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Card-Driven Strategy Games

2 replies [Last post]
Anonymous

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and have been searching for information regarding the process of designing a card-driven strategy game (like Age Of Napoleon, Hannibal, etc.)

I have spent some time searching this forum and the Internet and have spent hours looking through individual postings but I now must ask for help since I am unable to find what I need. I see many postings about game design but cannot find anything specific for card-driven strategy.

Are there any articles, tutorials, in-depth discussions of, or books on the subject of the design process for making card-driven strategy games?

I have some ideas for a personal project but would sure hate to reinvent the wheel if there are some tried-and-true methods out there somewhere.

Please reply if you can offer help,

Thanks, Ron

Anonymous
Card-Driven Strategy Games

Hi and welcome!

I think that the help you will find will come in more general terms as far as game design goes. There are a lot of designers' stories out there, how they come up with ideas, how they begin the process, how they develop the rules and a working prototype, etc. This goes for the internet and books as well.

I don't know if you're going to be able to find anything as specific as an article/forum/book about card-driven strategy games and their design. That's just too specific.

Step back and post a little about yourself and a little about your idea for a game. There are many peopl here that can help you at points along the creative process if you get stuck. It would also help to know what kind of help you're looking for. Do you have some ideas that you need help getting together, or do you have a framework that you need help with some specific parts?

Anonymous
re

Thank you for your reply.

Now I understand a bit more why I was having some difficulty finding specific info. Are there any more general game development materials directed towards a broader category - such as strategy games?

As I imagine most people's are, my game idea is a bit complex - yet when I see boardgames that cover the many topics that they do, I realize that my concept is doable, given the right approach.

I have been toying with this idea for 5-6 years and have made several attempts that did not meet my expectations via a software version of the game. I did not complete any of the attempts as their failure was noticed when partway completed. Most of my software attempts were "proof of concept" things.

Anyway, I have been a professional firefighter/officer for over 20 years now and my goal is to simulate the dynamic nature of a fire. My goal is to produce a device (boardgame) to use as tabletop scenarios to train fire officers in my county. If it became a big success, then who knows where it could lead.

Much of what is available today for firefighting is restricted to carefully controlled tabletops managed by a group of firefighting instructors. The variety of the incidents are therefore limited to the imagination and/or experience of the instructors.

I would like to approach the simulation of major fires, during deteriorating conditions that present the student with critical risk/benefit decision points - just like the real thing.

I've trained at the National Fire Academy, at various points throughout my state, and have been in charge of these types of incidents - so I have a firm grasp on how it feels.

So that is the goal. Right now, I have only limited details in regards to a boardgame but I am working on it consistently.

I only recently even learned about how complex and detailed boardgames can get when a friend put me on to them.

I have Hannibal and Age Of Napoleon and that is where I have discovered the uniqueness of the card-driven strategy system. I also have some older hex-and-counter games and in particular like a solitaire game about naval operations called Carrier and a two-person naval game called Flat Top. I have not played Flat Top yet, but enjoy the mysterious nature of the Japanese forces in Carrier. I think a technique like that would be useful for the development of the fire in a game, but I have to play it much more to decide its potential.

That's where I'm at right now. I have many notes from over the years as I tried various things on the computer, but once I got interested in boardgames I immediately noticed how much easier it was to grasp the scope of it by viewing the entire board - much more difficult on the computer.

If you have any recommendations about good reference materials for designing strategy games, that would probably help me the most right now. I will continue to research by playing these games I have here at home and noting things I think could transfer to a tabletop boardgame.

Thanks, Ron

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