This is a question about the state of deckbuilding games in the current market.
My current design project is a deckbuilding game. I consider it to have a unique theme and new twists on the mechanic that I haven't seen in any of the other contenders. As time goes by, and I continue to work on my game, I keep seeing more and more news of upcoming deckbuilding releases. Just recently, there's been announcements that Lord of the Rings, the DC Universe, and Capcom properties will be releasing deckbuilding games THIS YEAR! This, I find, is very discouraging because it shows the inevitable flood of titles into the market that I fear will wash independent games out.
Now, I know that, just because a big property clones a popular mechanic for their game, that doesn't mean that it's going to be a smash. However, my concern is that it will still garner the portion of the crowd that may have picked up my independent deckbuilder otherwise. Is my concern valid?
The bottom-line, and in short, my question, is this:
Are deckbuilding games coming into full swing and in a prime state for new releases, despite big companies tossing their hats into the ring? Or is it something that is better left to sizzle in the pan longer so that my game comes at a time when their is a lull in the deckbuilding market?
I had to stop reading right there and check my own room, in broad daylight, because that is terrifying.
I believe that you have many valid points in your argument against deckbuilding games. I, for one, am not a fan of the father game of this genre, Dominion, but I'm enamored with nearly all of the "sons of Dominion" that have come out of it (Rune Age, Nightfall, Ascension, etc). My reasons for liking these games, and this mechanic, I feel are fairly simple. I only have to buy the initial game itself (expansions are optional). I don't have to buy extra cards, multiple copies of the game, or trade for anything to add to my experience. Also, there is no disappointment in not getting "the good cards".
I've played CCGs all my life. A few years ago, a close friend of mine from the FLGS in town finally talked me into playing MtG because it was the ONLY game anyone played. Within weeks, I was already far past the point of being aggravated by the booster/draft/collectible aspect of it. I hadn't spent money on a CCG unless the game was long dead, and $20 bought me a BOX of boosters, not just ONE starter deck! I promptly started to buy MtG singles online from older sets. My younger brothers (who did the same thing) and I found this to be very enjoyable, having a much wider pool of cards to choose from, and we played against each other often. When we took our decks to the our FLGS hangout to play against our friends there, we were promptly rebuked. No one would play with us! We were told that, because our decks were not tournament legal, no one could learn anything from playing us, so it was time ill-spent.
So, to cut this point off, colour me jaded, but when I learned there was a new style of card-based game that was sold in a box, full of around 200+ cards, AND they didn't require me to buy anything else (expansions, promos, etc) if I didn't want to? I was delighted.
I agree that there can be an imbalance in any game, especially card-based ones, but I'm not making a claim that one is better than the other. I've played competitive deckbuilding games (Ascension) and cooperative ones (Rune Age), and I love that there are many ways to enjoy this genre of game. While it's true that if you are playing totally competitively, buying cards from the same pool as your opponents, you are bound to run into some situations where luck/turn order drops the right card in the right person's lap. But what if you are buying the majority of your cards from your own, personal pool that you choose at the beginning of the game? Isn't it all just part of the strategy of making the right card choices for your own deck, and utilising your own resources well? I'm not saying MtG is perfect (far from it in my opinion, but that's irrelevant), and I'm not saying any deckbuilding game is either. In a sense, I still like what CCGs offer, but I feel that deckbuilding is a natural progression (the other being fixed-deck games) in the card-based game field for someone who is tired of the CCG model.
I also definitely understand what you're saying about it becoming an overused mechanic, and that's what I was afraid of. The guts of the game are being sown into the big IP monsters sooner than I anticipated. While I don't think they will be especially BAD games (the Resident Evil deckbuilder has garnered pretty favourable reviews so far), I do feel that they will flood the market, and shut out the potential for new, independent designs to shine. I may be wrong, and that may be the opposite; new designs may shine because they aren't tied to a big name with recycled mechanics.
This is something that I may end up doing. I had been toying with the idea of removing the majority of the deckbuilding mechanics and leaving just a unit-purchasing one in its place. I may give this further consideration now.