WARNING: RIDICULOUSLY LONG POST AHEAD! NO TL;DR AVAILABLE!
DO NOT QUOTE THIS POST WITHOUT TRIMMING IT!
Okay, so i've been developing this game for ages. It's been stagnated for forever however, though on encouragement from some others in the other cardgame thread (no relation) has prompted me to post this topic in hopes that I might actually get this project finished once and for all. My timing couldn't be much worse though - on the 15th i'll be leaving until the 10th of November; i'll try to register an alt account or something, but in the event I can't, at least you know where I am.
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GAMEPLAY
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Okay, so, the game. I basically took elements from other card games and combined them together to try and make it into its own distinct thing. I don't know how well I did. Quite a bit needs to be explained here before it will become clear.
It's a two-player game, though if you wanted to make your own custom variations involving multiple players, it shouldnt be too hard to do. Each player has an equal amount of cards in their deck, which must include at least one Animal and Resource card. At the start of the game, each player draws an agreed upon amount of cards from their Deck Pile into their Hand - the default is 6, but again - you can make your own house playing rules if needed.
The Animal card is placed into the Active Slot, and then the players decide (usually by coin flip) who goes first. From there, the game plays in rounds, each player taking turns until one of the following victory conditions is met:
- A player has no creature cards remaining on their side of the field
- A player runs out of deck cards to draw
- A victory/failiure condition agreed upon by both players is met
When it is a player's turn, there is a number of actions they can perform - using the cards in their hand or manipulating the cards on their side of the field. Doing the following will end the player's turn then and there:
- Using an Attack or Social with a creature card
- Advancing the "stage" of the game by evolving a creature
- Flipping a creature card over from the hiding position to face up
- Declaring the end of their turn
There are other actions a player can perform during their turn without ending their turn, which are the following:
- Place a Resource Card or Cell Card into the Resource Pile (once per turn only)
- Using an Ability with a creature card as many times as stated on the card
- Play as many Event cards as desired
- Place as many Object or Trick Cards into the field as desired
- Attach an Item Card to a creature (once per turn only)
- Play a Planet Card into the Planet Slot (once per turn only)
- Retreat the creature in the Active Slot to replace it with a card in the Reserve Slots (once per turn only)
- Evolve as many Creature Cards as desired (unless it would cause a stage change)
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CARD TYPES
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Clear as mud, right? I need to explain the cards and the field in order to get any of this to make sense, and that's what i'll do now:
Creature Card (Click for big)
Comes in four flavors - Animal, Tribal, Civilised and Spacefaring.
At the top of the card is the creature's name, with the creator's name above it - so proper credit is automatically given for someone's creation. Not only is it a game, it's free advertising! On the right across from that is the Innate Attack (in this case Bite), and the Type Info.
The Innate Attack are attacks which can be used with no resource cards at all, only Animals and Tribals have them. They're styled after the abilities from the core spore game. I'll explain each of them in a later section.
The Type Info brings the game's Type system into play - creature cards have types which influence what cards can be used on them, what they have weaknesses to, and so forth. Azzard here is a Swarmer - the Green/Blue type for creatures. Again, i'll list the types later on - each stage of evolution has 10 types.
Below those two is the Card Art. Fairly self-explanatory, it's there to look nice and present the creature. It can be an ingame screenshot, modified screenshot, original art, anything. I'll get the dimensions of the window when i'm done typing all this up.
Below that is the line of circles with stats. In order they are Health (Green with a +), Armour (Yellow with a Shield), Weakness (Red with an Explosion), Limit (Blue with Stars), Retreat Cost (Grey with an arrow), and Evolution Options.
Health and Armour are fairly self-explanatory. If you take damage, it is deducted from your health. Lose all health and the creature is KOed and gets sent to the Junk Pile with any attached items. Armour subtracts damage from any incoming damage - If I hit a 20 armour creature with a 40 damage attack, it only takes 20 damage.
Weakness displays one or more type symbols - in this case, the Blue/Blue type called Scavenger. This is actually currently being revised - originally being attacked by a creature it is weak to means the victim would take double damage, but this was found to be far too powerful, generally. It's currently being tweaked to be modular - so the Weakness display will show a type AND what happens if struck. Usually extra damage, but it could result in statuses too.
Limit is present on nearly all cards - it states the maximum amount of this card you can have in your deck. In this instance, you can only have four Azzards - any more and your deck is illegal. This is a balancing thing - especially powerful cards will have low limits. The standard is four - weak cards may have relaxed or even no limit.
