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Creature Creator/resource management game-- need some suggestions.

6 replies [Last post]
Wed, 01/11/2017 - 17:10
ABananaAttack
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Joined: 01/11/2017

So I've come up with an idea for a creature Creator/resource management type game that I want to pursue, but I'm not sure on how some of it would play. Obviously it's still in brainstorming/planning phase. Here's a basic summary:

Players will take turns attempting to create "creatures" (not sure on the actual terminology yet) using resources they collect through the game. The game is won through points earned for each of the creatures. the creatures will have different abilities that trigger when built or played or a number of other variables. Scene cards will be flipped that can create different types of scenarios. Such as, "all creatures cost 1 less "type of resource" this turn", any player may create this turn, etc.

Few questions I have, or is this even worth pursuing further?

Question 1:
I've considered a couple different ways of players gaining the different resources, but can't figure out which is the most fun.
1) Simple draw and discard method.
2)different colored dice representing the resources.
3)(current favorite) At the beginning of the round players place a pawn on a location on a centralized board dictating their action for the turn. only one player can be on a space at a time, and players cant perform the same action twice in a row. (think scythe) spaces would either give resources, allow the player to create a creature, or possible other actions.

Question 2:
If I use elements as the resource is it too cliche? Should I try to change up what the resources are or will this really be that important?

Question 3:
Is this meaty enough for a game? I've toyed with the idea of having a play board where players move around, or maybe field the creatures to wreak havoc on cities and scoring points this way. possibly adding a player hand allowing players to "mess" with each ohers player boards.

Things i'm trying to avoid are player elimination, combat, battling monster type game (MTG), over complicating the game more than it should be. I feel like if I'm not carful it's gonna be a) too short b) boring c) too easy and d)too much like a CCG (MTG) I'm open to any ideas/suggestions/brainstorming!

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Fri, 01/13/2017 - 17:18
#1
Baron Bill
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Joined: 11/24/2009
Resources idea

Hi and welcome to The BGDF!

What about giving each player a number of "assistants"? These would just be meeples (or some other generic representation) that could each be assigned to different spots on the board (resources, card drawing, money, etc). This would allow the players more flexibility and ability to multitask over placing one pawn per turn. Assistants could be either bought or earned (by converting resources or by playing special cards). This would also bring in a bit more strategy as you would be able to accomplish your own goals while also looking for ways to foil your opponent's plans by taking spaces you know they are trying to get.

This mechanic would steer clear of making your game too much like a CCG.

Another idea would be a player board representing your laboratory that you could build lab improvements upon that would provide modifiers and special abilities.

I think this sounds like a great theme that should be explored further.

Thanks,

Bill

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Fri, 01/13/2017 - 19:27
#2
BHFuturist
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Joined: 11/01/2008
Greetings!

Welcome to the BGDF!

This sounds like this idea should be "worked".

As combat and such is not the goal (and I am glad they are not part), you might do something like a mix of "7 Wonders" & "Stone Age" for resources and upgrades.

For the "monsters" you could deal out a set of "monster/creature (MC)" template cards that the players must "bid for" or "buy"... then they will need to "fill" all of that cards "slots" with upgrades. This would "finish" the monster/creature.

The MC cards would be worth Victory Points (if completed before the game ends) and the "slots" would be things related to creatures based on the "type" that MC card is. also the MC cards could have "powers" that once the card is "finished" might be new actions or upgrades to actions, to help get more upgrades for other MC cards...

The "MC Deck" would be dealt out into a "market" and as the cards are collected by the players new cards come out to "fill" the market back up. The market would just be one "location" players could place a "worker" or select for this round action.

MC card powers might be "custom dice" that add to resource collection or help with other actions.

In some ways you could almost "re-theme" some of Tiny Epic Galaxies, change a few things here or there, add a few more things and get a game like what you are talking about... The mechanics would be similar but change and used in other ways

Your idea can drift as far from "card play" as you like, there are lots of great mechanics out there for "engine building" games that don't use just cards.

Games you should check out to help look for good mechanics that you can "take and adapt" are:

    7 Wonders (for the rondel)
    Stone Age (buildings and resource gathering)
    Lords of Waterdeep (worker placement & quest system)
    Dungeon Petz (everything cool & art style)
    Alien Frontiers (how the dice are used)
    Tiny Epic Galaxies (Dice & player boards & planet cards)
    Scythe (sub-goal completion and end game scoring system)

I hope to hear more about what you do with this, I have thought about games like this for some time... but until "work" is added, they are just ideas.

-Eamon

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Sat, 01/14/2017 - 04:46
#3
ABananaAttack
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Joined: 01/11/2017
I toyed with the idea of

I toyed with the idea of worker placement, but cant seem to come up with enough actions that make sense with the theme. May have to revisit that and see what I can figure out.

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Sat, 01/14/2017 - 19:39
#4
Willem Verheij
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Joined: 06/08/2016
It's a game that certainly

It's a game that certainly seems good material to have a strong theme on it.

Maybe it could just be crazy scientists trying to prove who is the best? Kind of inspired by Frankenstein.

Each player could pick their own scientists out of a pool that comes with the game, each scientist could have a different color to easily tell them apart and could have different advantages.
Each scientist would also have their own dashboard that also functions as their laboratory.

The game board could be a map of the world divided in territories. Here you could assign your scientists and their assistents to gather materials and research some matters, but they can also be put to use in the laboratory.
Assistants could do most stuff, one or two tasks could only be done by the scientists themselves.

The monsters could maybe also be put to use on this world map. Some could help with gathering, being good at gathering one specific resource.
There could also be a disaster deck, that each game round adds a new disaster to the game, and a location deck could determine where it happens.
That region would now be unavailable to gather resources or do research there. But each disaster could be solved with monsters. Sometimes it just requires a more specific one.

Maybe assistants that the player starts with could also be used as a resource if the plan is to make a cyborg or other human based monster.

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Sun, 01/15/2017 - 22:21
#5
Midnight_Carnival
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Joined: 06/17/2015
yeah, why not...

What I read of your game reminds me of a game I designed a while back only yours is different and a little more complicated.
Normally I'd hate it if someone said "your game reminds me of mine" - but I don't mean to infer a lack of originality here, it is just subtle flavors which remind me, not the recipe itself.

In my game I used the different coloured dice.

I like the way your game involves "assembling creatures" - or something similar, mine didn't have that and that is definitely an improvement.

I'm supposed to be giving you good ideas but I don't want to flavor your game as it is original and I don't want to impose the ideas I had while designing mine.

I have one good idea though: continue to develop this game!

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Mon, 01/16/2017 - 01:57
#6
ABananaAttack
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Joined: 01/11/2017
So I made a small prototype

So I made a small prototype with a set up similar to this:

creatures are laid out in a row from a central deck. Below it the elements are played in a row. each turn players take one action out of 3.
points are tallied when either no creatures can be picked up, deck is empty, or resources empty.

so this seemed great on paper, in play it seemed...boring. so in short I'm considering reworking the whole thing into a worker placement (or similar) to see what happens. thanks for all the input guys its really caused me to think!

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