Community Game

[Tokimo]

I will be willing to participant in a very tertiary way if a 'cool' theme is chosen (card design, mechanic design, etc). I'm fickle about my game preferences though.

[GnKoichi]

I'm very willing to participate. I believe the next step is aardvarks. Didn't he say he wanted to setup a pool to decide on the genre?

[europeanmatt]

So what are the options?

Fantasy
Space/Sci-Fi
Wild West
Espionage
Bounty Hunters
Cyberpunk
Crime
War/Combat
Combination
Everything/Catch-All

??

[legend zero]

Espionage sounds fun, offers a bunch of different scenarios.

[GnKoichi]

I really think we should let aardvark setup the poll before we start voting.

[sneaselx]

I personally am attracted to the idea of abstract games, with little or no theme. However, that is difficult to come up with a large number of unique, interesting cards.

Some other ideas from good books: Going Postal is a good book, it's about a thief who is released by the monarch (a very secretive and manipulative person, although ultimately benevolent.) on the condition that he revive the local post office. However, the klock towers (or something like that) are an evil corporation that run as series of the towers that send telegram like messages. It's kind of fantasy, in that there is magic and stuff, but more like an 1800s industrial city, in the transition between magic and technology.

Also another book that was interesting, (don't remember it's name) was an ancient city in the middle of a vast ocean, that was broken and corrupt, basically anarchy, because it suffered chaos-storms. These were like rainstorms, but those trapped in them would be subjected to completely random effects. Some would start growing flowers out of their heads, and some would have their heart teleported 3 inches to the right. The city was also overrun with ghost like creatures that could kill with a single touch, and the mechanical police, that were still alive since the Ancients caused the chaos storms with their machines.

Just an idea, what about a theme that doesn't have to do with fighting. Some other conflict, but not units fighting each other.
I just feel that we should attempt to make this as unique as possible.

In addition to a theme, we should choose a game style. For example, do we want it to be played quickly, long games, focus on mindgames, play with a few cards, or as many as possible, heavy deckbuilding emphasis, etc.

[aardvark]

Wow guys, great stuff. I've skimmed over it all and, assuming that there are no further suggestions, I'm gonna put the options to vote after I look over everything a lil' more closely.


EDIT1:

I've divided the themes into OverTheme, the Primary, and Secondary (or Specific).

The themes listed under OverTheme are those that are all-encompassing. While the actual game play may focus on fighting, diplomacy, espionage or just making money the big picture takes place there. For example: Cyrus' spoke of the Gas Station, a space theme; this could be translated to fantasy as the Trading Grounds, or what have you.

The Primary is just that, the primary theme of the game. While the overall theme of the game might be scifi, fantasy, etc. this is what the game will focus on: building resources, spying, warmongering, etc.

The Secondary or Specifics of the game are the top of the pyramid. While you may be playing a fighting game in a fantasy land, how are you going to fight? By summoning monsters? By building golems? By undermining your opponents stocks in fairy dust? etc, etc.
While the Primary can exist independent of the OverTheme, the Specifics of the game will (usually) depend on the primary. Example: Bounty Hunting, Hunting, Dueling, Skirmishing would fall under War/Combat while Civ Building would be more appropriate for an Economic Primary.

So, without further ado, the list! (as of 1820 PST)

OverTheme:

• Historical
• Sci-Fi
• Traditional Fantasy
• SteamPunk
• Sci-Fantasy

Primary:

• War/Combat
• Economic
• Espionage
• Political
• Novel Based

Secondary (Specifics):

• Character Emphasis
• Space Cowboy-Ninjas on Rhinos
• Bounty Hunting
• Cyberpunk
• Crack-the-Code
• Dueling
• Exploration
• Resource Accumulation

I will give this list a few more hours (until 2200 PST) for any suggestions we might like to include and then poll it.

[Zao]

That's a great list. Can't wait to see what will be chosen !

I wish it's an Historical Novel-Based card game emphasizing on Space Cowboy-Ninjas on Rhinos.


The novel based idea is really good, with only a small problem : people will actually have to read this novel to participate in the game's creation, or they will tend to do stuff that aren't really related to the novel. And it won't be absolutely original content from us.
By the way, anyone knows the name of this book with rainstorms and ghosts? It sounds awesome.

