Gorilla Games Battlestations: Dirtside

No bad news but a lame update is better than silence
about 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:35:23 AM

Everything is marching along. I'm waiting for Dan to finish the rulebook so I can send it out to you all to pick it apart and make it great.

I hate this kind of update because I am not showing progress but I want you all to know that I am thinking of you and working on the project every day. I can't do the rulebook while Dan is editing it so I store stuff that I keep in a separate file so when I get it back I can integrate it. Actually, Dan told me last week that I can work on the last section of the rulebook until he gets to it so I've been busy there.

I'm also sorting out the components layout and working on the 3d buildings with Joey.

Thank you for your support!

The book is getting laid out.
about 4 years ago – Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 01:54:21 AM

This is one of those updates where I haven't done much because I'm waiting for art or lay out but I want you guys to know that the project isn't languishing.

We should have a book to look at for early editing comments soon. It is always exciting for me to see it go from my ham-fisted almost dot matrix printout into the slick-looking book that Dan puts together. My enemy action system was described by one of my dear friends and co-workers as a mess before Dan put it into a beautiful chart. He didn't change any of the words but he was able to make it make sense. This enemy action chart is from before the kickstarter so it isn't evidence of progress as much as it is an insight into the process.

So you can see that I get excited to find out it's not that I'm a terrible writer. Dan is a genius at making things clear and beautiful.

Now, I'm waiting for him to do this magic with a 200 page book. He's had other projects going and every time I wanted to change something I would wait to send it to him. When he is done, I'll be able to show it to you guys and get feedback about what is still unclear. In the meantime, Joey and I have been working on the 3D buildings. Joey thinks they are so pretty we can sell them as terrain to non-Battlestations players. 

So things are moving even when I don't have the book in my hands to tweak. It is driving me crazy because at playtesting every week I find a little thing like "Oh, that mission should be 2+MD barrels instead of MDx2". And instead of changing the book, I take a note and have to wait. 

Thanks for reading my update.

Rulebook Passes another round of edits
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 01:08:04 AM

Now that Starships is completely at the printer I have had Dirtside as my main focus. That can be a bad thing as I had a brilliant idea to ditch used markers that lasted all of one playtest. I also had the idea to make vehicles and buildings behave more like ship's modules. This was actually a good idea so I kept it. I'm forever struggling with trying to make it cooler, simpler, and compatible with Battlestations.

I want it to be perfect and I want it to be better and those things some times conflict. I'll have an idea to make it better and that will cascade through the rules set creating inconsistencies and imperfections. The process of digging through that shows more problems. Eventually, I might have to undo the changes in my fixes and rework it. It isn't as time consuming as I make it sound but it is taxing. I'm holding the whole thing in my head and in my computer at the same time. I say this to let you know that it is getting worked on and it is getting done. 

I'm going to make one more pass through the edits before I hand it off to Dan for layout before Christmas. After Dan does the layout, I'll open it up to the rest of you all for your comments. I look forward to that.

Planet Building Time!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 04:55:51 PM

For those of you who want to create a planet with me (or update the planet we already built), I'm getting ready to finalize the planets. 

This update is only going out to those who sponsored a planet.

You can download and check out the planet builder here:

https://app.box.com/s/d9ex0c6e4bkq9p0ry1hexymecqooesfh

You can use it to customize your planet.

I've already been working with one backer to make the planet below. This is an idea of how things will be (but likely to look a lot better when Dan has formatted it nicely).

You don't have to do any of the work. You are welcome to do all of the work. My goal here is to make the universe better by adding your creative ideas to it. If you can't find the time to make a planet, just message me back with as little as "Make it interesting" or as long as "here is the novel I wrote set in my world."

email me directly at [email protected]

Thank you for helping to make the universe happen!

10.234

Verdantblackalpha

Free State

Locals here regenerate an additional point per Phase

Adam Black

Enlivening

Verdantblackalpha is extremely verdant. The air is filled with spores that are supportive of life but also extremely flammable. Each character here regenerates one point of damage at the end of each Phase. Any use of an energized piece of equipment other than cyberware (including wristcomps, medkits and toolkits) here has a chance of starting a fire. Roll a die and on a "6" a fire is started. If the energized equipment was a personal weapon, roll a die for both the space the shot was fired from as well as the target space.

Flame Out

Fires on this planet extinguish on a "6" spread result in addition to damaging the space they are in. This effect also deals 2d6 damage to the occupants of the space.

Shipping Charges Goof!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 11:54:53 PM

Hey guys,

Most of you have been charged shipping for Batlestations: Dirtside. Some of you expressed concern that the account said, "Joey Vigour-Growl".

Joey was the producer for Battlestations: Dirtside. He did such a great job with setting up the backerkit for his own project that we imported his data over to my project.

Unfortunately, we apparently imported his bank information instead of mine.

2 things.

1. I will make sure none of you are overcharged or double charged. My first priority is taking care of my backers.

2. I spoke with Joey and he doesn't want to keep your money. I haven't been able to get through to Backerkit but I am confident that we will work out a solution that has a minimum of problems.

We may have to refund the charges and then charge them to the correct account. Whatever we do, I will keep you informed.

I apologize for any concern this situation has caused.

Jeff