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Grid game follow-up (looking for more ideas)

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NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011

Some background on the most recent version of the game ("archery like" theme):

-6x4 primary grid (bigger with more players)

-6x2 secondary grid beneath primary grid representing "air space"

-The active player will roll a 2d6 to determine where they will be shooting from. So if they roll a 1, they will be shooting from the far left part of the 6x2 grid.

-Primary grid will consist of four suits of cards.

-Players will move one arrow (8 or 10 arrows in total) up the board starting from beneath the secondary grid onto the primary grid to acquire targets.

-Players will have hand of four cards to move their piece up the board. These cards will consist of forward movement cards (straight, diagonal left, & diagonal right). A few will allow two or three movement spaces for faster movement.

-On a player's turn, they can either move their arrow piece, claim a target they're on, OR refresh cards in their hand. Note they can't move and claim on the same turn (not necessarily definitive however). Once a target is claimed, it won't be available again and the arrow will remain on the board although other arrows can pause on this space as they fly through the air.

I'm looking for two suggestions:

1. Interactive element- I want players to be able to miss their targets on occasion. My idea is the ability to displace other player's arrows on the board who have not collected their target yet. A player who moves an arrow onto a spot where an unclaimed target and another arrow are would bump the other player's arrow (causing them to miss from the other player's arrow being faster and more accurate) and then the current player would also have to wait until their next turn to collect the target and therefore be subject to the same displacement. I'm hoping with with a hand of four cards and a random start space based on the initial dice roll, the displacement will be a limited occurrence but sometimes useful. How does this sound? Any other suggestions?

The one thing I'm not sure about is when one player moves to a space where another player has a piece but wants to move through it instead of acquiring the target. Should they just have the option to bump, or pause and not bump? Could this be an exception where they can bump and take the target immediately instead of waiting for the next turn or would this be too take-that-ish?

2. Scoring- I have three ways to score in mind and would like to use a minimum of two but perhaps all three. First, collect suits for progressive set collection points (hat tip to Richard for this idea). For example, three reds would equal 6 points (1+2+3). Second, have a limited set of "target cards" available at the beginning of the round, e.g., collect a red, blue, and green target for 5 points. The first person who acquires these colors from the grid gets the card and it's no longer available (this would reward variety of colors instead of just specialization). Finally, when a player hits and claims a target, they leave their arrow behind on the board. At the end of the round, adjacently existing arrows score points for the players. The biggest cluster scores one point per connected arrow or perhaps progressive points mentioned before.

Thoughts or suggestions on any of these ideas?

Big thanks in advance.

NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011
more thoughts

In regards to resolving suggestion #1 above, what about if during each round, players would play one card at a time until they reach the target they want to shoot. So player A would play one card, move 2 spaces, draw a replacement card (always hand of 4), player B would play one card & move one space, draw a card, player C can't or doesn't want to move & would refresh hand of cards, ect., until some end-of-round condition. No more displacement mechanic. It would simply be a race to certain targets with faster movement representing faster or more accurate shots.

Or how about forward movement based on dice rolling with directions on the dice?

Does anyone have any thoughts on cards versus dice determing movement or the overall set collection mechanic in general?

kos
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Joined: 01/17/2011
Cards vs Dice

Regarding Cards vs Dice for movement:

If the dice system was simply "roll and move" it reduces that part of the game to pure luck. In contrast, drawing and playing cards still has an element of luck but allows the player to moderate the luck somewhat depending on hand size and draw rate. E.g. the player chooses to play some low move cards on "safe" arrows which are unlikely to be interrupted by other players, while saving the high move cards to interrupt the opponents. It gives the player a bit more of a feeling of control.

It also depends on what theme you are emulating. Ideally the theme and the mechanics should complement each other and intuitively make sense to the players. Choosing and playing cards may be more suited when the player could conceivably control the outcome after launching (e.g. a wire-guided missile), whereas dice may be more suited when the arrow may be affected by random elements after launch (e.g. gusts of wind).

Hope that helps,
kos

NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011
thanks

Thanks Kos, I'm strongly leaning toward card play & I think you cemented my opinion.

Any thoughts on how to score? Besides the open goal cards that eveyone will be trying to acheive, what about scoring the cards you collect on the grid. I'm not so sure about the progressive scoring now since with 3+ players, that could get really high based on the number of cards. How about majority scoring so that you get first place points for having the most of one color, second place points for second most, etc (although I'm not a huge fan of having to track cards that other player's have and I think in this case, it would have to be open information). Maybe the progressive scoring can just be used for adjacent pieces on the board at the end of the round.

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