The Game I Want to Play

I have 2 games on my mobile - Puzzle and Dragons and Terra Battle.
As a gamer I tend to give a lot of love to single games, especially when they are endless (although I'm fairly close to finishing the story mode of Terra Battle as it stands right now.)

I've been looking for another game to add, specifically one linked with Google Play Games, but nothing has made a significant impact quite yet. Maybe I'll learn of something at GDC Eu / Gamescom (Signed up to CA this year as well just recently) that will entice me.

While I have been looking, I've been looking through the data of popular games in various countries. South Korea has it's Kakao platform which doesn't work for me. Americans are generally more into the casual experience, while the Japanese have more hardcore games which is one of the reason they appeal to me more. I also appreciate the artwork and stories.

Looking at mechanics and genres, I came up with a mash up I might have fun exploring - Mixing collectible cards (with lots of sexy anime ladies of course ;) ) with city building and a dating sim?
It just seems that most, if not all, of these collectible card games end up in a turn based battle system, which made sense for physical games like Magic or even war, the card game, and I still enjoy it and think there's room for more, but maybe we can do more in digital media.
Some of my inspiration comes from the Suikoden series, where some of the characters you recruited during your quest build up shops and add mini-games to an ever expanding castle.
Another source of inspiration is what I consider my favorite JRPG - Thousand Arms, where improving your relationships with your female team members allowed to forge weapons with special abilities.

Maybe my game could have a sci-fi theme, where you build a space station, visited by various alien types, each must be persuaded to diplomatic relations in various ways in order to collect their cards and unlock new facilities of the station.

Spiritual Successors

Played XCOM: The Board Game a couple of weeks ago. Fairly entertaining experience, especially when we barely eked out a victory.
This got me thinking about the game, which made me start a list of games I'll need to pay once I feel I've progressed enough in my career choice that I can relax at home... Might take awhile longer :/

It also made me think of the spiritual successors and clones for the original game, and whether this remake will spawn new ones. Maybe it will, or maybe it just isn't as innovative as the original and mobile games are where such things pop up now.

I've played quite a few number of these games, and rate them much higher than most reviews.
While analyzing what made these games appealing I started coming up with my own ideas.

The aerial combat of sending interceptors against UFOs always seemed on the slim side compared with the squad level combat - what if it had more depth to it?
What if there was ground combat element of using armored vehicles against a massive alien invasion, while still having squad based combat for terror missions or clandestine operations?
What if I used elements from the "chariots of the gods" theories and give an ancient Egyptian or Mesoamerican theme to such a game, shrinking down the geoscape but expanding base management into more of civilization building game?

Super villain guild - flavor

Going back to thinking about my programmable action deck building game, and the super villain guild leader theme.

There are a few mechanics and flavor ideas I don't want to forget.

a. Before regular play begins, players will choose a super villain card to add to their deck, in some form of bid, with some sort of balancing mechanic put into play - perhaps the one who chooses last gets to go first.

b. One super villain will be left over, and would dictate scenario conditions, special rules and winning conditions. A fun idea for that would be to have different artists prepare a small 4 pager comic to some back story fluff and cool art

c. The map will have area control aspects - each action would allow to place at least one cube onto an area, with certain cards improving upon this mechanic. Having a cube at a specific area would give certain benefits (influence,) having more cubes than any other player would give better benefits (control.)

d. Cube could be played to areas with influence (with a starting area designated by the initial super villain choice each player makes) or to adjacent areas.

e. Police cars and super heroes would foil player plans, by removing cubes, forcing discards, changing order of set cards, etc. These would be follow a specific rule set, perhaps with players turning a card at the end of each turn (AI)

Polar Opposites?

After finally going through the game trade publications I picked up at GDC Eu / Gamescom, a few new ideas started floating around in my head.

The one I am currently pondering most about is the possibility of mashing up the sandbox and point and click adventure genres.

In the former the player is given a universe and some tools to play with. Testing the boundaries, coming up with creative ideas and generally letting the players find their own way to have fun is what it's all about.

The latter has a very rigid and linear construction, and when the rules aren't followed, the player will find himself stuck.

I'm currently favoring an episodic approach to a possible genre bender: On one level the player will have a world to play with, but will unlock certain pixel hunting, inventory combining at designated points. 

One example might be a part of a pantheon of gods: Part of the game would involve building, populating and molding a world of your own, but to gain further skills you must perform fetch quests for the other gods working with you.

New theme idea

Popped into my head while thinking about Venture bros. and Sentinels of the Universe: giving my programmable deck builder a super hero (or rather super villian) theme.

Instead of exploring the galaxy or the wild west, each player would control an organized crime group, along the lines of the guild of calamitous intent, with a basic deck of henchmen to run around and create chaos in a city, gaining notoriety to hire more henchmen and eventually attract super villains with better skills, earn money and fight of AI police and superheroes trying to thwart them.

