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I also have a great fondness for computer games, and I started to envision how certain elements from real-time strategy games could be infused into a cardboard design. I wanted to model fog-of-war, simultaneous movement, and the surprise (dismay!) that ensues when you discover that the enemy has unexpectedly cut off your supply lines. During this early stage of design, I hit upon a mechanism by which players would make their unit deployment decisions in secret, hidden behind a play-screen, then reveal them simultaneously prior to resolving battles. At first, I used a "mini-map" of the war theater – something akin to what you see in hidden movement games like Fury of Dracula. This eventually got replaced by a more efficient and flexible pen & paper system that allowed for maps of any shape and size.
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Early prototype, circa 2009
The original design was two-player only. There was a modular map made up of hexagonal tiles, different territory types that provided resources, and a tiered technology tree that opened up as the players advanced through the game.
From the beginning, I wanted my theme to be fantasy-steampunk. At the time, I was reading China Miéville's Bas-Lag novels and coming to realize that steampunk was an infinite and largely unexplored creative space. I envisioned a world where magic and steam-era technology intertwined, where a golem could be brought to life through a combination of esoteric science and techno-sorcery. Since I needed a third "method of inquiry" to fill out my tech-tree, I introduced religion and a dogmatic subculture. It was surprisingly easy to generate discoveries in science, sorcery, and religion that both brought life to the world and created unique strategic pathways in the game. At this point in my design process, I felt I was on to something. The game felt fun and evocative and unique.
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Sample science discoveries
After I crafted a solid prototype and playtested Clockwork Wars many, many times, it was ready to show to people in the business. I contacted a number of well-known publishers in early 2010, and Eagle Games expressed significant interest after reviewing the rulebook and prototype. I was absolutely thrilled, but this also began a long, slow period (around three years!) of waiting and, eventually, development.
During this time, Eagle first asked me to consider expanding the game to accommodate 2-5 players. I was hesitant since I had never envisioned it as anything other than a two-player game. But Eagle pushed, and I'm glad they did. After all, the simultaneous deployment system eradicated downtime, so why not take advantage of this by allowing more players to join?
It took major revision of some of the core systems, but a lot of great stuff happened during this phase. I built a more fully fleshed espionage system that gave players more ways to interact with each other outside of the combat arena. I created more ways to earn victory points so that there were multiple strategic pathways to winning. And maps became infinitely flexible in shape, size, and composition.
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Sample espionage card
It was also during this phase that Eagle suggested I design unique "powers" for each of the player factions. In retrospect, this was a critical point in the development of Clockwork Wars. Over a period of around a week, I sketched out a world where five races were competing for supremacy: the dogmatic and exploitative human "Purebreeds", three hybrid races (à la The Island of Dr. Moreau), and a race of sentient clockwork machines that mimicked spiders and insects. I also honed in on the idea of a racial unique unit. Clockwork Wars had always featured simplistic (and non-random) combat resolution; the unique units added some much-needed flavor and variety on the battlefield.
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Front and back of the Mongrels playscreen
With the theme and setting in place, we began the long process of commissioning illustrations for the game's 80+ cards and components. We ended up hiring over a dozen illustrators from around the world, and every one of them produced extraordinary work, including some truly astounding concept art for the game's plastic miniatures: the Guardian, Steamtank, and Leviathan. If you want to download a free digital artbook that shows off all the fantastic illustrations in the game, you can find it on our official website.
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Sample science discoveries
Eagle launched the Kickstarter for Clockwork Wars in September 2014. Since I'm a pessimist at heart, I assumed we wouldn't raise a dime and Eagle would trash the project. Instead, we met our funding goal in under twelve hours and doubled it in two days! I was shocked. (I still am.)
I then worked with the fantastic graphic artist Karim Chakroun to finalize our components and get everything to the printer ahead of schedule. I can't thank Karim enough for the absolutely stellar job he did refining every last detail and making the game truly "pop". Clockwork Wars started shipping to backers in June 2015 and is now available through retail outlets (including the Cool Stuff Inc. booth at Gen Con 2015).
If you like the idea of a confrontational area control game with infinite replayability, no downtime, light civilization building, and a gritty steampunk setting (no bowler hats here!), please check out Clockwork Wars. The game turned out absolutely gorgeous, with stellar production value and vibrant colors that pop off the table. I can assure you that it doesn't play like anything else out there and should appeal to a broad array of strategy game enthusiasts.
Hassan Lopez
Final production copy in all its glory!
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