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1. There are different pieces. There is not just one kind of piece.
2. Main focus should be the board, not the underlying point counts.
3. The pieces should have minimal liquid assets. They should be mostly solid objects. No state changing.
4. The board is not static. It has changing states.
5. The player has little control over the manipulation of the board itself. Only the pieces in his control.
6. There are restrictions on the player's sphere of influence.
7. The player has immobile pieces which he can place which effect the nature of the board.
8. The location of the immobile pieces effects the player's scores.
9. Immobile pieces may take up more than an entire hexagon.
10. There should be different immobile pieces.
11. Immobile pieces have fluid attributes.
12. Mobile pieces can transform into immobile pieces, but not vice versa.
13. There should be points associated with each individual piece.
14. Immobile pieces have many more point types associated with them.
15. The position of immobile pieces effects their own scores.
16. There should be many different scores/types of points around which much is based.
17. Creation of pieces are based around the consumption of points.
18. The board can not be manipulated by mobile pieces.
19. Point counts are vital and need to be tracked at all times.
20. Minor manipulation of immobile pieces can cause fluctuations in how scores grow, drain, and change.
21. Your options on piece creation and influence are greatly restricted depending on your scores.
22. Points are not eternal. Balance of points is maintained by rising and dropping scores.
23. Creation of pieces requires a reduction in points. More than one kind of point. 2-4 appears optimum.
24. Manipulation of mobile pieces should be an automated process to an extent defined by the player.
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Somewhere along the line, I realized that I was trying too hard to take a game concept, and a game theme, and smash them together until they fit. I'm now focusing less on the atmosphere, and more of the anatomy of the damned thing. It may seem obvious, but I overlooked it like a fool. I need to focus on the game, not the setting. And the setting should be dictated by the mechanics, not the other way around.
Just thought I'd share this little nugget with whoever you are. If you're making a game and you haven't already, try it - boil the game down to its most fundamental roots, ignoring setting totally. You can't always add game to setting, but you can add setting to game. Better yet, sometimes you don't even need to.
Good huntin'.
