Looks awesome! 🧟♂ Coincidentally, I recently replayed The Last of Us, so i'm currently on an infected/zombie themed movie streak! 😂 Look forward to more design diaries 😃
Ah what a game! I still haven't played the second one...got that to look forward to! Sounds like my kind of movie streak! Make sure to get Train to Busan in there - my favourite of recent years!
Some random thoughts based on your discussion in the video. For character creation and job, the job just adds to the characters stats which you could just replace by giving another +1 to the player for stat selection. I would suggest and alternate route where you create six? eight? characters each with a set stats, starting equipment and location which is themed to the "job". For example, a Cabbie is 2S, 2A, 0P, 3T, 0K has a car (which gives some kind of movement through area bonuses and possibly penalties) and pretzels and starts in a Deli. The starting location instead of providing items provides you with a set of opportunities for events, etc that are unique to that location. Another example could be a doctor that starts at the hospital. Each of these characters could have different levels of quality so they act as achievements to complete the game with each character. The idea is to prevent the min/max of taking an optimal combination as well as just making it pure luck of what stats/equipment/location the player starts in. For Infection, I don't know if 6 turns is a lot or a little in the game, but if you make the penalty to steep for infection then it might as well be a failure condition instead as the player will not be motivated to keep playing so making infection be at worst a 50/50 chance seems to be necessary. You could have a case where multiple infected results decreases the clock more quickly which might make being infected in the final a zone more of a risk as there are more encounters that could happen.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts - I found them really valuable! I do much prefer your character creation idea. I'm going to take a look at integrating that! And I think you're right about infection - certainly the mechanic needs a little more thought.
I like the idea😊 When you mentioned the Lincoln-Tunnel, my first thought was that perhaps might have been inspired by Stephen King’s Stand book😄😄 I like that book so much🥰
When your ready for playtesters I work for Jaffa Cakes and would love to be considered. FYI, i love NYZ as a name. Really excited to see where this goes my friend!
Nice! We need more zombie print and plays. I got one I'm working on where you manage up to 10 different survivors at a time, but its a simple system so its not overbearing.
@@lone_adventurer Yeah, biggest inspiration is probably State of Decay 1-2 if you know those games. I have a sandbox 4X version of the same thing I want to make but I'll settle for a print and play version for now. Each survivor will have a name (random or chosen), a single trait or defining characteristic, which will give them a special ability or negative effect depending on what it is. Each survivor also has an overall skill/survival level, calling it METTLE for now. Combat and other checks are tested through mettle. You can roll a single die and resolve each survivor in your faction at the same time. You can switch between a party of survivors out in the world map or your base of survivors, probably through phases in the end.
@@nightbirdgames Sounds cool! I recognise your name now - you're the designer behind The Ferryman! Your game definitely looks cool - I wanted to cover it but just didn't have the time. I enjoyed Ithaquas Bane's playthrough!
@@lone_adventurer That's okay and thank you! Maybe after the campaign and the full game is released I can send a copy your way if your interested, FOC. You don't have to review it, especially if your busy, I totally understand. Just enjoy (or hate it, you might idk lol) and let me know what you think. I value any and all feedback. Yeah, Ithaquas did a great preview for me, explaining the game perfectly. Tabletop Engineer and Out of the Box games as well. Super thankful for their feedback. Thanks for the email, I'll get to playing it very soon and will let you know how far I made it!
I also like having a choice in my characters stats instead of having everything being random. Maybe you could add a line in there about rolling random for hardcore mode or something like that.
The game sounds cool. I’m a born and raised New Yorker, from Manhattans Lower East Side. Drop me a line if you need a hand fleshing the city out or something.
Oh nice, thanks! I have an over-romanticised view of New York thanks to my love of 80s movies so, by extension, I'm now convinced you must be super cool!
I know you said you didn't want to make the game too easy. But since you have several aspects that you think would make the player succeed too often, perhaps you can have an "easy mode" and "hard mode" so that you can keep those ideas instead of rebalancing them. Some examples: Easy mode: Infected character gets 6 rounds, No final boss. Hard mode: Infected character gets 8-location, Final boss in Lincoln Tunnel. I like the idea of the crazed general. Human to human violence is expected in an apocalypse. Perhaps another encounter can be getting mugged and losing a random item to escape. Anyway, good luck.
Hey hey - thanks for your input! I do like the idea of adding easy and hard mode - I'll have to see if I can physically fit it on the sheet (or maybe sheet and add a suplementary sheet...)! Yeah - I like human-risks in post-apocalyptic fiction; like I said, I almost added the zombies as an afterthought - there's plenty of events / enemies that are just human.
I'm so excited for this game! I love into the zone and the zombie theme sounds awesome.
Thanks!
Looks awesome! 🧟♂ Coincidentally, I recently replayed The Last of Us, so i'm currently on an infected/zombie themed movie streak! 😂 Look forward to more design diaries 😃
Ah what a game! I still haven't played the second one...got that to look forward to!
Sounds like my kind of movie streak! Make sure to get Train to Busan in there - my favourite of recent years!
This looks super neat! :D Good luck with this one! :D
Thank you!
Feel free to DM me if you are still looking for playtesters
Thanks! I'm not sure how to DM someone on RUclips though 🙂 drop me an email at loneadventurerplays at gmail dot com and I'll send it over to you!
Some random thoughts based on your discussion in the video.
