Hello!
I'm designing a game where criminal factions battle against each other for the control of a city. As I am a big fan of the old Grand Theft Auto video games I used that style as a source of inspiration. I know that is about as unique as vanilla ice-cream but the idea is to make it feel somewhat familiar and easily accessible for new gamers.
Description in short
Criminal factions are at war with each other over the control of city territory. Each faction consists of 13 characters ranging in strength from 1-13. These are then categorized in seven ranks as follows:
- (1-2) Recruit
- (3-4) Thug
- (5-6) Associate
- (7-8) Soldier
- (9-10) Enforcer
- (11-12) Hitman
- (13) Boss
The game plays over a series of rounds. Each round a City Card is drawn and the battle for that location begins. City Cards ranges in value and can also provide bonuses to the player controlling them. Effects and bonuses usually affects one of the ranks above.
For example: A weapon store adds +2 to all Associates.
City Cards also provide income and by the end of the game, the faction with the most Income wins the game.
Battle
A battle is simply choosing which of the 13 criminals to assign to the fight. This might sound easy enough but once you've played a Character Card it remains visible in front of you. Thus giving everybody else full insight as to what cards you have remaining. So for every fight, it gets somewhat easier to predict the opponents next move. But then again, that is also true for your opponent.
Special Abilities always resolves first. Then bonuses are added to the characters strength and the fight is resolved with the strongest criminal as the winner. In case of a tie, no one gains control of the City Card and it is discarded (face up). So as the game progresses, all information is always available for everyone.
Art style
I have chosen to be inspired by the cell shaded illustration technique used in the early GTA games since I think that is a great fit with the theme. Again, not too original but I find it works very well. Also, it allows me to draw friends and family as criminals - a great bonus!
Icons
The idea is that the icons should be easy to read both in terms of Strength (value) and Rank (text, color and icon). The idea is for a stylized Knife, Bullet and Gun to be used as indicators of rank to make them easily distinguishable from each other. See attached image.
In need of feedback
I have play tested quite extensively and so far the input has been really good. But before I take this game to the next stage I'd really appreciate your feedback.
- What do you think about the icons? Does it work?
- What do you think about the card layout? Is it functional?
- Any other general input is most welcome!
The gun/bullet spread behind the icons gets ridiculous at the higher ranks. Maybe change it up, and have the ranks use different stuff?
Initially I thought about having it double as a poker deck but then decided not to. I agree that it gets too cluttered and odd-looking on the higher ranks. I was initially thinking about having the different groups of ranks be represented with a weapon instead. For instance a knuckle for Recruits, a baseball bat for Thugs and so on. I think I'll hava another look at that.
The card layout is fine, as you really aren't stuffing that much information onto each card.
I love cell-shaded art. The theme is sort of dark, but the colorful artwork really makes the ranks stand out.
This makes me wonder, if the ranks are straight up better (i.e. higher ranks are always better), or if the ranks have a certain theme, or range of mechanical effects. Since players can easily tell rank at a glance, is the information useful in game?
The basis is that a higher rank beats a lower rank. However, more than half of the characters (all uneven numbers = 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13) all have special abilities. The number 1 (Vladimir the Vengeful) for instance has the following ability:
Immediately kills the opponents Boss.
There are also abilities that relates to the actual territory being fought over, or facing the police and others give bonuses if certain cards have been played earlier or not. It's not overly complicated but there are pretty much always one card trumping another. It is very much a psychology, guessing and bluffing game. With complete information at hand. But each fight and territory gained that carries bonuses also changes the values of the cards. Basically a player will chose between trying to get the valuable territories with little bonuses, or build up power through lesser income territories that carries bigger bonuses.
Without actually seeing the rules and the card effects, I can't really tell if the game has anything new to offer. The theme and art are great draws, but you might want to start thinking about what the focus of your pitch would be. Would it be some interesting mechanic, or are you just going to sell this game based on the strength of your art and theme.
It is a simple yet quite challenging mechanic that I have found works well among both serious gamers (as a filler or starter) as well as casual gamers.
I might put a Print n Play up here soon if there is interest in trying it out?