So it begins, the PAX Prime Demo...

A lot has happened the past few months, so I will do my best to catch you up. Back in July of 2015, we started developing Super Dungeon® Tactics. The game was to be based on the world of Super Dungeon® Explore tabletop game by Soda Pop Miniatures; however, the decision was made to create a new, but still somewhat familiar, experience, allowing the game to live alongside the tabletop game, but not as a clone.

After showing our concepts to Ninja Division, the publishers of Super Dungeon® Explore, they offered us an incredible opportunity to make a prototype for PAX Prime in Seattle. With a mix of excitement and nervousness, we accepted. Since there was only six weeks till the conference, we had to act quick.

We began by extending our simple but very effective paper prototype which allowed us to quickly test mechanics without coding. Once we had the design worked out, we started developing the code base. Little did we know, the paper prototype would prove to be a valuable asset throughout the project - but I will talk more about that in another post.

Our goal was to develop a simple playable version of the game to show the core mechanics of our design. Due to the short time frame, we decided to build a same screen multiplayer mode; it was faster than creating an intelligent computer opponent and could engage more people at one time. We also found that later in development, we could mimic to some extent what we wanted to AI to do.

Another big challenge was creating 3D characters that truly represented the amazing art from Soda Pop Miniatures. After a few revisions, we felt the art was ready. While we later were able to improve the look, we were very happy with the results given the short time frame.

After some crazy hours, we were able to complete the demo to show at PAX Prime. It was worth the effort; there was an overwhelming excitement about the game from both new-comers and tabletop veterans.

We were looking for feedback on a new dice mechanic, a key feature of the demo. This allowed players to enhance their characters and provide access to special abilities. Every round would result in different combinations calling for a new strategy. While many were apprehensive at first, after using the system players really enjoyed the feature.

This is a brief overview to the start of Super Dungeon Tactics. Many key steps of Super Dungeon Tactics' development process will be further explained as time goes on.

Thanks!