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« on: November 10, 2012, 09:40:20 PM »
My main motivation for making a CCG is making an engaging multiplayer game. I've done a lot of research and put a lot of thought into what makes a good multiplayer ccg, and these are some guidelines i've come up with.
1. Keep it simple, stupid. There should be as few contrived rules as possible. What i mean by this is that a bunch of extra rules that aren't in the 1v1 game shouldn't pop into existence when you start adding extra players.
2. We're all in this together. The win conditions should be designed in such a way that everybody stays in the game until there is a winner. No one is eliminated, and everybody has a chance to win right up until the end.
3. Slow and steady doesn't win the race. Multiplayer games generally tend to be slower by nature than their 1v1 counterparts. The mechanics of the game should naturally account for this and encourage players to be aggressive.
4. Leave him alone! The game shouldn't encourage picking on the weaker player.
5. There's always something to do. Players shouldn't feel like they aren't a part of the game when it isn't their turn. The mechanics should encourage them to pay attention and interact at all phases of the game.
If anyone has any comments on my multiplayer guidelines, I'd like to hear them. Now onto the finest iteration of my game engine yet. This is a short version of the rules designed to cover the important unique elements of the game. The setting of the game is subject to change, but I like the idea of sci-fi, since it's a rare setting for a CCG.
Introduction
Water; water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.
City of Black
• Sprawling diesel-punk city
• The last place on earth where there is fresh, clean water.
• Chinese/Japanese/Arabian influences
• Verticality
• Bottom level: Canals, melting-pot metropolis, shadows, underworld, crime
• Upper level: Pristine buildings, Interconnected walkways, skyscrapers and airships, rich upper class
6 Factions
1. Aristocracy: Ruling class. Bankers, property owners etc. Trying to maintain their privileged position
2. Lotus: Chinese/Japanese theme. Organized crime. Trying to take over Aristocracy from within
3. Union: Workers union including, dockworkers, zeppelin pilots, police etc. Trying to check power of Aristocracy
4. Inventors Guild: Pushing technology forward at all costs, enabled the building of the city
5. Cirque: Circus. Front for occult organization. Ritual based magic, summon spells and creatures from other dimension etc.
6. Visionaries: Arabian theme. Combining magic with technology to modify selves, push the boundaries of what it means to be human
Setting up
Each player needs a 75-card deck plus their 4 territory cards. The deck may not contain more than 4 copies of any card with the same name.
At the start of the game each player draws an 8-card starting hand. They may then mulligan by moving any number of cards from their hand to the bottom of their deck, and then refilling their hand to 8 cards.
Winning the Game
The object of the game is to control all of the Water in the city at the end of a turn. Players claim 1 Water when they build territory. Players can steal 1 Water from an opponent by destroying that opponent’s territory.
When the game starts there is 10 uncontrolled water waiting to be claimed.
Territory
Territories are what provide you with water and resources and are where combat takes place. You may play any card facedown horizontally from you hand as Territory and when territory comes into play under your control, you claim 1 unclaimed water. If there is no unclaimed water, then you do not gain any. It costs equal to the amount of territory you already control for you to build a new territory. At the beginning of your turn you generate resources from each territory you control. When a Territory you control takes damage equal to its HP it is destroyed and moved into your resource pool. If a Territory is destroyed in combat the attacker steals 1 Influence from the controller of the destroyed territory, which may either be added to the attackers influence, or discarded (added to the uncontrolled water) to generate resources equal to the number of the people in the game +1.
Resources, Drawing cards and Thresholds
Your Resources are the cards currently in your resource pool. When you generate resources, you move that many cards from the top of your deck face down into your resource pool. To pay for costs, you move that many cards from you resource pool back to the bottom of you deck. Moving a card from any zone to the bottom of your deck is called “Cycling”. To draw card, you take one card from your resource pool, and add it to your hand.
To play a card you not only have to pay its resource cost, you also have to meet its threshold requirement. Cards in play and in your discard pile provide threshold. Threshold isn’t spent like resources; it is just a minimum requirement. There are certain cards that provide threshold, but do not have a threshold requirement and every deck must contain some of these in order to play the other cards it contains.
The Cards
Character Cards: Cards that get things done. They attack territories and other characters in order to gain influence and hinder your opponent. Stats: Faction, Cost, Strength, and Initiative.
Support Cards: Cards that attach to characters and territories, either to help your own or hinder your opponents. Stats: Faction and Cost
Event Cards: One-off effects on the game that can be played at any time to gain an instant advantage. Stats: Faction and Cost.
Every card has a resource cost, which is paid for with resources generated by you and your Territories.
The Turn
Turns are simultaneous. At the start of each turn, these abilities trigger for each player:
• Resource: At the start of your turn generate 2 resources + 2 from each of your territories
• Restore: At the start of your turn restore all depleted cards
Each player then takes alternates making the following actions:
• Play a card
• Build Territory
• Use an Ability
• Declare an attack
• Turn a character to heal it
• Set a trap
• Draw a card
• Pass
Once everybody passes in succession, the turn ends.
Once a target for an attack is chosen, the battle is resolved by taking these actions in order:
1. Starting with the active player, each player chooses their attackers, taps them and moves them to the territory of the battle. This is the attacking party
2. Starting with the player to the left of the defending player, each player chooses if they are going to block, and moves their characters accordingly. This is the defending party.
3. The active player and the defender assign the damage of their respective parties in order of Initiative groups. If there are no defending characters or lethal damage has already been assigned to the blocking characters, the attacker may assign damage to the target of the attack.
4. Damage is applied
