Card-Driven Strategy Games

Thank you for your reply.

Now I understand a bit more why I was having some difficulty finding specific info. Are there any more general game development materials directed towards a broader category - such as strategy games?

As I imagine most people's are, my game idea is a bit complex - yet when I see boardgames that cover the many topics that they do, I realize that my concept is doable, given the right approach.

I have been toying with this idea for 5-6 years and have made several attempts that did not meet my expectations via a software version of the game. I did not complete any of the attempts as their failure was noticed when partway completed. Most of my software attempts were "proof of concept" things.

Anyway, I have been a professional firefighter/officer for over 20 years now and my goal is to simulate the dynamic nature of a fire. My goal is to produce a device (boardgame) to use as tabletop scenarios to train fire officers in my county. If it became a big success, then who knows where it could lead.

Much of what is available today for firefighting is restricted to carefully controlled tabletops managed by a group of firefighting instructors. The variety of the incidents are therefore limited to the imagination and/or experience of the instructors.

I would like to approach the simulation of major fires, during deteriorating conditions that present the student with critical risk/benefit decision points - just like the real thing.

I've trained at the National Fire Academy, at various points throughout my state, and have been in charge of these types of incidents - so I have a firm grasp on how it feels.

So that is the goal. Right now, I have only limited details in regards to a boardgame but I am working on it consistently.

I only recently even learned about how complex and detailed boardgames can get when a friend put me on to them.

I have Hannibal and Age Of Napoleon and that is where I have discovered the uniqueness of the card-driven strategy system. I also have some older hex-and-counter games and in particular like a solitaire game about naval operations called Carrier and a two-person naval game called Flat Top. I have not played Flat Top yet, but enjoy the mysterious nature of the Japanese forces in Carrier. I think a technique like that would be useful for the development of the fire in a game, but I have to play it much more to decide its potential.

That's where I'm at right now. I have many notes from over the years as I tried various things on the computer, but once I got interested in boardgames I immediately noticed how much easier it was to grasp the scope of it by viewing the entire board - much more difficult on the computer.

If you have any recommendations about good reference materials for designing strategy games, that would probably help me the most right now. I will continue to research by playing these games I have here at home and noting things I think could transfer to a tabletop boardgame.

Thanks, Ron