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[Chris Pavia]

MASTERMIND

OVERVIEW

In Mastermind, the player assumes the role of an evil genius bent on world domination. However, they must enact their devious plans from the safety of their remote lair, using only their trusty view screen to direct their clandestine organization. Henchman act as the player’s eyes and ears out in the wide world, following their master’s orders to disrupt and corrupt the world’s nations until they can be brought under the player’s rule by force or coercion. As knowledge of the player and their organization spreads throughout the nations of the world., powerful Agents are dispatched to hunt them down and bring them to justice. Can you bring your plans to fruition before being put in chains for your crimes?

Desired Playtime
1-2 hours per session, with a high degree of replayability

GENRE

Visual Novel with light strategy and simulation elements.

STRUCTURE

Gameplay in Mastermind is divided into turns. Each turn, the player receives a number of Command Points, which are spent to hire Henchmen and send them on missions. When sent on a mission, a Henchman will be unavailable for a set number of turns. When the specified number of turns has concluded, the Henchman will report back with the results of their mission. Examples of missions that Henchman can be assigned to are:
- Infiltrate a nation’s telecommunications grid
- Abduct a high ranking official for ransom
- Steal equipment or technology
- Rig an election to get a sympathizer in a position of power

Each time a mission is completed, the player’s Infamy will rise. As Infamy rises, Agents will be dispatched to track down the player and his henchman. Agents in a region where a mission is taking place have a chance to disrupt the mission and apprehend or kill the associated Henchman. Eventually Agents will learn the location of the player’s secret lair. If they reach it and are able to defeat any bodyguards or defenses, the game is over.

The player wins the game by completing an OMEGA PLAN. OP’s are stereotypical diabolical schemes such as holding the world hostage with nuclear missiles, building a weather control device, etc. The OP’s that appear in each game are randomized, so the player cannot rely on the same strategy each time. Completing them requires a series of difficult missions be completed.

PROGRESS

I've built a playable prototype to prove out the basic gameplay (hiring henchman, sending them on missions, infiltrating / taking over regions on the world map), now I'm fleshing out all the design details.

SCREENSHOTS




These shots are from the initial prototype.

[Chris Pavia]

HENCHMEN STATS

Henchmen are the main tools the player uses to influence the world. They each have a set of stats that are used to determine the success of each mission they are assigned. There are 9 stats, grouped into 3 sets of 3, PHYSICAL, MENTAL, and PERSONA. The breakdown is:

PHYSICAL
- Strength
- Speed
- Stamina

MENTAL
- Intellect
- Perception
- Knowledge

PERSONA
- Cunning
- Willpower
- Charisma

Completing or failing a mission involves the Henchman making tests of their stats vs a defenders stats. There is usually a primary and secondary stat used for each test. Since this is a Visual Novel style game, the player will not directly see the numerical values of tests, but instead a textual description of the outcome of the test.

Feel free to leave any feedback, I'm still tweaking the stats but will consider them final soon to move on to other things.

[Chris Pavia]

So I decided to scrap stats altogether for henchman. I want it to be a "single-sitting" game with an average playtime of 1-2 hours with a focus on replayability. Having a bunch of stats makes for too much min/maxing and comparisons between henchman, leading to longer turn lengths.

I'm instead opting for a trait-based system. Henchman are just a collection of traits (Hacker, Assassin, Coward, Bossy, Weapons Expert, etc). Each mission will have a list of "Suggested Traits" and the chance for mission success is dependent on how many of the suggested traits the assigned henchman has (it doesn't have to be a complete overlap). Missions can also optionally have "Faults" if the assigned henchman has any traits in the Faults list it lowers the chance of success.

Hopefully this system will reduce the time spent comparing Henchman for each mission. Also I'm thinking that a list of traits is better suited for imagining the henchman's personality as opposed to a bunch of numbers.

[SiJaf]

I like it conceptually  

I think you are going the right direction by giving agents traits instead of numbers. I am sure that you are familiar with the X-Com series. A not minor appeal of the game is the possibility of the player to grow attachment to their soldiers with their special abilities as they grow (and the danger of permanently loosing that soldier).

