Hey guys!
A little while ago I posted my design document for Suit Up! and what I realized after a few revisions was that my game was over-stuffed with mechanics and systems. I've honed it down tremendously over the past weeks, finished a prototype and playtested it. As it stands, it's way better. Everything is simpler. My usual approach was to add things to make it better but this time I made a concerted effort to make it simple. It's the exact opposite approach I'm used to taking but I'm happy with the results. Below is a link to the current design document. I think it's easy to comprehend. If you have read previous documents of mine, you'll appreciate that it's easier to grasp.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MUsSBvt93yBj6iC6DJFFNuoxeFPYUyQfrJd_...
These were the issues that cropped up during the playtest:
• The Suit Up! Phase isn't interesting. It's rock/paper/scissors lacking in-game complications to direct players which costume to choose. It's mindgame-y without nuance. What could I add to enhance this phase? Maybe come-into-play abilities? Or perhaps this shouldn't be its own phase?
• Attacking is too strong. There's no inherent drawback to doing so, and since blocking doesn't punish an attack (yes, it prevents damage and conditionally improves your costume's strength, but it doesn't negatively impact the opponent), it's easily the best option of the three (attack, block, grab). Should there be a cost associated with attacking? If so, what?
• A lot of my mechanics refer to other cards. The boost cards attached to costumes have numbers (1, 2, 3) that refer to special abilities that apply to all costumes or that are costume specific. So when you reveal a number, you need to then look at the costume's or character's ability. Perhaps this isn't a bad thing, it's just a bit wonky on first playthrough,
• I like game that build in complexity as they continue (usually by increasing the number of options) but Suit Up! doesn't have that at the moment. It's not something necessarily WRONG with the game, but it's certainly not there.
• The process of attaching new boost cards to inactive costumes is also kind of wonky. I wasn't sure how I wanted costume to regain attached boost cards, so I came up with this current system as mostly a placeholder. I like how it takes time for costumes to recharge their boosts, but it might be too slow and again, a bit fiddly.
• Characters need more of a playstyle, so I think a passive ability that constantly effects each costume would add to the asymmetrical design.
• This is more of a note for those who read my design doc, but if you're wondering why boosts don't simply go into your hand, I liked the idea of restricting the potential options you have. Maybe it's too restricting?
Comments, questions, ideas, concerns, suggestions, critiques...any and all are super appreciated. Thanks for reading through my babbling!
