Hi all,
I've made some posts concerning the game I am working on currently. I thought I would ask a more specific question though.
In my game the players are working together to defeat bosses and save the world thereby. However they all can have their own alignment that they may be working towards. If the world is lost then all players lose, but if the players as a group win against the bosses then something will determine who is the ultimate winner. That "something" is what I am wondering about...
Basically, from a mechanical standpoint, with the idea I have currently it would work this way:
Whenever players defeat monsters they gain hidden VP cards numbered from 2-3 with a very few rare 4 cards. These cards can be spent in various ways during the game to improve the characters, but at the end game the VPs matter.
If the players defeat all the bosses then it goes into a post-game type of situation. The player with the most VPs gets to decide whether they will pass or make a decision. They can decide whether they will simply save the world (neutral) or whether they will remake the world in their characters alignment. If they decide the latter then they have a chance to overcome some sort of obstacle with attack power; if they win then they gain the most bonuses for levelling up (that is, players level up their characters between games) whereas everyone else who declared either neutral or didn't declare anything get a minimal award. If all players choose neutral everyone gets a medium reward. If a player decides to face the obstacle and fails they gain nothing.
Basically the mechanic I want to implement would be similar to something like an Ultimatum game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimatum_game
But my question for you all on the forums here is: besides hidden VP cards, what are some other ideas one could use for this type of system for a semi-co-op game?
Semi-co-op victory mechanics ideas (ultimatum end game)
Personally, I like the idea of getting VP for accomplishing an objective, but then making the upgrade system dependent on VP spending. The upgrades would be worth a reduced VP value at end game, but they would help players accomplish more objectives before the end. I dont think the VP rewards need to be secret. And it wont really matter if you make players spend that VP towards upgrades, because other players will have an idea of where you are once you buy stuff. That being said, having VP rewards be secret does add a small amount inter-player tension, which is what it sounds like you are going for. I think this form of gambling with essential VP in the present in hopes that it pays off before the end is great. So I support your plan there.
Have you taken a look at Chaosmos yet? The hidden card system that makes this game could be molded into a variable VP reward mechanic with potential traps for other players. Let's say you have a ranking system for your monsters (lvl 1-3). A deck of varying value VP cards are randomized and placed in 3 piles or envelopes according to lvl, and some "trap" cards are included. Like Chaosmos, the top card is key if it is a "trap" of "vault", etc, and players get to manipulate the VP deck to either take a high value VP, a "trap" card for later use, place their own "trap" card, etc. This way there is further player tension built onto the hidden VP reward you are thinking of. Incidentally, this is a kind of mechanic I am currently modeling into a few of my game concepts.
Good luck!
Have you taken a look at Chaosmos yet? The hidden card system that makes this game could be molded into a variable VP reward mechanic with potential traps for other players. Let's say you have a ranking system for your monsters (lvl 1-3). A deck of varying value VP cards are randomized and placed in 3 piles or envelopes according to lvl, and some "trap" cards are included. Like Chaosmos, the top card is key if it is a "trap" of "vault", etc, and players get to manipulate the VP deck to either take a high value VP, a "trap" card for later use, place their own "trap" card, etc. This way there is further player tension built onto the hidden VP reward you are thinking of. Incidentally, this is a kind of mechanic I am currently modeling into a few of my game concepts.
Good luck!
Guru, thanks for the thoughtful reply and tips. I have heard of Chaosmos and I did talk to the guy who's making it once. Chaosmos has a similar plot to the game that I am making, I haven't read the rules yet for it though but now I definitely will do so to see what's going on.
And actually I did already have the idea for having different levels of monsters, not only for different locations on board but also so one can change the levels distribution depending on difficulty levels one wants to play the game in and also so it will scale with the players for ng+ (i.e. reaching higher levels for character progression requires more VPs, different level monsters give varying vps).
I will contemplate over the ideas you've given me here and post any that I come up with too, thanks for the help