- Joined
- Mar 19, 2017
- Messages
- 248
This is an extremely specific question and problem, but i will do some good story telling, and i overall welcome most kinds of insight with some minimum relation.
1. Preamble.
Months ago i stumbled upon a strange game called Card Shuffle or Shuffle Cards or Shuffle my Cards or something like that. I think almost nobody plays this game, but i stumbled by searching for "card" on the map section of this site.
It was refreshing and fun to say the least, but i think the game lacked lots of polish and much needed balance. The aesthetics and juiciness were so flagrantly awful to the point i wanted to sue the author for crime against the arts.
This motivated me to do some reinvention of the wheel with that game as base or direct inspiration (credits to the author that is sadly inactive, maybe even presumably dead, since i was still in school and i'm freaking 25), and i'm near to release some product. I'm talking about either 1. a map/2. a structured map development thread (2/3 of these end up dead tho)/3. or atleast plain systems to help people that want experience and are doing similar maps, on 1 month or maybe even less. Let's call it 3 weeks. But this is not the point of this thread.
2. About the Game.
A modified RTS in which your units and overall moves are represented by cards (items on Wc3 notation) that you "draw" from a "deck" (a deck is simply a collection of items you eventually must select before the game starts, item type ids in fact). The win condition isn't to destroy an opposing base, but rather, destroy the pesky unit that draws such cards. Also the map author made it so the game tempo was severly slowed (attack rates/move rates especially). The gameplay was between a standart RTS and TBS, let's call it "Slowed Time Strategy" or STS. This is the keyword.
The tactical aspect of this RTS was kind of reduced, as units will automatically move against the opposition (like lane creeps on an AoS map) and perform their attacks and spells also automatically, so the player must basically press the subjectively correct item at the right circumstance instead of doing that and then perform subsequent micromanagment. But it also uses "deep" tactic aspects as positioning, regular WC3 spells, spell duration measured on regular seconds instead of a general turn amount, etc. These aspects were just the vestiges of the regular Wc3 gameplay that the author simply kept. And they worked.
Most of this mechanical aspects are kept as base structure for my game rendition. But i also added some neat features, like a draft system that is functioning smoothly like a jazz groove while smoking ****, and a turn duration system, ie. players draw automatically when a turn starts (some fixed amount of time passes, as we're still on an RTS), but also lots of spells and buffs use the same concept of turns.
Basically another way of say "seconds".
I think you guys could give that game a try, tell me your insights, suggestions, but specially those related to more improving points, because sooner or later i will launch it and launching something too similar or even worse than the thing you wanted to improve is extremely stupid (i'm no Apple), specially with the new World Editor functions and overall possibilities.
3. The Particular Problem: A Deck/Collection system.
But here is the main point: on that game the collection of items you're going to use for a given round will not deplete by drawing or expending them. Basically the deck is not a real deck (on the sense of a finite and expendable stack of options that are randomly ordered), but rather a collection of options you can always count on but that are still randomly offered when you have to draw from it.
This game option solves the problem regarding of what to do when a player would empty its deck (read: this can't happen, atleast naturally), but also, since each card has the same chance to be drawed, you could end up with a hand of 6 of the same card. I would say that both, standart deck type, and fool proof deck type, have their respective charm. Mechanically speaking the fool proof deck is very lazy, but it just works. Both can feature the even the same concepts, ie. "put a card on the top of your deck" on the fool proof deck will translate to "guarantee the next card", both beign useful and meaningful.
An in between solution could be a weighted chance fool proof deck so to avoid or minimize the brain damage of having 4 consecutive same card draws, or a perpetual but actual deck (basically the good old feature of most card games, on which you get to reconstruct and shuffle your deck each time you empty it).
Featuring both (as different game modes) is also an option, but that could make some cards, either absolutely or relatively, useless or overpowered, and that's too much balancing responsability.
I will not make a poll, but rather let you express and vomit all you have say about card games, deck building mechanics, the mixture between an RTS and TBS, and on improving points of the game i presented (search on the map depositories: Shuffle + Card).
1. Preamble.
Months ago i stumbled upon a strange game called Card Shuffle or Shuffle Cards or Shuffle my Cards or something like that. I think almost nobody plays this game, but i stumbled by searching for "card" on the map section of this site.
It was refreshing and fun to say the least, but i think the game lacked lots of polish and much needed balance. The aesthetics and juiciness were so flagrantly awful to the point i wanted to sue the author for crime against the arts.
This motivated me to do some reinvention of the wheel with that game as base or direct inspiration (credits to the author that is sadly inactive, maybe even presumably dead, since i was still in school and i'm freaking 25), and i'm near to release some product. I'm talking about either 1. a map/2. a structured map development thread (2/3 of these end up dead tho)/3. or atleast plain systems to help people that want experience and are doing similar maps, on 1 month or maybe even less. Let's call it 3 weeks. But this is not the point of this thread.
2. About the Game.
A modified RTS in which your units and overall moves are represented by cards (items on Wc3 notation) that you "draw" from a "deck" (a deck is simply a collection of items you eventually must select before the game starts, item type ids in fact). The win condition isn't to destroy an opposing base, but rather, destroy the pesky unit that draws such cards. Also the map author made it so the game tempo was severly slowed (attack rates/move rates especially). The gameplay was between a standart RTS and TBS, let's call it "Slowed Time Strategy" or STS. This is the keyword.
The tactical aspect of this RTS was kind of reduced, as units will automatically move against the opposition (like lane creeps on an AoS map) and perform their attacks and spells also automatically, so the player must basically press the subjectively correct item at the right circumstance instead of doing that and then perform subsequent micromanagment. But it also uses "deep" tactic aspects as positioning, regular WC3 spells, spell duration measured on regular seconds instead of a general turn amount, etc. These aspects were just the vestiges of the regular Wc3 gameplay that the author simply kept. And they worked.
Most of this mechanical aspects are kept as base structure for my game rendition. But i also added some neat features, like a draft system that is functioning smoothly like a jazz groove while smoking ****, and a turn duration system, ie. players draw automatically when a turn starts (some fixed amount of time passes, as we're still on an RTS), but also lots of spells and buffs use the same concept of turns.
Basically another way of say "seconds".
I think you guys could give that game a try, tell me your insights, suggestions, but specially those related to more improving points, because sooner or later i will launch it and launching something too similar or even worse than the thing you wanted to improve is extremely stupid (i'm no Apple), specially with the new World Editor functions and overall possibilities.
3. The Particular Problem: A Deck/Collection system.
But here is the main point: on that game the collection of items you're going to use for a given round will not deplete by drawing or expending them. Basically the deck is not a real deck (on the sense of a finite and expendable stack of options that are randomly ordered), but rather a collection of options you can always count on but that are still randomly offered when you have to draw from it.
This game option solves the problem regarding of what to do when a player would empty its deck (read: this can't happen, atleast naturally), but also, since each card has the same chance to be drawed, you could end up with a hand of 6 of the same card. I would say that both, standart deck type, and fool proof deck type, have their respective charm. Mechanically speaking the fool proof deck is very lazy, but it just works. Both can feature the even the same concepts, ie. "put a card on the top of your deck" on the fool proof deck will translate to "guarantee the next card", both beign useful and meaningful.
An in between solution could be a weighted chance fool proof deck so to avoid or minimize the brain damage of having 4 consecutive same card draws, or a perpetual but actual deck (basically the good old feature of most card games, on which you get to reconstruct and shuffle your deck each time you empty it).
Featuring both (as different game modes) is also an option, but that could make some cards, either absolutely or relatively, useless or overpowered, and that's too much balancing responsability.
I will not make a poll, but rather let you express and vomit all you have say about card games, deck building mechanics, the mixture between an RTS and TBS, and on improving points of the game i presented (search on the map depositories: Shuffle + Card).