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Crystal Heroes: The latest News!

Before I go ahead and discuss what the latest news is concerning "Crystal Heroes", I just wanted to describe some of the designs constraints used in previous versions (not released) of this specific game design.

So one of the biggest constraints with the "Crystal Heroes" design was that it featured a small-ish footprint by having a "Micro" Deck. The idea was that the game would use a small deck with only a limited amount of cards and the battles would be relatively quick (maybe 30 to 60 minutes in length).

The latest version will feature a "Micro" Deck of ten (10) cards chosen randomly from a pool of several available cards. This randomized selection process will allow each player to have a "custom" deck which will vary from one player to another.

The version also focuses on a Four (4) Zone Battle Arena in which different cards behave according to RPS-3 rules but also have exceptions too which add spice to that mechanic. In addition, it will have bonuses and penalties when playing with different classes of Heroes.

During each game, players will start off by discarding two (2) cards from their ten (10) card "Micro" Deck. This means that players only have eight (8) cards with which to do battle. This is a bit of a mechanic to ensure that decks are not 100% predictable and play styles may need to be adjusted according to which cards are "exiled" from a game.

This also means that building your OWN "Micro" Deck doesn't guarantee absolute Deck content... There is a bit of a random factor that makes the game fresh during each play. This of course encourages multiple games in which players can "test out" their decks and see how efficient they have been designed.

That's it for now... I will be working on designing a quick "hand-made" prototype to see if gameplay is interesting... The design sounds cool and all, but I know designing games sometimes means that the idea is better than the actual game/prototype. So I want to get this game idea into a prototype as soon as possible to determine the viability of the project.

Special thanks to jedite1000 who said that he didn't mind me working on some of the ideas that I had submitted to him. In general, he had another vision for the game he was working on... And it sparked some of my own ideas which I wanted to explore further.

Cheers!

Comments

Some of the action items are

Another constraint of the previous "Crystal Heroes" designs is that decks featured a multitude of classes. It wasn't because you were getting a "Human — Order" deck that you would ONLY have cards from that class. In a way it breaks the monotony of a single class deck.

Of course nothing prohibits you from building such a "Micro" Deck and using it when battling opponents. But generally speaking the "design" allowed for several classes to be available from one deck.

I plan to keep with this tradition and see if I can design interesting card combinations that work well with each other.

Looking back at older cards and...

I checked out a batch of older cards from a previous version... And... I'm blown away!!! The cards look AWESOME! Like how the heck did I shelve this game???

In the older version, the cards look freaken great... I don't mean artwork, just the cards and their abilities and stats, etc. I know I was trying to work on formulas that just weren't working. Maybe that's why. The new "4 Zone" concept may work better... in tandem with the older cards... IDK.

I need to playtest and probably need to fine-tune a couple of things. Like the RPS-9 rules (those can be removed). And larger space for "Health" and a starting marker for health (for each unit)!

Got some thinking to do... To see HOW this can get "all put together"... Cheers!

Update: I have been looking at the older cards and there are definitely some issues with them. But the good news is that they are a nice starting point for what could be "Monster Keep"(?!) I thought it was for "Crystal Heroes" ... but it turns out the concept works better with the former than the latter.

I've got some thinking to do tomorrow... And some playtesting too! The game needs to be FUN to play (with quick 5 minute rounds). Multiply this 5 rounds and you have 25 minutes (so about 30 minutes worthwhile of gaming).

Again it needs to be FUN... Proof is in the pudding (tomorrow)!

Some of the challenges are:

Even with an eight (8) card "Micro" Deck... There still can be Analysis-Paralysis! You've got 2 forms of attack per card, different ranges for the various card classes. It's too much information to go through in one hand.

So I have a few of options of interest.

A> Setting your starting Hand size to three (3) cards.
B> Have one (1) Lord have a starting Hand size of four (4) cards.
C> Allowing you to play one (1) card from your Hand in one of the 4 Zones.
D> If you don't play a card, you must discard one (1) card from your Hand.
E> Allowing you to draw one (1) card a the start of your turn from your deck.

It seems more "manageable" this way.

Perhaps it's just me, but too many cards leads to "too much thinking" (ergo the Analysis-Paralysis).

More playtesting tomorrow with some of these options. I need to get a sense of the game other than having COOL cards. Because right now, as of tonight I have some pretty neat cards but no game for them! :P

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blog | by Dr. Radut