Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2: Attack & Defend

For: DigiPen
Date:
November 2014
Development Time:
3 Weeks
Team Size: Solo
Role: Creator
Skills Exercised:
Mechanic/Gameplay Design, Map Design, Technical Writing, Visual Communication
Software Used:
Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel

Team Fortress 2: Attack & Defend is an officially licensed board game adaptation of the video game Team Fortress 2. My goals in converting this intellectual property to a board game was to preserve the look and feel of Team Fortress 2, which mostly involved aesthetics and gameplay. My adaptation includes 6 of the classes from TF2 for each team.

The game is 2 players with each player controlling a team (RED or BLU) and 6 unique units. Players take turns moving & attacking with up to 3 units. Team BLU's goal is to take capture point 1 before time runs out. On capture, the time resets and they focus on capture point 2.

Approaching the design for this game, I felt it was important to capture the essence of the gameplay and the uniqueness of the classes, but to also keep the game simple to learn and play. This turned out to be quite a challenge, but I designed a number of things to make this a successful adaptation.

Streamlined Class Abilities

I wanted each class to stand out, just like they do in the video game, but at the same time, making each class as unique as they are in the video game is infeasable when 1 player is controlling 6 units. What I did was give each unit 1 simple but class defining ability, and combined with base stats (such as movement and attack), each class is used similarly so that players don't have to learn a new set of rules for every class, but they all have highly unique and distinguishing abilities. These abilities are sometimes passive, automatic or used in place of an attack, and they cost nothing to use. This ensures that every unit is used to their full unique potential every time the player uses them.

Simple Mechanics & Numbers

As a general rule of thumb, none of the numbers in the game tend to go higher than one can count fingers on their hand. Math calculated resulting from attacks can be done by players instantly, making turns fast paced and fun.

Strategic Allowance of Unit Actions

Players control up to 3 of their 6 units on the board per turn. This allows players to move their units at their discretion to evade danger, create ambush attacks and set up defenses without being forced to rely on a single unit due to proximity or value.

I learned a lot designing for existing IP, and I very much enjoyed being able to work inside the parameters of an existing game. Attack & Defend was a personal success at DigiPen and I plan to use the knowledge earned to further the quality of future projects.