I would encourage you to try to focus on that aspect in your game as well. A player should not only select the agent for the missions just based on the traits (that might become too less of a challenge), rather than how his aspiration is for the growth of the agents for later missions.

Looking forward to hear more about your progress!

[Chris Pavia]

I think you are going the right direction by giving agents traits instead of numbers. I am sure that you are familiar with the X-Com series. A not minor appeal of the game is the possibility of the player to grow attachment to their soldiers with their special abilities as they grow (and the danger of permanently loosing that soldier).

I would encourage you to try to focus on that aspect in your game as well. A player should not only select the agent for the missions just based on the traits (that might become too less of a challenge), rather than how his aspiration is for the growth of the agents for later missions.

Yeah, I'm thinking that henchman will gain / lose traits over the course of gameplay. Things like gaining a rivalry with another henchman (Hates X Trait), and they'll try to disrupt a mission with a rival if they are in the same region. Or if they fail a mission badly they may get an Injured trait which wears off after a few turns. If you have any suggestions, throw them my way!

Also, Mastermind is a placeholder name. Since the game takes place entirely in the context of a giant view screen deep in the player's lair, the name of the game is also the name of the OS that runs on the view screen. Feel free to drop any suggestions!

[SiJaf]

 

This could create a nice dynamic throughout the progression of the game. The player might have figured out a great team of 3 agents, whose traits complement each other, but because of an event a rivalry happens. Now the player has to mix-up his dream team or jeopardize the mission.

It could be powerful, if you can get such a dynamic on a small scale in your prototype (i.e. 3 agents with complementary traits and 3 similar ones that can be used as substitutes, but might grow in different directions).

Valkyria Chronicles comes into mind as a game with well-balanced trait and rivalry system (I would suggest not to try to achieve that level in the prototype phase, rather than taking inspirations  )

[Chris Pavia]

Currently working on the design for Regions. Regions are analogous to countries or territories, representing the physical locations in the game. Missions usually take place directly in or against a Region. You can see them in the second screenshot in the OP.

Properties of a Region:

Stats: Originally I had separate stats for things like Technology, Military, Politics, etc. In an effort to simplify I may reduce this to a single Ratings stat. The Rating determines the skill level needed to run missions there.

Assets: Physical items residing in the region that the player can send Henchman to steal or otherwise acquire. Things like nuclear missiles, soldiers, weapons, drugs, satellites, etc. Assets are used as prerequisites for later missions.

Policies: Relationships or agreements with other Regions. They usually provide some bonus to one or both Regions. The player can use Bureaucrat to remove or add new Policies in a Region.

The player can take control of regions, either through covert or military action, though I haven't figured out exactly how that'll work yet.

[Chris Pavia]

First pass of the master Trait list. As mentioned earlier, the Henchmen are a collection of keyword-based traits that represents their skills and quirks. There are currently 4 types of Traits: Skills, Resources, Gifts, and Faults:

Skills
- Hacker
- Mercenary
- Thug
- Bureaucrat
- Spy
- Assassin
- Scientist
- Engineer
- Bodyguard
- Commander

Resources
- Wealthy
- Connections
- Lab
- Soldiers
- Hacker Collective
- Gang
- Tanks
- Fighter Jets
- Cutting Edge Tech
- Blackmail

Gifts
- Charismatic
- Tech Whiz
- Codebreaker
- Genius
- Martial Artist
- Leader
- Strong
- Tough
- Intimidating
- Sharp Shooter

Faults
- Coward
- Weak
- Short Tempered
- Wanted
- Arrogant
- Paranoid
- Stubborn
- Violent
- Chaotic
- Slow Witted


Starting with 10 of each type for now, don't want so many that they don't get used very often. Feel free to suggest new ones though, this is just a first draft.

