Chrono Crash - My Proposal to Playdek

{Here is the game idea I emailed to Playdek around 3 weeks ago. It's a CCG that uses only historical figures as cards. No reply since. If you we're employed to a multi-million dollar cellphone game company, would you junk this email too?:}

To Playdek,
TCGs are fun, but for most people they are also unrelatable. The reason isn't the solid mechanics of the collectable card game but the subject matter they represent. If you look at the most popular ones like MtG or Pokémon, let's be honest, not a huge number of people care enough about D&D settings and anime cartoons to take the time to experience the actual fun they provide. So what should we use as cards instead? Trademarking an existing property, like Star Wars or Transformers to use recent examples, is troublesome because it still falls under niche and limits itself to existing fans. The opposite direction, creating new characters out of whole cloth is, regardless the setting used, even more time consuming and difficult to get people to care.

My solution is to use as battle cards the most important people in history. The biggest scientists, philosophers, leaders, authors, and artists of all time in your hand willing to fight under your orders. The reason this will attract a larger base of people than even the current Big Ones have is because no matter who you are, there are figures in history you admire and perhaps are interested in a playing a card version of.

The game is based off the fast-paced, but underused SvC system. Only character cards are used in the game and they are all self-contained. No other types of cards or objects are needed to act or attack. Each player has three front slots and one slot behind for team leader. The leader slot gives the character card placed in it an additional move or benefit and will also serve as a goalie of sorts if the front cards are defeated. The attack and health points are shared as one (first number). Each card brought in the ring adds their Spirit Points (second number) to the player's total. The Spirit Points activate the specials on the cards (SPA). Like MtG, the card player has his own health, which at zero ends the game.

You are probably thinking, "How are these historical people from such diverse fields and talents suppose to interact with each other in a battling manner?" The cards essentially play under abstract thinking. I take what the historical figure is known for and turn it into a card action that approximates whatever famous accomplishment that person did.

Here is what a handful of the cards are shaping up as:

Winston Churchill: 600/400
SPA: Finest Hour (200) During opponent's turn, this card's BP will freeze at 200 when defending against attack, also halting backup enemy advance. Opponent's card will still take this card's full BP damage.
Lead: Finest Hour will apply to all your cards in ring.

Arch Duke Ferdinand: 100/0
SPA: none.
Circumstance: (Defeat) Add all your deck cards to hand. "This means war!"

Alexander Graham Bell: 400/300
SPA: Long Distance Charge (700): Allows another card in ring to bypass all opponent's cards and attack player directly.
Circumstance: (Enter) Can place another card in ring same turn. "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

Blaise Pascal: 500/400
SPA: Under Pressure: (400) During opponent's turn, BP lost on one card raises same amount of BP for other cards.
Circumstance: (Defeat): 1/2 chance your SP doubles or zeroes.
Lead: Pascal's Triangle (100) [must have left and right slots filled.] The BP of left and right slots are added together and attacks opponent's middle slot. If slot is empty, attacks team leader.

Edgar Allen Poe: 500/300
SPA: Nevermore (100): Prohibit one chosen card in opponent's discard pile from coming back in use.
Hideous Heart (300): During opponent's turn, if your chosen card get attacked and eliminated, then at the start of your turn the defeated card's original BP damages the card that attacked it.

Jack the Ripper: 300/0
SPA: Into the Shadows (1000): Card disappears from ring and eliminates random opponent's card every 3 turns for the rest of the game.

Rasputin: 600/100
SPA: Stop the Bleeding (300) Keeps a defeated card in play, with 100 BP added to it.
Circumstance: (Defeat) Rejuvenate card's BP to 400. Second defeat rejuvenates card to 200 BP.

The Red Baron: 400/200
SPA: Ace Maneuver (200): Attack any card of choice in ring. If opponent's BP is lower, no damage is taken by this card.

Oracle of Delphi: 300/600
SPA: Preventative Prophecy (300): Exchanges one unknown card in your deck for one chosen card in opponent's hand.
Circumstance: (Enter) Can see opponent's hand while in ring.

Henry Ford: 500/100
SPA: Production Line (200): One opponent's card has its BP divided and attack separately by your cards. (Does not count as using regular attack.)
Lead: Can place up to 3 cards in ring per turn.

Christopher Columbus: 800/300
SPA: New World (500) Empty opponent's slot is filled by this card, which now belongs to you. This card can now attack leader card head on, or has to be defeated by leader to take slot back. "I claim this land in the name of Spain."
Lead: Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria (500) [Must have your three slots filled to use.] Your 3 front cards attack opponent's 3. Beaten or vacant slots now taken by your cards as your own. Leader must now attack and defeat them to dislodge slots.

Joseph McCarthy: 400/100
SPA: Blacklist (500) Freezes all cards currently in opponent's hand. "I have in your hand a list of communists."
Circumstance: If used, Blacklist in effect until card leaves ring.
Lead: Blacklist used without SP cost.

Alcibiades: 1000/400
SPA: none
Circumstance: If opponent's card is defeated by this card, in either attack of defense, this card will occupy the vacated slot and become property of the opponent, adding 400 SP to opponent's total. This applies every time.

Jesus Christ: 100/900
SPA: Water into Wine (500): Adds 500 health points to player.
Circumstance: (Enter) Puts a chosen card in the discard pile back in hand. "Lazarus, come out!"
(In ring) cannot attack, only defend.
(Defeat) Returns to hand after 3 turns. "The Lord has risen!"
Lead: Feeding the Multitude (100) Add 200 BP to all your cards besides lead.

I have roughly 30 done now. The cards shown here are still a work in progress (I have to figure card team ups), and I intend to have up to at least 150 cards. The reason I'm asking for backup from a videogame company this early is that I tested it as an actual cardboard card game by myself and it doesn't work as one. There are too many numbers to crunch and the clustering of diverse cards keeps the flow stuttering. I'm also limited to card moves the player must be able to remember or physically perform. As a computer game, I will have none of those issues, and will have more creative freedom to make the cards act more like the historical figures they represent. This is why I now come to you hat in hand. I need a bare-bones rudimentary engine to digitally playtest my card game and develop it further.

I know new ideas are risky, but I also know that you are interested in finding original IPs. I want to take as much of the risk out as I can to make the offer more enticing, so pIease note that I'm not selling this IP. I am GIVING it to you for free to make your fortune off of. I will also volunteer to work on it for no salary. All I ask for in return is help in making it, at your own pace and budget. I need help because I don't know how to program or draw. All I can do is come up with the individual card rules. If you flat out turn me down, then I have no choice but to shop it around elsewhere (or give up entirely) and I will HATE to do that. Considering your history in this field, I believe this idea is a perfect fit for the Playdek library, and I don't know of any other videogame company that will provide the polish and patience of making this card game as grand as I believe it will be.
If you like to pursue the idea further, please call me at ***-***-**** or email back. I live ********* so I can drive down to your headquarters as well to discuss things more. If further down the road the project doesn't seem to come together, you can always decide to drop it and myself later. All I beg for is the opportunity to try my dream out and possibly get out of my impoverished rut.
Thank you for your time,
Jason Roy Goff

{Pretty lame, huh? I'm now passed 60 cards, but am I wasting my time on this? What do you honestly think? I've been feeling pessimistic about the whole endeavor lately.}