Log
Genre: Combat game
Project Role: Solo Developer
Platform: Tabletop
Engine: N/A
What is it?
"Log" is a two-player tabletop combat game centering on a fight between two tree-person.
There are two types of tree-person for each player to select, with each having their own unique attributes and appearance. There are also world events that take place at the start of each turn.
The goal is to reduce the opponent’s health to zero.
If you are interested in the full rulebook, it can be found here.
System Design
Each player has three choices for their action each turn. The player can choose to attack, defend or enhance part of their character. After the player chooses their cards, they must place them on the corresponding slots of their board.
To resolve combat each turn, players must compare their action cards from each part of their board. The gameplay flow is as follow:
There are three situations during the comparison for each part:
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attack vs attack
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attack vs defense
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defense vs defense
When both players attack each other with the same part of their tree-person, they must roll the dice and compare the result with their opponent’s agility. If the dice’s value is larger than or equal to their opponent’s agility, the attack hits and will do the damage with the value on the card directly to their opponent, ignoring armor values. If the value is less, the attack misses and nothing happens.
If one player attacks while the other defends, the defending player can retaliate if/when the attacking player misses their attack. When the retaliation occurs, the attacking player can’t damage the defending player will take direct damage with the retaliation value on their opponent’s defense card.
If the attacking player hits their opponent, the player whatever damage is leftover from defense rating removed from the attack value. If the defense value is higher than the attack value, no damage is received.
However, if both players defend, nothing happens.
The World Event Cards
Outside of the normal attack, there are two special attacks that the player can use: the bug and fruit attacks. Both special attacks require the player to enhance the part of the tree-person indicated by their board.
The bug attack’s damage over time effect comes from the enhancement of the tree-person’s log and will take effect at the start of the next turn. The player attaches bugs to their opponent if the attack hits. If the player enhances the log of their tree-person and uses it to defend, they can transfer or spawn bugs to their opponent when their opponent attacks and hits.
On the other hand, the fruit attack is similar to the chain attack. The player can choose to enhance the leaf part of their tree-person to use it. When the player uses the fruit attack, it requires the player to spend their fruit to have more hits in one attack and is resolved similarly to a normal attack. The player needs to roll the dice given on the enhancement card and compare the result to their opponent’s agility. Each hit of the fruit attack is resolved separately, and the player can only continue to the next attack if the previous hit is successful.
What went right?
Players enjoyed the fruit attack, especially when all of the hits were successful. The retaliation worked well, was balanced well within the system, and was well received by the players.
What went wrong?
Since the bugs could only be attached if the attack was successful, it was difficult to utilize during playtests. In hindsight, it would have been better to have the player roll different dice to determine the result of the bug attack. The world events were also varied or numerous enough since gameplay often lasted more than five turns.