In Jan 29, Unpub Philippines had its first meet-up for 2017. We were lucky to be hosted by Freddie Tan at Neutral Grounds Centris. Unlike previous events which were open to the public, the event was for “designer’s only” so that we could focus on feedback from within the Unpub community. We had lots of fun and are excited for what 2017 will have in store for Philippine tabletop game design 🙂

What is Unpub Philippines?

Unpub Philippines is the Philippine Chapter of Unpub which is a network of game designers, publishers, playtesters, etc. The following is found in Unpub’s website:

The network is a growing community of game designers, publishers, players, retailers and artists working towards the creation of new and unique table top games that will keep people entertained for generations to come! The nucleus of this community is the Maryland/Pennsylvania/Delaware region (the middle of the East Coast in the United States of America), but our reach and membership is steadily growing across the country. Our hope is to create a stronger community of colleagues and friends in game design while promoting the creative projects of our members and encouraging the improvement of their games through play-testing.

The Philippine Chapter has had 4 events so far. The first three were open public playtests. After reviewing these events, we realized the problem with public playtests was that demo-ing our games kept us from trying each other’s games. This time, the event was only for designers so that we could really look into what everyone is doing. In the future, we still plan to do public playtests but only once the games have been throughly tested internally.

The Games of Unpub4

Unpub4 showcased a myriad of games in varying stages of development. Below is a rundown of the games seen that day. (Next time Unpub pips, remind me to take pictures of all the games XD)

Rajah’s Hunt

Designed by Tonichi Sanvictores, Rajah’s Hunt is an area majority/worker placement/set collection game set in pre-colonial Philippines where players compete to catch different animals to give as tribute to the Rajah of Tondo.

Garrison: Archangel

Designed by James Ronald Lo of Indigo Entertainment, Garrison: Archangel is a customizable mech battle card game that can be played solo or head-to-head.

Armas

Of Sea and Chaos

Designed by RJ Aquino of Cranial Vault Games, “Of Sea and Chaos” is a 3-8 player euro seafaring game where players explore an ocean world and fight sea monsters.

Conspiracy

Designed by Cyrell Aspiras, Conspiracy is a 4-8 player tile-laying zombie survival game where players compete to be the first to find the safe house.

“secret”

Designed by Marx Rulloda and Karlo Senga of Balangay Entertainment, “secret” is a deduction microgame whose details cannot yet be announced to the public. (“secret” is only its codename.)

[Machine Problem]

Designed by The Epic Gaming Regiment (TEGR), [Machine Problem] is a set collecting game where players compete to build different inventions.

Unification of China

And Dami Mong Alam!

Spirited

What I was able to play

Since I didn’t have a game to be tested, I spent most of my time organizing and playing. I was able to play Rajah’s Hunt, Of Sea and Chaos, Conspiracy, and Ang Dami Mong Alam!

Because the games are still in development, I won’t discuss the games in detail as a lot of things are still in flux. What I can say though was that the prototypes were impressive and you can really feel each designer’s enthusiasm for their designs.

I’ve already given my feedback to the designers and am excited to see the next iterations of their games in Unpub5 🙂

Unpub Philippines Goals

After the games, we had a lot of kwentuhan about our experiences in game design, the industry, and all sorts of things related to Tabletop Games.

One of the things talked about was Freddie Tan’s vision: To have a Philippine pavilion at the Internationale Spieltage SPIEL also known as the Essen Game Fair. He told us that in those conventions, other countries like Singapore and Indonesia have their own Pavilions to showcase their games to big publishers. If we are able to produce at least 4 good solid games, we should try to organize our own pavilion in Essen. Who knows? Maybe one of the international publishers will publish one of our local games.

Inline with that vision, James suggested we try to make our own local convention first to practice for Essen. There are a lot of ideas being floated around but nothing solid yet. What do you guys think of a local tabletop game convention? 🙂

Unpub5?

We want Unpub to happen regularly every month. Tentatively, Unpub5 will be on Sunday, Feb 26.

I’m really excited to see how the designers will improve their games for Unpub5. If you are an aspiring game designer and want to join, first join the Unpub PH facebook group then wait for a call of submissions for Unpub5. Everyone’s welcome and we’d love to have you with us 🙂