critique wanted Crystal Cave Card Game

[Sekr Gray 520]

Good evening Everypony! Sēkr here, with the newest project/obsession that I've had an absolute joy to work on these past couple days. This is a new card game idea that features Lamiaponies, Diamond dogs, tricky magic, and plenty of crystals.

 

I wanted to show my game thus far, and get any feedback from the community. If you have any additional questions, don't be afraid to comment below or even PM me. I'll try update the OP as the game is polished, thanks to your many wonderful comments.

 

An Important Note is that I’ve yet to make all of the mock-ups yet, and as such this game is still largely theory, having not been properly playtested. This will change in the coming hours, as I complete my supplies. Mock Up cards built! Alpha testing and balancing in progress!

Many thanks in advance to anybody that actually takes the time to read through all of this

 

 

Crystal Caves Game 

 

 

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Goal: To collect as many Crystals as possible, before winter arrives.

 

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Equipment/Game Pieces:

- 17 Cave Cards (1 Large Crystal, 3 Medium Crystals, 5 Small Crystals, and 8 Trap Cards)

- Action Point counters (chips, or even a pen and paper tally work)

- A "countdown to winter” (records how many turns are left/have been taken)

- Each faction will have 31 cards in their Reserve decks, as follows (only two factions exist as of the moment, Diamond Dogs and Lamia ponies. More will be added later):

      - 9 worker cards (5 Common, 3 Elite, 1 Veteran/OC)

      - 17 Action Cards

      - 5 Defense Cards

 

Some Sample Cards

 

OC courtesy of the marvelous High Priest of the Lamia Club himself: @Mesme Rize

 

 

 

Crystal Cards

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine Actions as spells from MTG, as cards with only abilities and no stats beyond a cost. Traps/Defenses are Stationary workers that guard a single Crystal until broken. 

 

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Setup:

Remove the Large Crystal Shuffle and place it in the center of the Playing Field. Shuffle and arrange the remaining cards as follows. Remove your OC/Veteran Card from your Reserve Deck, and lay him in your Camp. Shuffle your deck and draw five cards. Your Playing Field should now look like this:

 

Starting player is decided by player choice.

 

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Rules:

On your turn, you have four phases:

1. Ready Phase

 

   - All workers are Steadied (Status Effects like Stunned or Hypnotized are removed)

   - Gain 3 Action Points per turn (these carry over from turn to turn), plus one for each other player in the game

   - Spend 2 AP: Draw a card from your reserves

 

2. Main Phase

   - Varied AP: Hire Workers, Build Traps, or Use an Action Card

   - 2 AP: Assign a worker to a Trap, Defense, or Crystal

 

3. Confrontation/Resolve Phase

   - Compare the defenses of the trap, defense and guards to the power of the opposing forces powers in their respective types

   - Actions may be played

   - The higher power wins the battle. If the powers of both sides are tied, the defending side wins.

      - If the opposing force wins: Guards are removed to the Owner’s Camp, Defenses/traps are removed to the Discard Pile, and Crystals are taken by the opposing force to their reserves

      - If the Defending force wins: The opposing force returns to their camp, and the workers are stunned.

 

When a crystal is uncovered from all the traps on top, it will remain there until one player can haul it off. The score needed to haul it off is the Crystal value multiplied by two. You'll need to assign your workers to the crystal, while fending off other players, in order to claim the crystals. Only one player may actively have workers assigned to a crystal or trap. When you have enough workers assigned to a crystal (your total endurance must equal or exceed the crystal's point value multiplied by two), you may carry the Crystal back to your treasury, and all workers are returned back to your camp.

 

   - Play passes to the left

 

 

After all players have taken a turn, move the Winter Countdown ahead one. When the counter reaches winter, all players must flee the caves, and whoever has the most crystals, wins!

 

 

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Edited December 14, 2015 by Sekr Gray

[Ken 108]

For a good few seconds i thought this is gonna be a video game xD

Well it sounds good so good luck with it!

[EverEverOn 346]

Sounds pretty interesting!

[Sekr Gray 520]

For a good few seconds i thought this is gonna be a video game xD

Well it sounds good so good luck with it!

Danke ^.*

Video games are the most common thing out there, so whenever I tell people I'm making a game, I try to make sure I say "card game," to avoid the confusion later.

[SugarfootWillie 383]

Do you spend action points to gather the crystals? How do they go from the mine to a camp?

[Sekr Gray 520]

Do you spend action points to gather the crystals? How do they go from the mine to a camp?

Dah, I knew I'd miss some details when I wrote that out. I'll add it as soon as I can into the main post. Damn these mobile devices

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~ New rules added to OP ~ 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Sekr Gray

[Artimis Whooves 1,576]

Hullo twin! This looks like a game I would play.

 

A couple suggestions;

1: You said there were factions, does that mean type (of creature) or deck? If it means a type I think it should be written somewhere on the card to show what type it is so that you don't have to solely go off of the picture, as to avoid ruling disputes if a card targets a specific faction.

2: Colour code the cards/card borders. for example how yugioh makes all traps purple and all spells green. I see you did it on the diagram but not on the cards themselves.

3: label the playing field to avoid confusion. like where to place workers/OCs and defence/action cards.

4:in the rules state how long until winter. Is it set by the player & can there be an odd number of turns until winter?

 

questions;

1: what do you do with an exhausted worker?

2: Is the stat total for mesme rise (19) the same for all OC/ veterans?

3: Are all crystals of the same size the same value? (IE: Are all large crystals worth [amount], all medium are worth [amount], all small are worth [amount], or are they random values dependant on some given variables?)

 

 

And that's all I have for now.

If you need help making cards just ask btw...

Edited December 23, 2015 by Artimis Whooves