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Design Dilemma

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markgrafn
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Joined: 03/01/2015

I am working with a friend of mine to refine an older game design of mine. So far it has come together really well, but now we are clashing over a few design decisions. I'd like to post a little about the game and see what this community of game developers and gamers have to say about the game.

The game is a secret identity deduction game. One player is dealt a spy identity and the remaining players are non-spy. The goal of the spy is to simply survive, or manipulate the destruction of at least half the non-spy players.

During a player turn, all OTHER players will play a card from their hand face up on the table. The cards will either deal damage to the turn player, or protect the turn player from damage. If their are more damage cards than defense cards, the player is wounded (or eliminated) otherwise the game progresses to the next players turn. That is basics of the game.

We have implemented special effect cards that can be played at any time to aid with information gathering and deduction as well as impact certain areas of the game (combat mostly). Several of the special effect card create a "clock" on the game that gives the edge to the spy as once a certain amount has been played, the spy wins! We have also implemented mission cards to help with the gathering of information.

When a mission card is drawn from the deck, the player who draws the mission selects one player that won't be participating in the mission. Then all players that are participating are given a PASS card and a FAIL card. Players will vote for the success or failure of the mission. If the mission succeeds then nothing happens. If the mission fails, one of the "clock" special cards are drawn from the deck and placed into play.

Can I please get some feedback on the overall design of the game. Does anything seem like it doesn't fit?

Thanks

MattPlays
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Joined: 04/12/2015
How

do the non spy players win?

markgrafn
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MattPlays wrote:how do the

MattPlays wrote:
how do the non spy players win?

by identifying and eliminating the spy.

dcnole24
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Joined: 06/15/2015
At the elevator pitch level

At the elevator pitch level like you've just given, the whole identify the spy, select people to go on missions, play pass/fail cards to see if the mission succeeds portion of the game seems to borrow pretty heavily from The Resistance both thematically and mechanically. Is that something you're worried about?

I am more interested in the core mechanic of the person whose turn it is being on the "chopping block" (not a bad game name, btw), and either being damaged or protected by the other players. That seems more unique. I wonder, though, why would anyone (other than the spy) ever vote to harm another player if eliminating good guys is how the spy wins? What's the incentive to do harm to someone prior to convincing yourself that you know exactly who the spy is? Or is there something which prevents everyone from just voting to protect each turn?

Also, how do players obtain these special effect cards and how are they played in relation to this turn-by-turn voting to protect or damage the guy on the chopping block? Is a special effect card played every turn? Or only on some turns (and if so, who decides when they are played and what motivates their decision?)?

markgrafn
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More elaboration.

Special effects are drawn from the deck and used when a player wishes.

There really isn't much of a reason to damage other people unless you are the spy or you are damaging someone you think is the spy. The non-spy wins when the spy is eliminated. The special effect cards help in determining who the spy is. One special effect even let's you look at another players identity!

No rules preventing players from playing only defense cards really.

That Fact That The game is so similar from almost every aspect to Resistance is a major concern of mine. In Reality, without the combat root mechanic, I think the game is simply a rehash of Resistance. Would you agree?

Thanks

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