Hi all,
It's has been a while since my last post (I have been away). I wanted to post a new game concept that I have been working on over the last 3 months. On paper everything seem great, however after some playtesting, I am concerned with the audience of the game (looking to target the casual card game player, however want a product with a big "depth").
So much like in San Juan, my game has Roles. Here is the list of the roles in the card game:
-Monach: Draw 3 cards
-General: Recruit troops or starships
-Spy: Spy on cards in hand or sabotage another players cards in play
-Industrialist: Produce resources (Duroplast, Carbonex and Alloid)
-Engineer: Build installation upgrades (Basic to Advanced)
-Trader: Sell (player or bank) resources
-Civilian: Draw 1 card
Obviously with this many roles you can playt at most 6 players together. Those players can play alone or co-opetate
(Play together although there can be only one winner).
The type of cards are:
-Basic/Advanced/Elite installation (buildings or space depots)
-Starships/Upgrades
-Instants
Each player starts with a random Homeworld card, which gives the resistance (life points) for a military victory. Advanced and Elite installation require Units to put them into play, however they produce Culture. Another form of victory is a Cultural one.
Basic Installations are:
-Military Academy: train Soldiers/Officiers/Engineers
-Resource Factory: produce resources Duroplast/Carbonex/Alloid
-Space Shipyard: 5 Classes of Starships (A through E)
-Trade Outpost: ratios for selling or trading resources with other players (or the bank)
-Engineering Plant: produces Power Units (so you can build Advance or Elite installations)
Well my problem lies with the "tempo" of the game. It takes time to produce resources and then trade them to currency. Next you need to draw the Advance Installation cards (as opposed to Instant cards).
The Instant cards in the game are "invaluable". What I mean by this is that each card has a purpose and for strategic reasons you would want to keep them. Unfortunalty you can only have 8 cards in your hand.
I am unsure if this would be a game for a "casual" card game player.
There are advanced concepts and the game really mimics the "hardship" of having to produce and then sell resources to get currency (Quicksilver - qs for short). Besides qs you also need some of the resources themselves to produce Advanced or Elite Installations. So with only a 2 player playtest, it takes time to produce resources and them more time to sell them.
I do think that the way the game is "currently designed" would appeal to a REAL gamer. Somebody who can appreciate how the game simulates trading (sort of Auction mechanic). It also uses Dice combined with the concept of Initiative for the combat system. "Initiative" is the idea that a ships is more ready to attack if its crew is greater than the opposing starship. This means if you attack an opponent who has a better initiative, it is he who attack you FIRST and then you rataliate. Depending on ship crews, you can be attack 2 times before having the chance to retaliate.
So on paper the game has a lot of "depth" (many concepts - more complexity). However I am concerned that a casual game may be not so interested because of the time spend "earning resources" and waiting for the right cards to come into play...