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[2 Player] Paw of Duty (Components Available)

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Sunseteer
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Paw of Duty - Huntress
Paw of Duty - Pilot
Paw of Duty - Stalk Card
Paw of Duty - Tank

Hi everyone,

I designed a 2 player game (30 minutes, ages 12+) and am looking for some playtesters. I feel like the game is easy to learn, but not sure how well that conveys in the rulebook as it currently stands.

The game takes place on a 5x5 board, where units on the board are controlled by card abilities. Physically stronger units are balanced by having the drawback of fewer card abilities to play. Weaker units allow for more card abilities to be used, leading to very satisfying combos to wipe out the enemy.

Each turn, you draw two unit cards and choose one to play. The unit's level correlates to how many card abilities you can play on that turn.

The goal is to achieve a positional advantage (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line) with your units while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Taking out high level enemy units will also add to your final score.

For a better idea of the game, here are links to the print & play files as well as a virtual demo:

- Print & Play: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13-_mDxdo75ww-TREMv6hGZH2o_Co6oqa

- Virtual Demo: https://tabletopia.com/games/paw-of-duty-xseuqf/play-now

Sunseteer
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Blind playtest feedback

Received some great feedback during a blind playtest session today. It will take me some time to digest all of this info, so posting a copy of the feedback here for reference:

2/6/23 - Playtester: Patrick C.

"Overall, game is fun, hard to get control victory, theme is really nice (but some pictures are cartoony while some other are more realistic).

Here is a lot of comments, things to improve, either rule clarification, ideas etc. Take whatever feels usefull to you. It is totally base on my own opinion andnopinions can differ.

Reference card : it could be only 1 card recto verso. The quick reference is really not needed while the guide for x2 damages would be even better if simply an icon on each kitty was added to show against which type of kitty they are strong. For example : Add “green claw icon” on Tank kitty to show that tank kitty deals double damage to green kitty (huntress). Definitly i would prefer having that quick reference directly on the card.
By having the reference card recto verso (or eliminating it), you could use the nice back for kitty or tactic card instead.

Directional cards : When printing, it doesnt say to print them twice and that they are not recro verso, so i kinda waste a paper first time when printing the page recto verso. So there should be 18 directional card while the rulebook says at the set up to put 12 directional card in feont of each player (makes 24 now instead of 18).

In my opinion, i would totally ditch the directional cards, they are fiddly to use and serve as main purpose to know which kitty is own by who.
Instead, i would make 14 “war medal Paw” token, one side silver, the other side gold. For sure there wont be more than 14 kittys on the map. So just pick a token and place it on top of your kitty with your color (either silver or gold). For the direction, simply put an arrow on each kittys card on the top pointing up and this is the direction they are facing. Rotate the kitty card instead than having to rotate a directional card under the kitty.

Rulebook : precise that the attacking kitty doesnt receive damage from the defending kitty.

Precise to put back in the deck the first 2 kittys drawn to determine the first player.

Cat’s game : maybe precise for the sake of clarity that there will always be only 1 kitty left after the 7th turn of the second player.

Add a turn example : The active player wants to attack an enemy Pilot kitty adjacent to his just played huntress kitty. The pilot has a defense of 4 while the huntress has an attack of 1. Being able to play 4 tactic cards, the active player chose to play Dive Bomb that lets him deal 2 damages to all adjacent Kitty. Also, he plays Claws Out that lets him attack the pilot. Since the huntress has an advantage against the pilot, her attack is doubled and deals 2 more damage. The enemy kitty is captured. The active player can still play 2 tactic cards but he chose to discard one. Since his turnnis finished, he luts back in his hand the claws out tactic card and draw tactic cards till he has a total of 5.

From the rules, i understand that the first player has 6 tactic cards. The claws out, then the radio, then draw 4 tactic cards. If this is correct, then nothing to do here (or precise it is normal that the first player has 6 tactic cards on his first turn so people wont have the same question).

