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Overwatch Minis (2017)
Designer
Solo Project
Summary
Overwatch Minis is an attempt to adapt Overwatch, the popular first-person shooter, into a skirmish miniatures game in the style of Mordheim or Malifaux. I had two main goals with this project. The first was to keep as many of the original game's systems intact in the new space. The second was to create a sense of scale that would convey the feeling of an entire Overwatch match happening on the players' tabletop.
Challenge — A Matter of Size
A part of the experience I wanted to hit on was the scale of an Overwatch match. Although they aren't epic in scope, each match occurs on a complex map with multiple points of interest for the teams to spar in. Additionally, character abilities are made more impactful with large flashy effects. I tried to tackle the feel of both of these aspects with my component design. Character abilities were represented as rulers built to the scale of each ability, and the maps were large enough to cover an entire table top. This approach gave combat the weight it needed to make player actions feel impactful.
Challenge — Round and Cut
The challenge of deciding which systems to adapt was a process of prioritization and experimentation. I started by deciding which systems were most crucial for the Overwatch feel, such as ultimates and payload, and expanded from there, seeing how much I could add without overcomplicating the rules. I tried to maintain the ratios of the characters' stats, but numbers had to be scaled down and, as a result, rounded. Getting the small but balanced numbers took iteration and playtesting
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