Cosmic Cowboy

Cosmic Cowboy is a Tactics turn-based RPG inspired by the likes of Fallout 1 and XCom, where the player must navigate the distant planet of Proxima Centauri B and its dangerous inhabitants in this character-driven Space Western narrative.

WISHLIST ON STEAM: Cosmic_Cowboy

DEMO: Cosmic_Cowboy_Demo

About the Game

Cosmic Cowboy is a turn-based tactics game reminiscent of XCom or Fire Emblem. The key principle was to capture the feel of a methodical yet quick and dirty gunfight in the West, achieved by having enemies and the player die in just a few hits, keeping combat fast and volatile. Alongside this is the equally important pillar of capturing the very human stories found in Western movies, with the narrative delivered to the player through dialogue and comic strips between levels.

My Role

I was the lead mechanics and narrative designer on Cosmic Cowboy. I headed the narrative direction and worked to ensure that any mechanics developed remained cohesive with the narrative of the game, collaborating with the rest of the team to bring both the narrative ideas and mechanical systems to life, including working closely with the lead programmer to communicate designs, flag any issues, and work out how to resolve them.

My Work

Level developed and designed by lead level designer on cosmic cowboy Jack Mulford

For Cosmic Cowboy, the primary body of my work was in developing the systems and mechanics that the player utilises within the game. This ranged from creating the specs for characters and enemies, dictating what they were able to do and what weapons were available and how they functioned, balancing their values to ensure a fair but challenging experience. I also designed the core combat systems, covering everything from the different actions available to the player to how the environment could react.

My Process

A large portion of my work began with discussions with the rest of the team about what we wanted to see in the game. From there, I'd pick out a handful of the ideas raised and work on spreadsheets outlining the key features needed, writing succinct descriptions and pinning down the values behind them. This ranged from things like how much health to give a new enemy type, to how a new terrain type would affect the player, all boiled down into numerical values. After that, I'd discuss implementation with the lead programmer, how long it would take and how features might need to be tweaked. Once we'd agreed on any changes, I'd make them, hand off to programming, and then work in-engine once the tools were ready.

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