I've been developing BUG STOMPERS on and off as a hobby project for years. Eventually I decided that if I'm going to keep spending time on it then I should at least release it publicly. Might as well let other people enjoy it, y'know?

(As a side note, designing and testing a game is one thing. But polishing and formatting it for release? That's a whole other project in and of itself. And I thought it would be done in a weekend or two...)

Anyway, BUG STOMPERS is finally finished and available at Itch.io. It's completely free - you can check out the rulebook without needing an account.

About the Game

BUG STOMPERS is a cooperative skirmish game where you control a team of commandos fending off an alien swarm, a la Starship Troopers. Each mission has a random objective, random complications, and random enemies. The enemies follow a super simple "AI", but have enough randomness built in to keep you on your toes. You can play single standalone missions, or string missions together into an overarching campaign with permanent upgrades and injuries.

Design

The initial design was heavily influenced by games like Mordheim and This Is Not A Test. But as I worked on it, I started to wonder if I could make this into a purely co-op game. At the time, there were a lot of competitive skirmish games with a tacked on co-op mode, but few that were co-op from the ground up. I wanted to explore that design space. So BUG STOMPERS ultimately ended up diverging from the classic skirmish game formula in a few places, borrowing a elements from tactical RPGs like ICON.

By now, BUG STOMPERS is far from the only co-op focused skirmish game out there. I've been pleased to see several similar games springing up recently. It's interesting to compare how each game handles various design challenges which I also encountered. BUG STOMPERS' design isn't necessarily better, but I think it brings a few new ideas to the table.

I'm a veteran of several different groups, hoping to start a large new group of mostly new players. One issue I had in previous groups was players not knowing what they should be doing at any given time. There were also disagreements about base design, with everyone having their own opinion and no easy way of choosing one over the other.

One solution I'm considering for this next group is to have each player take on a specific role or two. This would give them clear goals and responsibilities, and would give each player the final say over their respective domain. This is more or less how we ended up playing during my last game, but just providing the roles earlier and more explicitly.

• Beastmaster - Builds and manages the animal pens. Tames and breeds wildlife, providing a steady supply of meat.
• Brewer - Builds and manages the beehives and fermenters. Provides a steady stream of mead and honey.
• Chef - Builds and manages the kitchen. Provides a steady supply of cooked food.
• Expedition Leader - Builds and manages the cart and portal hub. Ensures supplies needed for expeditions are conveniently placed near portals. Carries extra supplies to distribute while on expeditions.
• Farmer - Builds and manages the farm. Provides a steady supply of crops.
• Harbourmaster - Builds and manages ships and the dock. Keeps ships repaired; ensures party has supplies needed to craft ship, when relevant.
• Lord of Festivities - Builds and manages the grand hall (room for max comfort). Organises fun and silly events. Adds flourishes to the base.
• Lumbermaster - Plants trees and harvests wood. Provides a steady supply of wood of different kinds.
• Miner - Builds and manages mining outposts. Provides a steady supply of stone and metal ore.
• Pathfinder - Builds and manages roads, bridges, and the cartography table. Explores new lands, marks resources and locations of interest, forages while on the go.
• Quartermaster - Builds and manages the storage area. Keeps materials sorted and well labelled.
• Smith - Builds and manages the workshop and forge. Produces a steady supply of coal and refined metal.
• Watchmaster - Builds and manages base defenses. Responsible for defense during raids, and protecting the party during expeditions.

How does your group share responsibilities? Do you have explicit or implicit roles? Any others you'd add to the list?

Note: I know these roles aren't equally difficult or complex, but that's ok - some players like simple jobs, while others like the advanced or time consuming stuff.