Skip to Content
 

Macro: The Micro Card Game 2.0

17 replies [Last post]
3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012

(I believe I posted an earlier version of this somewhere).

Macro is a light card game where players only need 8 cards each to compete. It was inspired by the hotbar function (also known as Macro Commands) that exist in many MMOs. It is intended to be an easy to learn, hard to master game.

In Macro each player controls 8 cards, 1 Avatar card and 7 Ability cards.

Each Avatar card possess the following attributes

Race – An Avatar may only use Ability Cards that share it's Race Symbol.

Vitality – The Avatar's health, when this is reduced to 0, that Avatar loses the battle.

Endurance – Any damage that would be inflicted to an Avatar is first reduced by that Avatar's Endurance (e.g. Damage = 2, Endurance = 1, 2-1 = 1 Damage is inflicted).

Dexterity – An Avatar's Accuracy, if their Dexterity is double (or more) than the Enemy's Evasion, the enemys endurance is ignored for any attacks.

Evasion – An Avatar's Evasion, if their Evasion is double (or more) than the Enemy's Dexterity, the Avatar doesn't take any damage during any attack.

Agility – An Avatar's Speed, the Avatar with the highest speed get's to activate their own ability cards first before the Enemy Avatar(s).

Each Ability card possess the following attributes

Race – As stated, an Avatar may only use Ability Cards that share it's Race Symbol.

Attack Type – The Attack type of the Ability, some Ability Cards may refer to certain Attack Types. There are three main attack types Meleé, Ranged & Magical.

Cooling X – Once an Ability has been played, it can't be used again until X turns later.

Effect – The effect the card has on the game.

Each Player starts the game with their Avatar card face up on the field and their seven Ability Cards in their hand (concealed from their Opponent). There are no turns in this game and rather all actions are taken simultaneously in rounds.

At the beginning of a round, each player selects an Ability from their hand and places it face-down. Once both players have set a card face-down, both cards are flipped face-up and their effects are applied (remember the Avatar with the highest agility is applied first).

Afterwards you enter the Cooling Phase in which
1) You first add all cards in the Cooldown Zone that have been turned clockwise as many times as equal to their Cooling number to your hand.
2) Turn all cards that are still in the Cooldown Zone 90 degrees clockwise.
3) Add the card you just played this round to the Cooldown Zone.

When your Opponent's Avatar's Vitality is reduced to 0, you win the game.

Orangebeard
Offline
Joined: 10/13/2011
Comments

Hi 3XXXDDD,

This sounds like an interesting idea with a lot of good progress so far! A couple of thoughts...

The turning of cards might be confusing to track and difficult for the opponent to read properly. Would it still fit the concept of your game to add counters to the card when it is activated equal to the cool down? A counter is removed during each cooling phase and when the last counter is removed, it is returned to your hand and the card can be used again?

It sounds like a high Evasion value could make you impervious to damage; would it still work if your Endurance is doubled if your Evasion is more than double your attacker's Dexterity? This would hopefully avoid "un-killable" avatars, but would still make it difficult to harm a high Evasion avatar.

I like the number of stats for each avatar; I think 6 will give a nice balance and variety

I also like the 7 ability card idea; hopefully that is enough to give you a few primary strategy cards and enough extra for a secondary strategy if the first one is failing.

How do you envision this game being packaged? Collectible? Single set? Just curious...

Can't wait to see some example abilities!

ReluctantPirateGames
Offline
Joined: 09/27/2011
One thing

Seems like a great idea, and I would probably play it and enjoy it as is. The only thing that might bug me is that the same character would constantly go first. Perhaps a speed modifier on the card itself? That way the turns don't always happen the same way, and you can't be sure which position you will be in.

ReluctantPirateGames
Offline
Joined: 09/27/2011
One thing

Seems like a great idea, and I would probably play it and enjoy it as is. The only thing that might bug me is that the same character would constantly go first. Perhaps a speed modifier on the card itself? That way the turns don't always happen the same way, and you can't be sure which position you will be in.

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
The cooling of the card may

The cooling of the card may actually be tracked by the card having the Cooling marked on the corner which will be in the top-right after it has cooled far enough. Maybe to aid consistency it will have four corners and the first blue corner (out of red/orange) to reach back to the top-right would be when the ability is cooled. I'd rather not add unnecessary items like counters etc;

Dexterity/Evasion statistics are something I've been very careful with, what would happen is that no Character would have a base Dex/Eva that is double that of another Character's base Dex/Eva and would actually require to use a Buff Ability in an earlier round to increase that statistics for further plays (but buffs would only be temporary).

