We have done a lot of thinking over the last few months about what kind of game Omicron Protocol is. We started our journey by standing on the shoulders of giants. We knew we wanted to make a game to rival our favorite games in the genre that brought us together as friends, games like Guild Ball, X-Wing, and Malifaux. We wanted unique characters, small scale skirmish, competitive balance, and most of all a minimum of negative play experiences.
After a couple months of trying ideas our game started to take shape. I took it home for Christmas and showed my stepdad. He hasn’t played any miniatures games and so - put off by the measuring tape - he said to me, “One question you should be able to answer: why not hex-based movement?”
My response was instant: “No.”
A few weeks later we were redoing the movement and range measurement for our new be hex-based playmat. Thus began our journey to make a more accessible miniatures game, one that rewards good play in a competitive setting without completely overwhelming a casual player or a boardgamer with keywords and exceptions. This has been a very worthwhile process and we are very excited about our game, but it has led to a few crises of identity. One of the questions Bernie likes to ask: “What IS a miniatures game?”
An early prototype of our hex playmat. We scoured Google Earth images of SF looking for suitable areas to fit our scenarios.
We felt the last of these waves of doubt during the last few months as we have gotten closer and closer to Kickstarter and the need to actually settle on what we intend to offer people. First and foremost we want to sell a game that minis players will be happy to play for years to come. But we also want to offer something for the boardgamers that maybe aren’t convinced they should spend time assembling and painting minis just yet (even though it’s awesome). We wanted a “Starter Box” of some kind.
We have discussed our options ad nauseam and have finally settled on a 2 player “Starter Bundle” that we hope will appeal to those backers who want to play the game but aren’t ready to go all-in or who want to try a couple factions for play style before committing. This bundle will cost the same as a faction box, but will contain sets of 3 models from 2 factions of the backers choice. We are still investigating what other components we can fit in that bundle but rest assured, we are aiming to provide the best value possible for your pledge at any level.
Do you like to buy starter bundles, or do you like to jump into a miniatures game with a full faction first?