I''ve played the card game Illuminati some time ago and thought that it was pretty neat how cards could be joined together to increase you''re overall power. Unfortunatly i havn''t played Magic or any of the others. After playing illuminati i realised the potential of this game meduim and thought that i would someday sitdown and work out another game that would be just as good if not better. Ok, so now it''s been about 6-8 months and i''ve been putting in a lot of good thought''s as to how the game operates, what freedoms the player has, how expandable the game will be, what audience the game is aimed at, etc. I''m currently in the midst now of doing the research into different idea''s for the cards in the game and it''s going steady. But there are a lot of card games around and i was wondering if anyone here could share with me their favourite elements of card games that they have played. Like what''s the latest idea''s in cards games? Is there anything revolutionary right now that i should miss out on? Any help is very much appreciated "So you''re the one that designed that game are you?" *Gulp* "Umm, yeah"

Well, one of the things that are hot (or maybe not so hot anymore ) is the Pokemon card games. As far I know it was the card games that started the Pokemon fever. It should have somethings about cards going through an evolution and changing abilities as you "train" them like small Tamagutchi''s.

I haven''t tried the game though, so somebody else here might be able to elaborate.

There is a some good Pokemon introductions are www.about.com

Jacob Marner

I suggest you go find a comic store that allows its customers to use some of its space to play these card games. There you will be sure to find the most fanatic of players and you could probably count on one or two having an idea of their own.

Personaly favorite part of these games was watching the constant bickering over the rules and anger over loosing. And watching how much care and effort people put into maintaing and orginizing their cards. Or better yet watching them shell out 20 bucks for some uncommon card. But probably the best thing, is to play against one of these seasoned players using one of their own decks, listening to all the reasons I can''t put that card on this card and wondering if they''re making up the rules as they go, and still play a good game (though seldom winning). Then step back, feeling good about doing something fun and watch the next player play the game as if he was playing for his life or something.

I''m serious, I''m not being sarcastic.

Card games I''ve enjoyed are Magic, On the Edge, and Jhihad (Vampire the Masquerade). The best part is sitting down with a few friends having a good time playing a game. Attractive artwork and unique ideas will get you far. Nothing like a Game of Malkave card to turn the tables. At least back when I played.

Sorry, probably a little long and rantish.

quote: from kseh
Sorry, probably a little long and rantish.

On the contrary, i'm very interested to hear what people have to say. Say as much as you want. I really want to hear from veteran players like yourself. Can you tell me something else about the games you've played, like why you like some over others or what really turns you off. Obviously over complicated or underdefined rules is one (i could work that one out) but is there anything that you or other card players see over and over again that you wish was or wasn't in the games you've played?



Edited by - Paul Cunningham on November 13, 2000 9:09:41 AM

hehe...we are working on a card game at the moment. cant really say much about it though. but i think that the one biggest craze for (at least pokemon) the cards games is the option of expandability, and collectability. thats why pokemon is so popular. everybody is trying to "catch them all".

-Luxury

well the current edition of Magic has a consistant set of rules that are learnable. The previous versions of course were vague and fell apart under scrutiny, but now that the rules are more like an object oriented programming language the game can be played without arguments. I''m not sure what you''re looking for in terms of information, basically though card games are kind of like RTSs, but without all the clicking. I''ve played pokemon, it has a few improvements over magic but it has some shocking flaws, also the gameplay is a bit simpler (but that makes sense considering the target audience). Oh and pokemon was first a gameboy game, then a TV show (that is when it became popular) and the card game came later.

How about the computer game Magic - The Gathering. That was based of the card game i presume. Does anyone know what it was like? I''d really like to know if the fact that it was a sucessful card game first whether or not that helped when it became a computer game.

Definition of Progress: Durability control (see Financial interests of stockholders)

There were actually two versions of M:TG asa computer game. One was a real time mess that was tough to play since you normally have to take time to read the cards and think. The other was turn based, but other than playing endless rounds against the computer it was rather dull. Oh, it had a poor RNG too.

The most important feature of these modern card games (IMO) is that the cards themselves change the rules of play. This is an amazing advancement.

For example: each card had a color, like you would have a suit in a normal deck of playing cards. Some effects were tied directly to color. Spell X affects only red cards. Another spell was able to change the definition of spell X by changing the color it affected (it now reads only BLUE cards).

So...just about every attribute that a card might have was potentially alterable by other cards. Even the abilities they had might be affected. It makes the whole game dynamic.

It would also be tricky to design from the ground up without creating paradoxes (from the previous post I guess they had their share).

quote:
So...just about every attribute that a card might have was potentially alterable by other cards. Even the abilities they had might be affected. It makes the whole game dynamic.

Yes, that''s exactly what i''m doing with the game i''m working on. But instead of having it so one card can change the abilities directly on another card it creates a dependence tree. So basically if you want more power then you open up more weaknesses. The aim of the game is to be versitile and use that to out smart your opponents.

What i''m really trying to do it to take this great medium for games and make a strategy game with it, i call it a dynamic board game, sounds wankish i know but it''s the clearest way to decribe it from my head. So the expansion packs won''t offer more powerful cards instead they will allow you more versitily for you strategies. I''m also using hexes as a base layout for the board as the players lay their cards out (the cards make the board).

Thanks for the feedback all, cheers.


Definition of Progress: Durability control (see Financial interests of stockholders)

Sounds like fun. I had a similar idea a while back that never went anywhere. Let me see...

*digs through design notebooks*

Here we go. Some things to think about:

1) On any given turn, the player my generally improve his own setup or interfere with an opponent. If you have multiple opponents (even if they''re computer opponents) then the second behavior is not usually helpful in the long run. Sorta like starting next to another civ in Civ. You spend a lot of resources early that makes it hard to catch up.

What I did:
To encourage the eventual interaction, during the player turn they not only added to their side, but contributed to a common pool that grew and grew. Players couldn''t connect their piece of the board directly to each other but only to this common pool. As the game progressed, the common pool grows large and tempting - but connecting to it would drive everyone else to connect as well, just to thwart your plans.

Other resources to look at:
Obviously, try and pick up a copy of one of the card games or even the computer version (should be in the bargain bin these days).

Take a look at tile chess, put out by Steve Jackson games. It''s chess with the board constructed from the pieces (1 piece = 1 board tile, all tiles must stay connected).

Oh, and feel free to use my method above if you like it.