Colludium One…

Colludium One… No! It’s not some rare element superheroes are made of, it’s not some rare element worth strip mining a precious living planet for… It’s a bundle of 17 Indie RPGs! Which is better, when you think of the social and political ramifications of the former possibilities! You can get it on DriveThruRPG here, or a slightly different bundle of 15 games on Itch.io here.

A while ago Marcus, of Blue Golem Publishing (here on DriveThruRPG and here on Itch.io), put out the call to a number of indie/small press rpg creators to feature in a bundle for release on DriveThruRPG and Itch.io. Happily, my game Owlbear Omelette, is one of those available!

Marcus put in a huge effort and a lot of work to get all these wild horses pulling in the same direction, but his efforts have reached fruition, the Collidium is here!

The Colludium bundle contains a collection of small press RPGs, some of which are funny, some of which are serious, all of which are awesome. I feel quite proud of the fact my own little game, Owlbear Omelette, sits among these titles.

17 Indie RPGs for less than the cost of the average core book? Colludium One is available from DriveThruRPG, and a separate bundle of 15 excellent games (some the same, some different) is available from Itch.io.

Exploring the Jungle

I wrote last time about working with a co-designer (Ark Angel Games) on a few games. All of these were spun from the same core concept, but all of these have developed along quite different paths. One which has moved the furthest in this process, seems the closest to finished, feels like it is in the tweaking stage, is tentatively called Colour Jungle. It probably won’t be called that when we pitch it to a publisher, but it’s what we call it for now.

Over the last few weeks the core mechanisms seem to settled, now we’re working on player powers, and simple games are hard work. Complex games are hard work too, but simple games are a different type of hard. Tweak this power, just a little, and it becomes too powerful, tweak it back, in a different way, and it becomes too weak. Trying to find a nice balance for the various player powers (we are working on six core powers, with a few more in the wings), is tough work. The only way forward is through playtesting, testing, testing, testing, and just when you think it feels right, testing some more.

When playtesting, be aggressive. Don’t be nice to your opponents, don’t be magnanimous, generous, or kind. Be brutal. Exploit the powers you have in the game in as many brutal and blunt and subtle ways as possible. Manipulate, dominate, and orchestrate, but never capitulate. Playtesting is about breaking things, about finding the holes and the weaknesses and ways in which the game system falls apart when pushed.

The powers we have settled on are close, but there are weaker ones still, and possibly a strong one. The more we test and play and test again, pushing a prodding, ruthlessly struggling for the best outcome every single turn, the closer we are to honing those down and getting all the little ducklings in a row. It’s been fun, and we’ve played this one a lot. Still, it needs to be played more. A few tweaks yet to make and a few powers yet to hone before I think it will be ready. Within a simple game engine, a little tweak is often troubling work though, a little tweak can resonate against the simple engine in significant ways. Little tweaks are rarely little. I think we’re close though, and getting closer…