The Origins of Battle Century G

Before Gimmick Labs I used to do my posting over at Neo Arcadia and that is where BCG was first discussed. Here are links to the first few blog posts in which I discuss its concept more thoroughly. Since then a few things here and there have changed, but conceptually it is still the same game.

A lot of the posts will reference BCG's predecessor, GGG. Check out the rest of the blog if it sounds interesting, but you don't need to be familiar with it. Note that since the blog is no longer in use I've closed the comments section.

One last disclaimer: If you think that some of my current posts could use an editor then brace yourself because back then it was worse.

Introducing Battle Century G
In which I present the idea of a simple yet deep combat-oriented system for Mecha that can be easily hacked into something that suits other types of japanese superheroes. This post discusses the basic aspects of the game such as the Test mechanic along with Character and Mecha Attributes.

Pacing in Battle Century G
After Tests and Attributes the most important mechanics would be Advancement (That means Power Levels and Experience Points). Together the trio of Tests, Attributes and Advancement are the foundation upon which the rest of the game is built. This post explains the reasoning behind Power Levels and Experience Points.

Characters in Battle Century G
This post goes a little more in depth concerning Characters and Intermissions. It explains why we use the Difficulty Numbers that we do, why some Skills and Traits cost what they cost, and why we have Themes. As of the time I am writing this, I am still dying to write those alternate Genre Theme rules.

Combat in Battle Century G
The fundamentals of robot combat using the simplest of Weapons to illustrate how it works. It also introduces Active Defenses. The focus is in how the game is, generally speaking, relatively predictable and deterministic.

Advanced Combat in Battle Century G
This one fills in some of the details that the previous post had to leave out. It brings up various Weapons and Upgrades that make combat more interesting. This one starts with the history of Techniques and ends with a brief explanation of what makes combat fun.

The Secondary Attributes of Mecha in Battle Century G
Systems and Speed. Arguably less important than the other Attributes. Even less important than Energy! This post discusses Restoration, Mobility and Support Upgrades. Check the very next post for the introduction of Terrain types, which I forgot.

The Super Robots of Battle Century G
This opens up with Terrain types which were missing from the previous post. The group of Alternate Forms, Features, Sub Units and Combinations have been the hardest rules to design from day one. This post goes into Transformations, a couple of Features, Assistant and Component Unit.

Genre Powers and Enemies in Battle Century G
A double feature of Genre Powers and the Enemy creation rules. The focus is on Powers for the most part but there is also some elaboration on the mindset behind Boss Traits and Boss Capstones. It also showcases my ability to put advances in table-creation technology to make templates of Attribute Arrays beyond Power Level 1.

The Fundamental Principles of Battle Century G
Big Heroes, Fast Pacing and Epic Dramatic Plays. This post goes into what those three concepts mean and some abilities that represent them. I don't talk about the game's core principles too often because I want them to be obvious from the way the rules work, but here they are.

Tales of Battle Century G
A few stories of how mechanics changed from when I first drafted them all the way to the first release of Battle Century G's beta version. This has the least insight into my working process I think, but if you want to see the kind of rewrites I do before a release and only going through some really simple playtesting, give it a look.

Survivors of Battle Century G
Many mechanics didn't live to see the light of day in BCG from its proof of concept draft to the first beta release. This post shows you some of them along with the spiritual offspring they left behind. A little like the previous post in that it is more about the development process in between playtests rather than the design and creation of new stuff.