So, 2019 has been off to a slow start. Not for lack of trying, just that there hasn't been much progress to report. Most of my efforts have been going into trying to design the expansion for Manaforge. Feels like I've gone through a lot of ideas and iterations. I don't think I'm quite where I need to be yet, but I haven't given up.
Iteration 1: The initial theme of the expansion was supposed to be Dark Magic. Going on the feedback that the game does not have enough player interaction, I wanted to add black dice to the game that gave each player the ability to meddle with other player's turns. Steal a gem, exhaust a card, force someone to reroll their dice, etc. I was also considering adding in a 'darkness' tracker that keeps track of how often you mess with other players and changes the game's balance if you get too high on the track. (Meaning, cards might cost more but give you more points or something like that.)
Result 1: Someone rightly pointed out that, while this approach would definitely solve the interaction problem, it would also alienate a lot of the game's loyal players, as the core game was not intended to be combative. So, idea one was out.
Iteration 2: This was an attempt to address a lot of the feedback that the game 'needs more cards'. So I designed a huge number of cards to add to the item deck. I also focused the new cards on player interaction, but not destructive interaction. I had item cards that would trigger and give you bonuses when other players performed a specific action. I had other item cards that were deliberately powerful but also gave bonuses to other players when they were used. And I added more cards where other players could participate when they are built. Plus, I also added hidden goal cards, special cards that were dealt out at the beginning of the game and would reward you for having certain combinations of cards or resources at the end of the game.
Result 2: Great ideas in theory, but I misjudged the effect of flooding the deck with all these new cards. The balance of card elements was completely hosed; certain elements came up too much, others not at all. And all of the player interaction I tried to build in barely had an effect. Meh... idea two scrapped.
Iteration 3: This built on the ashes of the previous iteration. The hidden goal cards were a step in the right direction, but the game needed more. The hidden goals became public goals, re-imagining them as 'customers'. Each customer wants specific resources (themed as the customer wants a specific item made), and pays out a reward for getting what they want. After a customer's demands have been satisfied a certain number of times, the customer leaves play. Paired with that, I wanted to re-use the darkness track idea from the first iteration, so I made 'element' track boards for each player. Two tracks per player, fire<>water and earth<>air, with a tug-of-war relationship between them. Build a fire card, and you move towards fire and away from water. Get high up on the fire track, and your fire cards start getting bonuses, but building water cards becomes more difficult. Again, I wanted there to be a way to customize the game that you're playing, so that your experience feels different that the other players', and different than the other times you played.
Result 3: The customer cards actually worked out pretty well. The effects need a lot of tweaks; some of the customer costs consist of getting points from cards of a specific element, which is an awkward mechanic. But the cards that consume straight mana or gems are solid; not only do they give an alternate source of points, but they give you something to do with your resources at the beginning of the game, when resource outlets are scarce or nonexistent. The element tracks were a flop, though. Too much fiddlyness for not enough payback. Players would often neglect to move their tokens on the tracks and would ignore the rewards.
Iteration 3.5: Keeping the customer cards and element tracks, I reworked the effect of moving around on the tracks. I figured if there was a bigger carrot, that the players would be motivated to pay attention to them. I added square 'element path' cards, made so that each side of the card had an effect corresponding to one element. Move up past one of the three threshold spaces on a track, and you get to take a path card, meaning you can have a maximum of three per element (six overall). Each path card gave a special ability tied to that element, such as a free mana of that element or the ability to turn gems of that element into points. A couple of my designer friends have been making games that allow you to customize your abilities, so I thought the approach might work here.
Result 3.5: Nope. More interesting decisions doesn't make a fiddly interface any more interesting. Plus all of the combinations of abilities were too much to keep track of; when you can do twenty things each turn, and the order in which you do them matters, how do you work it all out? Too much brain melting.
