Jumping the Curve

I was going to name this one Gleaming the Cube, but I think that might be a bit more pop culture than I was really gunning for.

Today I was also planning to begin my really lame category of “CCG” by putting “CCG –” in front of these post titles. This way, in case you don’t care, you don’t have to bother reading. Matter of fact, it would be easier for you to just use the Technorati blog search, which I’ve implemented on the right. Looking for my CCG posts? Just search for CCG in that box. Simple as that. Family, same thing. I don’t get fancy with lingo, I have no need for it.

Today I’m going to talk about The Power Curve in terms of CCGs. Here is a rough, off-the-cuff description of what The Curve is in terms of CCGs:

The CCG Power Curve is the relative power level of a card based on how many resources it requires in contrast to the earliest time/turn it can be played.

For example, a big hoopla was made regarding Magic card that is a 2/2 for one mana that was release in their latest set, Champions of Kamigawa. That card is named Hound of Konda. Now that one mana means that you could play it on turn 1, as your resource limit of one land per turn would provide you with as much. Remember when I said Magic has no real secondary win condition? Well, this goes a long way toward that.

Magic is a game of taking the other player from 20 Life Points to 0. The developers have recognized that the game, based on its own now decade-old rules (even with a mid-lifecycle update via 6th edition rules) is a game of Smash Face. This card Jumps the Curve generally set down by the game.

In the past, any card that has 2 attack power for one mana has been given special attention, particularly because these Jump the Curve and suddenly put your opponent on a 10 turn clock (of course, you’d rather that clock be smaller, but that’s what other curve-jumpers are for).

In the world of Magic, you’re usually going to pay two mana for 2 attack. However, in a game like VS, a 2 attack creature on the first turn isn’t unheard of, nor does it Jump the Curve in the terms of what we’re speaking of today. The reason is that VS. gives you 50 Endurance points, ie Life Points. This means that two damage on turn 1 isn’t that big of a deal. 25 Turn clock? Don’t make me laugh.

So each game is different in terms of power curves. Generally, your win conditions define your power curve. In terms of my CCG, I envisioned a “winning number” for my winning condition and then designed cards around those restrictions. As someone much smarter than myself said, Boundaries Encourage Creativity. The ability to work inside the boundaries you set for yourself is one of the most important jobs a game designer can have, particularly of the CCG variety. There is little else that is more important than knowing when something is Broken and when something is Garbage.

Each time I sit down to look at my game, whether it be trial games amongst myself or a testing partner, I pay close attention to the characters in play and whether they Jump the Curve. And if they do, is there a significant drawback to them? That’s the secret to Jumping the Curve: You want whatever does so to have a significant drawback to where those cards aren’t automatically included in every deck. That 2/2 for one mana I mentioned above is a Legendary Creature. Only one player may have one copy of that creature in play. If you play another, all of those in play (in addition to the one you just played), are instantly destroyed.

This doesn’t just apply to characters of course. Any type of major game change, such as cards which destroy other cards, have to be correctly priced to produce the desired effect. While Rares by their very nature are more powerful and intricate than a Commons, you also have to be very careful not to make all of the good cards rare, and if you do make a great card rare it better be worthy of its own deck, or its own style. Few things are as frustrating than a very powerful, useful, and versatile card regulated to world of one-per-box (or less…as there is only 36 packs to a box, so that equals 36 rares out of as set that normally includes 70+). The first example that comes to mind in terms of Magic is a card called Birds of Paradise. This is a turn 1 card (ie, one mana), that you may use to produce any color of mana for the rest of the game.

While this sounds trivial, these guys fit in just about any deck that has the mana base to support them. They are useful and excellent in almost every situation. They provide both acceleration and the ability to play many different colors of cards easily. And they are Rare. Average price? ‘Bout $10–$15 a piece, give or take (usually, its give). Far too powerful and useful to be in a Rare slot, but since they’ve been around now for a decade, Wizards of the Coast are pretty much stuck with them. While they could design other cards which do similar things (and they do), there is nothing as simple, elegant, and useful as Birds of Paradise. And so players just have to deal with that.

To sum up this discussion, I think that Jumping the Curve is an interesting concept that can be applied to all sorts of systems of games, such as RTS games which lean toward a certain style or unit, or FPS games which lean toward a certain weapon. When things are out of balance, or something radically changes a gaming situation too early or too drastically, then something Jumped the Curve. Look for it the next time you’re kicking ass with the elves in Warcraft 3, or grabbing that Rocket Launcher in Quake.

Sigh

Good lord people, this has to stop. This is ridiculous. It makes me so sad that we have suffer with stupidity for another four years. A four year old girl with the blood of her parent’s splattered all over her. The mind reels.

I hope our children can forgive us for this ignorance and the Bush adminsitration’s grievous mistake.