Tactic : Can you play multiple card on a kitty that triggers an effect when Claws out is played amd activates them all? For example : Salvo and defector to gain +2 damages and control the enemy kitty when aying claws out?

Bamboozle : who gets the captured kitty? The one who played bamboozle or the enemy who captured his own kitty?

Cat-a-pult : The wording is different than the other cards. It should something like : the target of the chosen kitty is pushed 1 space away.

Turn & Burn : The word spin should be change to rotate.

I would personnaly add Trap tactic cards that you play face down and can activate on the other player turn. Some example : Laser pointer - Cancel a tactic card that was just played except Claws out.
Catnip - Activate immediatly after a Kitty is played. The played kitty can’t attack this turn.
Mouse Trap - Activate immediatly after a Kitty is played. Move an enemy kitty 1 space to any direction and rotate it facing the direction he just moved.

Should precise in the rulebook that the effect of a tactic card last till the endnof the current turn. Can be usefull for cards like Need a medic.

I would suggest at the set up to have a tactic card mulligan. You can discard up to 2 tactics card outside of claws out and radio an redraw new tactic card. Sometime, a really bad stsrting hand can be quite devastating.

Rulebook should say to reshuffle the tactic card deck once empty. (If it can happen. Did not happen to me, not sure it is possible).

Instead of power victory being the level number of all captured kitty it should simply be the most kitty captured (and the total level being a tie breaker instead). It is not interesting to play a level 5 kitty knowing you will most likely give 5 points to the opponent while not being able to even attack with it. Also, it will discourage players to try to play only low number kitty to make sure they dont lose by power victory while capturing higher kitty using tactics card.
Or
for power victory, the more captured kitty of a type the more they give point. For example : I have 1 captured huntress, and 3 captured pilot. 1 hunter will be worth 1 point while 3 pilot will be worth 3 points each."

Fri
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Rule book critique

I did not playtest your game, but i did go through the rule book and briefly look at the cards. Below is my crtique an suggestions

Can you change the number cards you play icon? It think that the 2,3 and 4 would be difficult for someone with poor eyesight and/or some in poor lighting to differentiate. A simplistic solution would be a number surrounded by a card icon. However, you have a talented graphic designer and you should probably defer to them.

You could include debris of the type that each unit counters in the art. Plane debris in the background for huntresses. Run over huntresses for tanks. Tank marks on the helmet of pilots. It's just a small thing to reinforce the mechanics of your game.

On page 3, in the Kitty Cards diagram. You refer to a unit type dealing double damage to other unit types. Unit types should not be pluralized. My suggestion is a specific unit type.

Under starting the game number 5, could you add something like: Ties are won by the unit type that counters the other unit type?

Under starting the game, number 6 should be before number 4. This insures that the radio card is not in a players hand. Actually you could incorporate this into the setup. Find the Radio card, shuffle it with 7 other cards. Deal these out to the players, the player with the radio card draws an extra card and goes first.

Under game play, there needs to be some stronger language to indicate whether or not a player can mix and match playing and discarding cards. I suggest changing the wording to play, discard or any combination thereof.

You should move the reshuffle the deck sentence from 3a to 5, since 5 is where the deck running out will occur.

You may want to consider a turn structure similar to dominion. Basically play all your cards and then reclaim claws out and discard the rest. I think this method of play has a few advantages. One is it will be easier to track cumulative damage across a turn. (You won't have to dig through the discard to see what the first of four cards did) It is also creates a more natural flow for the claws out card. Players won't try to play it a second time if it is already in play.

Under 5 combat, are captured kitties faceup or facedown?

Under 5 combat, I recommend changing the wording to deal with the edge cases of two or more lines being formed. My take would be. ..kitties are placed forming one or more lines... if at least one line of kitties remain...

You do not have any tie breakers for a power victory. I suggest highest total power of cats controlled in the city. As a second tie breaker, the highest total power of cats in the outer city. Then the player who captured the most 5s, then 4s,then 3s, then 2s. A final tie breaker would be to play another game of paw of duty.

