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Space Smugglers

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mcneipl
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I have a very rough idea for a game using the cards in the PDF link below.

The game starts with each player drawing a card for each player in the game. 4 players? draw 4 cards.

Basically the idea is that you have a space ship which you will load cargo onto. Players lay cards to steal and manipulate the cargo until it is delivered and everyone collects the cargo they claimed. The game continues until each player has had a turn creating cargo.

The player creating the shipment selects cards from their hand using the cargo number in the lower right. The total of this number is the amount of cargo created. The number of cards they put down is the number of cards each player will get to lay in the round. So if I put down 2 cards to create cargo we will go around the table playing 1 card each 2 times. The shipping player gets to play the first and last card so they technically play n+1 cards.

Once the cargo is put down and the # of rounds established every player draws cards equal to the number of cards to be played.

So when a round is done and all cards are played, you collect any cargo you have managed to claim.

The game ends when all players have a turn starting a shipment. The player that delivered the most cargo wins.

The number for cargo in the bottom corner needs lots of work to achieve a good balance.

My general objective with posting this is to get general feedback. As I mentioned in my other post, in solo play testing this I can't tell if it is "fun" or not. Any thoughts?

I have additional ideas to add additional layers to this, such as each person fly's a ship with a special ability.

In general I really like the idea that everyone manipulates the cargo until it is delivered. That part feels like it has a lot of potential. Almost feels like a politics themed game.

Again, any feedback is welcome.

PDF of cards: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o0wyrticwsmywdf/smug.pdf?dl=0

mcneipl
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Joined: 06/12/2015
feedback

So I posted this in response to my own thread where I asked about knowing if your game is fun:
http://www.bgdf.com/forum/game-creation/design-theory/how-do-you-know-if...

So far, here are my take aways:
- Test with humans! solo playtesting a game is useful at only the most basic level
- consider modeling my new game after an existing one in order to gain experience
- find a way to add a stronger sense of making decisions that impact the outcome and your future in the game
- create more tension between players in the shuffling of cargo
- consider allowing players to form a game long strategy (maybe pick the type of cards to draw attack/bribe/hijack/diplomacy/
- consider ways to add more paths to victory

BoardGent
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Additional complexity?

I really don't feel like additional complexity is required at the moment. The sort of Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanics with additional cards looks really solid, and ship abilities and such might make the game too complicated. Maybe after a good amount of playtesting for card percents, if the game feels like there's not enough going on, then adding additional abilities should be alright.

-I think the inclusion of lvl3 RPS cards might be a bit much. As it is now, the RPS cards far outnumber the non-RPS cards.
-Rather than having one counter for each RPS card, a few general counter cards might decrease the times you have hand of cards which can't do anything.

mcneipl
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BoardGent wrote:I really

BoardGent wrote:
I really don't feel like additional complexity is required at the moment. The sort of Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanics with additional cards looks really solid, and ship abilities and such might make the game too complicated. Maybe after a good amount of playtesting for card percents, if the game feels like there's not enough going on, then adding additional abilities should be alright.

-I think the inclusion of lvl3 RPS cards might be a bit much. As it is now, the RPS cards far outnumber the non-RPS cards.
-Rather than having one counter for each RPS card, a few general counter cards might decrease the times you have hand of cards which can't do anything.

I hadn't thought of it as a RPS setup.

I will keep at it!

Just voicing my frustration has given me new hope to push on!

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