Savage Planet: Savage Seas
The Brief
Take war game type concept and simplify it into party game style gameplay.
Project Details
Client: Robot Monster Games
Date: Oct 2018
Skills: Art Direction, Graphic Design, Game Development, Project Management, IP Development
A Unique Pirate Game
Savage Seas is a team-based skirmish game where two teams program their Orders and sail their ships into battle against each other. Each player on a team leads one (or more) specific crew(s) on their ships. The crews are the same on both ships, but each crew has a different job: one controls their ship’s movement, one leads the firing of her cannons, one specializes in close combat and melee, and one gives special Orders. Working together as a team to program your ship’s Orders is key because the last ship standing is the winner!
Crew Orders
During each round, your team will use Orders cards to program your ship and crews to carry out movements, attacks, and other seafaring duties.
Gameplay
Using the Active Orders in your crews’ hands, you will work as a team to program a strategy for your ship at the beginning of each round. The Captain of your ship then executes that strategy by placing up to one Order from each crew face down onto one of the four positions on the ship’s board. Your ship’s Orders are then revealed and resolved one at a time, in sequence from left to right, starting with position 1 and finishing with position 4. However, the other team’s ship will be revealing and resolving their Orders at the same time, so you will need to outwit and outmaneuver your enemy!
Victory
To claim victory, your team’s ship must sink the enemy’s ship by igniting all 4 of its board positions with fires, or by filling any one of its crews’ hands with 4 wounds.
Playtesting
I’ve been conducting playtesting sessions for Savage Seas for nearly a year now, and its now almost ready. The rulebook is now in the blind playtesting phase. You can see the evolution of the game in the photos, from its debut at PAX Unplugged to another interaction at PAX South. And then in its most recent state at a private playtest session.
Kickstarter Video
I made this video as a quick way of explaining the story setup to the game and showing brief overview of how the game is played.
Rulebook
I wrote, laid-out and worked with a editor to put this book together. Through research and observation I made the decision to split the information into two separate books. One book focuses on teaching how the game is played by the teams. While the second book (The Master Battle Guide) focuses on specific details of game mechanics and how they pertain to individual crews on the ships.
Master Battle Guide
By dividing up this information into two 12 page documents it has made the learning of the game appear to be a less daunting of task as well as made referencing specific information much easier.
