I'm writing this for people who may or may not have an interest in such things. If you enjoy card games, this may be of great interest to you. Basically the intent is to show my progress in developing a card game. Like video games, you'd be suprised what things change in the iterative process of design. I've already finished designing two card games and while one is finished and available for purchase right now, another has a HUGE amount of time investment in it's art development so I expect that one to be at least another year before it's ready for sale, though I'll likely be the only one buying regardless.

My third game is still without a title although the theme is very much locked down. You play, essentially, a space animal dealer who has to fulfill various contracts to win the game. For example, an Open Contract card would have a list of specific animals you would need to collect to fulfill the contract. Fulfilling contracts earn you points whereas having cards in your play area at the end of the game would cost you points.

The first playtest was a disaster and, like many of my games, had a LOT of work to be done. If you wish to read more, check out Chapter 1 of this diary, located here.

[link]http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/sheppy/card-game-design-diary-chapter-1-164763.phtml[/link]

Essentially my problems with the first one was not enough player interaction and it was basically Gin Rummy for Kids. That's why this version featured the following changes.

The lasted version was a 99 card deck comprised of 72 creature cards, 12 action cards, and 15 contracts.

-New trading mechanic
This feature was the single most active change in the game design and actually encouraged player interaction beyond what I had hoped.

-More of each type of monster
This essentially will drive the cost of the game up, but it's gameplay mechanic impact is too great to be ignored. Having more creature cards made the actions more rare and rotated the monsters much better.

-Communal contract pile
Another change from last time is the contracts where no longer player exclusive. This made the race to more contracts more active.


As I left Kinko's with freshly cut prototype cards, the game would play like this. On your turn you could draw two cards or open trade negotiations. After that, fulfill a contract as you can, and then discard or put at least one creature down in your turn. These simple mechanics would soon need to be adjusted midplay, bum bum bum...

During Armored Gopher Games board game night, this game made it's second debut with an all different cast of players (aside from me) than the first time. As the rules were explained, some concepts were hard to grasp but eventually people understood the rules and we marched on. Of note here is that I'm terrible at explaining rules. As two trade negotiations broke down and two other trade queues filled up, one of the biggest weaknesses of the game was exposed...

The concept between drawing two cards and trading being your choice is that you, as the pets dealer, only had so much time and is it time you want to spend getting the animal you KNOW is out there, or risking the random pile? When two turns of frustrated gamers exposed way too big of a risk in trading, a change needed to be made. One of the players suggested getting two actions. For example, draw a card and trade, draw two cards, or attempt two trades. The actions system worked very well and will be refined for the next draft.

The other problem is once you trade queue reached it's limit (three cards), you could no longer offer up any other trade animals. The easiest solution is simply giving the player two trade queues. This was very well received and will also be refined for the next version.

The final problem came to be known as time marched on, and on, and on...

With the game end condition being the final contract being fulfilled, this game took and hour and a half to complete. By the end, what was a fun and fascinating game was going on far too long. A different end game condition would be needed to get this game working at a brisk pace. What was suggested was an ability to rid yourself of certain contracts as well as contracts of varying difficult.


Results and plans for next revision.

Considering the DRASTIC improvements made to the game as a core, it's gone from a practical dead end to something with real potential well beyond the initial concept of "a gin rummy variant." All in all, a much more impressive play this time. Although the game still doesn't have a formal name, something I'll have to change for the third playthrough. These are the planned changes for the next test.

-Emphasis on the Actions system, making everything you do an action. From entering trade negotiations, ridding yourself of worthless trade queues, to drawing cards, everything will be an action with your choice on how you spend it.

-Action cards will now have two categories. Action cards can be played as an action ONLY on your turn whereas Interrupt cards can be played whenever.

-More variety to the contract cards. Instead of the contract cards being the endgame itself, they'll now be Victory Points towards a numerical goal. Likewise, they will now have alternative creatures to fulfill the goal. This will, of course, increase manufacturing cost but my goal is fun game, not cheap game.

-Bounty chits will be introduced. For example, a player will have a certain number of chits at the beginning. When giving up on a contract, they will place the contract in the center with their numbered chits. For other players, this increases the point value of the contract. If the player takes back a contract with their chit on it, it reduces the value of the contract. This may be an optional rule or a possible expansion concept rather than base game rule.

If you would like a copy of this game to print and test out in it's next form, feel free to send me a message here or leave a comment. I'm continuing this diary, despite lack of interest, because a few people I know are following the progress of this game.