Drafthouse Poker

Came up with a card game using some of the rules of poker. Still fiddling with the rules, as usual, but I wonder how it would play.

Dealer starts by giving every player 2 face up cards. Antes up and draws 2 himself.

Places on of the cards next to his starting 2. Face down to keep it hidden, or face up to use it's ability.

The next player, in a clockwise direction may then fold or ante up. If he antes, the dealer then gives him his remaining card. He then draws another, chooses one to place and play continues.

When all players have 5 cards in front of them, the last card is discarded face up. All those still in the game reveal their hands, highest hand, according to poker rules wins the round. Dealer changes, play resumes.

Face up cards may have effects such as reversing play order, drawing an extra card, discarding and drawing 2 new cards, etc.

That part is still a work in progress.

Also considering changing the number of suits, number of face cards, number of number cards (will those have an effect as well?) and with the names of the cards, just to make it a little more unique.

New theme for my game

Been playing around with the theme for my programmable action deck builder, changing it from a space opera to a game about going an expedition to explore north America, in the same vein as Lewis & Clark.

Players would start at a major city, a set amount of money and supplies and a basic deck. Before heading out to explore, they would bid on a random set of cards to enhance their deck, with the player who payed the least (or has the fewest cards, or a similar device) starting first.
Each player could move forward at least one space. Those falling behind could move faster, as the territory was already explored, giving a bit of a catch up mechanic and something players must consider. Those discovering new territory would also flip over an event card, with various beneficial, harmful or neutral effects.
Moving would also exhaust supplies which would have to be replenished through hunting or bought at various checkpoints (towns/forts) along the way.
Recruiting people such as European traders or native guides would also be an option along the way, with these having benefits over the basic cards.
Some cards would go onto a players board, rather than into his deck, giving a permanent effect.

Finally, the length of the game could be changed to suit players wishes by giving different paths to explore.

Musician brand - another thought exercise

Went to the GameIS convention last week.
Didn't really change anything about how I feel about the Israel game industry and my chances of breaking in through it. Brought my portfolio, but only showed it to a couple of people. Met a few familiar faces and a few new ones, collected the few freebies available and sat through a few sessions.

One of the sessions talked about music in games and how difficult it is to license for a low budget production. On the other hand, using the name/image/brand of an artist is easier to accomplish, and adds theme to a game.

This lead me to think about board games, and if that can be applied.
I'm sure there are board games out there with a musical theme, mostly of the party / trivia variety, but I can't think of anything that uses a personality like Michael Jackson or Ozzy Osbourne as a theme.
Been thinking if something like that could work.
Not looking for another Monopoly or Love Letter retheming, but something custom.
Probably something small in physical size, like a deck of cards and a few counters, with a set of simple rules that would draw non-gamers into the fold.

Stripping the Theme Out

My deck building programmable action card game is still popping up in my thoughts. I like the science fiction theme I started with, but I have some issues making it all fit.
Sometimes I think it is an entire race/culture you are controlling, but then I have an issues with the mechanics of area control.
Sometimes I think a player controls a space ship, but then I have issues with some of the player interaction.
Sometimes I think of a completely different theme, such as sailing ships at the age of exploration.

I think that stripping out the theme and concentrating on pure mechanics may be the way to go for now, and figure thematic issues once everything is ticking well enough for testing.

A track for laying down actions and having them unfold is a must.
Powerful deck customization is also important, with the possibility of adding or removing multiple cards from the deck in one turn, searching the deck and combining cards for powerful combos, etc. - something that Dominion still does very well.
I also like the idea of adding customization to the player board during gameplay.

Now to figure out how the cards could interact.

Post-KGC Thoughts

The theme of this year's KGC was "Hello World Beyond Korea," and many of the talks that were either in English or simultaneously translated had been about localization, and a lot of that had been about art styles.
One of the keynote speeches was about the Oculus and how much potential it has for exposure when compared with the flooded PC and mobile markets.
I also sat through a session talking about the production of Tearaway, a game with a very fresh papercraft art style, developed by Media Molecule, the guys who made Little Big Planet, another game with an unusual crafted look to it.

All these elements came together for me in the form of an idea of a Super Sentai game for the Oculus rift, putting the player in command of a sword wielding mega robot, trying to defend a city from giant monsters.
I think that taking the cheesy route isn't something that we see a lot and could have a lot of international appeal. Monsters would look a suit built around a person with a central theme, buildings looking like models with camera angles to make them look larger, colorful and nonsensical explosions all the time, and more.
While most of the Movies and TV shows that inspired this - the Super Sentai / Power Rangers series, Ultraman, Godzilla, Voltron, use cool themes for their monsters such as animals and vehicles, I'm trying to think of weird ideas to make my game more unique - such as a mutated chair. ;)

I'm also giving some thought to the control scheme - I don't really see myself strapped into an omnitread  to walk around a virtual world, so they should revolve around a game pad. I've been thinking of giving it "loose" controls, like you find in Octodad or Surgeon Simulator.
I think it fits the Power Rangers theme, in which a group of teenagers jump into a giant robot and somehow they all coordinate their attacks together via gesture.