I'm not entirely sure about packaging, there would be expansions no doubt, I'd like the game to be able to evolve. At one point I imagined selling the cards individually or selling it as a 16-Card Booster-esque Pack for 2 Players.

@ReluctantPirateGames: This game will focus plenty on status modifications so there would be a work around to the same Character getting their hit's in first. Of course, it'll also follow a loose rule that If your strong, your slow, if your fast, your weak.

Orangebeard
Offline
Joined: 10/13/2011
3XXXDDD wrote:The cooling of

3XXXDDD wrote:
The cooling of the card may actually be tracked by the card having the Cooling marked on the corner which will be in the top-right after it has cooled far enough. Maybe to aid consistency it will have four corners and the first blue corner (out of red/orange) to reach back to the top-right would be when the ability is cooled. I'd rather not add unnecessary items like counters etc;

Clever; I think that should work fine; might even be able to go beyond 4 turns of cooling with a double rotation indicator

3XXXDDD wrote:
I'm not entirely sure about packaging, there would be expansions no doubt, I'd like the game to be able to evolve. At one point I imagined selling the cards individually or selling it as a 16-Card Booster-esque Pack for 2 Players.

Would there be ability cards that are generic for all races? or generic, but better when used by a specific race?

Good luck with your development!

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Orangebeard wrote:Would

Orangebeard wrote:

Would there be ability cards that are generic for all races? or generic, but better when used by a specific race?

I did plan on generic cards existing, I never thought about a Race having a special knack for certain generic abilities though, I could easily take that on aboard.

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Char Stats

First round of Avatar card stats. Criticise away!

Race: Harpy
Vit:7
End:1
Dex:3
Eva:3
Agl:3

*Note: Harpys have a weak base power present in their abilities. So if that wasn't
taken into account, Harpys would have been the best Avatar.

Race: Undefined Meleé
Vit:7
End:2
Dex:2
Eva:2
Agl:1

Power theme, strong base attacks.

Race: Undefined Magic
Vit:9
End:2
Dex:3
Eva:2
Agl:2

Magic theme will be a defensive one focused on healing and being very hard to beat down.

Casamyr
Offline
Joined: 07/28/2008
You have to make sure that

You have to make sure that the defensive magic Race, while focused on healing has some way to damage their opponent, otherwise it could turn into a long slow slog to try and beat down an opponent.

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Casamyr wrote:You have to

Casamyr wrote:
You have to make sure that the defensive magic Race, while focused on healing has some way to damage their opponent, otherwise it could turn into a long slow slog to try and beat down an opponent.

Indeed. They'll still be limited though.

Anyway, here is a rough draft of the first abilities.

Harpy
Vit:7
End:1
Dex:3
Eva:3
Agl:3

Mermaid
Vit:9
End:1
Dex:2
Eva:3
Agl:2

Minotaur
Vit:7
End:2
Dex:3
Eva:2
Agl:1

Focus
Harpy/Meleé
Cooling 1
+1 Dexterity until the end of the next round.

Taking Flight
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 1
+1 Evasion until the end of the next round.

Shot
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 1
Deal 2 Damage.

Distracting Shot
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 3
-1 Dexterity to Enemy Avatar until the end of the next round. Deal 3 Damage.

Flying Sky High
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Meleé Abilities during this round.

Winged Meditation
Harpy/Magic
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Magical Abilities during this round.

Critical Hit
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 4
Ignore Enemy Avatar's Evasion & Endurance. Deal 3 Damage.

Dive
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 1
+1 Evasion until the end of the next round.

Scaled Embrace
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 1
+1 Endurance until the end of the next round.

Osmosis
Mermaid/Magical
Cooling 2
Restore 3 Vitality.

Jellyfish Sting
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 3
Deal 1 Damage (ignoring endurance) for 3 rounds to an Enemy Avatar (This effect is only applied if your Avatar was attacked during the round this card was activated).

Deep Dive
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Ranged Abilities during this round.

Freeze
Mermaid/Magic
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Meleé Abilities during this round.

Psychic Empathy
Mermaid/Magic
Cooling 4
If your Avatar is dealt damage during this round, deal the same amount of damage to the Avatar that attacked you (ignoring their Endurance).

Pump Up
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 1
During the next round, your Avatar's ability deals +2 Damage in addition to it's other effect(s).

Strike
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 1
Deal 2 Damage.

Stocked Build
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 2
+2 Endurance until the end of the next round.

Power-Blow
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 2
Deal 3 Damage.

Over-Power
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 3
If an Enemy Avatar uses a Meleé Ability, negate the effects of that Ability. Deal 2 Damage.

Firm Stance
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Ranged Abilities during this round.

