5 replies to this topic

[Saijee]

Ever played a game where that have rewards for doing things, but the rewards do absolutely nothing? Like how in smash bros you unlock trophies, or in Kid Icarus Uprising you unlock idles?

I've been thinking what if I took that idea and made it better.

You can unlock things that do not affect the main game, but can be used in another mode that the game comes with.

I'm thinking of a card game with online play.

So by doing hard things in the main game, you unlock rare cards.

And the actual online card game will feature well animated 3D characters that would move according to your moves, which would look kinda like a turn based RPG.

Let me show you what the cards will look like:


Let's explain the rules of the game.

There are 3 kinds of cards, representing the 3 kinds of Demons that you see in the game. Robotic (blue), Mineral (Red), Particle (Yellow). You also get 1 deck for each kind, and each deck can have a max of 20 cards.

See the "A" at the top right of the card? That tells you the role of the demon, there are 2 roles, Attack (A) and Defend (D). Only Attack demons can attack, but to balance things out, if you cannot attack any of your enemies Attack Demons until they have 0 Defend demons in play.

Next, note under the name : "Ultra" this tells you the level of your demon. There are 6 levels:
Radio
Infra
Visa
Ultra
X
Gamma

In a normal play can work one of a few ways:
1) Play 1 Radio Demon.
2) Play 2 Radio Demons, but at least one of them must be face down.
3) Play 1 Infra Demon.

Radio demons are your grunts, and you are not penalized when they are destroyed. If you choose to play a Radio Face down, your enemy has the opportunity to take control of that Demon for 1 turn, that is unless you flip it face up before they call it.

Next notice the number "15" this is your demons Power of your demon, it also is their HP. When a demon takes damage, it is subtracted from it's own strength. When it reaches 0 your demon is destroyed.

Next off see the second, smaller, name "Combot." Kinda like pokemon, this tells you the demon you of lower-level which you need in order to play this card. The way this works is simple, if Combot is in your discard pile, than you can play Destrobot and move Combot to the bottom of your deck. This kind of play is called "Respawn."

Next see the 3 circles, P, R and C? Those indicate the possible ways that your demon can attack. Destrobot happens to be able to attack all 3 ways: Physical, Ranged, and Charge. Some demons will have effects that prevent them from being attacked a certain way, so this can really help balance things.

Another element that is not present in this card is "hexes" on the opposite side of PRC, some cards will have these hexagons. Each hexagonscan only be used once, and some demons can use them for different things, but all demons can use Hexes to dodge: If an enemy calls an attack on your demon, you can use one hex and be safe from harm.

Lastly, at the bottom is an effect. All demons have an effect. They may do very different things, and they may have different costs, some may drain your Power, some may take your hexes. But one thing that must be remembers is the terminology in the effect description:

D1 always refers to that demons self.
D2 refers to the single target demon. Any number greater than 1 refers to an enemy demon. Some demons can attack multiple demons, in which case the other demons will be refereed to accordingly:

Attack D2 and D3.

Means that your demon can attack 2 demons in one turn.

You can have four demons in play at the same time. And up 6 cards in your hand.

At the start of your turn you pick a deck which you want to draw from, draw 2 cards, keep the one you like, and place the other at the bottom of the deck.

So here comes the master question. How do you win/lose?

A defeated demon will go to the discard pile. If a demon sits in the discard pile for more than 4 turns, it is removed from play. If you have more than 4 Demons removed from play that are of a level greater than Radio than you loose. You also lose if you have 8 Radio's removed from play.

[Archaeaologist]

I'm a little confused as to what you want to discuss. It looks to me like you want to discuss the card game itself but I didn't see any questions or anything. The concept is good, certainly, but the idea of getting unlocks for a game within a game isn't anything new. It's certainly a better way to do things for the most part, but people tend to like a variety of unlocks in their games.

One concern I have, though, is that if you want this online card game to pick up and become popular, you shouldn't tie its card retrieval to another game that those who enjoy the card game aren't necessarily going to want to play. Furthermore, you'll likely run into a fair number of people who play your original game who don't have interest in the card game. Honestly, if you do things this way, I'd consider keeping the card game within the game itself, perhaps allowing a two-player battle on the same console or through a local network of some sort but not hosting the network yourself. Of course, I could be wrong and your suggestion could be a great way to do the card game, but I do see it as a potential pitfall, nonetheless.

