Skip to Content
 

Mixbots Kickstarter launched

12 replies [Last post]
funamite
funamite's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/01/2016
Mixbots

Collect parts, build robots, and battle friends in this 2 - 10 players multiplayer trading card game!

Thank you everyone for the input that helped make this a nicer looking game. Card design was changed and more color was added to the robots.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/funamite/mixbots-collect-parts-buil...

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
I don't have all the rules to your game ... but

I think the RPS-3 is not a "bad idea" - instead I would have made it a little different. Each Part #4 could have a "Signature Move". And how it gets played is by using a SPECIFIC "RPS-3".

So let's say my "Signature Move" is +2 additional Damage. And it's ROCK.

You BIAS the game by encourage or favoring one player to play his "Signature Move". Obviously this leads to some planning and make the RPS-3 "LESS RANDOM".

Because you will be like "If he uses ROCK, I will use PAPER. But maybe he wants me to think he is using ROCK so he can use SCISSORS to beat my PAPER..."

Things like that. And it could be yet another sticker you place on the BACK of your card ("Signature Move"). It's too late, you are probably far in your concept to re-think the RPS-3 and how to IMPROVE it. Or at least make it MORE FUN. If all outcomes are "equally-likely" then the result is PURE RANDOM. That's the problem with pure RPS-3. But once you inject the "Signature Move", all of a sudden it's about odds and anticipation.

The other thing I would have changed is the RPS-3 "Mechanic" itself: instead of going through the motions physically where a player may cheat... Have three (3) cards each with the moves (Rock-Paper-Scissors). You pick one card and place it aside while your opponent tries to pick a counter.

Yeah I understand it "breaks" your "business model" selling 12 cards in a thin box... But maybe 15 cards could net you more money. Like 12 cards + 3 RPS cards.

Just some ideas... Best of luck(?!) with your game.

I really like the idea - because it's sort of LEGACY. I don't dislike the implementation - but in my mind there are improvements that can be made to make the game BETTER. Just some thoughts.

Update: I'm also thinking about HOW to IMPROVE the RPS to be more like Pokemon. They have a HUGE RPS as can be seen from this link:

http://www.bgdf.com/image/pokemon-guide

Maybe if you could have "Three" (3) cards that are the only outcomes for EACH "Bot", you could have a more strategic game. IDK if you understand what I mean. Basically with a larger RPS, you could have maybe 5 RPS moves that you can do (given each deck).

And you can BUILD that "mini-RPS" deck off-line using a Deck Construction Mechanic... Such that it's no longer only about the Box and their parts, it's also about the MOVES you select to use them.

Again just some more ideas - I know you are Kickstarting so the game is already fleshed out. But I figured I'd contribute my thoughts on HOW to make this game even MORE STRATEGY and add a whole lot of DEPTH to the game.

Cheers.

Gabe
Gabe's picture
Offline
Joined: 09/11/2014
You've got a pretty

You've got a pretty interesting and novel idea here.

Did you explore going the Mystic Vale route and having clear plastic cards that go in sleeves? It would allow players to build a robot over and over again without being locked in with stickers.

Good luck with the campaign!

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Also...

IF you ADD RPS-related cards, you will encourage people to BUY more decks just so that they can LEARN "new moves".

The only "down-side" to this, is that Legs, Torso, Head and Right Arm have got nothing to do with the game. They are all purely "esthetic".

My suggestion to this, is make each part a "Move" and your RPS-deck has FIVE (5) cards per player... This way people will FLOCK to BUY more decks just because they WANT more parts which are linked to "Moves".

Instead of adding more cards, why not make the RPS on the BACK-SIDE of the all the cards. Each card you can PEEL off the remainder and leave a WHITE surface which doesn't allow you opponent to guess HOW you are going to attack.

This in my mind is even better since you will want to BUY and COLLECT more cards to build your army... Especially if EACH card is a part of the game!

Again you would need to revise your RPS-3 and make it something larger like an RPS-9 ... with some ties too (both take damage - if you want to speed the game forwards).

Very cool CONCEPT!!!

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Only a few changes

Just for completeness, I know your game is an advanced state. But maybe some of these ideas you will like!

1. I would make all your "paper/sticker" actual CARDS (2.5" x 3.5").
2. On the "backside" put all the RPS "beats" rules including ties
(Which will affect BOTH players - ties both lose)
3. In addition include the model information on the backside too.
4. On the "frontside" put the stickers are you have already.
5. Peel off both the part and the remainder for HIDDEN custom RPS play.

Again if you don't like these ideas - you can ignore my posts. It's just some ideas I had when I took a closer look at your game.

Cheers.

Update: Also RPS-9 divides well into 36 Bots. It means 4 Bots per each RPS-Category. Anyways here are some ideas - to improve your game should you be interested in doing this - pending that the KS is not successfully funded.

funamite
funamite's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/01/2016
@Gabe Thanks! I looked into

@Gabe Thanks! I looked into transparent cards and really wanted to make them work because stickers are harder to make, but after 3 or 4 transparent cards stacked on top of the base card, things got blurry. I felt people would enjoy their creations more if everything was easy to see.

@questccg I really like the signature move idea. What about placing an RPS icon on the front of the base card. That way everyone can see it? The other ideas sound great, but it's moving away from RPS with the hands. I want kids to be able to play. I know I know, no one is playing it if it doesn't fund.

