the high amount of Weeb Shit (put a shirt on, kid) but it ended up becoming one of my favorites. There are a couple things that are inspired by a fighting spirit and never giving up; BIOMECH may be horror, but it isn't hopeless.

- Metal Gear Solid: While things *are* in an endless war, I do like to think the message in the base writing is anti-war. I could be here for 4 hours talking about MGS; so I will spare you and say that while it is an inspiration, I'm not looking to do a bunch of Kojima level writing. - Star Wars: I grew up watching the tapes my mom and dad had, i can't help loving it, and I bet there are notes of star war in this thing. It is an inescapable pit in my brain. - Bladerunner: This one is not nearly as surface level, and may only really appear in writing about the system/in a game module I want to write. But I really like how the movies explore humanity, a sense of self, and more. I won't go into a ton of detail here yet. Maybe once I showcase a game module for people to run.

Some other mentions!

Warframe! I started playing it again in the past few months, and some ideas run somewhat parallel to things I had planned for BIOMECH. It's been real fun to play it after barely ever touching it.

Anti-capitalism. Capitalism is the bad guy in the writing. Granted, a GM can use the system to make any story they want, but capitalism fuels war in this story. War is a never-ending evil that fills the pockets of the rich and keeps the rest suppressed and fighting each other for their "all-powerful" leaders.

Multiple game systems, but FFG Star Wars and Call of Cthulhu are the most influential on the system I am making. In the end, I am making something I find fun and interesting and following the path I want. But these games have deeply influenced how I formed some of the base designs.

Pacific Rim/Armored Core/Other Big Mech Stuff: I just like big robot, ok?

And more! I'm gonna let people try and pick some out though (: Now, the one I haven't seen. And some alpha readers, friends, and viewers have asked if i was influenced. I have never seen Neon Genesis Evangelion. I now will not be watching it until I am done with the beta, I feel that would be against my interests at this point when it comes to making something that is authentically mine. Anyway, hope this was somewhat interesting to read. More to come!