Little Earthquakes

So since I had to take today off due to a Very Sick Child, I believe I'll discuss a few family topics.

Annie is doing so well in her speech, in her comprehension and understanding. It's just amazing to hear her start to speak dare I say eloquently, and with an eerie exactness. What's truly eye-opening is seeing her next to another two year old. She can simply speak much better than they can, usually because the other one has a pacifier stuck in her mouth.

Speaking of pacifiers, Abby has 1 month left on hers (she turns 1 on Feb. 19th), and then it shall be lost forever. It's a 1-year waiting period we have around the house. While Ericka noted that some magazine or book or something (you know, the general parental drivel/insight you'll find at any dimestore counter) said that 7 months was the prime time, I guess they have their way and I'll have mine. One of the beauties of parenting is that it is always different for each parent/couple and the decisions are in your hands alone.

Ericka has her 25th birthday a week from tomorrow (Jan 28th), and as I said before I would like to get her blogging. I'd also like to take this time to thank her for everything she has done for the fam and particularly the holidays. She was a lifesaver day after day, taking care of all the tidbits I didn't want to mess with. Most of these tidbits were work, and I'll never forget her patience and diligence. Its great to be married, I tell ya. I love you sweetheart (I know she reads this)!

My sister Rhonda (hi dear) is selling some books of hers via eBay, and I tell you I was astounded by its efficiency. One of the four books sold in an hour, another the next day. The last two are being a bit tougher, but you know how it goes. You'll have more bids in 5 minutes than you will in 5 days. She's selling some of her old textbooks, and I'm happy to help.

To wrap up, I have some bad news and I have some good news.

Bad News: Annie is sick (as I noted). She just got back from the doc and has an ear infection + terrible sore throat. "I see a lot of pus," the doctor said (and I appreciate her, uh, candor). I'm about to leave and pick up her meds.

Good News: I've been contacted about my CCG by Those Who Matter, and needless to say I'm terribly excited. Of course, this is still cloak-and-dagger and I can't say anymore than that, but it is thrilling.

Oh yeah, and the Apprentice starts tonight. Sweet.

Blogging and the Lack of Focus

I think it’s a good time to be a blogger. Exciting things are happening in terms of the world and how they view blogs, and more and more people are not only creating blogs, but they’re reading more of them and more about them.

This produces, at best, a strange conundrum. Must a blog be a one-way street? To put it in simpler terms: Must a blog focus on one thing? How specialized must you be?

You’ll probably notice that over the past week or two, and really in terms of themes over the past few months, I’ve tried to focus this blog mainly on gaming, my stories and thoughts of game development, with a little family and technology thrown in.

It seems to me that at some point, most blogs stop becoming “personal web logs” and instead become small journalism outlets. Now there’s nothing wrong with this, but I also think that once you rise to the status of Dave Winer, the father of blogdom, I think you really need to reevaluate what your role is.

Scoble is a Microsoft Evangelist, which could be the most oxymoronical term I’ve ever heard. Religion and the Great Big Company. Just strange in terms of title, yet his blog is merely a conversation booster and an inside look at the company (at least in small doses). He regularly participates in Channel 9, which is the official Microsoft Dev Blog. But each dev has his or her blog provided by MS anyway, and with almost unwavering accuracy a lot of those same devs will write 2–3 blog posts and never be heard from again. The thrill is gone, no?

But then we have more situational blogs that make for good reading, such as marketing endeavors. What’s Your Brand Mantra is brilliant reading and lots of fun. It is the gold standard by which marketing blogs are judged.

On that same note, Jonathan Schwartz’s weblog is the gold standard by which corporate blogging in any shape or form is judged. Particularly with a voice inside the company. Jonathan makes great, insightful posts on how he sees his business and the candor provided is just awesome. A must read.

I hesitate to call Boing Boing a blog (note that the site refers to itself as a Directory). A blog can be many things, but Boing Boing seems to be a chatty Metafilter. They’re both in the link-a-lot business, and I assume with that many editors they’re bringing in plenty of cash based on readership and ad placement. At least, I hope they are. They’re great sites. But blogs? I don’t know if I would call either of them blogs.

Lastly we have the strictly personal blogs. These have their merits, particularly if the blogger can find interesting insights on his or her life and apply them to a blogging format. Brian Bailey has, I believe, shifted his focus on being more Social/Blogger Commentary than strictly family/church issues (as he had blogged about quite a bit in the past). Not that there’s anything wrong with that (apologies to Seinfeld), but a good example of “pure” blogging (god save the Livejournalers) is Sparkwood & 21, a great blog about a waitress in Nashville. Funny and Interesting, I really enjoy reading it. There are many others (MANY, my Onfolio eats my memory alive when it updates the list), but these examples are enough to prove a point.

