Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
You'd be my hero if you did. I've made six games and uncountable custom expansions to existing ones, but never had balls/follow-through to get beyond friends and homemade materials.
Designing a Card Game
- Thread starter a_skeleton_03
- Start date
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Guest, did you like the last podcast notification?? Well here's the second one, and for the third podcast! Yep. This Thursday 8-8-24 at 7pm Central
Go here to check out his podcast thread for info on topics and links!Go into the FoH discord and find the Happy Time Fun Hour channel and give it a listen!
pharmakos
soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
- 16,305
- -2,234
have you seen Plants vs Zombies Heroes ever? zombie card game that would very likely have a "card" just like that Gun Zombie.
Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
No, not yet.
The game was designed with my 5yo.
Game development is my passion and then one day he showed interest
These were his ideas, summarized by me, and then it took off from there. The bulk of the game I made that day. I've been tweaking and playtesting since.
Then I started doodling on my phone. 5yo loves zombies, but doesn't like gross or scary ones.
After this guy, whom I like quite much, I thought I could illustrate all. But I'm not an artist and thus take a bit too long per item, feeling I should switch gears; save time; and outsource that part.
(His shirt is mostly red in the final version)
Edit: Watched some PvZ: Heroes and the gameplay is completely different.
He wanted to call this The Crafting Dead, which is a great name, but one he plagiarized. I can also see this shifting away from zombies theme and eventually have zany deck matchups ala Smashup.
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pharmakos
soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
- 16,305
- -2,234
Yeah gameplay seems pretty different based on the small bit I've seen, just wanted to make sure you were aware of the Plants vs Zombies franchise in case you get accused of plagiarism if this takes off some day.
Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
Ah, I see. I'm not too worried about that. PvZ shares nothing except goofy zombies, but even then art style and mechanics and basically everything else are completely different.
If anybody would like to playtest, please let me know.
Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
Looking more into it, PvZ use street cones for comedic relief in various places. "Crafting Dead" won't use the cones. The cone card backs are actually my company logo (notice my name) and I use that back on my prototypes.
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pharmakos
soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
- 16,305
- -2,234
ah yeah whoops, i should have mentioned that, guess it didn't really click tho, just knew it FELT really familiar! haha
Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
I've been directed to some blogs about the things to do before launching a Kickstarter, but call me skeptical. Most are "Start a blog and respond to other bloggers."
Seems like a bunch of bloggers trying to convince others that blogging is relevant.
I've got the game down, now for the art, the titling (both Crafting Dead and Combiner Wars are taken), the rule book (after the card art is done), the printing details and contract and get it out there.
Kickstarter itself could be the distribution hub and pay for the art assets. So really, the title and printing company.
My game isn't some superheavy Scythe. It's more like Munchkin or Flux.
Seems like a bunch of bloggers trying to convince others that blogging is relevant.
I've got the game down, now for the art, the titling (both Crafting Dead and Combiner Wars are taken), the rule book (after the card art is done), the printing details and contract and get it out there.
Kickstarter itself could be the distribution hub and pay for the art assets. So really, the title and printing company.
My game isn't some superheavy Scythe. It's more like Munchkin or Flux.
Mizake
Trakanon Raider
- 965
- 2,071
I've been toying around with the idea of designing a game myself, although mine is a board game, more along the lines of something like Gloomhaven.
Did you by chance read the book by Jamie Stegmaier? It's called A Crowdfunder's Strategy Guide. I got a lot of useful insights out of it, maybe you would as well, especially since it sounds like you are getting close to publishing.
Did you by chance read the book by Jamie Stegmaier? It's called A Crowdfunder's Strategy Guide. I got a lot of useful insights out of it, maybe you would as well, especially since it sounds like you are getting close to publishing.
Ravishing
Uninspiring Title
- 8,456
- 3,577
I see this is from 2018 but just saw this.
My simple idea:
50 card deck for the states. Collect these for electoral points.
Distribute all 50 randomly to all players. They are face up public knowledge.
Each state might have bonuses and negatives .. idk
Game is on a turn limit, each turn is 1 day. Game ends after x amount of turns (days). Election day might have a separate deck of cards to swing things to 270 points. Idk
Each turn draw a "daily event" card. These will effect your collection of states in numerous ways. Negative events would force you to pass state cards to other people, positive cards allow you to steal from others.
Some examples might be: held a rally in x state, take that card if you don't already own it... or, news out of secret affair , lose 25 electoral votes ( put states in a common pool equaling that total) , won a national debate, collect 25 electoral votes of your choosing, etc.
