Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Second Blog Post

In our last class the objective was to find a main staple that will make our card game function. We had previously agreed upon adopting the idea of a card game based on an obstacle course. After many different inputs from all group members, we had a lot of difficulty how to make the game work without any major problems that could be seen off the bat. Originally the idea was to make it a deck building game with one currency in order to build your deck stronger and stronger and compete with other players also trying to build their deck, but because of our groups lack of overall experience and understanding with deck building games we had no choice but to throw away this original idea.

Later in the week we met up outside of class and decided to try and reevaluate our game concept. We had a ot of great ideas bouncing off of each other, and almost abandoned the idea of using skills cards. Instead of using different types of currencies to buy better and stronger obstacles and skill cards we would use the cards in our hand as currency, so when you wanted to play a obstacle, you can discard cards in your hand (whether they are skill cards or obstacles) equal to the number on the obstacle. We decided to give players a few options of play on their turn. At the beginning of a players turn they can draw a card whether it be obstacle or skill (there will be two separate piles to pick from at all times). Then their option is to either to build an obstacle to stack on to their chain, challenge another person obstacle course, or just draw another card and end turn. In order to beat a person obstacle you have to have the correct skill cards at your disposal to beat them.

At first we saw some problems with this. Players could never build an obstacle and therefore never be challenged by others. So we decided to make a rule that each player will start with an obstacle that cost nothing to play, and if a player has no obstacles when challenge they have no choice but to build  an obstacle on their next turn. Also we created a rule that I felt was an interesting aspect to this game, obviously as the game goes on a player is going to want to build stronger obstacles that they draw to their hand so a player can also sacrifice cards that are on the playing field to build stronger obstacles. This can be both good and bad because you make you course stronger but if you don't have as many obstacles then your course is easier to beat. Another rule we modified, is when a player is challenges another players obstacle and beat it they don't collect their actual obstacle card like originally planned. Instead they just collect a card from the discard pile and put it in their reward pile and the first player to collect 8-10 reward cards wins the game. Also we plan on adding an effect on the obstacle cards for when you beat or lose to an obstacle. These effects may vary from collecting card to discarding obstacles that are in play making you choose wisely what obstacle you choose to challenge and when. That is what we are dealing with right now.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Selecting a concept for a new card game

On September 12, the development of a brand new card game began.

Four Rutgers students in New Brunswick, NJ gathered in a tiny computer lab located in the basement of an old classroom building. Each student presented their own original idea for a new card game concept. These ideas were not for the standard 52 card deck - rather, these ideas were infinitesimally more original.

One of the students - Joseph Nguyen - was randomly selected to lead the brainstorm on that fateful Thursday. Each idea was carefully presented and discussed: a card game for car enthusiasts, a dating game, a fantasy football game, and an obstacle course game were all presented as potential ideas for the group's project.

In the end, the leader (Joseph) determined it would be best to bring the obstacle course game to fruition. Everyone accepted the decision gracefully, and became eager to further develop the idea.

I was one of the four students sitting at the table. The obstacle course game concept happened to be my idea. In short, my vision for the card game is that it will involve players creating obstacle courses in a far-away, magical land. Players will also be collecting skill cards, in order to successfully complete other obstacle courses. While this brief description may make it sound complicated, everyone involved agreed that the game should be simple enough for anyone to easily start playing.

Stay tuned next week for another update on the development of this revolutionary card game.