I am still floating ideas about my action programming deck building game. In a recent epiphany I realized I could use the fact I have a specific series of cards, corresponding to player choice.
This series of cards could be used as a new way of expanding the deck, making me think of mastering tricks and unlocking them, which lead to the theme of skateboarding (or snowboarding, bmx, inline skates, or any similar Extreme sport)
Basically the top level idea is that each player sets a number of cards down. Each player then flips a card, performs the action printed on the card, and passes to the next player. If a move is successful, a player continues on to the next card. If the player fails his move by ending in the wrong place (i.e. on a ramp instead of a rail) crashes into another player, or is crashed into, he wipes his sequence of cards and becomes a static obstacle until the next round.
At the end of a round, players look at their sequence of cards, and may purchase a new card fitting the pattern they created, or part of it (i.e. if a player played a straight, a straight and a right turn, he may add a deck to his card that requires two straights in a row.)
Cards would come in several stages, ranging from easy moves with smaller benefits, to more difficult maneuvers that offer greater rewards for a player who pulls them off.
I can think of a few options for an end game: one might be to add an 'ultimate' type trick to a deck and land it successfully. Another might involves a final round where the player who racks the most points on a single run (with each card in the series he plays have a numerical value towards that end) wins the game.
More to think about: Specific cards, and potential powers. Adding a counter to denote special abilities unlocked, especially for adding cards to a trick. Throwing unique player abilities into the mix.
