I’ve always been very open about my passion for TTRPG’s. Part of the reason that I signed on for Kobold Tactics was that it was pitched as a “Reverse D&D” (the other part being that it was pitched by an artist so the art was guaranteed, which was a huge bonus.) Our original timeframe was to having a functional prototype to show off at the 2022 Capital Creative Showcase. The team started out solid – Dan working art, Johnathan and Tommy programming, Kevin and Andrew on sound, and myself doing the system, level, and story design.
My goal was to keep the game simple enough that it could be done in three months, yet robust enough that it would be a lengthy and enjoyable experience that could be played again and again. I wanted to go with a simple DnD-esque tactics game drawing heavily from the tabletop experience without simply trying to replicate the tabletop experience. The end result was a game system that has almost endless forced versatility. Because of random character generation, it could very well end up that a player is forced to rely on un-optimal characters – a orc wizard with 12 Strength and 4 Intelligence, for example.
The first part of the goal was an utter failure. Lead programmer @jonathan was in southern California at the time for an internship (which ironically gave him MORE time to work on the game) and was almost completely unfamiliar with TTRPG mechanics. While the game design was simple compared to my more lengthy works, it was still way to complex for such a small team in such a short amount of time. We entered the Capital Creative Showcase with a map that would allow players to move two characters and attack two enemies with basic melee attacks (that could hit from anywhere on the board) – a resounding success. 95% of the games system had to be scrapped in the first public demo just to have something to show off.
Now, we’re 6 months on from that point. We’ve upgraded from Godot 3 to Godot 4 and completely rewritten the code for the game. We have new art and assets, we’ve remade maps, and we have the ability to randomly generate characters and place those characters into the game. And we’ve still only got 20-ish percent of the games system in place. Everyone is busy. Everyone has lives and other jobs. And every moment dedicated to Kobold Tactics is snatched from some social or family activity, from homework or other projects. Piece by piece it’s coming together, but every moment spent on it is a struggle for those of us involved. It’s an awesome team that I’m proud to be part of.
…
And here you probably thought this was going to be about my inability to complete a game after 10 years of work on it.