Good luck with your game.

Sunseteer
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Great feedback

Thank you for the rulebook feedback - I'll take some time today to go through and make the necessary edits.

Sunseteer
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Dev update

Came up with some additional Tactic cards yesterday and added them to Tabletopia and PNP files. Also worked on improving the formatting and look of the rulebook.

questccg
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Have been looking at the TableTopia game and...

Please forgive me as I have read the rules to your game... But I'm not 100% sure about all aspects of the game. Some ideas concerning the rulebook:

1: Having a Sample Sequence of Play.

This allows players to better understand what can happen on a turn and what is NOT part of a player's turn. Would just explain how a player may play the game. I know you have a section called "Gameplay" ... I think it's a bit TO THE POINT and BRIEF and could use some SAMPLE. Like on Page 9 it states: "After playing your allotted number of Tactic Cards and resolving all combat..." What does that mean??

2: Having a Sample of Combat.

I read combat but I think the rulebook could benefit from 1 or 2 examples of a situation with combat in it. Again this is just to improve on the overall explanation of the game.


People were always clamoring about EXAMPLES when it comes to COMBAT. And TW is also pretty simple when it comes to combat. But you can make mistakes if you don't understand HOW to do combat correctly. Like I said it's not complicated but there are some issues as to how attacking/combat works.


I must admit I'm a bit confused about the ROTATING of the cards. My initial assumption was that in a 2-Player game cards FACING me are MINE and cards 180 degrees (or opposite) below to the OPPONENT.

Next I see that there is something about CARD ORIENTATION... This confuses me I guess the reason for the PAW Tokens (which is not explained in the rulebook) are there to tell me independent of the direction, which cards are mine and which cards belong to the opponent. Correct???


Okay ... I have a bit of a IDEA. Since your game is about Area Control and it's fundamental method is a Tic-Tac-Toe type of Victory Condition... I am going to make a KIND of CHANGE which could be COOL.

Instead of ONE (1) ATTACK VALUE, what if there could be FOUR (4) VALUES along each SIDE of the Kitty Cards (N, S, E, W). I would REMOVE the PAW Tokens because we already know who is the OWNER (by not rotate them - keeping it simple) of said CARD and then the ATTACK VALUE is the SIDE of the ATTACK.

Like if it is from the LEFT, you use the RIGHT VALUE and it must be HIGHER PLUS add the Damage Modifier (2x for a boost) if you already CONTROL another ADJACENT area. So it's like a COMBO EFFECT.

Quote:
Kitty #1 enters the center an has: N = 2, S = 3, E = 4, W = 4 in position #1. And can ATTACK to the RIGHT (EAST) with a VALUE of 4.

But in position #4... He also already has a Kitty with a VALUE of 2 SOUTH. His NORTH is 2 ... So this would mean that the DOUBLE DAMAGE could be applied to the CARD to the EAST!

So it's positional and area control too. You can REMOVE the CARD ROTATION... Just make it a bit more STRATEGIC with N, S, E, W values to make the game FRESH!

Anyhow... It's just a thought. Feel like using, adapting or ignoring this suggestion is 100% up to you. I'm just adding a bit more DEPTH IMHO.

Cheers!

questccg
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Furthermore...

You can KEEP the AREAS OUTSIDE (3 Left, 3 Top, 3 Right and 3 Bottom) and remove the corners which are not necessary since you can't do anything DIAGONALLY.

If there is ALREADY a KITTY in the City (and name the outside = OUTSKIRTS) then you must play a KITTY in the OUTSKIRTS in order to SETUP a potential COMBAT situation. No diagonals...

And so COMBAT would be in the OUTSKIRTS into the City or when a card wants to move inside the CITY.