Iteration 4: Okay, customer cards = good, element tracks = bad. Trying the same general idea from a different angle, I tossed the tracks and path cards and added tarot-sized 'relic' cards instead. These cards were loosely inspired by Magic's planeswalker cards. Some number of relic cards are dealt out next to the board, with all players being able to access them at any time. Each relic card has a requirement you must meet before being able to take it (something like 'have three fire cards'), and once you have a relic, you are stuck with it; you cannot change it out or gain another. In exchange, each relic has an 'energy' track, and several abilities that cost varying amounts of energy. Each relic also has a recharge cost; pay the mana or gems or whatever the relic is looking for, and its energy starts to tick back up. A good use for whatever spare resources you have left over at the end of your turn, plus abilities that should tie into particular needs. I had relics for generating mana and relics for turning mana into points, with various flavors of each.
Result 4: A solid 'meh'. The overall idea of the relics was good, but they didn't have enough of an impact on the game. Gaining a relic was not necessary to win, and the relics were mostly about optimizing your available resources instead of giving you something new.
Iteration 4.5: Fine, the structure of relics is okay but they're not impactful enough? Turn them up to 11! Really pulled in the balance of planeswalkers here. Reworked the relics so that they lost a couple of their less-relevant abilities, removed the cost to recharge them and gave them a way to recharge themselves, gave each one a 'super' ability that can change the balance of the game, and gave them end-game victory points. And all of those tied to a particular strategy! I've watched Manaforge being played dozens of times and I have a fairly good feel for the ways in which a player might build a successful engine, from focusing on one color to going crazy on gems to buying all wands. For each of those that I could think of, I'm going to create a corresponding relic that not only helps you do that thing, but rewards you for doing it. Yes, it's essentially locking you into a strategy, but the required board state for each relic is basically an indicator that you're going for that particular strategy anyway, so this is just helping you to your goal. And there will be more relics available each game than the number of players, so even the last player to get a relic will have options.
I'm playtesting this last iteration now. Fingers crossed that it goes well. :)
P.S. Oh yeah, and I haven't given up on Sky Pirates. It's slow going, but I've been chipping away at getting some prototype copies made, have those sent out for playtesting. I haven't put in as much time as I should there lately, but that will change soon.
Iteration 1: The initial theme of the expansion was supposed to be Dark Magic. Going on the feedback that the game does not have enough player interaction, I wanted to add black dice to the game that gave each player the ability to meddle with other player's turns. Steal a gem, exhaust a card, force someone to reroll their dice, etc. I was also considering adding in a 'darkness' tracker that keeps track of how often you mess with other players and changes the game's balance if you get too high on the track. (Meaning, cards might cost more but give you more points or something like that.)
Result 1: Someone rightly pointed out that, while this approach would definitely solve the interaction problem, it would also alienate a lot of the game's loyal players, as the core game was not intended to be combative. So, idea one was out.
Iteration 2: This was an attempt to address a lot of the feedback that the game 'needs more cards'. So I designed a huge number of cards to add to the item deck. I also focused the new cards on player interaction, but not destructive interaction. I had item cards that would trigger and give you bonuses when other players performed a specific action. I had other item cards that were deliberately powerful but also gave bonuses to other players when they were used. And I added more cards where other players could participate when they are built. Plus, I also added hidden goal cards, special cards that were dealt out at the beginning of the game and would reward you for having certain combinations of cards or resources at the end of the game.
Result 2: Great ideas in theory, but I misjudged the effect of flooding the deck with all these new cards. The balance of card elements was completely hosed; certain elements came up too much, others not at all. And all of the player interaction I tried to build in barely had an effect. Meh... idea two scrapped.
Iteration 3: This built on the ashes of the previous iteration. The hidden goal cards were a step in the right direction, but the game needed more. The hidden goals became public goals, re-imagining them as 'customers'. Each customer wants specific resources (themed as the customer wants a specific item made), and pays out a reward for getting what they want. After a customer's demands have been satisfied a certain number of times, the customer leaves play. Paired with that, I wanted to re-use the darkness track idea from the first iteration, so I made 'element' track boards for each player. Two tracks per player, fire<>water and earth<>air, with a tug-of-war relationship between them. Build a fire card, and you move towards fire and away from water. Get high up on the fire track, and your fire cards start getting bonuses, but building water cards becomes more difficult. Again, I wanted there to be a way to customize the game that you're playing, so that your experience feels different that the other players', and different than the other times you played.
