This is my first game design which I submitted in the January 2014 showdown. I have really been thinking about it and the more I did the more I think I can get something workable out of it so this is my first game journal and that is the subject. I want to follow through more on this and see if something good comes out of the rough shell. Here is where I start with and this doesn't have the feedback incorporated into it some of which I found to be inspirational and thought provoking so I will revise this as I move forward and see where we end up. This is unabridged concept and not the one submitted for the challenge.
Original Concept Design Statement
GOAL: To produce the most clean energy through energy sources while being a responsible member of society.
COMPONENTS:
Deck of Power Cards containing worker cards, mine production cards (elevator, oil well, gas pump), transportation cards (railroad for coal, oil tanker truck for oil, pipeline for gas), action cards (that allow player to perform actions for self or to sabotage opponent’s play)
The worker cards have a mining number 0, 1 or 2.
The production cards also have a mining number ½, 1 or 2
The transportation cards number 1, 2,3 or 4 on them.
Deck of resource cards containing dirt, coal, oil and natural gas.
Deck of renewable energy cards including windmills and solar panels of various powers.
Set of bid cards 1,2,3 for each player
Scoreboard with 100 spaces and pawn for each board.
Twenty colored markers, three for each player up to five players.
PLAY:
Each player takes gets a scoreboard and a pawn starting on the 0 space. They also take three matching markers and set of bid cards.
Resource cards are shuffled and dealt into eighteen piles by alternately dealing 1, 2 and 3 cards onto the piles so that each ends up with a different number of cards. These represent unexplored mines.
Renewable energy cards are organized by power output and separated into windmills and solar panels and placed to the side face up.
Action Cards are shuffled and five cards are dealt face down to each player with remaining pack placed face down where all can reach.
Basic turn each player does this:
1. Draws one card.
2. May perform up to two actions per turn.
a. Actions include:
i. Winning an auction on mine to secure rights
ii. Play 1 action card
iii. Mining 1 or more resource cards from a resource pile based on abilities
iv. Playing a renewable energy source card.
v. Releasing a mine
3. Scoring energy output
4. Discards back down to five cards.
General Play is that players begin by bidding on mines to secure them. Once they secure the mine by winning an auction using the bidding cards, the mine is available for development. The player through subsequent actions can add workers to speculate (preview the cards in the mine to know what production equipment are needed to mine the resources), production cards (to actually use the resources) and transportation cards to secure the points to win the game.
Cards are mined based on abilities of equipment and modifiers created by action cards (ie cards can enhance production or may be played by other players to hamper production such as pollution cards). These are also played as actions. A player can also release a mine if they don't have the right equipment to mine it to save time since equipment and production cards are drawn from the action deck.
Scoring is done by adding up points of transported materials subtracting pollution modifiers, etc.
The winner is the one who reaches 100 points of resources.
Comments
Totally Rethought this game
I have been thinking about this concept again and have narrowed the focus down to the mining aspect of the game. The person who mines the highest dollar amount of coal at the point nuclear energy is discovered is the winner or all mines are abandoned and no one chooses to mine them in a round. The game is broken into decades which are tracked using event cards that provide modifiers. Each decade is three game rounds unless someone has an action card to end it early.
The components are as follows:
16 bid cards (1,2,3,4) one set for each player
15 event cards (these control the decades and each one provides
1 nuclear energy card
3 coal counters
160 mine cards
75 coal cards
10 cave in cards
40 dirt cards
35 stone cards
24 assay cards (provide coal in a mine with a dollar value)
4 owner cards (1 per color)
60 action cards (action cards modify the amount of mining you can do in a turn, provide advantages,
Basic flow of the game:
Setup:
1. Shuffle the event cards and split the top four cards off the pile. Add the Nuclear Energy card to the four then mix the five cards and put them on the play area. Place the remaining event cards on top.
2. Give each player a set of bid cards and an owner card with the matching color.
3. Shuffle the action cards and deal three to each player.
4. Shuffle the mine cards and split them into 12 piles in a row. Each pile should contain at least 8 cards and no more than 15-18 cards. Each pile should have a varying amount of cards.
5. Shuffle the assay cards and deal one face down in front of each pile. Put the remaining cards face down to the side. It is possible for an action card to change the value of the coal or for the coal in an abandoned mine to have a new value.
SEQUENCE OF PLAY SUMMARY
Decade consists of three rounds
To start a decade, turn over an event card and add three counters. Any modifier on the card is now in effect. The counters track the round
A round consists of each player:
1. Bid on a mine (Everyone does this the very first round of the first decade and then it is optional unless your mine runs out or you choose to abandon it)
2. Take three actions with the following choices
a. Play an action card
b. Mine a card
(ie so you can play two actions,mine two cards or one of each)
c. Draw an action card
3. Discard down to three action cards if needed or draw if you have less than three.
4. Optional: Declare you are abandoning your mine
After a round is done, remove a counter from the event. When all counters are removed the decade ends and you flip a new event card and replace the three counters on it
BIDDING
Mines are bid on in the order of the piles in the row. So the first time the first X piles are eligible for bidding where X is the number of players.
bidding is done by placing your bid cards in front of each mine. The winner is the one with the highest score on each mine. If a player wins multiple mines they must choose the one to be active and abandon the other. IF a player wins no mines, they are required to take a mine abandoned by a multiple winner. If there is a tie after the owners are resolved for the other mines, rebidding is done with all bid cards but the ones used in the first round. The winner gets their choice of the mines they own and the loser gets the unselected one.
The winner of each mine places their ownership cards in front of their active mine. The assay cards are flipped over and they provide the value for the coal mined from that mine. (They are multipliers)
Abandoned mines:
If a mine is abandoned the next time a person needs to claim a mine, they can claim an abandoned mine automatically or start a bidding round for a new mine. There is no bidding on abandoned mines. It can be claimed by the next available player.
ACTIONS
On your turn you can play an action card, draw a card or mine. Action cards can help you mine multiple cards in a turn or attack other players' mining operations or defend against an attack. Only defense cards can be played out when you are not the active player.
Play an action card: Play the card and follow the rules. The card rules supersede these rules. Discard when action is performed.
Draw an action card: Take one card from the pile.
Reshuffle the discard as necessary.
Mine: For each mine action draw the top card of the pile and if there are directions follow them.
Dirt cards: These may allow you to draw an extra card
Stone cards: May require an explosives action or two actions to move
Cave In card: Requires you to replace all cards and reshuffle the mine without the cave in card.
Coal Cards: Have a point value from 1 to 3 and are the tonnage amount removed with that action. The tonnage amount times the assay value is your point total for the mine's haul. When you finish a mine, place the assay card on the coal cards and keep separately in piles. You can criss cross like you would with trick taking games.
Abandoning a mine: You can abandon a mine with cards in it at the end of your round by taking your owner card and drawing a new assay card placing it face down sideways on the abandoned mine.
Clearing a mine: Take your ownership card back and you must bid on the first available mine in the next round
ENDING
The game ends when all mines have been worked and there are none left and no one wants to claim any abandoned mines.
The nuclear energy card is drawn.
SCORING:
Add up the amount of coal mined from each mine (values of the coal cards)
Add or Multiply each total by the assay value (as per direction on assay card)
Whoever has the most points is the winner.