To do DOUBLE DAMAGE you MUST have a SUPPORTING CARD (in one of the 4 Directions provided that the card is NOT in the OUTSKIRTS ... It must be in the CITY). To do DOUBLE DAMAGE would mean that you have SUPPORT from your other KITTIES.

This gives a NATURAL FLOW from Area Control to Combat given circumstances in the CITY.

Again feel free to use, adapt or ignore these ideas if they are not to your liking... Cheers!

questccg
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More streamlining...

You can get rid of the CITY and OUTSKIRT "tiles" and simply explain that the Area of Play is 3x3 in the Center (CITY) with OUTSKIRTS a space around the Area of Play... That's some saved components.

Furthermore ... You can get rid of the PAW Tokens if the cards DO NOT ROTATE. They may MOVE but cannot ROTATE.

South compares with South (from the opposition) and is supported by the North (from your kitties in play).

Again these are just ideas... Feel free to ignore them if they DON'T interest you... Sincerely.

questccg
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Also for you to consider

This allows you to BALANCE the game with all kinds of Kitty Cards (N, S, E, W) that offer support while others are more on the offensive... If Kitty Values go from 1 to 6...

If you could ADD some kind of IMPROVED UPON combo mechanic ... That could make the game really more interesting.

You can have Tactic Cards which BOOST a VALUE (N, S, E or W).

You can have a Tactic Card that destroys one opposing Kitty (any).

You can have a BONUS (instead of DOUBLE, it's +1 or +2 depending on the CONNECTING cards/Kitties).

So it's like you are POSITIONING an ARMY and deploying them to CONTROL the area.

Furthermore instead of Tic-Tac-Toe control... You can WIN BY POINTS and CONTROL.

Man your DESIGN ... Has so much you can DO WITH IT! Rest assured it's your design. Whatever you DO LIKE ... Just let me know. And I'm not poo-poo-ing on your design. It's cool... It's just giving me a flurry of ideas!

Best!

Sunseteer
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Feedback and ideas

Questccg, thanks so much for taking the time to try and figure out how this game works! You make some really great points that have been echoed by other playtesters, especially about including a turn/combat example. I'll take some time to map out a 1-page sample of a turn and include it at the end of the rulebook.

To answer your questions about card rotation, orientation, and identification of player ownership: In the current version of this game, Kitty cards can be played onto the board in any direction. The paw token, placed on top of the Kitty card, shows player ownership (i.e. black token = player 1, white token = player 2). The claws on the paw token and the top edge of the Kitty unit card should both be pointing in the same direction; that direction signifies which way your Kitty unit is facing, which is linked to your Kitty's zone of attack and your Tactic card abilities. I've made some edits to the rulebook that will hopefully make all of this clear for new players.

Your ideas regarding damage values on N/S/E/W card sectors are definitely quite interesting and would definitely cater to a more experienced gaming crowd, especially factoring in possible damage combos based on positioning, etc. While it is currently possible to achieve some spectacular movement + damage combos in this game, I also wanted to make sure that my target audience (more casual gamers) would not get overwhelmed by having too much info on the board at once. Maybe I could include a special Kitty combat unit later that is unable to rotate and yet is able to attack in multiple directions with various damage values. Really enjoy seeing other designers come up with cool ideas based on existing framework, thanks again for all of your feedback!

questccg
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Something to consider

By reading your response (and your candid optimism) ... Instead of ADDING a card that cannot rotate with VALUES, I came up with a sort of HYBRID IDEA.

questccg wrote:
What if you KEEP ALL your Kitty Cards as they are (the same) and simply add Chevrons to the areas they can attack (N, S, W, E)?

So basically if a Kitty = 2 Points and only has N and S attacks, removing the ROTATION (I really don't like that aspect of the game TBH) and therefore that Kitty could only attack UP or DOWN (so-to-speak).

And another Kitty = 3 Points and has N and E attacks, UP and to the RIGHT.

This would SIMULATE the "rotational" effect and automatically make some cards weaker. Obviously if a DIRECTION doesn't have a "Chevron" that means "BLOCK". "BLOCK" means that from that direction the Kitty CANNOT be "attacked".

Again this is a HYBRID solution to remove the PAW Tokens and ROTATION and make some Kitties more resilient in some directions and defensive ("BLOCK") in others.

I came up with this IDEA as I read your response. You are so very kind and nice that I had to offer up this HYBRID approach.

Let me know what you think! Cheers.

Note #1: When the ATTACK VALUE is 2 and therefore that Kitty can attack "2" North and "2" South (Example #1) and ATTACK VALUE is 3 and can attack "3" North and "3" East (Example #2)... So it would be a MINOR EDIT to your cards to add Chevrons ("<<" and ">>" and Up-Up and Down-Down)...

You can rid yourself of the PAW Tokens and rotation... And have Tactic cards that can ADD a Direction to an ATTACK for the Kitties.

Think about it. It's a relatively minor EDIT which introduces a whole lot of Depth of Strategy. Since NO CHEVRON = "BLOCK" the opponent needs to figure out HOW to attack the Kitty from another DIRECTION to defeat it.

Again ... just an idea. Feel free to use or disregard ... I don't mind. I'm just giving you feedback following what I get as a response to your reply!

questccg
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Furthermore...

I would KEEP the 2x Damage RPS and this way a kitty can do a COMBO. For example:

If I have Kitty #1 (Example #1): "2", North & South...

If that Kitty in in the Middle Row of the City, it can attack SIMULTANEOUSLY North (Above) and South (Below).

How???

Well let's say that the Kitty North = "1" and the Kitty South = "4". But the Kitty South gives Kitty #1 a 2x Damage bonus so 2 x 2 = "4", 4 vs. 4 = capture.

And voila... You could capture TWO (2) Kitties and clear-out the board from some of your opponent's Kitties too (by capturing two of them in one turn)!

Think about it... It leads to some definitely NEAT "strategy" combos, RPS thinking (which you already have), etc.

questccg
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Some other Tactics ideas

Cup-o-Joe: [A coffee cup with Milk in it] gives you +1 to your KITTY VALUE (Attack or Defense).

Exploding Kitten: [Stick of Dynamite] allows you to explode another KITTY in the CITY. And be removed from play (Back into the Deck)... Not a conquest.

Marching Orders: <<, >>, North-North, South-South: Directional Additions that can be used at a moment in time to enhance the efficiency of a KITTY. That could be 4 different Tactic Cards.

Surprise Attack: [A kitten jumping over another one] gives you +2 to your KITTY VALUE (Attack only).

Armored: [A box with a tail sticking out the back] gives you +2 to your KITTY VALUE (Defense only).

In the Trenches: [A cat in a trench] swap positions with an adjacent KITTY in the CITY only.

Exile: [A KITTY with "x" as eyes] discard this card from play (Does NOT go back to the KITTY Deck).

I can work on this all night long... Anyhow just some extra ideas for you...

Note #1: I noticed that a lot of your Tactic cards seem to have to do with positional elements (rotate this or that, etc.) Like I said, to me ... I would rid myself of the Rotation as being a part of the game's mechanics. Believe me this doesn't mean that the Tactic cards are less DUMB. Just leaning more towards not being DIRECTIONAL in nature.

Fri
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Rule book suggestions

Since you are trying to beautify your rule book, IMO you can do better then the red bordered boxes in your diagrams. Maybe just change the color to black.

For setup step 7, could you switch it to discard draw and then reshuffle. The way it is a player could draw the card that you discarded. This would be really annoying.

Could you create an advanced setup where players draft cards?

For 6 and 7 of game play, could you introduce the concept of eligible for control victory vs achieved control victory? I think it would make these points much clearer.

Good luck with your game.

questccg
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Here's what I mean

Of course you can "perfect" it a bit more ... But this is General-ly (Pun intended - Haha) what it could look like:

Like I said, you are probably a much better Graphic Artist than I am... You can make the Chevrons better than in my above examples... But it gives you a "FEEL" for what they COULD look like (and obviously add a bunch of depth of strategy).