Their are 4 Tiers of Henchman, which determines the number and type of Traits a Henchman starts with. The current breakdown is:

Tier 1
- 1 Skill
- 1-2 Gifts

Tier 2
- 1 Skill
- 0-1 Resource
- 1-3 Gifts
- 0-1 Faults

Tier 3
- 1-2 Skills
- 1-2 Resources
- 2-3 Gifts
- 1 Fault

Tier 4
- 2-3 Skills
- 1-3 Resources
- 3-4 Gifts
- 1-3 Faults

[Chris Pavia]

Purchasing and Utilizing Henchmen

Each turn the player receives 10 Command Points. They are not carried over between turns (they always start a new turn w 10CP), so the player is incentived to use as many possible. CP are used for:
- Paying for currently employed Henchmen. Each Henchmen hired by the player will drain the CP by a specified amount (usually 1-3 per Henchmen). If a Henchmen cannot be paid, they'll Go Rogue, causing havoc and quickly raising the player Infamy meter. They may also steal Assets or attempt to kill a rival Henchmen.
- Hiring new Henchmen
- Sending Henchmen on Missions. CP cost is determined by the difficulty of the mission.

[Chris Pavia]

Infamy

The player has an Infamy meter which ticks up each turn (so there is always movement toward the end game, the player cannot be too conservative). Completing missions also fills the meter, moreso if the mission fails. When the meter fills, the Wanted Level increases by one (think GTA) and the meter resets. When the Wanted Level increases, an additional agent is dispatched to find the player. The other agents will also be more aggressive in their search.

Non sure if I'll include ways to lower the infamy meter, since I have a desired game length I'm shooting for.

[Chris Pavia]

Regions pt2

Did a bit more design work on Regions. Trying to simplify and nail down some details about how Henchmen interact with them.

A Region consists of the following
- 0-5 Policy Slots
- 0-5 Asset Slots
- 1-5 Control Slots

At the start of the game, Regions will pseudo-randomly populate some or all of their available slots.

All slots start the game Hidden from the player. A Hacker Henchmen can be sent to the Region to attempt to Reveal a random slot. The default mission, if successful, reveals a random slot (that slot could be empty). The player can elect to increase the difficulty of the mission to reveal 2 or 3 random slots in the Region. Later in the game, the player can build a Spy Satellite to reveal all the Slots in a Region remotely.

Policy Slots
- A Region can place a Policy in any empty Policy Slot they have. A common use of a Policy is to put another Policy / Asset / Control Slot into a Protected or Vulnerable status, which makes it harder or easier for the player to affect.
- Policies can affect slots in other (usually adjacent) Regions as well, so the player may have to travel a bit to find and remove a problematic Policy
- If a Policy / Asset / Control Point is Protected from more than 1 Policy, it is Secure and cannot be affected by the player.
- The player can send a Bureaucrat Henchmen to attempt to remove a Policy, or add a new Policy if an empty Policy Slot exists.

Asset Slots
- As mentioned in a previous post, Assets are physical objects that could be of some use to the player (soldiers, weapons, money, nuclear missiles, etc). Completing an Omega Plan usually involves acquiring a specified selection of Assets. After an Asset has been revealed by a Hacker, the player may attempt to steal it. A Thief Henchmen can steal Assets, with the difficulty dependent on the type of Asset (as well if it is Protected or Vulnerable due to a Policy)

Control Slot
- These slots represent the hold the current government / organization has on the region. Each Control Slot can be populated by a different type of controlling interest (Military, Political, Hi Tech). If the player can remove all opposing interests from the Region's Control Slots and insert at least one of their own, they are in "Control" of that Region. There's still some work to be done figuring out exactly how this system will function.

[Chris Pavia]

AI Director

After the player hits the "Execute Turn" button, all their Missions will resolve (though many missions take more than 1 turn to resolve). After that there is a "World Simulation Phase" handled by a (simple) AI Director. I haven't done a detailed design for this yet, but it's action generally include:
- Having Regions react to the player. If the player's Omega Plan includes obtaining a Nuclear Missile asset for instance, a Region that has one may pass a Policy to Protect it.
- Alternatively, if the player hasn't been making much progress toward completing an Omega Plan, the Director may give them a clue toward the next goal.
- Generate some non-gameplay flavor text for the world-news ticker.

