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Combining deck mechanic

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Kirkatronics
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Joined: 09/12/2016

I've just had an idea of a game which needs to combine both players decks, but I'm not sure how to differentiate the cards so players can retrieve their own cards after the game.

It needs to be a method where players can't tell who the cards belong to during the card drawing stage.

I was thinking about transparent sleeves for the cards where players can put something unique on them such as a sticker or symbol, but I'm not sure if it is the best method. I'm also aware that some people hate sleeves.

Does anyone have any ideas for me?

radioactivemouse
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Joined: 07/08/2013
Sure enough...

Kirkatronics wrote:
I've just had an idea of a game which needs to combine both players decks, but I'm not sure how to differentiate the cards so players can retrieve their own cards after the game.

It needs to be a method where players can't tell who the cards belong to during the card drawing stage.

I was thinking about transparent sleeves for the cards where players can put something unique on them such as a sticker or symbol, but I'm not sure if it is the best method. I'm also aware that some people hate sleeves.

Does anyone have any ideas for me?

My game has this mechanic. The combat combines cards from both players hands into a single Combat Stack and the attacker draws from the stack; if it's their own, the attacker successfully attacks (with a possible bonus depending on the drawn card), if the attacker draws the defenders card, the attack is considered a miss.

Of course the implementation is different, but the basic idea is the same...combining cards from both decks into one deck and how to differentiate them.

The answer in my case was assigning colors to each faction. So when pulling from a central deck, it's obvious who's card was who's.

I had considered custom sleeves, but that is a very VERY expensive venture. Maybe stickers, but that's also an expensive (and somewhat permanent) venture. To me, the only way to differentiate players cards in a combined stack is to have cards very specific to each player and either assigning a symbol (or a color, which was easier to identify) to know the difference.

There's inherent issues with this, such as cards very singular to a faction and no way a color could ever be used by the other faction. It all comes down to design; I took that and just ran with it. I stuck with specific cards belonging to specific factions

Hope this helps.

BHFuturist
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@KirkatronicsCan you give

@Kirkatronics

Can you give more detail on where the cards come from (in an ownership sense) and why you need to combine the two decks? There may be a way to get the result you are looking for without mixing or combining the decks. I would like to be better able to brainstorm the actual mechanical end result you are going for.

Personal Opinion Note: If this game idea is similar to "magic the gathering" as a trading card game with collectible cards. I would suggest that you design for more of a "living" card game or a "full set" based game. This is because of the market trends and the difficulties involved with lunching a new CTCG.

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One way you could do this is for there to be a number in the set & rarity level on each card. Then players will need to write down the numbers they have at each rarity and show each other before play starts. This will be a turn off to some as it will be a lot of work to document your deck before play starts.

Another way is to provide a code that is unique to every card printed (just requires knowledge of the print run size) then have an inventory card in each pack with a scan-able code for online tracking... there are card games that have done this but it has been a few years and I don't recall the name of the one I am thinking of.

Then if you have a deck building computer app for players to use then they can just print there deck list before they start... but depending on the ages of the players and their level of attention to detail, mistakes will happen and hurt feelings will follow.

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One way is to just give players two copies of each card they buy in a pack... one with a red boarder and one with a blue boarder, then when they play they can just use the color deck the other player is not using.

Player 1: "Hey, want to play that cool new CTCG tomorrow?"
Player 2: "Sure, bring your red version, because I made a great deck with my blue cards."
Player 3: "I wish I could play... *Frown*"
Player 1: "You can! I will bring all my blue cards too, and while we are playing you can build a deck with them and try it out against my red deck."
Player 3: "thanks!:

Note: sorry if this was overly dramatic... and keep in mind it doubles the production cost of the game.

I don't want so sound "negative" about the idea, but I do feel you should try to find a way around mixing things that are owned by different people, as it is just messy. I wish you well and that you have fun designing the game.

-Eamon

Saratar
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Joined: 03/26/2015
Think about your card backs...

Kirkatronics, I use a deck combining method in my game for the Round Card Deck. Players start the game with round cards specific to their faction, and the two players shuffle their round cards together to create the Round Card Deck.

I differentiate the cards in two ways. While my game still has design elements to adjust, I intend to use these two approaches for this deck-combining mechanic.

Firstly, the card backs of all the round cards are different than the card backs for the Faction Cards. This helps to set the cards apart when they're lying face down on the table. All of my round cards, regardless of Faction ownership, have the same card back design.

Secondly, the card face contains an image of the Faction alignment so that when the game is over and the cards are being returned to their proper Faction then it's just a matter of matching the Faction image with the Faction Deck.

When I was early playtesting the game and before I had designed card backs for any of the cards I went out and bought a pack of stickers with same shapes but different colors. So for playtesting I had purple stars denoting the round cards, yellow stars denoting the English, blue stars denoting the Franks, and so on.

Like any idea, it will develop into a more concrete element as you continue to fine tune the game. I hope that my experience helps to give you some guidance.

Good luck!

stevebarkeruk
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Joined: 07/26/2008
Deal from the bottom of the deck?

Depending on the format of your game, you could simply have different card backs but deal from the bottom of the deck once shuffled, instead of the top.

You'd have a possible problem in terms of knowing whose card is on the top of the deck but maybe you turn that into a feature by saying cards are shuffled under the table, then whoever's card is on the top gets initiative.

saluk
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Joined: 05/11/2010
Don't combine the decks -

Don't combine the decks - keep them separate. Which deck you draw from is random (flip a coin, spin a spinner etc). Have a mat for each player where cards are played that keeps track of whose card you are playing. (Maybe all of one players cards will be on the left of the table and the other players on the right)

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