Mapping

Another major interest of mine is creating maps (in addition to collecting cards). Many games have distracted me for hours just staring at strategic maps, pondering plans and contingencies - something I like to introduce other players to. I take pride in producing cartography that is both useful and pleasing to look at, so hopefully I can maintain a good standard for this game, despite being far less grandeur or strategic! A recent discover is a public domain clipart pack that has potential to create some beautiful maps (click the image).


I see 2 types of maps being involved here - a larger global theater view, showing geographical content, locations and various logistical information. This would be the max-out zoom look of the game and largely involved for relating the areas of content. A smaller map system will be involved on the character level, more interactive and detailed for individual actions and player movement. This smaller map will be the more important as it is used for the majority of the game interface. Each map will be modular and vary in size depending on the content of the area.

Objectives

Pulling back on the reigns, I'm going to focus on the game goal and objective before I get too involved some some of the finer details ahead of time.

Why would you play this game? This question is always the cruncher. If people find nothing appealing to do in the game, they won't play. They won't return.

Making people play and making people return are fairly symbiotic but can be addressed separately. Promise of new content or a limit on actions per time period will naturally cause people to come back later to continue exploring the game. I intend to release content in chapters, to pace my efforts and to encourage the more dedicated players to return later for new material. But what is the game all about?

Collection. Progression. Competition.
I'd like the game to be open-ended - no end game goal, but rather chapters of content to overcome periodicly. You comeplete a chapter as a mini-game and continue onto the next with the same character or a new one. Multiple characters is another topic to discuss later, but something that would be limited by achievement, something like 1 new character limit per completed chapter of content with the option of deleting an existing one to replace.

Collection. As discussed, a major element of the game is the collection of cards. Cards being an intangeable object within the game representing various objects. Some are expendable or temporary, some are permanent markers of progress and victories. Theming the game around the collection of cards and their affect on the game is my major appealing point.

Progression. This ties into collection, as your progress is marked by the collection of cards. Each new area completed or problem overcome is likely to award a player with a card for their character and/or account. Progress in the game is devided by chapters of content. Progress of character is marked by Feat cards.

Competiton. Again, ties into collection. Players compare characters and accounts by their collection of cards.

It was inevitable to discuss cards again. Will this game flourish on its card collection factor?

Achievements and Feat cards

Already it seems I have overlapped ideas.

Achievements and Feat cards. Surely these are the same? Lets recap where I ended up with these:

Feats are achievemen... there, they are the same!

How are they different? Achievements, from my pondering, are born of accumulating numbers - be they kills, money, etc. Feats are overcoming a challenge - a milestone. Should they be seperate entities on this small difference? Yes and No. Why not?

Do all feats grant bonuses? They all give or grant something.
Do all achievements grant bonuses? In my mind no, they are a 'certificate'. Should they give a bonus and if so how?

I'm not sure granting you extra attack bonuses for .. killing lots of things lots of times is a good way to reward something. It smells of time-sink and will surely avalanche the system. I don't want to encourage people to play something laborious and repetitive as an credible means of getting stronger, but rather reward them with recognition for reaching such a total whether intentionally or not.

Recognition cards.

Statistics and recognition

Taking a break from the cards, I've been pondering other game attributes that keep players keen. Games are naturally competitive, so participants enjoy beating or achieving more than fellow players. Without a direct interaction between players, they resort to rankings and statistics. It would therefore make sense to look into which numbers interest people and help push them to work at improving their position.

From my experiences with web games and various time-sink games, practically everything you do in a game can be recorded and proves a point of interest: number of enemies kills, total acquired currency, hours playing the game. I also learned it's a good idea to plan such records ahead, rather than retrofit your counters later - my case here would be when World of Warcraft added their achievement system. They couldn't back track counters, just milestones.

Without a full game specification in hand it would be difficult to produce an entire list of items to record, but many can be assumed or estimated. As mentioned above, kills, kills by type, acquisitions of items (gold), hours of play are all basic, core statistics.