[Chris Pavia]

Regions pt 3

Regions hold 3 types of things: Policies, Assets, and Control Points. Policies and Assets are detailed above, but Control Points were a bit fuzzy in the details. If the player takes over all the control points, they take over that region, but I wanted the gameplay to be a bit more complex to make it more of an event. And to give more purpose to some of the other types of Henchmen not used yet. Luckily got to do some brainstorming today.

A Region has 1-5 Control Points. A Control Point can be 1 of 3 types: Economic, Political, or Military. A Henchman can run a mission to "flip" a point to the player's control, but each type is vulnerable to a different type of Henchmen:
- Political is weak to Spy
- Economic is weak to Scientist
- Military is weak to Mercenary

I'm thinking that taking over a region will boost the amount of CP the player gets each turn. But it is a long process in a short game, so the player should most likely only go for it if it aligns with the Omega Plan they are trying to complete.

[Chris Pavia]

Agents

Agents are one of the few remaining open game design questions to sort out. They are the most direct opposition to the player, they roam from region to region looking for the player's Lair or any Henchman to interact with. The player's Wanted Level goes from 0-4, increasing each time the Infamy meter fills up. When the Wanted Level increases, a new Agent is dispatched and all Agent abilities are enhanced. Agents by default cannot be seen on the world map like Henchman can, although the player has tools to reveal and track Agents if they pursue it. Agents have the following goals:

Locate the player's Lair
Agents search for Intel, which helps them narrow down the location of the player's Lair. Gaining Intel also helps them move to regions containing Henchman. I haven't detailed all the ways Intel can be gained yet, but I imagine capturing Henchman will be a primary source. Maybe Intel can also be an Asset scattered around the world and the player has to protect it. All Agents share an Intel pool, and I'm thinking that at 5 Intel the Agents have learned the Lair's location. The player will be able to see how much Intel has been gained, to avoid a situation where they feel that Agents just randomly showed up at their Lair.

Infiltrate the player's Lair
Having an Agent Infiltrate the Lair and reach the view screen room is how the player loses the game. Once an Agent reaches the region containing the player's Lair, Infiltrating is an automatic game over unless the player spends time building defenses. This includes having a Henchman protect the Lair, surveillance systems, and automated defenses. Each of these layers of defense will add another test the Agent has to pass to reach the player. Agents can Retreat if they fail a test, but while Retreating there is a chance the Agent can be Killed or Captured (if the player builds a Jail). I still need to figure out exactly how this process is presented to the player, since it technically happens between turns.

Disrupt Missions
If an Agent is in the same Region as an ongoing mission, they can attempt to Disrupt the mission which cancels it if successful. First the Agent must check to see if they are aware of the mission (higher Wanted Level = greater chance). Then they must test against the Henchmen running the mission to see if they successfully Disrupt it. A Bodyguard Henchman can be set to protect all Henchman working in the same Region. Attempting to Disrupt a mission will reveal the Agent's location for the turn.

Kill or Capture Henchmen
If an Agent is in the same Region as any Henchmen, the Agent can attempt to Capture or Kill them (this occurs after attempting to Disrupt any missions). Bodyguards can be set by the player for additional defense. Capturing a Henchmen will grant the Agents Intel (some specific traits like Stubborn may prevent this). Attempting to Capture or Kill a Henchmen will reveal the Agent's location for the turn.

Bribe Henchmen
If in the same region as a Henchman with certain Flaws, the Agent can attempt to Bribe them instead of Capturing or Killing them. If successful, the Agent will gain Intel.

Flip a Region's Control Point
If the Agent is in a Region which has any Control Points belonging to the player, they can attempt to flip the Point back to the region's control. Attempting to flip a Control Point will reveal the Agent's location for the turn.