Gabe
Gabe's picture
Offline
Joined: 09/11/2014
funamite wrote:@Gabe Thanks!

funamite wrote:
@Gabe Thanks! I looked into transparent cards and really wanted to make them work because stickers are harder to make, but after 3 or 4 transparent cards stacked on top of the base card, things got blurry. I felt people would enjoy their creations more if everything was easy to see.

That makes sense.

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
No worries just some ideas...

funamite wrote:
@questccg I really like the signature move idea. What about placing an RPS icon on the front of the base card. That way everyone can see it? The other ideas sound great, but it's moving away from RPS with the hands. I want kids to be able to play. I know I know, no one is playing it if it doesn't fund.

Just because they are Kids, doesn't mean they are not "smart enough". Like I said Kids PLAY Pokemon... And the RPS is an RPS-17. I would suggest an RPS-9 because it divides nicely into 36 (4 each).

RPS-3 and "PERFECT BALANCE" = 100% Random. Adding the "Signature Move" changes that too... But having 5 "RPS Cards" to select from would reduce cheating and probably generate more sales.

We're all struggling with the SAME problem: visibility.

Because you can MARKET the RPS-9... It's DIFFERENT too. RPS-3 is "boring" and you repeat it over and over... 10 vs. 10. If you had a subset of moves, like on the back of the sticker cards, you'd break the BALANCE and favor more RISKY gaming... Because some moves might not be counter-able.

Example: if Bot #1 does "Move #8" and his opponent (Bot #2) has no "counter" it means Bot #1 will easily beat his opponent. But if the opponent's Bot #3 has a "counter" he can defeat Bot #1 while hoping that Bot #2 survives the attacks.

And it doesn't even need to be a PERFECT "RPS". You can break rules too. Meaning that it's not perfectly balanced, there are pockets that can create random race conditions where one Bot is stronger than another...

And about Kids, my own game is for 13+. But 9 year olds have played it and enjoyed it. As the reviewer remarked, sometime the 9 year olds don't play as "strategically" as older players... But with time and experience, they also improve while playing the game...

You'd be amazed how persistent and intelligent Kids can be.

funamite
funamite's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/01/2016
I'm sure kids can be

I'm sure kids can be persistent and intelligent, but I just fear most won't have the attention span. Anyways, your ideas gave me a lot to think about. Thanks.

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Finding the RIGHT audience

funamite wrote:
...but I just fear most won't have the attention span.

Marketing to kids (children) is very HARD to do. First of all, kids have no money, secondly their parents buy toys & games. But those parents usually are not shopping on Kickstarter for games.

What this means is that YOUR game needs to target an audience between 13-18 years of age. Sure the stickers gimmick might attract more 13 year olds and kids will also like the idea of choosing their own body parts.

But for older kids (18+) it's your GAME. The artwork looks pretty good but the Combat Mechanic is terrible (well not that bad - but bad enough). No 18+ will want to play a game where it's only Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS-3)!

And that's why you are doing so poorly on Kickstarter. Not because the artwork is not good, but because 18+ year olds are surfing KS not 9-13 year olds...

You're targeting the WRONG audience with your game.

IF you re-worked your combat mechanic to something like your own adapted RPS-9 and created nine (9) different classes of robots that would be one thing. Then if you use the back of the stickers and made them card sized, you could have like 5 RPS-9 moves per Bot...

This is at least to me - how you will attract a larger (and older) audience.

I think the way to think about it is this:

1. Target 16-18 year olds, they usually have a little disposable income.
2. Hope that their younger brothers get interested by the game.

Otherwise it's a very tough sell!

Best of luck(?!) with your game. Sorry that the KS is not doing well...

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Some real good ideas

funamite wrote:
...Anyways, your ideas gave me a lot to think about. Thanks.

No worries. The Kickstarter doesn't look like it's going to fund (via Kicktraq). The project seems to indicate about $2,000 worth of funding (2/3 to your goal)...

If you'd like to "chat" about some of my ideas - for the "Reboot"... I mean you have a brilliant IDEA. It's just that the implementation is not quite where it is supposed to be.

Holding on to the RPS-3 ... is the wrong thing to do.

I get it, it's easy. But it is prone to cheating (waiting longer than your opponent) and it's a purely RANDOM type of outcome. People want to play games with depth and strategy... not pure luck.

I'd really like to help you hone your game. Why? Well I think some of the ideas of the game are SUPER GOOD. The stickers are great... But game-wise you need some tweaking.

PM (Private Message) if you'd just want a second opinion...

Cheers.

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Also I've been there before

My first game which was "real simple" had a Set Collection mechanic with a little of Take-That (not too much). I got a 3/10 review for the game... And spent a TON of money on having the game made. It was a big mistake since I was going down the CCG/TCG route.

I too learned that it's hard to target a game at 9+ Year olds.

My current WIP is geared for older gamers (Teens) and starts off SIMPLE (even younger players can play like a 9+ year old) and when you ADD "Expansions" the game's DEPTH and STRATEGY increase making the game playable by older gamers (think 20+).

So yeah it's hard to market to kids unless you have the ability to be like Pokemon and have a cartoon, stickers, lunch boxes, school bags, etc. Basically a TON of merchandise to push the Brand.

Let me know what you decide to do!

funamite
funamite's picture
Offline
Joined: 12/01/2016
Thanks Quest for all the

Thanks Quest for all the advice. Yeah it's really hard to market to 9+ year olds. They may like it, but not have the money, and convincing parents to get it for them is not easy. So there are hurdles for sure.

Even though that market is hard to penetrate, I feel that if I can break through somehow, it will be for the better because more people can play. I have to let the Kickstarter finish its course first before I can decide on anything.

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut