I've finally had a chance to get to the game again. Sat down last Saturday and spent good 6-8 hours at the work station (aka my kitchen table) working on little bits and bobs for other games. Organizing my assets, creating new ones and just tidying up my crafting carry bag when all of a sudden it hit me.
I was too enthralled with the history and development of Jousting that I stumped myself about the core function for the game. The question I kept asking myself was, how do I keep true to the former recognized equestrian sport and use the tilt to determine (or affect) the speed, the target, the power, the defence... the list goes on. Then it hit me. My mechanics are indirectly determined by how I want to score. And vice versa, the scoring allows me to build in the intricacy of varying elements to give the game a sense of strategy and suspense.
After working in a targeting system, a defence/offence mechanism and a chance factor, it came to me. When I started writing though, it just kept coming. As I moved further into the detail and features, I kept going back and scratching old ideas and modifying notes. Live evolution of thought. This happened during my game development for NUPUGA. One good idea spawned two. Those two spawned another two, but one of the latter conflicted of altered a previous idea, so I went back and nixed or modified. It was great. The only problem was that it was 2:45am and I had an early wakeup that Sunday. Bah... at least I can sleep with a clear mind.
After going back to the chaotic furry of notes, a consistency was discovered. A core to the scoring mechanism had been established. I was happy. Now all I need to do is get onto the cards. Once the cards are done I can test the turns, draws, flip, and decisions made by each player. Play testing is coming real soon. I can feel it. It will help me work out the draw and play system and weed out any extraneous elements I may have been trying to impose. I have a couple play ideas in mind to test before I lock down on any one and further develop it, but the scoring system was key for me and for the most part it's done. Better to have and not need than need and not have.
More to come...
