Friday, 2 October 2015

Siberian Dawn - Three Questions



Listening to other game designers you will hear some of the top ones say that when pitching a game to a company you shouldn’t start by talking about what type of game it is, like a deckbuilding game, but instead you should answer three questions. Who you are? What you do? How do you win?

You then go and watch a video by one of these top designers about their new game and the first thing they tell you is what type of game it is, but never mind them not taking their own advice I would like today to answer those three important questions they mentioned, in this blog, in relation to my game Siberian Dawn.





Who Are You?

In Siberian Dawn you play the part of an Overseer, one of the tactical experts of the Union who are responsible for quickly dealing with troubles as they arise using a limited resource pool, controlled squad level force, and possible support from the Guilds.

The game starts as hostility has been growing for the last few weeks in Industrial Habit IH-54 of the Eastern Zones. Outcasts are rumoured to have been stirring up this dissent and it is believed they are connected to a cult called the Dawn, Overseers have been assigned to deal with this unrest and you are one of them.





What You Do?

You start the game with a basic set of resources that include Investment cards and Logistics cards. You will then use these resources to buy Union units that can be deployed to strategic sites, gain Guild units that will support you, or buy higher value resource cards. During the tactical phase deployed units can then fight hostiles using the tactical cards you have in your tactical hand, which can also be improved.

Increasing your rank is another important thing you must do in the game, as this increases you hand of cards and allows you to command more powerful units.





How Do You Win?

In the game you will play various missions that will give the Overseer a series of objectives to complete which have variety and offer the Overseer different challenges during the mission. Each objective has a different goal that might be such things as occupying a number of sites, reaching a certain rank, or defeating a number of hostiles.

Once an objective is complete the next objective is given to you and when you complete them all you are victorious in the mission as long as you don’t let the Vitae, the life level of the mission area, reach zero.


Finally...

And there you have the three questions answered and hopefully I have given you a better understanding of what Siberian Dawn is all about. Next time we will take a look at the Hub, the interface that the Overseer uses to communicate with the world, or as some might call it, the game screen. What are all those numbers, cards and strange pods doing on the screen, and how does it all come together to give you the tense game that is Siberian Dawn?


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