Result 3: The customer cards actually worked out pretty well. The effects need a lot of tweaks; some of the customer costs consist of getting points from cards of a specific element, which is an awkward mechanic. But the cards that consume straight mana or gems are solid; not only do they give an alternate source of points, but they give you something to do with your resources at the beginning of the game, when resource outlets are scarce or nonexistent. The element tracks were a flop, though. Too much fiddlyness for not enough payback. Players would often neglect to move their tokens on the tracks and would ignore the rewards.
Iteration 3.5: Keeping the customer cards and element tracks, I reworked the effect of moving around on the tracks. I figured if there was a bigger carrot, that the players would be motivated to pay attention to them. I added square 'element path' cards, made so that each side of the card had an effect corresponding to one element. Move up past one of the three threshold spaces on a track, and you get to take a path card, meaning you can have a maximum of three per element (six overall). Each path card gave a special ability tied to that element, such as a free mana of that element or the ability to turn gems of that element into points. A couple of my designer friends have been making games that allow you to customize your abilities, so I thought the approach might work here.
Result 3.5: Nope. More interesting decisions doesn't make a fiddly interface any more interesting. Plus all of the combinations of abilities were too much to keep track of; when you can do twenty things each turn, and the order in which you do them matters, how do you work it all out? Too much brain melting.
Iteration 4: Okay, customer cards = good, element tracks = bad. Trying the same general idea from a different angle, I tossed the tracks and path cards and added tarot-sized 'relic' cards instead. These cards were loosely inspired by Magic's planeswalker cards. Some number of relic cards are dealt out next to the board, with all players being able to access them at any time. Each relic card has a requirement you must meet before being able to take it (something like 'have three fire cards'), and once you have a relic, you are stuck with it; you cannot change it out or gain another. In exchange, each relic has an 'energy' track, and several abilities that cost varying amounts of energy. Each relic also has a recharge cost; pay the mana or gems or whatever the relic is looking for, and its energy starts to tick back up. A good use for whatever spare resources you have left over at the end of your turn, plus abilities that should tie into particular needs. I had relics for generating mana and relics for turning mana into points, with various flavors of each.
Result 4: A solid 'meh'. The overall idea of the relics was good, but they didn't have enough of an impact on the game. Gaining a relic was not necessary to win, and the relics were mostly about optimizing your available resources instead of giving you something new.
Iteration 4.5: Fine, the structure of relics is okay but they're not impactful enough? Turn them up to 11! Really pulled in the balance of planeswalkers here. Reworked the relics so that they lost a couple of their less-relevant abilities, removed the cost to recharge them and gave them a way to recharge themselves, gave each one a 'super' ability that can change the balance of the game, and gave them end-game victory points. And all of those tied to a particular strategy! I've watched Manaforge being played dozens of times and I have a fairly good feel for the ways in which a player might build a successful engine, from focusing on one color to going crazy on gems to buying all wands. For each of those that I could think of, I'm going to create a corresponding relic that not only helps you do that thing, but rewards you for doing it. Yes, it's essentially locking you into a strategy, but the required board state for each relic is basically an indicator that you're going for that particular strategy anyway, so this is just helping you to your goal. And there will be more relics available each game than the number of players, so even the last player to get a relic will have options.
I'm playtesting this last iteration now. Fingers crossed that it goes well. :)
P.S. Oh yeah, and I haven't given up on Sky Pirates. It's slow going, but I've been chipping away at getting some prototype copies made, have those sent out for playtesting. I haven't put in as much time as I should there lately, but that will change soon.
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