Monday, August 18, 2008

Born on a Monday

Welcome to the first of Monkeyden Production's game design blog series. On this blog, I intend on sharing what goes on behind the scenes when creating our first game, Superhuman: Miniatures Battle Game.

First I should give you a quick introduction. I am Joseph Blomquist, president and lead game designer at Monkeyden Productions and I post under the name of one of Centennial City's worst villains, Dr. Mono. A long time comic fan and hardcore wargame enthusiast, Superhuman was probably my destiny.

As a gamer, I was first introduced to miniatures gaming, like many others, with Battletech by FASA. Few of us do not have fond memories of lumbering robots trudging along a battlefield in pitched combat. This was, of course, soon followed with Games Workshop's masterpiece, Warhammer 40000. Ah...Space Marines. Good times.

On the roleplaying side, my favorites were always of the superhero genre, always giving a nod to my other childhood love- comics. From Marvel Superheroes to Champions, from Hero System to DC Roleplaying Game, from Heroes Unlimited to Mutants and Masterminds, I played them all. And over the years I created the kinds of characters that would follow me from game to game.

I even got to mix my gaming needs with games like Heroclix and Supersystem, but neither truly filled the type of campaign play I was looking for. What I wanted was Necromunda with Superman or Mordheim with Thor and Captain America. More importantly, I wanted to be able to create my own heroes and form a team without it becoming another role-playing game. For that, I already have Green Ronin's gem, Mutants and Masterminds.

And so, over several weeks in my old store, Monkeyhead Games, Superhuman was conceived. But it is only now, years later, that Superhuman is coming into its own and is soon to be released upon the masses.

On this blog, not only will I give you bits and peices of what it takes to create something like Superhuman, I'll also share art, early untested additions to the game long before they make it to print, and best of all- web only content to spice it up for those of you who become mindless minions to the Way of the Monkey.

Until then, let me wet your appetite with this little bit of art. Superhuman's logo. Enjoy.


~Dr. Mono

2 comments:

pulpcitizen said...

Is there any update on the progress of the game?

Doctor Mono said...

It's still kicking. Superhuman is currently in Beta- to borrow a far overused, but apt videogame term- while we work out some of the balancing bugs. We figure a few thousand playthroughs and it should be polished and pretty and most importantly, balanced! The major hurdle we have yet to overcome is miniatures. While we would love to produce our own line of figures, from design to production- miniatures are cost prohibitive. Ideally, I'd like to work out a partnership with another company that already has the infrastructure for such an endeavor- and such strives have begun in earnest. I promise.

But as far as the website, Ive been working on projects for 3 other gaming companies so I've let this go by the wayside. I promise I will get up off my ass and post something more soon. Probably to introduce some bad guys.

~Joe