The game is live on Tabletop Simulator
- Cors The Norse
- Jun 28
- 3 min read
Hello weary adventurers!
After some final fine tuning of the instructions manual and solo mode manual - yes, the solo mode is implemented - the beta prototype of the game is live on the Steam Workshop for Tabletop Simulator! If you just want to go over there, grab it, try it out and not have to read more nonsense, you can find it here:
Grab some friends or just a drink and some snacks and try the game out for yourself! While the game is pretty much 99% finished mechanics and gameplay wise - just a few corners to be smoothed out - be sure to leave any feedback or things you might like to see in the game over on the discord server: https://discord.gg/PFgh7WDGpY
Who knows, maybe it could find it's way into the game or in future expansions (if they ever happen).
About this version
This is a beta version of the game. All mechanics and gameplay have been tested, polished, read over, tested again and polished some more, but... I'm still just a team of one, this is a project that has taken a lot of time to get here so maybe I missed something. If you find an error or something that seems off, be sure to let me know!
Most of the art for the game is done, but once again, being a team of 1 is tough and there are still many pieces of art yet to be done. Mainly the Boss's art and the Item cards. Hopefully these will be done soon, so I'll keep you updated on the art as soon as they come out the oven.
If you seem to find a loop hole or lack of clarity in some part of the game's instructions make sure to go drop it in the comments of the Steam Workshop or on the Discord. I'm going over the Treasure cards and testing myself daily to find things I might've missed.
You might also notice that monsters from Threat Level 2 onwards have the same flavor text. This is just placeholder to test how noisy it is on the cards and to see general reactions of people playing the game.
The game is fully playable both for groups of 2 to 7 players or - after some months of fine tuning - on solo mode.
Solo Mode. It's not just a slap on!
Over the years of working on the design of HED I always wanted to have a solo mode, here and there I would sketch out ideas and design approaches to the game for solo play. Since the game has a heavy focus on player interactions, I didn't want to just make a half thought out solo mode that felt lacking, just to put it on the Kickstarter page and call it a day.
A big chunk of the testing over the years was done with family, friends and any bystander that showed an inch of interest on the game, but another big part of it was just me stress testing different parts of the game. The more I played and tested different parts of the game, a solo mode started to take shape. It might not be perfect, and it definitely needs a lot more play testing to fine tune, but the more I started setting the rules and interactions for the solo mode, the more it started to feel fun and I would catch myself just playing for fun instead of to test mechanics.
Setting different starting states, adding challenges or secret objectives to unlock extra abilities and items, a lot of these ideas are still floating around the solo mode and I intend on exploring them further to increase the depth of solo mode.
I have a couple of expansions focused specifically on the solo mode, and I am hoping that getting people's thoughts on the current state of the solo mode will help me see if I should keep exploring the design of it or if it's in a good spot and just needs some polish. I know I sound like a broken record, but be sure to drop any comments on solo mode over on the discord!
I want to make the game approachable and fun for casual and hardcore players, and the solo mode is usually for the boardgame aficionados like us, so I want to make it something worth the while and that if at some point the Kickstarter comes around, you can be sure that you'll get the bang for your buck with HED.
And that's all folks. Try the game out, join the HED community on discord to have a chat, share your thoughts, share the game with friends and have fun with it!
-David Cors
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