Illeria Resolution 2021

If you're reading this, you survived 2020.  Congratulations!!!

I've been working on Illeria for what feels like forever.  For 2021, I'm making a resolution to finish it by the end of May.  By "finished," I want to have a copy that I could send to a publisher (ideally Osprey games).

So far I have:
-A decent set of base rules for the turn, linking, etc.
-Base rules for melee combat, archery, magic, and summoned creatures.
-Code for simulating combat between two characters.
-Flavor text for the "Illeria as a prison island" scenario.
-Drafts of the rules (for previous editions).
-A basic campaign mode (written for a previous edition).

Here is what I still need to do:
-Final tweaking for the base rules, and playtesting with a wider group.
-Create a couple dozen well-balanced abilities.
-Write an updated draft of the rules, which needs to be finalized in many ways.
-Finalize the campaign mode (if I do it).

I think this is doable in five months.  It is at least something to shoot for.

I decided I wanted to go with the "Illeria as a prison island" backstory, rather than "Illeria as a resource-rich outland".  I was torn about it, but after hearing an interesting GDC talk, realized I was torn because both options were good.  I went with the prison island for two basic reasons.  First, it is more unique - the other one was basically another game about fighting over resource in a harsh landscape, similar to Frostgrave and several other games by Osprey.  Second, I have more finished than the other backstory - I currently have a campaign mode and flavor text tailored to that story.

There are a couple tweaks I want to test for the basic rules.  For example, armor saves are currently done by rolling X dice, and preventing 1 damage per roll of 4+; I'd like to see what it feel like if armor checks need a 5+.  I can test these final tweaks either myself or with Sarah.  However, Illeria is almost at a point where I should ask friends for help playtesting.

The abilities are probably the hardest thing on the above list.  My plan is to start with a small list of abilities, maybe five.  I'll test those - first with code, then with games - until they seem reasonably balanced.  Then, I'll add a few more abilities, and test those.  I'll continue this for as long as I can, until my deadline.  This will be a good natural limit for how many abilities to have, and also force me to prioritize the most interesting ones.

On that note, as I wrote about previously, my code is for one character fighting against another (i.e. in one world).  The problem with this is that abilities have different impacts in the spirit world vs. the physical world.  For example, attacks that ignore armor are stronger in the physical world, because all physical-world characters wear armor.  I want to update the code so that the fight takes place in both worlds.

I need to work more on updating the draft of the rules.  I'll need to make a ritual of it, like when I write scientific papers.  I also need to get some advice from my sister (a graphic designer).  She saw the previous edition of the rules, and had commented how back the background art on the pages was.  She's right; and it's weird, because it looks good on the computer, but when printed out, it looks like something a child drew.

The campaign will be a stretch goal, but I think doable.  Worst case scenario, I can cut it.