Ok, this Pirate Cannibal card game I am working on is coming along fairly well, and I have started playtesting.
I would like some feedback on card play mechanics though.
Basically, the game combat is played like so -
- Each card has either an Attack Action, or a Defense Action in the top half of the card.
- Each card also has either an Attack Item or a Defense Item in the bottom half of the card.
- Attack Items could be on Defense Action cards and vice-versa, its all mixed up.
- If a player wants to use a particular card as its Action, they keep it in their hand.
- If a player wants to use a particular card as its Item, they place it in faceup in their Player Area in front of them.
- An attack is made by the attacking player choosing an Attack Action card from their hand, while the defending player chooses a Defense Action card from their hand. Each player then simultaneously places their Action card on an Item card they already have placed in front of them. The number of the Item card is added to the number of the Action card and the higher total wins.
(thats very basic, there is more to that of course, such as types of attacks/defenses, but thats the basic structure)
Now, the question is of card balance. Because each card in the game has an Action and an Item, they can be used for either purpose, but not both, so players must decide to keep a card in their hand to use as an Action, or to place it in front of them to use as an Item.
Each Action and Item has a number relating to to how strong it is.
To keep things balanced, I thought it would be best to try and keep the numbers of these as equal as possible, i.e. if there was a card with an Action-6 on it, then there would be an Item-2 on the card. Likewise, if there was an Action-2 on the card, there would be an Item-6 on it, etc.
After a few quick plays, it is obvious that any player will use a card whereever it is stronger. If its Action is better than its Item, they will keep it in their hand, if the Item is better, it will be placed in from of them.
So, in a long-winded way, what I am trying to ask is whether I should keep the cards balanced as above, or whether a 'low' card should be low and a 'high' card should be high, i.e. have cards that are Action-6/Item-6 and Action-2/Item-2 instead.
That would mean that is would be possible for players to get bad runs of low cards, or good runs of high cards, but would also mean that they had to think more about where to use their card.
Does that make sense? After writing all that out I think I have come to the conclusion that it would be better to have Action-6/Item-6 cards etc, rather than Action-6/Item-2 cards. But I will leave my reasoning till after I hear other peoples thoughts...
Thanks for reading ;)
aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Hey Zaiga!
Yep, after writing my post I realised that it may be best to go with the same (or similar) strengths on the cards for several reasons -
- There are four types of attacks (slashing, bashing, shooting and stealing) and to make an effective Attack Action you need to play it on the same type of Item, otherwise the Item strength does not get added.
- Having a strong card makes you think twice about how you should use it - one you play a card down as an Item you can't return it to your hand to play as an Action. This makes it a harder choice. With a lower strength card you can always save it as the type it is may come in more useful - it is more flexible because if you use it one way you are not losing out too much on how you could have used it in the other way...
- Players will be better or worse at various things, so getting staunch cards may not help them out so much, hmm, actually this may just increase their staunchness if they get the right cards...
- Cards used as Actions get discarded, whereas cards played as Items are kept. But players may make Stealing Attacks to steal Item cards, so it will always be possible to take away a players staunch cards and they won't have them for too long.
- I could always also make low value cards more flexible, i.e. A 'Rune-Encrusted Captain's Hat' may be a Defensive Item Bashing-6, whereas the 'Cabinboys Kevlar Trousers' may be a Defensive Item Bashing-3 Slashing-2 which would provide more flexibility...
There will still be balancing issues though...
What other ways do you use to balance cards?
And yeah, this is no CCG, and everyone will be using the same decks...