Although the design seemed to be moving forwards, I kept struggling with the idea that both players would have their own "storyline". It just seemed like this concept of two (2) storylines and having players "interfere" with each other's quests... was rather "unfocused".
My idea now, is that one (1) Player is the "Villain" and one (1) player is the "Hero".
Perhaps this is a simplistic view, but now it explains why BOTH player will want to play cards: to WIN the game.
This drastic re-think, will send me back to the drawing board to figure out HOW this new idea can be fused with the existing ones...
Still not clear how "Quest AC2" will develop.
Stay tuned! Cheers.
Comments
I rarely prototype... most ideas don't make it that far.
I personally blog to get a historical reference to the design idea and document the evolution of the idea. If you check my blog, there were earlier ideas about "Quest Adventure Cards - Version 2.0" which were also ultimately rejected. The game has been in design since "24 July 2012"... That's a whole 4 1/2 years in design. I have also been busy with other designs too.
But the good news - the idea has grown from those earlier ideas.
And although this may seem like a TRIVIAL "re-think", it is not. It's a very forward idea to pit two (2) players in a duel against each other. But having two storylines makes managing the "story" too complicated.
I really LOVE the "Resource Diagrams" those ultimately will be a factor in the design. That was some good conceptualization into the resources of the game and how the polar opposite resource is affected. Very interesting indeed!
I'm still not at the point that this IDEA is ready for a prototype.
You could say that I'm "back to square one"... So be it... More to think about!
And of course...
There is plenty to talk/discuss prior to a prototype! But I guess a foundation could be required... Never the less we can discuss all kinds of matters such as deterministic combat, deck-construction mechanics, taping/exhausting cards, Player interaction, etc.
All the aspects of the design can be discussed. Heck, discussions may even "influence" me in my design process...
I also took the time yesterday to break down the Resources into four (4) distinct categories:
We can even discuss "Resources" and their use/application in the game!
Cheers!
Resource Management
Instead of simply having "Renown" matched with "Infamy" (Both components of Fame), I decided to create a "resource counter" and therefore "Villainy".
Each player will require a Hero or Monster, but this type of "duality" means that if I play my "Human - Fighter" with a "Renown 3", my opponent benefits with "Villainy 3"!
This allows my opponent to play a trap card, some cursed item or a magical treasure to help me defeat the opponent's party by boosting his own party.
Now continuing with this train of thought, I'd hope to have FOUR (4) Resources around each card. For my "Human - Fighter" the resources could be:
And the player plays the card normally and does not tap the card to another resource. As previously stated Income and Bounty = Victory Points (VPs). Both Favour and Servitude allow you to "trade/buy" a card by discard cards in your hand. Renown and Infamy allow you to play cards from your hand directly into the storyline... And lastly Virtue and Villainy are for all kinds of Boons (items, equipment, treasure, etc.)
This seems to be a good starting point - to move forwards with the design.
The term "Exhaust"
During some more thinking about the term "Exhaust" and I have come to the conclusion that this means turning the card to it's ZERO (0) position. Tap-ing a card means turning it 90 degrees from the originating resource.
In our "Human - Fighter" example, we have:
+ Exhaust = Virtue 0 > Infamy 0
+ Tap (right) = Income 1 > Servitude 1
+ Tap (Left) = Favour 2 > Bounty 2
Still very much a work-in-progress. Cheers.