And if you are worried about permutations (eg. too many variants), with the N, S, W, E Chevrons there are fifteen (15) possible OUTCOMES. Meaning you can only arrange them in 15 different positions. So it's NOT overwhelming.

Hope you don't mind that I took 15 minutes to show you how they could look like...

Best!

Note #1: Since you only have "3" Classes of cards (which is COOL - I like that not overwhelming) and in this case 15 different positions, that would mean 45 Cards in total (15 for each Class)... You of course can playtest this concept.

I'm not saying you need to do it... No just TRY it and see if it feels cool and if it works or not. Again no worries if you are NOT interested... I feel like the Chevrons are more malleable that the ROTATION of cards.

I'm a purist that believes that cards should be facing the player. Why ... Because rotating cards makes it harder to know what cards belong to which player... Sure you have the PAW Tokens to help, and they do to a certain degree. But not having rotation and having the chevrons alleviates the whole "rotation" and whose cards are mine vs. the opponent.

No worries if you don't like the idea/concept... I'm just showing you how neat it could be.

Note #2: I would also MAYBE (since you seem really PRO) add the white highlights wherever the Chevrons are on a card. So for N + S you already have the white highlights... But for W + E, you could add it to the cards with a Chevron in that position.

I gave them a slight "Glow Effect" to make the POP just a bit... But the white highlights just add more credibility to the look of the border.

Anyhow... Give it a TRY and see what you can make of it.

Note #3: There are ACTUALLY sixteen (16) different outcomes but... I excluded the "4x Blank" which is unbeatable (Block on all 4 sides). So that's why there are 15 outcomes ... And 45 cards is a reasonable amount since it's nearing 52/54 cards (which is a common deck).

Cheers!

Sunseteer
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Thanks for the rulebook feedback!

Fri wrote:
Since you are trying to beautify your rule book, IMO you can do better then the red bordered boxes in your diagrams. Maybe just change the color to black.

For setup step 7, could you switch it to discard draw and then reshuffle. The way it is a player could draw the card that you discarded. This would be really annoying.

Could you create an advanced setup where players draft cards?

For 6 and 7 of game play, could you introduce the concept of eligible for control victory vs achieved control victory? I think it would make these points much clearer.

Good luck with your game.

I will go through the rulebook and make the necessary edits, thanks for your input again! Drafting is an option, but I have shied away from it for now since I'd like to keep the game setup time low.

Sunseteer
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Rotation or no rotation

questccg wrote:
Of course you can "perfect" it a bit more ... But this is General-ly (Pun intended - Haha) what it could look like:

Like I said, you are probably a much better Graphic Artist than I am... You can make the Chevrons better than in my above examples... But it gives you a "FEEL" for what they COULD look like (and obviously add a bunch of depth of strategy).

And if you are worried about permutations (eg. too many variants), with the N, S, W, E Chevrons there are fifteen (15) possible OUTCOMES. Meaning you can only arrange them in 15 different positions. So it's NOT overwhelming.

Hope you don't mind that I took 15 minutes to show you how they could look like...

Best!

Note #1: Since you only have "3" Classes of cards (which is COOL - I like that not overwhelming) and in this case 15 different positions, that would mean 45 Cards in total (15 for each Class)... You of course can playtest this concept.

I'm not saying you need to do it... No just TRY it and see if it feels cool and if it works or not. Again no worries if you are NOT interested... I feel like the Chevrons are more malleable that the ROTATION of cards.

I'm a purist that believes that cards should be facing the player. Why ... Because rotating cards makes it harder to know what cards belong to which player... Sure you have the PAW Tokens to help, and they do to a certain degree. But not having rotation and having the chevrons alleviates the whole "rotation" and whose cards are mine vs. the opponent.

