In the last installment, I began looking at some movies to turn into a game. I’ve been sidetracked somewhat. Invasion: Hollow Earth has developed into a pretty tight little two player game. And it has birthed a much larger and more complex game keeps the core tile movement / path-building mechanic and added some scoring elements. And the theme has changed to a sapper idea. A sapper is a combat engineer. They clean mines, build bridges and trenches, and things like that. It is also the name given to the Urak-hai / goblins in The Two Towers who blow up the wall of Helm’s Deep. And that’s the aspect that this game borrows. The players are now opposing forces trying to breach / destroy the other’s wall defenses by getting men across the grid to the other side. Same mechanic as before but bigger and the player’s men have a point value / strength that is matched to the wall segment they encounter. If their strength is higher they blow up the wall section. If not they have to wait for re-enforcements. So the theme has changed on the larger game. The smaller one is still science fiction. I could count this as a win for this challenge and probably will. Additionally I have built an Invasion of The Body Snatchers / The Faculty scenario for Dread. It’s good but hasn’t been played yet. I’ll count that too. But I want to keep going. So I need a movie. The ones above are good but there are a few more I should consider. Here’s a list:

The Killer Shrews

Attack of the Giant Leeches

Attack of The Moon Zombies

Detached head movies – The Head, Man Without A Body, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die – have to keep your brain alive – resource management, pick up and deliver, worker placement – brain controls minions that bring needed things – brain goal vs. dying

Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake – set collection of shrunken heads

I kind of like the detached head movie idea. I can see cobbling together those mechanics to build a decent game. Brain goal could be the perfect body or similar. Interesting. I’ll chase this idea and see where it goes. Steampunk robot body theme (Hellboy’s nemesis) or actual Frankenstein theme…

So which detached head movie to do.  First, let’s change that to disembodied head or brain. Next, how could this work. Disembodied head / brain controls several minions (players have 2-3 of their own meeples.). There is also the local village / town that will be a pool of workers that can be temporarily controlled (player meeple has to be used to recruit). The common meeples are used only one turn at a time. There could be special meeples that are required to do certain tasks and these have to be shared between players.

The Thing That Couldn’t Die – ancient sorceror’s head is dug up and takes control of local populace until a psychic teenager stops it. Could be cool and this is a very obscure movie.

Donovan’s Brain – this film doesn’t really lend itself to a game I don’t think.

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die – similar to Thing but the head is the scientist’s girlfriend and there’s a ‘monster’, a failed experiment, who is under the brain’s control. This one seems to fit my ideas best.

So one of these will be the basis for the game. And I finally have a game for the title I saved a couple of years ago – Not Enough Igors. A slight change here in that now each player has one Igor of their own and have to share the others. There are either a pool of villagers to compete for each turn OR it is semi-coop and the players use each other’s Igors. Don’t know yet.