For those who may not enjoy staring at collated numbers (perhaps their numbers are shamefully low!), enticement through bonuses and titles could help sway their mind. Achievement (dare I say cards?!) could help identify milestones in statistics - 100 kills - and encourage players to up or round off their stats for further reward.

Cards part 3

I return to those cards. I think it's quite important since I haven't fully fleshed out my ideas with types and card application.

So far we have Item cards and Feat cards defined. They are two different groups, different by their limitation and use:

Item cards are limited in application. A weapon item card can be held in one or two hands, so a character is limited by their hands - likely 1 or 2 weapon cards can only be used at once. Similarly, you can only ride and benefit from a single mount, a single helmet and a single breastplate. These would all be sub-classes of Items: Weapon, Armour, Mount, likely further divided into the Shield, Helm, Breastplate, Single-handed, Two-handed and so on. Each type needs a clear identity that makes it different from another type, rather than grouping by flavour. A wooden shield wouldn't be a type as it has no difference to other shields other than its core attributes. All shields would use a single hand slot.

Feat cards are unlimited. A character always applies their feat cards in all situations, be they bonuses to attributes, requisites to access areas or just a title. Feats could be a resource to ascertain the level of a character - their experience and age, rather than some time counter or points.

What's missing from the puzzle? What else can we identify from a character that can be objectified and differentiated? Race and occupation, acquisitions, blessings and curses?

A characters Race card could be quite important, but only if each race had a different effect - such as statistics variance, slot allowance, reputation, animosity?

Occupations, or class would apply skills and bonuses to a character - a soldier would have improved endurance and skills in survival and combat from their job. What about an ex-solder that became a ranger? How could occupations be split between experience and current assignment? Experience card? Training card?

Acquisitions are similar to Items, but items can be defined as used on character while acquisitions may be regarded as property - land, buildings, contracts, minions.

Blessings and curses. I imagine gifts from creatures or beings that are extra-ordinary, but how do these stand differnt to items? By slot?

Cards part 2

Another look into my mind. Cards. I've been trying to objectify cards into an ontology. Big words! What does this mean?

I'd like everything apart from your character's name to be a card. Cards would have different types, so we could call these instances of objects of classes if we like. Or we could call them card types, I prefer the latter.

Card types? So far I've mentioned collecting items and overcoming obstacles and enemies. For items, I imagine your character needing some gear - weapons, armour, a mount. They'd also acquire more discreetly used items, such as holy icons, keys, perhaps even gold coins. These would all be items and each needs further definition if we are to apply limits and different bonuses.

A character could carry lots of weapons but they could only wield one at a time in combat. A key wouldn't be very effective at slaying a dragon, while a rusty axe probably wouldn't open a lock (though this is debatable!). Item cards.

Overcoming obstacles and your enemies? This sounds like a feat to me.
Feat cards. I imagine characters to develop a background and catalog of past achievements as they age. These should define the character and in many cases add to their skill through the knowledge and experience gained. Feats shouldn't be limited, they'd be a major bragging and comparison factor. They'd always apply to your character.

Cards?

I've been obsessed with the concept of cards as a collectible resource within a game. It's a neat aspect of a little strategy game I've been playing (strangely very similar to own of my own) called 'State of War' where all resources are cards - be it wood, ore, gold, clay etc. Some actions cost simply any card, which can be any of those listed.

Being an avid CCG gamer and collector, the idea appeals to me greatly. How can I expand on this simple but effective concept of cards within a game that isn't wholly a card game? Collecting in itself is an appealing past time and from my experience the accumulation of things in a game can be objective enough for some people to play it regardless of other facets.

I return to my ideas of a top-down role-play game. Put yourself in control of a character exploring a fantasy world, collecting items as you discover places and overcome obstacles or enemies. Now, if these items that you acquired were cards, you could both have a running objective (accumulation of cards) and a resource for comparison, achievement and heck, bragging rights!

If you can imagine the classic Zelda (pictured), you controlled a character central to the screen, viewing the world from above and moved around the environment. This is where my mind is heading...