[TheBuck]

Traditional Fantasy/War Combat/Character Emphasis

[legend zero]

SteamPunk / Espionage / (Crack-The-Code/Dueling/Exploration) Cant descide here, maybe all three as different types of victory conditions.

[sneaselx]

Found it- the book is called The Storm Thief, by Chris Wooding. It's not a very advanced book, but the setting is very engrossing and creative.

Oh, and what about a Survival secondary theme. You wouldn't necessarily be directly competing each other, but against another omnipotent force. You would have to compete for resources to avoid dying first.

[GnKoichi]

My Vote:

OverTheme:
Sci-Fi

Primary:
War/Combat
With Side-Objectives (Economic, Espionage, Political)

Secondary (Specifics):
Character Emphasis

[aardvark]

I like the idea behind survival. I have my own thoughts about how it might be played. Say, one deck for mother nature against the survivalists. The deck size would morph depending on how many players there are. And, while not in direct competition (you said that, right?) players could still be able to set traps and decoys for their rivals. Kinda like that joke.

Two guys are walking through the forest when they stumble upon a hungry bear. One of the guys takes a moment to put on his running shoes. The second guy looks at him and says, "Are you crazy? You can't outrun a bear!" The first guy looks back at him and replies, "I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you."

That's just my interpretation, though. What did you envision when you mentioned a survival theme?

[Ripplez]

i posted something on the other topic. i think it bears repeating in the main topic as well as intoducing whether or not id like to participate -

in my experience, what hurts people the most is when the decision to leave in or remove a mecahnic is arbitrary and boils down to "i dont think it should go in". thats is a valid response but its also completely unbeatable. why shouldnt it go in, can it be changed to fit, will there be a player solution (which im going to call PS cos of how mch i refer to it)  to it that will make it more/less playable?

none of these can be answered if the decision to do it is simply arbitrary or done by a blind vote. sure 5 people out of 6 didnt like it but why? it didnt feel right? that again is a valid response but it doesnt help defend or dismiss the problem.

thats why id feel more comfortable doing this if people would guarantee that for every idea that didnt make the cut, your allowed to defend it at least once. maybe with a day or so to arrange your ideas and thoughts but at least once, that should be enough before shelving it

there are also other problems. designing is usually an effort of the mind - you might see something that the others just didnt. not to brag or anything but this has happened alot with me. for example, people were in general saying that a deckless + unique tcg wouldnt work. id like to think i managed it partly due to the fact that i didnt dismiss it without THOROUGHLY going over everything i could think of. some problems are similar, you might see a problem with a card being broken but everyone says that another card will counter it and dump your argument. this might not be personal but the person suggesting a look at the problem has a reason for saying it and rejection of it often feels like a rejection of his reasoning and his commitment. the reason for the rejection is not always fully explored. saying its for the good of the game or the group has decided is fine and dandy but without justification, it just becomes a smaller version of mob rule. thats the difference between a republic and a democracy after all, one protects the right of the individual AS WELL AS making sure the group as a whole gets through. a democracy just cuts out the smallest guy, regardless of how reasonable he might be

if clarity of thought is promised (not to be insulting, i just know it isnt always the case), id like to join, as long as the project moves with some speed (i dont like sitting around for 2 weeks with no progress :S). if not, then ill help out when i can, bouncing ideas off of, playtesting, offering mechanics but id give no certainty to my help. still, some help is better than none right? you could always ignore it as a safeguard

i personally like games not based solely around combat. duelling, bounty hunting and character emphasis seem to have some basis in that. whats crack-the-code?

[sneaselx]

Say, one deck for mother nature against the survivalists. The deck size would morph depending on how many players there are. And, while not in direct competition (you said that, right?) players could still be able to set traps and decoys for their rivals. Kinda like that joke.

Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind. Maybe set survival decks based on where the players would be going. (You wouldn't have cards like Crocodile Attack in a desert, and you wouldn't have Dehydration on a lake.)
Maybe crack-the-code is kind of like there is one sequence of alphanumeric characters, and maybe winning missions gives you clues about how the code is set-up? Or maybe like mastermind, but with effects and stuff.