That's all I got
My simple idea:
50 card deck for the states. Collect these for electoral points.
Distribute all 50 randomly to all players. They are face up public knowledge.
Each state might have bonuses and negatives .. idk
Game is on a turn limit, each turn is 1 day. Game ends after x amount of turns (days). Election day might have a separate deck of cards to swing things to 270 points. Idk
Each turn draw a "daily event" card. These will effect your collection of states in numerous ways. Negative events would force you to pass state cards to other people, positive cards allow you to steal from others.
Some examples might be: held a rally in x state, take that card if you don't already own it... or, news out of secret affair , lose 25 electoral votes ( put states in a common pool equaling that total) , won a national debate, collect 25 electoral votes of your choosing, etc.
That's all I got
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Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
Ravishing
Uninspiring Title
- 8,456
- 3,577
Refining my idea a bit:
Players start with a minimal hand-size of state cards, the cards in your hand are considered "locked in". All remaining cards are in a common pool "swing states".
Once election day hits, the Swing states are distributed in some manner - idk how, something that can mimic voting maybe.
Cards in your hand pre-election day will continue to be manipulated by "Daily Event cards"... for fairness, maybe need 2 pools of events (positive+negative) or a player draws multiple cards and can choose to discard strategically, idk.
Somehow strategy needs to revolve around collecting electoral points, states with high electoral counts should be hard to acquire, and keep your hand size low (risky), states with lower amount maybe easier to hoard (bigger hand size, less risk, but need a lot more swing votes). Maybe there's an upkeep (days spent rallying in those states), or something.
Maybe the amount of event cards drawn is a function of the states you have locked in.
"locked in" means you've won those electoral votes if you still have those cards once election day hits. It doesn't mean you can't lose them pre-election day.
Players start with a minimal hand-size of state cards, the cards in your hand are considered "locked in". All remaining cards are in a common pool "swing states".
Once election day hits, the Swing states are distributed in some manner - idk how, something that can mimic voting maybe.
Cards in your hand pre-election day will continue to be manipulated by "Daily Event cards"... for fairness, maybe need 2 pools of events (positive+negative) or a player draws multiple cards and can choose to discard strategically, idk.
Somehow strategy needs to revolve around collecting electoral points, states with high electoral counts should be hard to acquire, and keep your hand size low (risky), states with lower amount maybe easier to hoard (bigger hand size, less risk, but need a lot more swing votes). Maybe there's an upkeep (days spent rallying in those states), or something.
Maybe the amount of event cards drawn is a function of the states you have locked in.
"locked in" means you've won those electoral votes if you still have those cards once election day hits. It doesn't mean you can't lose them pre-election day.
pharmakos
soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
- 16,305
- -2,234
haha honestly, you could go back through the Pantheon thread during the time period when they were doing their Kickstarter (~February 2014) and learn what NOT to do while reading a bunch of people give Brad good advice on what TO do.
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Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
No turning back now.
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Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
Don't want to spam this feed, but for now, I'm living the dream. Such a small yet self-moving task. Blogging, day two.
gameconegames.blogspot.com
Designing tension
Combiner Story is a "Reverse Deck Builder." Instead of taking turns to acquire cards, starting with a few base staples and constructing ...
gameconegames.blogspot.com
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Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
When do you think I should make what I'm doing a project of an official "company" - I have the name and logo, but I'm thinking instead of worrying about locking all that in and spending capital I don't have, just have all of that unofficial until the funds do come and if somehow it gets taken, shrug and come up with another name.
An actual LLC to back it is a minimal expense and I think will save you a lot of headache in the future IF you do well.
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Conefed
Blackwing Lair Raider
- 2,850
- 1,702
I played a good 8 games with randoms including multiplayer (3 players), which wasn't initially intended. I was surprised how well that went. I only had to alter a few wordings to clarify opponent singular versus opponents plural.
I graciously accepted their feedback although I had to read between the lines. Some of their suggestions would have changed things drastically, but they all at the core had the same observation.
Previously, the survivors were relatively weak but had tricks up their sleeves; while each dead faction play was more limited but stronger. Almost exclusively, the dead faction players perceived their options were weaker than the potential of the survivors, when in truth the odds were in their own favor.
-- I DO want a sense of suspense and upset/Jumpscare moments -- but it Must be in the right way, I experienced.
When all was said and done, I tweaked about 27 cards and I look forward to another internal playtest to see how things roll.
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