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New amateur designer

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fuzzyalej
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Joined: 08/05/2014

Hi guys,
I'm very glad to have joined this fine community and I'm willing to learn a lot. By day I'm a senior web developer and a partner at a dev shop (redradix.com) but in my free time I like to play and create games.

I've created some easy games for my nieces and for parties, but recently I've switched to a more demanding user base and I've created a first working prototype of a card/dice racing game.

Think about 'whacky wheels', a race where you can screw with your friends and have a nice time teasing each other. Try not to lose any friends on the way :)

The current prototype is in P&P ready to be downloaded in:

Rules: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q88ta1q65wascer/rules.pdf
Zip file, separate sheets: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n8zomvkt0oav8f3/Cartrollen.zip
One big pdf: http://cartrollen.com/cartrollen-v1.0.pdf

I'm currently working in a better P&P version, correctly formated, easier to print and cut, and with nice custom illustrations!

Squinshee
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Joined: 10/17/2012
Having just read through the

Having just read through the rules but not actually playing it, I think I have a strong understanding. The one thing I'm confused about is action points. Tell me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that at the start of a players turn they roll 2 six sided dice and the total is the amount of action points you have for the turn.

Clearly this is a light, fun game that's easy to learn but I fear that a player who simply gets really good rolls wins (if my rules understanding is accurate). If it is, I have a suggestion:

Create a custom die. That die might have sides like: gain 3 ap and 1 gp, gain 1 ap and 3gp, etc. Make three of these. A players rolls all three and then must choose which one they'd like to have for the turn. This method changes dice rolls from "roll 2 sixes for profit" to "which option works best for me?" That's a more dynamic system that encourages thought and strategy.

You could even take it a step further and have the losing player roll X+1 dice, where X = the number of players, and have the losing player pick which die they want first, second to last pick next, etc. This system auto balances the game to make it closer, helping to prevent runaway leaders. (X+1 is so that even the winner still has a choice to make). Although it may be hard to determine who is "last" if multiple players occupy the same step.

Thematically, I don't like that desert, jungle, ice, and swamp all function identically. It neuters the "unpredictable" race track setup.

I hope this helps!

fuzzyalej
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Joined: 08/05/2014
Hey, thanks for the

Hey, thanks for the ideas!

The game has a very high luck component (to frustrate the user) but it might be too high. I don't want to completely level the game, because it will make it less fun and it will also increment A LOT the playing time, but I've been thinking about some aids for the last in the race or even letting the player decide wether to get a card at the start of her turn or get 2pts, similar to what 'Citadels' does with the gold coins.

I'll try and playtest some of these approaches and see how it goes, thanks again :)

Squinshee
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Joined: 10/17/2012
You might want to reconsider

You might want to reconsider adding mechanics specifically meant to frustrate. Variance will always tip the scales towards certain players. I like to minimize how much randomness negatively affects players without eliminating it completely. I like variance that gives players options.

fuzzyalej
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Joined: 08/05/2014
How about adding the ability

How about adding the ability to 'save' points to carry them to next turns?

Squinshee
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Joined: 10/17/2012
I don't think that's a bad

I don't think that's a bad idea at all, but it doesn't fix your dice problem.

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