For character creation and job, the job just adds to the characters stats which you could just replace by giving another +1 to the player for stat selection. I would suggest and alternate route where you create six? eight? characters each with a set stats, starting equipment and location which is themed to the "job". For example, a Cabbie is 2S, 2A, 0P, 3T, 0K has a car (which gives some kind of movement through area bonuses and possibly penalties) and pretzels and starts in a Deli. The starting location instead of providing items provides you with a set of opportunities for events, etc that are unique to that location. Another example could be a doctor that starts at the hospital. Each of these characters could have different levels of quality so they act as achievements to complete the game with each character. The idea is to prevent the min/max of taking an optimal combination as well as just making it pure luck of what stats/equipment/location the player starts in.
For Infection, I don't know if 6 turns is a lot or a little in the game, but if you make the penalty to steep for infection then it might as well be a failure condition instead as the player will not be motivated to keep playing so making infection be at worst a 50/50 chance seems to be necessary. You could have a case where multiple infected results decreases the clock more quickly which might make being infected in the final a zone more of a risk as there are more encounters that could happen.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts - I found them really valuable! I do much prefer your character creation idea. I'm going to take a look at integrating that!
And I think you're right about infection - certainly the mechanic needs a little more thought.
I like the idea😊
When you mentioned the Lincoln-Tunnel, my first thought was that perhaps might have been inspired by Stephen King’s Stand book😄😄 I like that book so much🥰
Thanks! Yup - that book was a big part of my mid-teens. I remember sneaking upstairs during family gatherings to read it :D
When your ready for playtesters I work for Jaffa Cakes and would love to be considered. FYI, i love NYZ as a name. Really excited to see where this goes my friend!
Jaffa-cakes is a very reasonable ask :) Glad you like the name - I think there's a decent chance I stick with it!
Nice! We need more zombie print and plays. I got one I'm working on where you manage up to 10 different survivors at a time, but its a simple system so its not overbearing.
Sounds interesting - so like a community-building / management kind of thing?
@@lone_adventurer Yeah, biggest inspiration is probably State of Decay 1-2 if you know those games. I have a sandbox 4X version of the same thing I want to make but I'll settle for a print and play version for now. Each survivor will have a name (random or chosen), a single trait or defining characteristic, which will give them a special ability or negative effect depending on what it is. Each survivor also has an overall skill/survival level, calling it METTLE for now. Combat and other checks are tested through mettle. You can roll a single die and resolve each survivor in your faction at the same time. You can switch between a party of survivors out in the world map or your base of survivors, probably through phases in the end.
Give Escape of the Dead a try, and maybe play 10 game concurrently at one time
@@nightbirdgames Sounds cool! I recognise your name now - you're the designer behind The Ferryman! Your game definitely looks cool - I wanted to cover it but just didn't have the time. I enjoyed Ithaquas Bane's playthrough!
@@lone_adventurer That's okay and thank you! Maybe after the campaign and the full game is released I can send a copy your way if your interested, FOC. You don't have to review it, especially if your busy, I totally understand. Just enjoy (or hate it, you might idk lol) and let me know what you think. I value any and all feedback.
Yeah, Ithaquas did a great preview for me, explaining the game perfectly. Tabletop Engineer and Out of the Box games as well. Super thankful for their feedback.
Thanks for the email, I'll get to playing it very soon and will let you know how far I made it!
Ill be up for play testing, this sounds great
Thanks Matt - drop me an email at loneadventurerplays at gmail dot com and I'll send you a copy!
New York Zombies needs to be a punk band name. I really like Martins game mechanics and will be looking forward to what you come up with.
I mean, it does feel like there's already a punk band out there somewhere with that name....
I also like having a choice in my characters stats instead of having everything being random. Maybe you could add a line in there about rolling random for hardcore mode or something like that.
Yeah - I like having that choice too. Nice idea about randomising for hardcore mode!
Hell yeah!!
Manhattan Mayhem - title suggestion.
Not bad - I'll add it to the list!
good luck with this
Thanks!
You know it's bad when you need to find salvation in NJ 🤣 - Sounds good and I'll be reaching out to do some beta testing if you still need that.
That would be very welcome! Actually, I'll be emailing the Ways Unseen Patrons and providing a free copy, so don't buy it!
@@lone_adventurer Sounds good. I'll keep an eye out for that email!
The game sounds cool. I’m a born and raised New Yorker, from Manhattans Lower East Side. Drop me a line if you need a hand fleshing the city out or something.
Oh nice, thanks! I have an over-romanticised view of New York thanks to my love of 80s movies so, by extension, I'm now convinced you must be super cool!
@@lone_adventurer Depends on who you ask. Haha. Keep up the good work. Really like your videos. You’ve turned me on to so many good games.
Almost done designing my own game.
Nice one! Best of luck with it!!
I know you said you didn't want to make the game too easy. But since you have several aspects that you think would make the player succeed too often, perhaps you can have an "easy mode" and "hard mode" so that you can keep those ideas instead of rebalancing them. Some examples:
Easy mode: Infected character gets 6 rounds, No final boss.
Hard mode: Infected character gets 8-location, Final boss in Lincoln Tunnel.
I like the idea of the crazed general. Human to human violence is expected in an apocalypse. Perhaps another encounter can be getting mugged and losing a random item to escape.
Anyway, good luck.
Hey hey - thanks for your input! I do like the idea of adding easy and hard mode - I'll have to see if I can physically fit it on the sheet (or maybe sheet and add a suplementary sheet...)!
Yeah - I like human-risks in post-apocalyptic fiction; like I said, I almost added the zombies as an afterthought - there's plenty of events / enemies that are just human.
Lone adventurer castle 🏰 lol 😆 that's funny 😁
😁 you don't know...could be an actual castle....