So what is my conclusion? Well, one that I wish I had categories. While I think categories are inherently limiting (hence the name category), but they’re also a way to easily discern to the reader what you’re going to speak about during that post. However, as I recall RSS doesn’t pick up on categories, so it doesn’t really make a difference to Onfolio or Bloglines whether or not you’ve categorized your entries—they’re all a part of the same feed. While you may be able to subscribe to certain categories on certain websites (I noticed Engadget pimping this the other day), do you really want to do that? I mean, if you enjoy someone’s writing enough, do you want to miss what they have to say on different subjects?

I guess it gets subjective and comes down to taste. Me? I like blogs as journalism mediums, but also with the ability to shed light on things that haven’t been seen before. I see mine as not only a journal but a sharing medium, a way to express feelings and thoughts while at the same time document and provide information on the subjects I find important. Is it too heady for me to believe that I can give honest-to-goodness good ideas in terms of game development, specifically in the CCG department? Does it take getting paid for it? Does it take a released game to create an authority? I’m not saying I’m an authority (hell, I don’t even like authority), but for argument’s sake I’ll throw it out there.

Until then, I’ll read my Ensight, my loonyblog, my Sand in the Gears, my Moxie Blog. And I like my blogs any way I can get them.

But at the end of the day, I think as blogs develop further, they’ll have to come up with a better way of describing themselves, and in turn a better way of identifying what it is they wish to accomplish.

Crawl to Walk

Just a quick note here: My beautiful daughter Abigail took her first steps over the weekend, and I saw her take her first in tandem last night.

It is so exciting to see, better than any blockbuster, better than any book…it is priceless and happens once in a lifetime. I thank my lovely wife for informing me of the event, and it shall remain imbedded in my memory for the rest of my days.

I love my awesome family.

Firefeed and Blogjet

Much like my friend Brian Bailey, I have a small request for those who read this site via RSS/XML/ABC123 – Please use my Fireburner Feed instead of the built in Atom RSS feed, as I can get much better subscription info on my readers, and hell, I’m just curious. Yes, I know its a pain in the ass. But I would very much appreciate it.

Also, I’ve been using Blogjet for the past two days and I love the shit out of it. It is the proverbial innovation mothered by necessity. I want a small windows program that I can blog with and hit “Send” without having to use web-based interfaces which take time and effort and tab-jumping. That’s what Blogjet is. No more, no less. Sometimes having two different windows instead of tabs is a good thing (taste that? It’s irony).

This program is great but I wish it were $20 to register (as it had been when the program debuted) instead of $40. This makes the decision tougher, and could lead to me not using it for longer than 30 days. It comes highly recommended from this blogger and conforms to all popular platforms (Blogger, MovableType, etc etc).

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.

When Speaking the Truth

Matt Sakey throws down the proverbial hammer on gaming rags and their true fate. Everything from the inevitable reference to Video Killed the Radio Star is included, along with plenty of Insightful Commentary, something sorely lacking in the current pages of such gutter-trash as Gamepro (and I would know, as I have a free subscription and I still feel as if I’m getting ripped off).

Fire and Ice

So last night I took my current CCG design doc, about 200 cards I’ve already put to paper, and me and a good testing/idea buddy of mine Michael Marshall (God bless him) learned my game and we consequently tried to play it via Magic Workstation. I won’t get into the hour or so it took to actually get the damn set working in the game client.

Man, talk about a fucking train wreck. This must be what its like for every game, let alone CCG, ever developed.

First it seemed that my alternate winning condition isn’t powerful enough. Then the system by which your life points were measured was a little too easy to overwhelm. Then there was a question of attack phases, and why certain phases exist.

Then I change about 3–4 rules on the fly to see if that improves things (“Let’s try another game with this different…”). Hilarity ensues. This was about the time that Mike said “Uh, I gotta go.” This is geekspeak for “Fix your shit, we’ll work on it tomorrow.” I don’t blame him. The difference is that I’ve had these ideas running around my head for weeks (some of them for much longer), yet the struggle to make them actually function as promised, or function differently…that is the question.

Mike promised to think on it, and of course its all I can think of at some points during the day. I get quite obsessive with my projects, and this is no exception. I’ll be lucky to tear myself away from this damn thing until I finish it, and I can’t wait until the CCG alchemy turns out correct and I finally drill down to the core of the game and let it shine for everyone.

But until then the questions remain as to how best to proceed, how best to design and develop the game as it stands, and what card-based casualties will have to be rectified to make it work.

But I’ll make it work, it’s all I can do not to do so. There are times in this life when you see a glimpse of the future, a glimpse of something greater than yourself. Last night I had one of those, but it will be a job to get it as good as it is in my head. That is my task. I hope I do much better, and at a faster pace too.