Partisans

Genre : Solo, Turn-based Strategy, Simulation.

Target : Simulation players, Players interested in history.

Pegi : 12+

Console : Computers, potentially mobile (premium game) and Nintendo Switch.

This is a work-in-progress.

Since I wanted to work on a game based on strong interactions between systems, this proof of concept is made to showcase this design philosophy.

Summary :

Civilians are always the biggest victims in times of war. Especially under occupation. During World War II, many of them took up arms and fought for their freedom. You lead one of those groups of partisans who joined the maquis to stop the enemy occupation. Using all means available, you will have to send your partisans on different missions in order to reduce the enemy's influence on the region and counter their actions. Do your best, as the only outcome must be liberation.

I was inspired to work on Partisans while reading articles and books about the french and polish resistance during World War II. Partisans is a resource management game, where the player is in charge of a group of partisans trying to liberate a city from occupation. 

Development process :

The game loop is quite simple : the player will send its partisans on multiple missions to destabilize the enemy or reinforce the passive resistance. Once the player has used all of his partisans, passive resistance takes over. The passive resistance automatically realizes small actions to help the partisans. Then, depending on the garrison's level of animosity toward the partisans, the garrison will have a list of possible actions it will realize automatically to fight off the insurrection. And then the player plays again.

And this is what this prototype is about : the game loop. It had to be graphic enough to offer an easy overview of the different systems, while still being precise enough to provide all the technical details needed. 

Although making a prototype directly in-engin would have provided a more complete experience, it would have asked much more time. Instead, I decided to put myself in the shoes of a System Designer and tried to create a prototype that would be given to the development teams afterward. Machinations was the best tool for this task, with its resource-flow system that proved particularly adapted for such kind of game. 

• I started off gathering my ideas on a notebook, and tried to find interesting mechanics and systems that would represent the core loop of the game. I ended up with the action system for partisans and garrisons, as well as all the different resources that would be at the heart of my game.

• Once I had found my main idea, I worked on a simple excel sheet document that gathered all the possible actions for the player and the garrison. It allowed me to start attributing costs and conditions to each action, anticipate their effect in game and change or remove the actions that weren't relevant in-game. I also dismissed or merged the resources that were too specific, to simplify the gameplay and reduce any overcomplications.

• With all these datas gathered, I started playtesting core loops manually, using simple paper prototypes. With these first trials, I could see if these core systems were really worth it, and if the game flow had enough potential, even if the playtest conditions didn't match the final game experience.

• After these tests that I judged conluding, I started to work with Machinations. Machinations is an online software made to conceive systems and game mechanics, before having to start the production. It allows to create interactive diagrams that move and exchange resources. I started by designing each core system separately.

• Once I had all these systems designed and functioning in Machinations, I created a Gameplay loop that would allow the main systems of a turn to be called alternatively. I then linked all the interactions between these systems and rearranged the diagram to look more accessible.