No worries if you don't like the idea/concept... I'm just showing you how neat it could be.

Note #2: I would also MAYBE (since you seem really PRO) add the white highlights wherever the Chevrons are on a card. So for N + S you already have the white highlights... But for W + E, you could add it to the cards with a Chevron in that position.

I gave them a slight "Glow Effect" to make the POP just a bit... But the white highlights just add more credibility to the look of the border.

Anyhow... Give it a TRY and see what you can make of it.

Note #3: There are ACTUALLY sixteen (16) different outcomes but... I excluded the "4x Blank" which is unbeatable (Block on all 4 sides). So that's why there are 15 outcomes ... And 45 cards is a reasonable amount since it's nearing 52/54 cards (which is a common deck).

Cheers!

Really appreciate you taking the time to demonstrate your ideas for the Kitty cards! I initially chose to include rotation in the cards because it places a limit on how much of the board each player can control, which I thought would lend well to more tactical gameplay with kitty orientation playing such a large factor. Additionally, the rotation aspect allows players to not have to sit face-to-face in order to know which kitties belong to them. I will tweak some of the tactic cards in my personal build and test to see how the games play out with your chevron idea as it does look very interesting. Thanks again for the huge outpouring of ideas!

questccg
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Sandbox or prototype ... I'd give it a TRY...

Sunseteer wrote:
Really appreciate you taking the time to demonstrate your ideas for the Kitty cards!

Sometimes an image is better than 1,000 words! Also maybe you can KEEP BOTH... I mean nothing stops you from rotating and having chevrons to determine how a card can attack (rotated or not). Plus the directions with NO chevrons can be a "BLOCK" meaning that this additional "blocking" mechanic could add another bit more of strategy when playing with the cards (and rotating them).

Sunseteer wrote:
I initially chose to include rotation in the cards because it places a limit on how much of the board each player can control...

No worries... My personal preferences have got nothing to do with your design. It's just me explaining how the game might be improved with the chevrons.

Sunseteer wrote:
I will tweak some of the tactic cards in my personal build and test to see how the games play out with your chevron idea as it does look very interesting. Thanks again for the huge outpouring of ideas!

I like it that you are OPEN to ideas. Give it a try in a sandbox (or prototype) and see if ROTATING and BLOCKING (and directional attacking) improve the overall experience.

Seeing the chevrons on the cards themselves almost makes them look like they were meant to be there... Minus some lighting effects on the West and East chevrons... But you get the idea.

Hoping that some of these ideas will be of use to you!

Sincerely.

Note #1: Also please note that ONLY having ONE (1) chevron or a single direction of Attack ... Could make the game too easy to beat. So you may need to impose a minimum of TWO (2) chevrons per kitty.

Of course this can be figured out with some playtesting... I'm just trying to visualize it and it seems like it will be a bit too EASY to win (not sure!?)

Sunseteer
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Rulebook update

questccg wrote:
I read combat but I think the rulebook could benefit from 1 or 2 examples of a situation with combat in it. Again this is just to improve on the overall explanation of the game.

For the current version of the game, I've tweaked various parts of the rulebook and added a gameplay example at the end. Hopefully that makes it easier to understand the basic game mechanics.

questccg
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Ok I understood...

But I have some questions too... More for clarification because I don't want to make assumptions.

1> Your Pilot Kitty is facing the East. So is the Huntress you bomb.

Does this mean that your Pilot Kitty MUST be in the same DIRECTION as the opposing Kitty?! Or is it just in a general sense the HORIZONTAL position as we see the 2nd Kitty being attacked is the Tank Kitty which is facing the opposite direction?!?!

See that's the thing with "Rotation"... I don't know when my Pilot Kitty CAN and CANNOT attack.

2> Control victory is independent of the positioning, right?!

This implies that if you want to make the game HARDER, each Kitty must be rotated to the SAME direction. Gives the opponent some NATURAL time to defeat one of your Kitties that are not in the correct direction (Naturally).