The Retreat Cost is how many resources you must send to the Junk Pile to withdraw this creature from the active slot. Since resources are effectively your lifeblood and fuel as it were, retreating too often can cripple you if you're not careful. Azzard here has 3 Fruit as the retreat cost - this is actually very expensive since you only have six resource slots. Generally retreat costs will never be above 3.
Finally, Evolution Options - these state what types of the next evolution level (Animal > Tribe > Civ > Space) this creature is allowed to become. To evolve, you junk one resource of the stated type and place a card of the stated type over the top of your creature. Bam, it evolved!
Below those things are the creature abilities. Green boxes are "Socials" which normally involve helping, buffing and so forth. Red boxes are "Attacks" which strike at the opponent. Blue boxes are "Abilities" which are often unconventional and special. On each box you will notice a series of symbols - this is the Resource Cost for the attack. For example, Azzard's Shearjaw attack requires you to have two Fruit and one Egg in play. You don't have to junk them to use the attack (unless the attack text states otherwise), just have them in play. The number is the amount of damage the attack causes.
Note normal text is the attack's rules -
italicised text is just fluff text put there for fun.
Below the abilities is the card's fluff text, the creditation for the card art's artist, and an EA copyright just so I don't land in legal doodoo for making a game off their intellectual property. >_>"
Creature cards are basically the "main" cards and what are used to fight. The only two types of card you absolutely need are creatures and resources.
Resource and Cell Cards
They come in two types - Standard and Nonstandard.
Standard resources are Fruit, Egg, Meat, Green Spice, Blue Spice and Red Spice. They power your attacks, retreat costs, and other things.
Nonstandard resources work in different ways, but they have a few special considerations:
- They do not count towards retreat costs
- They may not be junked for abilities that require a resource sacrifice to activate
- They may not be used in anything that specifically states it requires "Standard Resources".
So while Nonstandard Resources have nice bonuses, they're inflexible and also have Limit. Standard Resources are your bread and butter, and are unlimited - you can have as many in your deck as you want.
Cell Cards I haven't finished yet. At present they get played into your Resource Slots, and then do something - I think the current idea is small-scale "spells" you can use once at any time, even during the opponent's turn.
Consequence Cards
Come in five types - Event, Item, Object, Trick and Planet. These are essentially your "spells" and other kinks and quirks to make battles interesting and strategic.
Event cards are basically "spells". During your turn if you play an Event Card, whatever is stated on the card immediatley happens, then the Event Card is junked. More often than not these are of a benefit to you - offensive Event cards detrimental to the opponent will be extremely few and far between. They have the Limit attribute and nothing else.
Item Cards may be attached to a creature once per turn - it may only hold one item at a time. When a creature is holding an item, it gets the benefit or ability stated on the card as long as it is holding it. If you put down a new item on a creature, the old one is sent to the Junk. Note that some items can only be held by certain kinds of creatures - for example, if a card says the item is for Scavengers, then only Scavengers may use it. There is a trick to this, however - say for instance a tribal Warlock-type evolved from a Scavenger - it still counts as being a Scavenger if it was played over the top of the Scavenger card, despite currently being a Warlock. They have the Limit attribute.
Object Cards are played into your Reserve Slots and provide a benefit as long as they remain there. They may be moved into the Active Slot if a creature retreats - they may also be attacked and destroyed. If an Object runs out of health it is destroyed, and goes to the junk. They have Health and Limit.
Trick Cards are played into a Reserve Slot like objects, but they are played face-down so the opponent cannot see them. Trick Cards state a trigger and effect - if the opponent does something the trigger states, then the Trick card is activated and it has an instant effect, then is Junked. For example, if the Trigger states healing, and the opponent heals any damage during their turn, then the Trick is activated.
They have Trigger, Limit and Expiry. Expiry is how many turns a card may stay in play - once it reaches this time limit, it goes to the Junk at the end of the round. (represented by a Clock icon) Think Trap Cards from Yu-Gi-Oh. (NOTE: This may not be accurate as I have never played YGO)
Each player has one "Planet Slot" on their field which may be occupied by a Planet Card. Planet Cards affect absolutely everything in play with their effect - both players get the effect, be it for good or ill. The only way to get rid of a Planet Card is play another Planet Card over the top of it, or use a card which can get rid of Planets in play.