Double-Blow
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 4
During the next turn, your Avatar's ability deals damage twice.

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Note: Realized that Mermaids

Revised Ability & Statistics. There isn't a huge amount of variety yet but regardless it exists and should be able to grow as the game does.

As an extra note, you might realize I've used a skeletal structure for the Abilities (2 Stat Modifiers, 2 Damaging Attacks, 2 Shields, 1 Power/Trump Card).

Harpy
Vit:7
End:1
Dex:3
Eva:3
Agl:3

Mermaid
Vit:9
End:1
Dex:2
Eva:3
Agl:2

Minotaur
Vit:7
End:2
Dex:3
Eva:2
Agl:1

Focus
Harpy/Meleé
Cooling 1
+1 Dexterity until the end of the next round.

Taking Flight
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 1
+1 Evasion until the end of the next round.

Shot
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 1
Deal 2 Damage.

Distracting Shot
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 3
-2 Dexterity to Enemy Avatar until the end of this round. Deal 3 Damage.

Flying Sky High
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Meleé Abilities during this round.

Winged Meditation
Harpy/Magical
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Magical Abilities during this round.

Critical Shot
Harpy/Ranged
Cooling 4
Ignore Enemy Avatar's Evasion & Endurance. Deal 3 Damage.

Dive
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 1
+1 Evasion until the end of the next round.

Scaled Embrace
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 1
+1 Endurance until the end of the next round.

Jellyfish Whip
Mermaid/Magical
Cooling 2
Deal 2 Damage.

Jellyfish Sting
Mermaid/Magical
Cooling 3
Deal 1 Damage (ignoring Endurance) for the next three rounds.

Deep Dive
Mermaid/Meleé
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Ranged Abilities during this round.

Freeze
Mermaid/Magical
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Meleé Abilities during this round.

Psychic Osmosis
Mermaid/Magical
Cooling 4
+4 Vitality.

Pump Up
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 1
During the next round, your Avatar's ability deals +2 Damage in addition to it's other effect(s).

Toughen Up
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 1
+2 Endurance until the end of the next round.]

Strike
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 1
Deal 2 Damage.

Powerful Blow
Cooling 3
-1 Endurance to Enemy Avatar until the end of the next round. Deal 3 Damage.

Unwavering Faith
Minotaur/Magical
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Ranged Abilities during this round.

Unwavering Stance
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 3
Your Avatar can not be dealt damage from Ranged Abilities during this round.

Double-Blow
Minotaur/Meleé
Cooling 4
During the next turn, your Avatar's ability deals damage twice.

Orangebeard
Offline
Joined: 10/13/2011
More questions...

Is an ability card that is cooling still considered to be active? For example, does Unwavering Stance last 3 rounds or only a single round (the card indicates "this round" however I could see this being mis-interpreted)

I think the skeletal structure is a good place to start for playtesting as it should ensure that no avatar is incapable of mounting an effective strategy.

I believe your card rotation mechanic could be used to indicate ability effects that last multiple rounds, however they would need to have a lasting effect less than or equal to the cooldown (otherwise they go back to your hand before their effect expires)

Pump Up seems to broadcast your intentions for the next round; for cards that "set up" an ability for the next round, could there be a secondary option so you are not committed to using the "set up" card or wasting it? For example, if I play Pump Up and choose not to play an attack card on the following round, I have potentially wasted the Pump Up card; however, if Pump had a secondary option (+2 dmg next round OR +1 dmg and +1 dex next round) it might make it harder to predict my next card.

Psychic Osmosis - good name :)

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
The Ability only lasts for

The Ability only lasts for the round it is used unless it states otherwise (such as "Jellyfish Sting")

"I believe your card rotation mechanic could be used to indicate ability effects that last multiple rounds, however they would need to have a lasting effect less than or equal to the cooldown (otherwise they go back to your hand before their effect expires"

This has occurred to me. Just as a note, you don't get a card that is instantly cooled, you get it the turn after. So every card actual takes 2 turns to get back to you, up to 5 turns. The order of the cooling phase is very important to take note of. Basically, if a card has Cooling 2, you place it down after you use it, then you don't get to use it next turn, or turn after that (but it enters "Cooling" here) then after your next turn it get backs to your hand. So in reality Cooling 2 is a 3 turn wait.

I intended to have cards that broadcast intentions in order to bluff or even Double-Bluff your opponent. Although Pump Up isn't one of those cards, since it adds +2 Damage to any ability, not just attack-oriented ones.

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Something I've noticed is

Something I've noticed is that I don't think trump cards should be able to deal damage, sure you can only use it every 5th turn but still 2 big strikes from the same card to a non-healer clan and boom gone.