That's the few questions that I wanted to ask to elaborate on HOW(?) to play. Like I said, the game can be easier and/or harder depending on the rules used to play the game. Having Rotation being required to "Attack" (Not sure!?) and not having Rotation to be inline for a "Victory" (pretty sure!!) is a bit confusing and diametric... Sometimes you MUST be rotated, other time you don't need to be... You'd have to standardize this such that it is clear in all cases.

Because now it seems a bit "arbitrary" TBH.

And nothing worst than conditions which vary according to the various step in the process (be it "Attacking" or "Winning by Control" or even "Moving around".

Like IF I "ATTACK" the Huntress do I NEED to be in the same HORIZONTAL position??? And then by moving and using a Tactic ... Does the SAME "HORIZONTAL" position of the Tank need to be the same to Attack...?

Also how many turns do you have to ATTACK??? I see from the Example that there are two (2) attacks. One using a Tactic and the other Direct. Is it safe to assume that you can ONLY attack one other Kitty "Directly"??

Anyhow I'm sure there are all easy answers to my questions... But the overall feel from the "openness" of the game might be a false impression considering that MAYBE(?) some kind of orientation IS REQUIRED by the game (and the example shown).

Sunseteer
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Joined: 10/07/2017
Rule clarifications

To answer your questions, the directional orientation of a Kitty doesn't matter unless the tactic card(s) you play specifically requires your Kitty to be facing a certain direction. The most common example would be the "Claws Out" tactic card, which allows your Kitty to attack its 'target' (i.e. the Kitty that's directly in front of it).

To be eligible for a Control Victory, all you need to do is line up 3 of your Kitty units. Their directional orientation doesn't matter. Obtaining a Control Victory looks very easy on paper; however, based on playtests it's actually pretty difficult to do.

Both attacking and dealing damage in this game are directly linked to the tactic cards. This means that you can attack and/or deal damage as much as you'd like on a turn as long as you adhere to the tactic card limit that's imposed by the Kitty you played on this turn. For example, if I have 4 different tactic cards in my hand that let me deal damage, I can theoretically dish out all of that damage on my turn as long as I deploy a Kitty that allows for me to play 4 tactic cards this turn.

Hopefully this helps to answer your questions!

Sunseteer
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Joined: 10/07/2017
Paw of Duty is fully funded!

After over a year of development, I just wanted to share that Paw of Duty has been fully funded on Kickstarter! Thanks everyone for your input in the game design process!

Campaign Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1118760420/paw-of-duty

larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008
I have not read the rules,

I have not read the rules, but your artwork is awesomely cute.

Fri
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Joined: 09/06/2017
Cool

Cool to see that some of my suggestions made it into the final cut.

Good luck with your Kickstarter.

questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
Congratulations ... but...

Sunseteer wrote:
After over a year of development, I just wanted to share that Paw of Duty has been fully funded on Kickstarter! Thanks everyone for your input in the game design process!

You might have shared this BEFORE the KS... And you could have purchased some KS banners for 30 days ($40 USD for 2-Slots). That could have given you 25,000+ impressions. At least that's the monthly traffic we get on unique visitors a month and those are NOT bots. Bots are in another category and we get plenty of those too.

I'm NOT saying you would get 25,000+ visits to your KS page... But for $40 USD if you get 250 people who visit your page ... That could potentially be 10 to 50 extra backers and worthwhile the $40 USD for the banner.

Those numbers are all approximations... But I'm pretty sure they average out to be relatively close to my quotation. We do get a lot of traffic ... But how many people visit the Banner is probably lower than those reading the comments and threads. But I'd stick to 1% of traffic will visit the banner.

Not extraneous ... But some additional funding and people who will enjoy your game... Obviously it's too late for that. But next time you make a 3rd game... Please remember to share on BGDF.com and if you do crowdfund again... Consider getting the banner.

Again Congratulations on a Successful KS!

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