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FIELD
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The playing field consists of the following for each player:
Hand: The cards held in your hand
Deck: A pile of face-down cards - you draw one at the start of each round or whenever prompted to by a card.
Active Slot: A card put infront of the Reserve Slots, facing your opponent. The creature in this slot may perform socials, abilities and attacks, targeted at the creature in the opponent's Active Slot unless stated otherwise.
There must be a card in the Active Slot at all times - if this becomes impossible, the player loses. A new card must be moved into the Active Slot when the one currently in it is KOed, Retreats or is otherwise removed. This is done immediatley and before anything else happens in the game.
Reserve Slots: Five slots behind the Active Slot, into which Creature, Object and Trick cards may be played. Creatures in the Reserve Slots may only use blue Abilities.
Resource Slots: Six slots into which Resource and Cell cards are played. If the Resource Slots are full, a resource or cell must be junked to put a new one into play.
Planet Slot: One planet card may occupy a player's Planet Slot.
Junk Pile: Cards which have been KOed, destroyed, expended, expired or otherwise used up go here.
Removed Pile: Different from the Junk Pile, cards go to the removed pile when it is specifically stated that they are "Removed from play". Unlike the Junk pile, absolutley no abilities or cards can interact with the Removed Pile at all.
Phew... that was a lot to type up. There's more to come still, but it's bits and pieces of details. I'm going to cut this post here and reserve some posts, then come back and edit some more stuff in.
EDIT: Okay coming back to this to finish it off.
INNATE ATTACKS (These may come under revision before this is done)
Sing: Flip a Coin - if Heads, clear Anger, Blind and Restrain status effects
Dance: Heal 10 damage
Charm: Gain 10 armour during opponent's turn
Pose: Next attack by this creature does 10 more damage (attack must deal damage)
Sight: Look at the card on the top of your Deck Pile, and put it back
Grasp: Transfer an item from one of your other creatures to this one
Call: If you have another Creature card of the same species in your hand, place it into a Reserve Slot
Sneak: If not damaged during opponent's turn, retreat cost is waived
Sprint: Opponent's creature must coin flip if it tries to retreat, needing a heads to successfully retreat
Jump: Move creature from Reserve Slot to Active Slot, do not pay Retreat Cost (usable from Reserves)
Glide: If attacked by it's weakness next turn, reduce damage taken by 20
Bite: 10 damage, ignores armour
Strike: 20 damage
Charge: Flip a Coin - if Heads, opponent is Stunned. If Tails, your creature takes 10 damage (ignores armour)
Spit: 10 damage, can be used from Reserve Slots
STATUS EFFECTS
Creatures may only have one status effect on them at a time
All status effects clear automatically if the creature spends a whole turn on the Reserve Slots and is not interacted with
(ie attaching items, using abilities on them, or being attacked)
If a new status effect is inflicted while one exists, the new one overwrites the old one.
POISON
Effect: Creature takes 10 damage every turn (after turn end)
Expires: Never
INJURE
Effect: Creature takes 30 damage if it performs an attack or uses an ability
Expires: Never
STUN
Effect: Creature cannot attack or retreat
Creatures may not be stunned on consecutive turns
Expires: After one turn
ANGER
Effect: Creature cannot retreat
Expires: Coin flip after your turn is over - if Heads, the effect expires
BLIND
Effect: Must coin flip on each attack - if Tails, attack is unsuccessful
Expires: Coin flip after your turn is over - if Heads, the effect expires
RESTRAIN
Effect: Disables abilities
Expires: Never
CREATURE TYPES
Animal Cards
GREEN: Forager,
Swarmer,
Pest
BLUE: Critter,
Scavenger,
Beast
RED: Parasite,
Predator,
Monster
GREY: Rogue
Tribal Cards
GREEN: Guru,
Mystic,
Warlock
BLUE: Ranger,
Hunter,
Poacher
RED: Champion,
Barbarian,
Warlord
GREY: Nomad
Civilised Cards
GREEN: Priest,
Monk,
Fanatic
BLUE: Benefactor,
Merchant,
Gangster
RED: Guardian,
Soldier,
Pirate
GREY: Traveller
Space Cards
GREEN: Shaman,
Diplomat,
Ecologist
BLUE: Bard,
Trader,
Scientist
RED: Knight,
Zealot,
Warrior
GREY: Wanderer
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