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Defending against Agents
The player has the following options available to protect against Agents:
- Building base defenses to protect against Infiltration
- Setting a Bodyguard to defend the Lair or a region with Henchmen (costs Command Points)
- Hackers and Spys can attempt to reveal any hidden Agents in the local Region
- A Spy can attempt to place a Tracking Device on any revealed Agents, which prevents them from hiding
- An Assassin or Mercenary can attempt to Capture or Kill any revealed Agents
- A Bureaucrat can attempt to Bribe an Agent, which will make them inactive for a couple turns

[Chris Pavia]

Missions

Missions are the bread and butter of the game. If the player wants to make any change to the world, they must send a Henchman on a Mission to do it. Missions cost an amount of Command Points to initiate, and can take multiple turns to complete. By default the Henchman must be in the region in which the Mission takes place, though the player can build some base upgrades that allow them to work remotely.

Missions have the following attributes:

Suggested Traits
Each mission has a list of 1-5 Suggested Traits. More difficult missions = more and rarer Traits. At least 1 Trait will be a Skill Trait (equivalent to the Henchmen's Class). The more overlap between the Suggested Traits and the assigned Henchman's Traits, the greater chance of success (barring things like Agents). Currently only 1 Henchman can be assigned to any Mission, though I may experiment with multiple Henchman in the future (trying to keep it simple for now). The player has multiple was of adding / removing Traits from Henchmen if needed to complete a Mission.

Flaws
Each mission can have 0-5 Flaws ( a subtype of Trait) listed. If the assigned Henchman has any matching Flaws, it reduces the chance of completing the mission.

Assets
Assets are objects that are sometimes required to initiate a Mission. Assets are items that the player steals from other regions. The Assets are usually consumed during the Mission Resolution Phase. For example, a Money Asset may be required to start the Bribe Politician Mission. Note that some Henchman have Resources (a subtype of Trait) that can stand in for matching Assets. For example, if a Mission requires the Soldiers Asset but the player hasn't acquired any, they can hire a Henchman with the Soldiers Resource Trait. I'm thinking that Resource Traits used as Assets will not be consumed unless there is a catastrophic failure of the mission.

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Mission Success
Whether the Mission succeeds or fails is mostly up to the # of overlapping Suggested Traits and Faults the assigned Henchman has. There will be other variables on a mission by mission basis. There will be levels of success and failure. For example, a narrow success may mean the mission succeeds, but the Henchman messed up somewhere and the player's Infamy Meter gets a big boost.



My main open question in regards to Missions is how to display them in the UI. They are very context sensitive, they can be tied to specific locations, Henchman, Traits, Assets, or situations (a revealed Agent is in the same region as an Assassin Henchman for example). So do you click on a Henchman to see what missions are available to them specifically (which will change from turn to turn), or is there a master Mission list that displays which Henchman can currently start any particular Mission (sounds like it could be overwhelming visually)?

[Chris Pavia]

Omega Plans

Completing an Omega Plan is the only way the player can win the game. OP's are diabolical schemes to dominate the world, such as building a weather dominator, an orbital laser cannon, develop a super virus, etc. Mechanically, OP's are a series of goals the player must achieve, usually in a specific order.

In the super virus example, the player may need to:
- Acquire a Virus Asset
- Build a Biotech Lab
- Hire a Scientist Henchman
- Use the Scientist to turn the Virus into a Super Virus Asset
- Acquire 4 ICBM Assets to disperse the Super Virus around the globe
- Assemble the Dispersal System

The player wins immediately upon completing the final goal.

OP's are pre-designed, and I'm shooting for ~20 at game launch. The player starts each game with 1 randomly chosen OP in their possession. 2 more random OP's can be found by having a Scientist research them. The player can have multiple OP's active, but only needs to finish 1 to win the game. Completing the goals of an OP usually results in gaining lots of Infamy so being too aggressive can make it much easier for Agents to track the player down.


