UMBRA: Cyberspace - Behind The Scenes (Patreon)

For this month's expansion we're going to introduce some new mechanics to UMBRA that dive a bit more into the Hackers and digital threats. So, to try something a little different to my usual process, I thought I'd log what I'm doing as I go and show you the design process behind these expansions.

First up, how did I come to the decision for Cyberspace?

As Afterman pointed out in the UMBRA Discord, having multiple Hackers is kind of pointless. Their main function outside of hacking is to try and take over robotic enemies (and eventually regular enemies) but we could do so much more with this sci-fi trope. Hence, an expansion that focus on Hackers, computers, security systems, and how they interact.

So, first step of design outside of coming up with the concept:

Go for a walk.

Every project I do starts with a long walk and while it has been bucketing down with thunderstorms the past few days, today was clear enough to get out and get thinking.

Thankfully, I usually have my partner to bounce ideas off of which helps to focus in on what works and what doesn't because she is ruthlessly honest.

After the walk, we managed to work out that Cyberspace is:

A mini-game expansion that focuses on the inside of your digital defenses. 

That Hackers will play a big part in the expansion. Perhaps you need Hackers the way normal units need Rooms?

And that Enemies in this expansion will be trying to shut down your Security Systems, unlock your Barricades, disable Robotic units, and even shut off Rooms.

Now just to work out how all that goes together...

I know I want to go for a retro feeling computer font but this one is a bit too clunky to read. I'll come back to that at the end.

I like to start these expansions by creating a quick list of what's new and what you can do. I've also decided that you can Test your System by running mock enemies through it. Which means actual enemies have to have some tricks up their sleeves to avoid running into deathtraps...

This is going to be an interesting design challenge.

At this stage, what I do is essentially write out a bunch of definites (things like Firewalls and Trojan events) then start working out mechanics around those. And that usually involves a lot of back and forth, writing, looking at other media for inspiration, and going by gut feeling.

And for the sake of sharing each step of the process, you can check out the attached PDF to see what Cyberspace looks like at this early stage. Warning, there's only a couple of pages and certainly nothing usable yet.

It'll be interesting to actually document how my design changes drastically as I go :) 

Thanks for reading.