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Entropy City:  Making a Wargame

Entropy City: Making a Wargame

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Project Blog by jjgrubb Cult of Games Member

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About the Project

It was sometime during 2014-15 when the starting idea's that would develop into Entropy City first started, exploring the wider world of wargames it occured to me that no-one had ever really done a game specifically based around Motorcycle Gang warfare and that I felt it lended itself very naturally to a miniatures games. Whilst I knew then that some work would need to be done to make the idea 'acceptable' it started brewing. It wouldnt be until June 2022 where the writing would officially begin.. This blog is a series of posts I have prepared and the development of my miniature game took place. Official Website: www.entropycitygame.com

This Project is Active

The Komodo logo is finalised

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I’m not sure I can truly how explains how it feels to have an idea you had in your head come back to you in a real piece of artwork by at artist with some talent, and I want to be clear this isnt me insulting myself its just that drawing isnt a skill I have.

The original versions of this logo I will show in a moment were actually created by me tracing around a photo I found on the internet, I mean i was proud it looked as good as it did but it wasnt really drawing and it certainly wasnt something I could ever use in a final product.  So lets have a reminder of where this all started

By the time we reached commission time it certainly felt a lot more like a logo than it had early on and I wont lie, Im very very glad I chose the triangle and Im not even really sure why, it just felt right to me. Unlike the Hades logo where I knew exactly what I wanted this one was far more fliud, I knew the idea I had but I knew I needed to leave it more to WeirdBlueYonder’s artistic creativity.

The official Komodo logoThe official Komodo logo

There was a moment of doubt where they werent sure if they had the right vibe with the “ghoulish” look it had on its face but given the nature of the organisation I felt it was perfect, theyre not exactly trying to pretend to be innocent like some others might do. We had some back and forth over the saliva and Im really really happy with the final results and now we only have two more faction logos to finalise.

A rules update

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As always the rules for Entropy City continues to evolve and change over time as testing happens and continues, I dont always share every single update because some of them are tiny, and some of them a tedious and I always second guess how many people actually read them.

This one however I felt was a pretty important share, for starters the Redemption Falls Police Department have begun testing but more importantly I have added the playtesting lists and cards to the end of the rules document on the off chance anyone is interested in testing things for themselves at home.

I’ll try and give a more significant update sometime soon but I wanted to get this out, one last note, at some point within the next month the Entropy City channel on the Getting Tabled youtube channel will be moved to a public channel.

– Jason “The Bruce”

Public Rules Update

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Its time for an update of the project with a new rules document. As always theres been more updates than I can list here since I last updated the document here but the most recent changes are listed here.
  • I have begun adding some photo diagrams to show examples of certain things. (Not final but every improvement helps)
  • One of the potential future factions have had a rename.
  • Some character backstories have been fleshed out more.
  • Website URL now featured on the front
Most important change.
In the past the updates I have released is literally just been a copy of my working document, I am no longer going to be doing that. Theres sections in the document that are for me, to keep track of ideas and things I intend to impliment in future, an example of this would be the traits & skills section but its often confused readers. Most of this stuff I am going to be trying to remove before the release of a new version of the document. Despite this being a “new” document I am however keeping the number system to prevent confusion.
Next version of the document will likely also feature the updated playtesting lists, which are currently available for Hades & Komodo but not in the document itself, Mutiny & RFPD will have their updated list soon, current ones need updating.

I will do another update soon with the updated cards for all 4 factions.

Guest Writing about games development

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I recently had the opportunity to be a guest writer for the Inner-Strength Check Podcast when the creator asked if I would be interested in talking about the development of Entropy City. Their podcast isnt purely gaming related often talks about music but its main focus had always been mental health as well.

But I figured now was a good time to share the article.

The world's first Entropy City battle report

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Presenting the world’s first ever Entropy City battle report, this video captures the first 2 turns of combat between Hades M.C. And The Komodo. I’ve not filmed many battle Reports in the past and have found the learning curve is rather steep but hope you find the video enjoyable, I definitely have plans to make future videos even better.

 

So I hope this wets your appetite for Entropy City and builds the curiosity for more.

Very briefly this is what I have plans to improve next time.

  • More camera angles and less reaching into frame
  • On screen images to display changes and conditions.
  • Film more to allow for the edit to capture everything and be edited to look more like what I see elsewhere.
  • Entropy City will need it’s own YouTube channel to become active at some point.

Some of these improvements are already in progress.

A little preview of things to come

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What is it that Gerry loves the most? Battle Reports? So what am I attempting to do? Make a battle report.

Actually truth be told Ive already finished editing the battle report itself, it captures 2 turns of a game, it will go live later in the month but wanted to leave it with getting Tabled patreons for a little while first. However here is a little tease of things to come.

This preview was created BEFORE the new artwork was completed.

I can already tell you theres things I will want to do better next time. For starters, the originaln plan was to use the footage to create several game mechanic videos and it somewhat BECAME a battle report later, this means theres some “boring” turns that arent captured, also without graphics on screen to show off the stats, and I am in the process of creating these things for next time.

Ive also never really done battle reports so its a learning curve, but hopefully the final version peaks enough peoples interest for more

First real official piece of artwork

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I’ve spoken endless times about how I cant really draw, and thats okay its just not a skill I have, Ive been proud of what ive been able to achieve my “faking it” as I call it but getting real artwork thats drawn by a real artist and is mine to use without being concerned about stolen assets has been a huge goal for a long time.

For a long time the Hades Motorcycle Club has a simple idea and I want to quickly share its history before I reveal the official final logo.

As you can see the idea started simply, I had what I felt was a pretty solid idea in my head but the question was how it looked, I settled quickly on how I wanted it to look like it could be made as a patch and I’ve stuck with that with the final version I had Into The Weird Blue Yonder complete for me.

The official Hades logoThe official Hades logo

A logo is a small step but an important one and makes the game feel more real. Hope I can share more soon.

Long overdue update

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Long time since I got a decent update done on the game’s development, a lot of this is because the big changes lately havent really existed, its been a lot of little things. I am very much in the crunch period of small little tweaks everytime I find something, small answers to questions that I can just I did xyz or abc but everytime I went to write a post I felt like it would be boring to read and so I hesitated.

The most recent design of the cards was one I was very very happy with, though there was definately parts I needed to update, parts when printed in real life were far too small and almost unreadable, thats been fixed and so I am sharing again. These have been available on the podcast discord since Saturday and have been uploaded to the facebook group today as well..  They’re formated in a 4×6 design for only one reason, for me to print i found it easier to cut to size because a lot of the templates I had even though they were measured to literal size never came out the size they should be.

At the very bottom you will find a few files, firstly im sharing the rulebook again, simply just to keep everything easy to find, same with the updated version of the Quick Reference sheet and then finally an image gallery will all the current cards (10 in total), I had hoped to share them via a zip file but the project doesnt allow it for security reasons Im guessing.

As you will see my font choices have moved to something far more generic looking on the cards, this has happened for 2 reasons, 1 dull and another annoying. I did however change the name to a more interesting choice, this isnt final more a point of concept, does the card work and look like its right with the different fonts I think it could IF the design is right. The other major change to Komodo some may have missed if they no longer have access to any fire arms, this is a deliberate choice to help differentiate them from the other factions and one for balancing as well.

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