[dannyjenn]

I can't comment on the card game itself, as card games in particular need to be tested to see if they play well. It might be an awesome sounding idea but for unforseeable reasons not be any fun or not work at all... likewise, it might sound like an awful idea but actually play very well and be extremely fun.

Second, two issues regarding this:

So here comes the master question. How do you win/lose?

A defeated demon will go to the discard pile. If a demon sits in the discard pile for more than 4 turns, it is removed from play. If you have more than 4 Demons removed from play that are of a level greater than Radio than you loose. You also lose if you have 8 Radio's removed from play.

1. It would be impossible for a player to lose (but also impossible for him to win) if he just chooses to never play a demon at all (or to never play more than 7 radios and 3 non-radios). There are several ways of handling this though:
- make a rule like in Pokémon -- "You lose as soon as you have no demons on your side of the field"
- make a rule -- "If your side of the field is empty then you must summon a demon from your hand or deck"
- make a rule that a victory (or perhaps a draw) can be declared after a certain number of turns of the opposite player not making a move
2. I'd change the "8 radios" to "8 demons (total)". Someone who has had 3 non-radio demons removed from play (and none in the discard pile or on the field) and has no chance at winning can choose to simply only play radio demons from that point on to prolong the match for several extra turns (the number of turns it takes to remove 3 extra radio demons from play). Likewise, someone with 7 radios removed from play (and none on the discard pile or on the field) can choose to not play any more radios in order to prolong the game for as long as it takes for up to 4 of his non-radios to be removed from the game.

Also, this I'm confused about:

If you choose to play a Radio Face down, your enemy has the opportunity to take control of that Demon for 1 turn, that is unless you flip it face up before they call it.

I see no reason to choose not to take control of it ever... unless there will be trap demons or something (upon being flipped then they have a negative effect on the person in control of them). That, or maybe you should put a limit on the number of times a player can take control of another player's cards.

Edited by dannyjenn, 17 May 2012 - 04:46 PM.

[Saijee]

Arch, I was thinking that you could spend your currency points on booster packs, and you also receive one random card after every match. But to get certain rare cards For sure, do hard challenges in the main game.

Danny:

1) How bout you lose if you end your turn when you have no demons in play. (More or less a sign that you surrender)

2) You see it as a stalling method, I see it as a chance to turn the tables. The thing is Radio's are grunts, they may have some useful effects, but losing a Radio should not be a big deal. You play Radio's because of their particularly unusual effects. But also having Radio's in the discard piles means that you can respawn them into infra's or visa form at any time.

Infra/ Visa levels are actually equal, something I think I forgot to mention. Is that if a visa can be swapped out for it's infra form and vice versa at any point in your turn, and as an added bonus: Their Power points are not conjoined. If it's defeated though you must both the infra and visa are discarded but it only counts as 1 demon.

So, Radio's are grunts with weird effects, Infra/Visa can flip-flop, and anything else is just ridiculously powerful.

3) How does this sound. If you decide to take control of your enemy's demon, then you cannot respawn any demons for that turn. and you can only play 1 additional Radio. Also some times they can have negative effects.

Edited by Saijee, 17 May 2012 - 06:04 PM.

[Yal]

I just want to add in some discouraging words about how difficult card games are to program.


With that said, you've done lots of nice groundwork for the card game, using the respawn rule from the actual game. I think you might be overcomplicating stuff, though, so try to analyze all additions to see if they're good to have or not. Like, those hexagonal power points, for instance - make sure you don't add in an overly complex system on top of the pretty complex battle system you already has.


Oh, and I didn't understand the attack/defence deal. What happens if you only have Defend demons in play?

[Saijee]

Good points, I was hoping someone would bring argue that it's overly complicated. Though the effect I'm ultimately trying to get is that it should feel a lot like a turn based RPG in terms of the battle flow.

Your not supposed to only have Deffend demons in play. Typically they are supposed to be used to defend you Attack demons.

The way it will be graphically represented is that Defend demons are always on the front line. If you have multiple Defend demons then your enemy can choose which defend demon to attack, but must wipe them all out before attacking your Attack demons.