A collectively design card game

[rpgdemon]

I'm not really sure where's the place to put this, so I chose general. As some people might know, I was working on a card game/RTS in my spare time, that was going to be made by the people of the forums. Unfortunately, I didn't do that, since I really wanted to make the card game as a physical product, which was my original plan for it. I shied away from the original plan, because it would be restrictively expensive to do, and I wouldn't be able to get as much playtest as I want, or distribute it well, and totally wouldn't be able to get the art for hundreds of cards that would need to be made.

So, I was thinking about it, and about how I was making the game with a bunch of people here, and about how I might be able to extend that same concept in a way that would let the card game be what it and I both wanted it to be: A card game.

So, I have now put up this site (http://www.clockworkcardgame.com/) to collectively design the card game. I'll be putting up resources to play the game, rules, cards, and have it all here digitally. People will have to decide for themselves how to set up a game, whether it's printing out cards and cutting them out, or writing them down, or whatever, which is an annoyance that I don't think that I can avoid. They'll be able to playtest, submit feedback, and art resources, and I'll continue developing the game, and hopefully figure out a way for it to make it into a real product.

In other news: Snake, you're a lawyer. Want to write me up something lawyerly about how if they submit things, they have to own the rights to it, and they have to relinquish said rights over, so that I won't get sued? I've got something there now, but I dunno how legally sound it is.

So, the site is, again:

http://www.clockworkcardgame.com/

If this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move it, mods. If this sounds interesting to anyone, PLEASE pass the word along. The only way that such a project can kick off the ground is with your help, and getting the word out there is really important.

[Ecks]

In all seriousness, sounds impressive.

FUND IT. ERRYBODY GET IN THIS THREAD NAO, AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE RPG DEMONS!

[Fifthfiend]

I'm kind of vague on your specific intentions regarding ownership and rights and things but for certain values thereof the General Public License might (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html) be what you're looking for.

[Nique]

This sounds kind of awesome but I'm completely flummoxed as to how this is supposed to work and the rules are a little confusing. Any chance of getting a a shorthand version here?

[rpgdemon]

I'm gonna whip up a Rules 0.2 soon, give it a read through, fix discrepancies, and such. The current document was something I had for myself, to not forget things.

[rpgdemon]

Alright, shorthand version:

Rules and resources to play the game will be put online and made freely available to test out. The caveat to this is that the player has to prepare cards themselves (I'd suggest print/throw them into card sleeves, personally, but it's up to whoever's testing to do it how they like).

The players provide feedback and content to the game. If they don't like a creature, they say so, and how their idea is so much better for reasons X, Y, and Z. They can be all, "My deck's awesome, but just needs ONE spell!", or find broken combos, and I'll filter through the feedback, deciding which bits need addressing and which don't, and then "patch" the game by updating the rules and card pool every so often to make the game less broken.

The community will have the ability to submit card suggestions rules suggestions, art, and any other resource that they care to, with the caveat that they completely relinquish the rights to whatever they give. (I don't wanna get sued.) I'll be drawing upon this pool to bring the game closer and closer to a finished product. Ideally, I want to create an environment where the community feels involved, and either almost as important, or just as important, a part in the process as I am. Having seen what a dedicated community of people can do when they want to, I want to offer people a good experience, so that they'll want to be a part of it.

I would like to get the game into a physical form, eventually, if it's in the cards. In such a case, I'll be doing my best to provide some form of compensation to all the artists and contributors, but I make absolutely zero promise of it, and any contribution is made relinquishing the rights to it entirely, so that if it's infeasible to give a gift to everyone who helps, I don't get in trouble.


As for the rules: I'll give the TL;DR version of them.

1) You both roll dice at the beginning of the first player's turn. You divide the total roll by 2, rounded down, and that's how much mana you get for the turn.

2) You draw a card.

3) You play cards using the mana that you rolled. You're allowed to set aside cards and partially pay them, building up over time to fully playing the card.

4) When you summon creatures, they go onto a board, where they move around and attack eachother.

5) You have a creature that represents you, the player, called an Avatar. This creature is kept outside the deck, and can be paid for just like a normal card, whenever you want.


Winning: You always control four drones, which are really low stat creatures. You move the drones around on the board, and place them on Resource Nodes. At the beginning of your turn, you gain one resource point for each resource node you control. If you gain fifteen resource points, you win.

Losing: Whenever a drone is killed, you lose a point of steam power. When your steam power runs out, you lose. If your opponent wins, you also lose.

If you run out of cards in your deck, you lose.


I'll put the TL;DR version up on the site, I think, since having to sift through a ton of rules to figure out what's going on is no fun.

[Ryanderman]

This does indeed look interesting. I think I'd be up for helping in what ways I can. (Not art)

[rpgdemon]

One way that you can help, without any art or anything, is just spread the word, join the forums, or encourage others to join the forums.

Edit: A few working templates have been put up, just trying to hammer out something that can be built on.

http://www.clockworkcardgame.com/resources/creature.pnghttp://www.clockworkcardgame.com/resources/relic.pnghttp://www.clockworkcardgame.com/resources/avatar.png

[rpgdemon]

Updated the rules and the card templates a bit more, and am now happy enough with them to start making basic cards.

[Terex4]

I just looked it over and registered on the forum. Before ideas are submitted, it may be helpful to get a rough draft of the game board, especially given the limited directions of movement for creatures and such.

[rpgdemon]

Woo! And on the cards page (http://www.clockworkcardgame.com/cards.html), there's a very rough version of the current game board. It's subject to change, but it's at least a rough draft.

Edit: And now there are 17 cards on the page!

[rpgdemon]

There are now 40 cards on the page! I'm just banging these things out. I think there's actually enough for a full game now.

[rpgdemon]

53 cards total have been developed, and I believe the game is now playable, if anyone cares to take a look. I'll be rehauling the field and rules slightly though, in the near future, so you may be better off waiting until that's done, as I think it'll add a bit more balance.

The core mechanics will stay, but there will be resource nodes that offer bolts to you (Essentially mana), and your opponent's resource nodes will offer victory points. That way, going first and turtling won't be a viable strategy, and the game will be hopefully more dynamic as it goes on, instead of the person who starts getting resource nodes gets points towards victory, AND extra mana.

Additionally, there will be a space on the board which allows direct attacks against a player's avatar to all adjacent units, much like a http://clockworkcardgame.com/resources/cards/a37.png. This way someone who wants to play an aggressive strategy, instead of collecting victory points, will feel more rewarded than just smacking at drones.


*Catch the reference? Oh I am so witty.**

**These are all working names.

Edit: Incidentally, who wants to world build?