A Series of Interesting Decisions

Completed more testing last night with Michael (thanks bud) and learned plenty of things. One, that I?m happy with how it went last night. While the other night was a train wreck, for a first run I think it defined a few things well:

1. Tempo is important in a card game (VERY important)

2. Overpowered is very subjective.

3. Flavor is one of the most important pieces of design

While the last point may be debated, to me it is very important to get the Flavor of a game correct. Flavor is defined as the undefinable world that a game creates, and the better in its ability to draw the player in and give them a sense who these characters are and how they exist, all the better. To create flavor is to craft a game whose design works with the characters and actions inside it to create something almost organic in its flow.

But today I want to focus on Tempo. While Magic has changed drastically in Tempo, anywhere from the turn 2 kills of the original days (?Giant Growth, Giant Growth, Beserk, you dead!? As my old friend Victor Ong used to say) and Urza?s Saga, things have changed quite a bit. Tempo is generally defined by how many things happen in a turn, the speed of such actions, and also the time it takes to play a typical game.

Talks of this sort quickly erode themselves into mechanical bullshit, so I?ll try to save you from some of that (as I actually want this to be somewhat entertaining, for both of our sakes).

For example, I want a game to last anywhere from 20?30 minutes. Now you lessen this number by playing faster of course, and perhaps certain decks or strategies can be created to make a 10 minute game, and that?s fine. But by en large you?re looking for a certain number and you want to stick to it. If you have your game mechanics set in stone, then you shift the responsibility to design. But if you do not have those mechanics set (as I don?t right now), then this is pushed back into Development. Now I?ve seen both terms bounced around, but for me Development is Making The Game Itself Tick (mechanics), while Design is Making The Game Fun and Interesting (creating cards, etc).

I read somewhere that the best strategy games are a series of interesting decisions. I really like that phrase. It reminds me of Star Chamber, of Mystery of the Abbey, of Bang! (amongst others). These are games that give you lots of options and based on them you have to weigh the cost of using those options vs. the repurcussions of such. Turn based games simply by design (there?s that switched term again?) make you realize the implications of decisions over the long term and give you time to think about them. There is a lot to be said for making things interesting in a give-and-take risk-and-reward sense, and making things have implications.

Tempo defines the experience of watching interesting decisions play themselves out. If your game is too fast, then the decisions are few and far between because only one or two will truly determine the winner. If the tempo is too slow, the game could last for an hour or more, turning those interesting decisions into dreadful endeavors that you?ll be forced to live with for the next hour of your life.

So there is also a lot to be said for keeping things simple and fun. Somewhere in between is the sweet spot. I work toward it every evening, creating my game one brick at a time. With help from my friends, and hard work, I still believe this can actually happen. Even if this game doesn?t actually make its way onto cardboard, I have faith that it will open doors and show to the world that I have this ability in me. I find that exciting and hopeful.

Now comes the hard part. Making it happen.