On other notes though, I do think they should be allowed to break the game mechanics slightly (like force activating one of your Opponents card during that round or Nulling all effects of it).

Orangebeard
Offline
Joined: 10/13/2011
trump cards

My inclination is that "trump" cards should be special; could they be true, special effects rather than enhancements to normal effects? Would so many different types of effects make balancing too difficult?

Is there a maximum damage that can be inflicted in one round?

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Update!

Woho! Buuuump! First of all, it should be noted I switch the Agility from Avatars to Abilities instead. It seemed unfair for one Avatar to have an inherent advantage over another in always being able to go first. In addition.

ecently I got some work on my Templates done, Here's the general looks so far.

Ability Templates (In 3 different colors) below

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/734050_410759032336538_791... (Yellow Ability Template)

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/538633_410759069003201_656... (Green Ability Template)

http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/603184_410759079003200_684... (Purple Ability Template)

The two circles on the left are RACE (Top) and COOL DOWN (Bottom). To refresh on mechanics

1. If a card in Cool Down has their "Blue" Circle in the top Right, you add that card back to your hand
2. You turn every card currently in Cool Down 90 degrees to the right
3. You place the card you played this turn into cool down, with the (1) in the top Right Corner

E.g,

1. You play "Dive"
2. You place "Dive" into Cool-Down
3. Next turn, after you've collected all of your currently Cool-Downed cards, you turn "Dive" 90 degrees to the Right. (The 2 is now in Cool-Down position but you've already passed the collection phase)
4. Turn after, after you've played a Card, you collect the Cool Downed "Dive"
5. Therefore 2 Turns wait excluding the turn you played it.

Now, I know there are a couple of problems with the design. I for one forgot to add in the Ability Speed Circle. I won't be changing this design for a long while to come until I'm entirely sure what the improved version will look like. I simply posted them here to receive any constructive criticism (e.g. Use "Arial" instead of "Impact" text) as opposed to just criticism (Don't do X. Nothing else to say). So with that in mind fire away!

Onto the Character Template
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/75360_410767639002344_1306... (Blue for Mermaid)

http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/544003_410767665669008_382... (Grey for Harpie)

http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227699_410767689002339_184... (Red for Minotaur)

The Icon in the corner is the RACE icon. Going clockwise from the top, the 4 icons represent the Avatar's Dexterity (Bullseye), Vitality (Heart), Evasion (Winged Sandal), Endurance (Shield)

The Designer suggested the idea of having Avatar borders be different for each Avatar as stated above, it is currently Blue for Mermaid, Grey for Harpy, Red for Minotaur).

Lastly but not least Icons in general - http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/12571_410776985668076_1515...

Icons (from left to right) Minotaur, Harpy, Mermaid, Meleé, Magic, Ranged, Endurance, Vitality, Evasion, Dexterity.

So yeah, criticism would be much appreciated. I'd really like to know what people's favorite color for the Ability template is.

Also here is bit of a teaser for the refined Harpy Art.

http://i46.tinypic.com/2817b7p.jpg

Thoughts/Things pointed out to me
- Cards should be Square (however without making the text/image too small or the card itself too big)
- Cool Down Numbers should be in extreme corners
- I Could place the Race Icon and Cool Down Cost at either side of the text box (where Cooling 3 and 4 were previously)
- Speaking of the Cool Down Cost, I find it's a bit irrelevant considering that I already have it marked by the Blue Circle. So I feel this should instead by the Abilities Speed Tier number.

One last image to go, just testing using Icons in the text box as opposed to plain boring old text

http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/537235_411134145632360_151...

Shoe
Shoe's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/21/2012
Cooldown mechanic was used in

Cooldown mechanic was used in the City of Heroes CCG. I never found it to be particularly difficult to keep track of. Seems like a fun idea you have here.

3XXXDDD
3XXXDDD's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/02/2012
Play Testing Time

FINALLY! Got off my ass (or well more like back down on it) to fix up some rudimentary card templates for Macro.

1) No Art other than Main Avatars. I don't want to jump ahead too quickly
2) I realize that the card templates are actually pretty mehtastic and invasive and require much more work as well (as well as messy text boxes and likely inefficient text boxes)
3) No Premade PnP Template pages. I miiiiiight get around to doing that tomorrow.

What am kind of looking for feedback in this run is
- General design of the game. Anything you hate/love/could add to the core design of the game?
- More varied card effects without just being straight up power creeps/leaps.

Cards can be found in my public facebook Album here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.410757819003326.98051.100002073...

Rules can be found here - http://www.mediafire.com/?r9djnm488jv6mvi

For anyone who takes part, thank you :D

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut