Coming up with a theme for a game

[tac-tics]

I have an idea for a game. My idea is currently a set of core mechanics that I believe would make for interesting gameplay. I won't go into too much detail, but basically, players decide the order of their draw pile, but as the game goes on, they must plan their draws farther in advance.

As far as I know, this mechanic is very novel in a CCG. It lends itself to a lot of great ideas.

However, approaching game design this way (would you call it "bottom up?"), I have no idea what kind of theme would be appropriate.

Do you guys have any strategies for designing a theme for a game?

When you design a game bottom up, do you brainstorm themes and try to find a good fit? Do you outsource the theme design to someone else? How long can you put off deciding on a theme during game development? Have you ever totally scrapped a theme and tried something totally different?

[Cyrus]

If you're going for theme first make sure its a really well thought out one that allows for a lot of different cards to make sense within it. Basically, it has to focus on conflict in some way, and there should probably be multiple factions within the story interacting in some way.
I think theme first isn't the best idea, but it can lead to lots of good card ideas. Same for the other way around though, you decide how you want the game to work, then ideas for the story will pop into your head.
If you decide to make a really well thought out story/theme then you may end up with more complicated rules than before as you try to bring more story elements into the game. Personally, this gets a huge thumbs up from me, but an overwhelming cry of "No!" from probably everyone else.

[tac-tics]

Cyrus, I think you misread my post.

I'm actually starting out game-first, not theme-first. I have a game with about 60% of the rules down on paper. However, I am at a complete loss for a theme.

[Dragoon]

Shows the rules you have already, maybe we can come up with a theme.

Also, the first thing you have to choose is the setting. (Cyberpunk, steampunk, high fantasy, low fantasy, historical, sci-fi, etc.)

[Ozymandias]

If I understand the mechanic correctly, the player essentially decides the Deck's Order, and rather than having random chance dictate the cards they draw, they must plan in advance, setting up combos, by placing synergistic cards near each other, so they could be played together, or something to that effect. I don't necessarily know how well this would work, but hey, that's not really my place to disagree, since I haven't tested it, myself. To me it seems like a very strategic game, almost like chess, in feel. However, due to the lack of random chance, at least in terms of drawing, It seems like a "warring factions" theme wouldn't really work, since that type of theme tends to evoke a more chaotic "Send whatever we have at hand" type of feel. I'd probably have it be a much more "War-room Strategist" type of thing, with a very orderly battle, between two, generals, themselves removed from any actual fighting.

[tac-tics]

"To me it seems like a very strategic game, almost like chess"

This is sort of the feel I'm going for. I'm inspired by Sirlin (http://www.sirlin.net/)'s ideas on game design, and I want to design a deeply strategic card game suitable for tournaments.

Here's a little more on my game:

* The players are allowed to look at their deck at any time. The order of the cards in their deck is unimportant.

* Each player has a facedown pile of cards called their queue. The queue starts empty, but grows throughout the game.

* When a player draws a card, they draw the top card of their queue. They then take a card from their deck and put it at the bottom of the queue. (If their queue is empty, they simply take a card from their deck into their hand).

On the first turn or two, players will draw exactly the card they need, because their queues are empty. However, as their queues grow, they need to plan further in advance. Having one card in your queue means that you always choose the card you draw 1 turn in advance. Having two cards means you choose the card you need 2 turns in advance. And so on.

The action in the game occurs when players battle (although "battle" doesn't sound like the right word here....). Players draw into "action" cards which let them launch attacks on the opponent. Players put their action cards face down, then they are revealed to see how the attack resolves. The actions form a counter-system. Attacks are used to inflict damage. Defenses are used to stop attacks. Delays are used to disable defenses.

At the end of a battle, the action cards are simply returned to the players' hands. Like learning a new skill in an RPG, once you draw an action card, it's part of your arsenal for the rest of the game.

There are also two other cards. Resource cards which allow you to play more powerful action cards, and assets, which power up action cards (but which are vulnerable to attacks).

A big part of play is reading into what the opponent's plans are. Are they going to play aggressively, combining attack and delay cards to sneak damage through? Are they going to play defensively, building up powerful asset cards to launch a few powerful blows later on?

Action cards are also tiered. You see your opponent is playing aggressively early on. Most likely, he is going to want to draw into more powerful attacks and the resource cards needed to play them. Can you afford to "skip" your intermediate defense cards in order to expedite your plan? Or is your opponent playing so aggressively, you can "burn him out" with a strong enough defense?

Alternatively, if your opponent is playing passively, can you afford to skip out on early defenses? Or maybe he is waiting for you to commit and increase your queue size before he launches an attack.

I really don't like the standard themes you see in CCGs. Fantasy is overdone. The game doesn't really feel like warfare. *punk isn't appropriate either. But I do want a theme of some sort. Players need to be able to connect to the decisions they make on an emotional level. Every turn, a player will be confronted with every card in their deck. I want every one of those cards to have a personality, so that it is obvious to the player what card to choose next.

[Cyrus]

I really like the idea behind you've got going there. One thing though, why would anyone ever put anything into their queue? Just wait til your turn and flip through the deck to find the card, instead of risking not being able to get to a card because you queued up something else. Are players forced to queue cards later in the game?

[tac-tics]

Yes, queueing is a negative effect. It happens to the player as the game goes on. Currently, the rule uis every time you play a resource, you have to add a card to your queue.

[Cyrus]

Ohhhh that makes a lot more sense. So later in the game you can stop playing resources to plow through your queue a little bit faster? I like it

[Gattison]

i have a couple questions for you.  First, are Actions, Resources and Assets the only three card types you have?  I'm really not trying to nitpick or anything but that seems awfully low for a CCG.  I'd bet you could step back, take a look at the various card types and maybe divide them down even further, or maybe that's not even necessary.  I don't know yet.  Second, could you offer a sample card for each type?  If you could see examples of the gameplay you seek to provide, and then take a step back and take it all into perspective, then maybe you could see what the "whole experience" of the game reminds you of, be it a movie genre, comic book story or books series.  I always feel if you can do that, you can see what type of theme would fit "naturally" into the setting you wish to provide.  That last thing you want to do is try and force to ideas together that would be better served as two seperate ideas.
  The game seems slow and contemplative, so I want to say that a traditional war or combat theme would be the wrong way to go.  When developing your theme, you will definitely have to take advantage of the methodical, strategic "battle of wits" element.
  Now that I've said all that, if you still have nothing come to mind... I have personally always thought that a "Conspiracy Theory"-themed CCG would be awesome to play.  Imagine that each player is a member of the Illuminati, Freemasons, or some other conspiratorial group, and the goal is to use your world-wide resources to manipulate governments, corporations and the media in order to wipe out the opposition, establish the New World Order and acheive total global dominance.  I've had this idea in my head for a long, long time, but never could think of a set of game mechanics that I thought would do it justice...

[Gattison]

... (continuing) With this theme, a sample Action card would be something like: "Headline: Assassination," playing this card allows user to damage opponent and remove one high-profile Asset from play.  A sample Resource could be: "Weather Machine," allows user to destroy or disable one other Resource card while in play.  And a sample Asset would be, "Men in Black," this Asset can never be affected or targeted by any Media Assets.  Perhaps those exact examples aren't applicable to what you're trying to create, but I hope you at least get the main idea behind my words.  Also, if you like this idea, I'd be more than willing to discuss and develop it further, if you'd be interested.