Starfleet Manager

Been to Japan for the Tokyo Game Show. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as the GDC Eu + Gamescom combo are for meeting people, getting my portfolio looked at or for collecting swag.

After a few more hectic, 10 bed dorm room, days - I headed out to Seoul, where I'm writing this post from my room at a serviced apartment hotel.

I like it here in Seoul, and could see myself staying, if one of the game studios I've been giving surprise visits to and dropping my resume at decides to embrace me into their midst, despite the usual work permit, language barrier difficulties.

Korea Games Conference is next week. A couple of weeks later I'll head to Busan for G-Star to wrap up my trip in South Korea. If nothing changes, I'll be out of options but to start making real progress towards becoming a freelance illustrator.

Watching people play on the Tokyo and Seoul subways has been delightful, people of all ages and walks of life enjoying the same thing I do (and some even pay money to do sod maybe I'll have a slice of that in the future.)

Seen a few people play sport manager games, and started thinking about taking the concept and adding a theme I'd actually be interested in: Science Fiction.

Grand scale space opera to be exact - instead of recruiting star players to my fantasy soccer team, what if I micromanaged the promotion of spaceship recruits?

Batting averages replaced by damage reports?

Diplomacy with alien species, research fund allocation, communications with other players?

Developing the world in which these stats would "live" would probably be the hardest part, and the main reason this will probably be just another pipe dream. Maybe I could connect it with my sci-fi programmable deck builder game, which I still think about on occasion.

Narrowing the Playing Field

Been giving a lot of thought as to the all important basic actions one could perform in my game (which I think I'll start calling Starguments, after a funny exchange on facebook)
What I came up with, which also affects the game board, is a politics action for exerting control over the galactic house and the various planets, a navigation action for reaching and connecting these planets and a trade action for collecting bonuses from said connections.

Each player would start with a home planet of his color and a connection to the planet where the government is seated.
The full board will be build from modular components selected by the players according to their actions in the initial tutorial phase, as well as choose their unique alien race with it's specific powers (and goals?)
Tutorial actions will also allow for deck customization by replacing basic cards with randomly drawn powered up version, if the player so chooses.

Galactic Senate - Deck Building

The latest game thought exercise, the tutorial level thing, has brought me back to an older theme: that of a Galactic senate in which culture differences and language barriers pose obstacles to the players. Overcoming these obstacles in the best way possible is how players make points and win the game.

Originally with a worker placement mechanic, I'm now mulling over deck building to tackle the theme.
One way in which it differs from Doiminion and company is that instead of purchasing cards with a hand full of treasure, you would need a card that speaks the same "language" as a card you wish to add to your deck (or a crisis to solve?)
A second difference would be programmable actions, similar to Wings of Glory, where you need to place a card in advance to determine movement, and hope it works out the way you planned.
Finally, in similar fashion to Trains, cards will give you actions (and reactions) to make changes over the player board, such as persuading representatives to your cause, to affect scoring.

Mechanics That Don't Make A Game

Drafting is still playing a big role in my pipe dream game ideas, I find the possibilities of completely changing how you play the game via the cards you are dealt exciting.

I have a problem though, it's not enough to make a game.

Trying to come up with a thematic reason to start a game with a draft has lead to the concept of a master and subordinate, one of your cards will serve as your main character, with powerful abilities to help you during the game. A second card would have more limited abilities, based on what it could have had if it was chosen first.

This idea has also lead to find uses for other cards from the draft: a starting building, currency or even a map piece.

From there I started thinking of settings. Starship captains for a sci-fi flair came first, but didn't seem to hold together very well. Wizards with apprentices came next and is a stronger idea, I think, but I also like the idea of demons vying for control until hell freezes over and the game ends, which is what I am playing with right now.

Just another game idea

Go to game night, play a few games, preferably ones I haven't played before, and get inspired.

Walk on beach and hone the ideas.

The one floating on top right now is a dice rolling and manipulation game with an online dating theme.

In a nut shell, you would start by selecting a character card to give you an initial set of dice to roll.

Then you would go on "dates" with other character randomly pulled from a deck, and try to match as many of your dice rolls. Each failure will get you closer to your goal of being the first to match all dice results with your 'date' or getting enough cats to be a crazy cat lady.

It's a fairly simple idea, maybe I should focus on something like that and really push to bring one of these ideas to completion.