Sector Prime Creator Interview – Scott Freedlun

 

 

As a kid I grew up playing the traditional boardgames, but I especially enjoyed Stratego, Battleship and Risk, anything that required me to think about strategy. Then about 10 years ago that I was introduced to Catan, yes, Catan. Many are burnt out on it or it may not be what your into, but that game did open my eyes to a whole new world of boardgaming. 

 

 

While playing a number of games I often found myself thinking, "It would be cool if we could do this ..." or "Why isn't this move allowed?" It didn't take long to realize that rather than trying to tweak an existing game, I should try and create something new.

 

There were three things I wanted in a game: First, a game were you interact with other players. Not simply, "Hey wanna trade?" but rather, "I want that tile you are on, let's fight!" Second, a game with no runaway winners. Some games eliminate players until one is left. Others allow one or two players to take such a commanding lead that the other players have zero chance of winning. Those games have their place, but I wanted one where every player (if they had the right strategy) had a chance to come back from last place and win! Third, I wanted a game board that was different every time. One that would cause you to reexamine your strategy and try something new. These concepts grew into what is now Sector Prime.

 

 

I started working on it about 3 years ago and it bears little resemblance today to what it was then. Initially it was a medieval themed game focused on collecting taxes and there were a variety of resources. Over the next two years and many, many prototypes I realized that I had finally come up with a really cool game. One of my favorite things about it is the tiles themselves. It takes just 30 seconds to setup and it is so different each time. One game will have open terrain between players, while the next makes travel difficult to certain areas of the board. I seriously smile a little every time I see a new tile layout.  

 

This last year was spent on fine tuning the game play and removing elements that, although cool, were difficult for new players to grasp. I remember reading that you should never hold on to a rule just because you may like it. If it doesn't work for whatever reason, take it out. Some of those were tough decisions, but it has helped me get to the point I'm at now.

 

 

The goal is to establish your Corporation's mining franchise in a new sector. Each player has a space station that is the center of their operations, the first player to complete construction, thus gaining the mining rights in the sector, wins the game.

 

Of course, since this is a 4X game there will be a lot of exploring, exploiting, expanding and exterminating in order to get your station built. The challenge is to keep each of these in balance. Some players tend to try and expand and attack too quickly spreading themselves too thin, while others shrink back and are afraid to venture out and take risks. The final phase of each turn is where you "exploit" the planets' primary resource, Traxium. Without successful mining all the "expanding" and "exterminating" is for nothing.

 

 

It was actually an accidental epiphany. I was sitting around one evening with a couple friends discussing the new scifi theme and suddenly it just became clear to all of us that there would be one resource that was used to power everything in the galaxy, Traxium crystals! and that mining for them would be very profitable and something worth fighting over. From that moment on space mining became an integral part of the game. 

 

 

We are planning for a mid-February Kickstarter launch. If all goes well we hope to see games shipping by fall if not earlier.

 

 

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