Cooperative Deck Building Game Concept

In short, the proposed game is a cooperative deck building game in which players work together to fight randomly generated boss like enemies.

=============Game Objective=============

The objective of the game is for the players to build their deck up with various cards that can be purchased during the game and use their purchased cards and abilities to work together to take out a boss enemy that was randomly generated at the beginning of the game. The enemy will fight back and deal detriments to the players' decks, as well as directly to the players' characters. Both the enemy and the players will have a life total. Once that life total reaches zero, it will mark the end of the game.

If you build your deck incorrectly it will be too slow to take out the enemy, but if you try to kill the enemy to quickly, you might fall short and fail. It is your job to find the perfect balance in your deck in order to become victorious. Will the players be able to overcome the mighty enemy in time, or will it become enraged and wipe them out in a single final blow?

=================Setup=================

Step 1 – Choosing the Player Decks

The game will include a variety of different “player decks” that can be used for each play through. Each game, a unique set of ten different player decks is used. Each of theses player decks will contain about 10 cards that have a specific action and or attack abilities. The players throughout the game can purchase these cards in order to build their decks. These decks can be either randomly chosen or can be picked by the players to create a specific player experience.

Different examples of cards that could make-up the player decks could include cards such as:

• Cards that give you extra actions

• Cards that give you extra purchases

• Cards that let you draw cards

• Cards that give you extra currency

• Cards that let players look at cards at the top of the “Enemy Attack Deck” and rearrange them.

• Cards that let you set aside a card from your hand, and put it in your hand at the beginning of the next turn.

• Cards that prevent the enemy from attacking next turn

Step 2 – Prepare starting hands/board

The selected player decks will be placed in the play area along with 3 separate currency decks each of a different value (e.g. $1, $2, $3).

There will also be one face down “mystery deck”. All the cards in this deck will cost the same amount. They will include a wide range of cards. Many of these cards will be ones with little use that will primarily slow down a player’s deck. However, it will also include a very small amount of very strong valuable cards that will have effects such as dealing direct damage to the enemy.

Each player will also be dealt identical starting decks. This deck will be composed of a set number of currency cards as well as several other starting cards. These starting cards would be a set amount of cards that mostly have deck-slowing effects.

Step 3 – Creating the Enemy

The final step of setup is to create the enemy that the players will be fighting against. There are three components that make up the enemy. The first and primary component that is selected is the creature. There will be a deck of about 25 different creatures. Some examples of potential creatures might include things such as a dragon, a wizard, a sea giant, a troll, or a serpent. Each of these enemies will have specific traits that are relevant to them. The primary aspect of each creature will be its life total. The specific enemy will be randomly drawn from the deck and that will be the creature that the players will be fighting during that game.

The second component of the enemy is its primary weapon. The weapon would also be randomly chosen from a deck of about 25-50 cards. There would be two classes of weapons that could potentially be chosen (ranged and close quarters). As with the creatures, the weapons will also have relevant abilities and characteristics. Examples of potential weapons include things such as swords, hammers, scythes, bladed boomerangs, shurikens, throwing daggers etc.…

The third and final component would be a defense mechanism. As with the others, this will be randomly chosen from a deck of cards and also will have relevant abilities. Examples of potential defense mechanisms include things such as shields, force fields, armor, etc.…

These three components would make-up the enemy as a whole. To accompany the enemy, there would also be an “Enemy Attack Deck”. This deck would be composed of different cards that will be drawn each turn, and will inflict damaging effects on the players and their decks.

Different examples of cards that could make-up the “Enemy Attack Deck” could include cards such as:

• Cards that force players to discard cards

• Cards that force players to remove cards from their deck

• Cards that prevent the player from making purchases that turn

• Cards that prevent the player from taking actions that turn

• Cards that deal damage to the players

• Cards that prevent the players from dealing damage to the enemy that turn

=================Play=================

In regular play, each player will take turns and follow a specific order of play.

Order of play:

1. Draw 1 card from “Enemy Attack Deck” and resolve

2. Perform 1 action (unless otherwise modified) and resolve

3. Perform 1 purchase (unless otherwise modified)

4. Discard all cards in your hand and all cards played during your turn

5. Draw 5 new cards from your deck

After these set of actions, play passes to the next player.

=========Win and Loss Conditions=========

The players win the game if:

• They completely deplete the enemy’s life total, conquering and defeating it.

The players lose the game if:

• The “Enemy Attack Deck” runs out. (The enemy becomes enraged and delivers a single final blow wiping out all players, and ending the game.)

• Any of the players’ life total reaches zero