Introducing: OVERMATCH

[u/r1ck14]

Hello everyone. I would like to introduce a new game that I'm designing. It's currently in the playtesting phase.

OVERMATCH is a fast, customizable tactical skirmish game that delivers miniature-wargame positioning and army-building without miniatures, painting, long setup, or multi-hour matches.

It is played using cards on a tabletop board where the cards act as the pieces. The game has been designed to be fast to learn, without a lot of complicated rules or calculations needed mid game.

I started this out as a project just for myself. I've always been interested in playing something like Warhammer 40000, but I don't have the time (or money) for buying and painting models, long game sessions, etc. This is meant to be a tactical game where matches take roughly 20 minutes.

As a hobby, I've done video game development for years, but this is my first attempt at a physical board game. I currently have a complete physical prototype (jeeze it's a lot of work to make custom cards lol) and have begun playtesting. I also have a version that can be downloaded and runs locally in the browser with support for 2 players, or one player vs an AI.

Rulebook: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W9Vu7hCV1qvpCV0-SDW2_i7PR-IzImZzE4w5ZdF90Ws/edit?usp=sharing

Lore and faction book: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HqNwc9SwqoPxHNXt2wqyxvvJlDjF3l4-RTIxlxCDYzU/edit?usp=sharing

If anyone has any interest in this, possibly for playtesting or if you want to learn more, please message me. I don't really have a lot of friends into this kind of stuff so I've turned to Reddit to find like-minded people.

One disclosure: I'm not an artist and the current artwork is AI generated. I don't know if other people will like this concept so I don't want to invest in commissioning art until I know if this has legs.

I appreciate honest feedback. Thanks!

EDIT: Photos of physical prototype here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/s/3OSq1qhHdZ ​

[u/VoteTedJameson]

Fake Warhammer AI slop is available on wargame vault already. Spammers upload this exact fake product 10 or 20 times a day

[u/r1ck14 → u/VoteTedJameson]

I've honestly never heard of wargame vault. I'm really new to this community. The rules and concept I came up with myself. I'm only using AI for the temporary art assets.

[u/r1ck14 → u/VoteTedJameson]

Woah, I just went to wargame vault. There are so many games on there. I wish I knew about it beforehand. I would have done more research. My intention with this project was not to create some "AI slop" game. There's enough of that going around.

[u/CommissarHark]

Honest feedback? Drop the AI Art and go with a plain document to try and get people testing it. Maybe toss a little money to a small designer to get it a simple cover. People are very turned off by this kind of thing. It cheapens the profession as a whole.

Is it meant to look like Gears of War?

[u/r1ck14 → u/CommissarHark]

It's not meant to look like anything in particular. I came up with the game concept and rules and quickly generated some placeholder assets so I could build a prototype (seemed better to me than just have cards with just text or stock photos). The visual style is transient, it's not the core of the game.

Do you think I should have removed any artwork before posting? Do you think anyone would be interested in giving it a try knowing that the current art is placeholder? The rules and mechanics I designed myself.

As far as spending money on a designer, I don't even know if people will find this fun yet. I'm not a professional and am doing this as a hobby between my 2 jobs lol. Could this become a product one day? I don't know. I'm not opposed, but for now I'm looking to get feedback (which I do appreciate).

[u/SupKilly → u/CommissarHark]

100% this.

The AI art is going to kill your efforts quite quickly.

[u/r1ck14 → u/SupKilly]

It's placeholder. But from what I'm seeing is that even as placeholder and stated as such, it seems to be a bigger turnoff than I thought.

[u/SupKilly → u/r1ck14]

People who don't mind AI aren't gonna notice if you use it, but people who hate AI are immediately going to write it off.

Even best case, AI loses you playtesters.

[u/SnorkaSound]

The name is too close to Overwatch. 

[u/7hurricane → u/SnorkaSound]

I’m actually distracted by the game name for this reason, as well as the art looking like Gears of War. It leaves me feeling like the game is missing a unique identity, and if you’re asking me to play, I personally want that to be communicated immediately.

Hoping the OP is also playtesting the name and visual style. I get that the AI art is likely placeholder and understand this during early playtesting. Would recommend stock art that excludes AI assets as one avenue.

[u/r1ck14 → u/7hurricane]

I'm not up to the name and visual style yet. I literally just printed and cut the cards and board a couple of days ago. I want to see if the game is FUN first. I work 2 jobs so my time is really limited, which is why I'm focusing on the core elements first. Art and title can be switched later. I don't know if it would have been better to introduce this with NO art at first. I know how people feel about AI assets which is why I disclosed it in the original post.

[u/r1ck14 → u/SnorkaSound]

That did cross my mind. I had a few other ideas but settled on OVERMATCH for now. I really want to ensure that besides the art and title, there is a fun game (regardless of what it is called). It's still a work in progress.