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I think I've got the framework of the game pretty much complete now. Details still need to be fleshed out for a lot of things, but I know how the game flows from start to finish. The next step is to fill the framework with content, so I need first-pass designs for:
- Henchmen
- Regions
- Assets
- Missions
- Omega Plans
- Policies
- Agents

[Chris Pavia]

Enumerating the Turn Sequence

- Player Phase Begins
   1. Player’s Command Pool refills
   2. Command Points are paid to currently employed Henchmen
      2a. If a Henchman cannot be paid, they are set to “Gone Rogue”
         i. Any Mission the Henchman was on is Disrupted
   3. Begin Player Input
      3a. Player receives the Summary of the previous Turn
      3b. Player hires henchman and assigns missions
      3c. When finished, the player hits the “Execute” Button
   4. Resolve Missions
- Director Phase Begins
   5. For each Region not under player control:
      5a. Manage Policies
         i. Resolve any special Policy Effects
         ii. Attempt to Cancel a current Policy
         iii. Attempt to Pass a new Policy
   6. For each Agent
      6a. Search for any Henchmen in the current Region
         i. Attempt to Capture any Henchmen found
      6b. If no actions are taken, chance for Agent to move to a new Region
   7. Spawn new Agents (based on current Wanted Level) in a random Region
- End Turn




Current spread of missions Henchmen can take by Skill

- Hacker
   - Reveal a random Policy, Asset, or Control Point in the Region
   - Search for an Agent in local Region
- Mercenary
   - Steal an Asset
   - Flip a Military Control Point
   - Capture or Kill an Agent
- Thief
   - Reveal a random Asset slot
   - Steal an Asset
- Bureaucrat
   - Reveal a random Policy slot
   - Remove a Policy
   - Add a Policy
   - Bribe an Agent
- Spy
   - Flip a Political Control Point
   - Place a Tracker on an Agent
   - Search for an Agent in local Region
- Assassin
   - Kill or Capture an Agent
- Scientist
   - Flip an Economic Control Point
   - Can add traits to other Henchmen
   - Reveal a hidden Omega Plan
- Engineer
   - Build Lair Defenses
   - Can build “rooms” that add traits to other Henchmen
- Bodyguard
   - Defend the Lair
   - Defend all Henchmen in Region

[Chris Pavia]

Today I finished first-pass designs for 50 Henchmen. I think for the final game I'll have to double that number so you don't see the same ones all the time, but this is enough for the initial implementation. User testing will help determine how many active Henchmen the player should have on average without being a chore to manage, but currently I'm shooting for 3-5 active at one time. The player will probably swap them in / out depending on their current needs.

Next up is first-pass design for the individual Regions the player can interact with. In my initial proof-of-concept prototype I mimicked a Risk map (which I think has ~48 territories) but that was too many for a game that is over in 1-2 hours. My current number is 24 regions.

[Chris Pavia]

Today I wrote up first-pass stats for all the regions (how many Policies / Assets / Control Points each has). There are many spots where I had to group a bunch of smaller territories into one larger region to reduce the number down to 27, so I still have to come up with names for those.  Also started the master Asset and Policy lists.

Next is to design the Omega Plans i'll have in the initial implementation. I'm going to start with 10 that the game randomly pulls from, but I'll probably double that for the final game.

If anyone is reading this and wants to suggest ideas for Omega Plans, please do. A short high-level sentence is enough, such as "Build a Weather Control Device" or "Fire a Nuclear Missile into the center of the Earth to make all volcanoes erupt simultaneously"

[Chris Pavia]

Here is my initial list of 10 Omega Plans:
1. Domination (gain control of the 5 strongest regions in the world)
2. Develop a Super Virus
3. Unleash Hell on Earth (open a portal to Hell)
4. Send a Nuke to the center of the Earth
5. Build an Orbital Laser Cannon
6. Institute the New World Order
7. Build a Weather Denominator
8. Create the Zombie Apocalypse
9. Steer an Asteroid into the Earth
10. Bring about Skynet / Judgement Day

Next up is to break each of these down into a series of goals that can be achieved within the game's mechanics.