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Has this mechanic been used before

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Tue, 02/05/2019 - 21:51
Fex_H
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Joined: 09/30/2018

Just wondering, as I've gotten a bit tired of the Take a turn(s) and draw a card: bad stuff happens, for a co-op mechanism and I wanted to try to design something different. Also, chit pulls, rolling dice, etc. Is there a game that rolls a bunch of dice/pulls a bunch of chits, and the players choose their actions from that selection and whatever is left over is what the 'AI' for the bad stuff gets to do. I know Shadows over Camelot a similar mechanism, but I haven't seen it where all the player actions and the bad stuff actions come from the same source.

Thanks

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Wed, 02/06/2019 - 06:19
#1
wob
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hello. i would need a little

hello.
i would need a little more detail to be definite but my answer is "probably, yes".
i personally cant think of a game that uses it but i dare say someone can (usually after you have released your game).
that doesn't mean you shouldn't use it though. it sounds like a cool idea that could work well.
the fact you have independently invented the idea means that even if it does exist your game wont be ripping it off.
finally there are lots of games that share mechanics. deck building for example appears in lots of very different games. if we were only allowed to use unique mechanics dominion would be the only deck builder.

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Wed, 02/06/2019 - 06:45
#2
Jay103
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If the mechanic works well

If the mechanic works well for your game, who cares? All games share mechanics with others. I mean, you don’t want to be a clone, but this sounds just fine.

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Wed, 02/06/2019 - 10:22
#3
FrankM
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Potential problem

I agree, who cares if it's been used before, especially if it's so outside your experience that it's unlikely anyone who sees your game will think of the earlier one?

My concern is more about designing an AI that can actually use the same cards/chits/resources as the players without either (1) making the AI reliant on players strategizing for it or (2) making things so simple that the players can't do anything creative on their own behalf.

I don't know the details of the game, so this might be a complete non-issue. Maybe the AI always uses a specific strategy regardless of the cards it's dealt, in which case players might choose their cards less for their own benefit but more to hamstring the AI.

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Wed, 02/06/2019 - 13:09
#4
let-off studios
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Asymmetrical Costs and Benefits

FrankM wrote:
I don't know the details of the game, so this might be a complete non-issue. Maybe the AI always uses a specific strategy regardless of the cards it's dealt, in which case players might choose their cards less for their own benefit but more to hamstring the AI.
FrankM, you bring up a lot of good points here. I think that one way to remedy this situation is to allow the AI to benefit in ways that are different from the cost the player must pay. There are asymmetrical effects for the players and the AI, respectively.

For example, maybe this is a medieval, Robin-Hood style game with the players versus bandits in the woods or whatever. One of the options is to "Pay 15 Gold to hire caravan guards this turn." If a player doesn't choose this obvious penalty, then the AI will. In this case, they earn a benefit: "Claim the Merchant's Road for one turn."

The players don't want to cede territory to the AI bandits, so someone needs to claim the action and pay the guards. They lose resources in order to prevent the AI from a substantial gain.

Interesting decisions occur when there are more than one penalty to be paid, or if players simply can't afford to pay the price, in which case, they need to prioritize decisions based on how to best mitigate the effect of the AI's gains versus the actions they can access.

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Wed, 02/06/2019 - 18:06
#5
Fri
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Seasons time advancement

Seasons uses a similar mechanism to advance time in game. Each player choose a die and the unchosen die determines if time moves up 1 2 or 3 units. I know it is not an exact match bit I thought it was close enough to be interesting.

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Thu, 02/07/2019 - 09:27
#6
FrankM
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Joined: 01/27/2017
What LOS said

What LOS said, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be complicated. There could simply be a point value on the card, which are useless to players but assist the AI. Put the higher point values on the cards less useful to players, and playtest for balance.

Of course, for a heavier game, complicated is just peachy.

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Thu, 02/07/2019 - 09:50
#7
Angrycyborggames
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Joined: 04/02/2018
I toyed with this idea in a

I toyed with this idea in a zombie survival design but I never got it clicking nicely. Cards are double sided — one side being the survivor, the other side being their “turned” zombie.

Players draft from a pool of survivors, and anyone who isn’t saved is flipped and thrown on to the AI zombie deck for the players to battle against.

I think it’s a cool mechanic potentially — especially if it works with your theme. Strong choice / consequence feedback

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Thu, 02/07/2019 - 11:34
#8
anubis9
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That sounds awesome!

That is one of the coolest ideas I've heard for a zombie game!

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Thu, 02/07/2019 - 13:05
#9
wob
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Joined: 06/09/2017
i like that idea. it sounds

i like that idea. it sounds like a sort of deck builder, with the players building the ai deck, very cool.

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Thu, 02/07/2019 - 15:46
#10
Tim Edwards
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Joined: 07/30/2015
Angrycyborggames wrote:I

Angrycyborggames wrote:
I toyed with this idea in a zombie survival design but I never got it clicking nicely. Cards are double sided — one side being the survivor, the other side being their “turned” zombie.

Players draft from a pool of survivors, and anyone who isn’t saved is flipped and thrown on to the AI zombie deck for the players to battle against.

I think it’s a cool mechanic potentially — especially if it works with your theme. Strong choice / consequence feedback

Please make that game. I will back it.

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Thu, 02/07/2019 - 20:28
#11
deFunkt29
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Very cool stuff

Angrycyborggames wrote:
I toyed with this idea in a zombie survival design but I never got it clicking nicely. Cards are double sided — one side being the survivor, the other side being their “turned” zombie.

Players draft from a pool of survivors, and anyone who isn’t saved is flipped and thrown on to the AI zombie deck for the players to battle against.

I think it’s a cool mechanic potentially — especially if it works with your theme. Strong choice / consequence feedback

Logged in for the first time in a while to say that this does sound really cool. It reminds me of some ideas I was working on in the past with a zombie style betting game, where survivors and zombies would be represented by 2 sided poker chips; a survivor face on one side and zombie on the other. Players would bid with human chips on actions like defending the colony, searching for equipment, etc., and if they lost, risk them being flipped to zombies and added to the horde. Anyways, very cool!

Fex_H, your original idea is also cool. I like that it's a twist on the classic play a turn, draw a card, bad things happen, that seems to be so prevalent in semi co-ops (battlestar galactica, dead of winter). Probably wouldn't work for semi cooperatives but still interesting :).

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