Crafting research

A bit more industrial than theoretic, i have been looking into what would be best for creating the final product and the resources I have on hand at my university. Also I am going to look into existing products and their packaging for more of an insight.
My game box will consist of two decks of cards, board segments, rolled up board cover, four "hubs", 25 counters per hub (100 in total) and 10 die. I want to create a box that can hold all these objects in a secure and tight way and maintain the aesthetic design I researched and developed in earlier posts.

Game mechanic testing

So I have devised the stat system and the point cost, so now all that is left to do is some testing of situations to see if the system works and is balanced. I had to characters of the same point cost (estimating they will be balanced in combat) and after 10 combat repeats each won 5 times each! This is exactly what I wanted! The next situation I had two characters who's combined point cost was the same as the opposing single character. And again they were very balanced after some repeats. The whole game will be fully tested in january when I have a prototype set completed but at this point i am very pleased indeed. As well as a rule book I will submit the point cost formula to show how the characters are valued once created.

Cards

With cards the best way to describe the skill part is "Doing the best with that you've got". Its that simple. Games like poker, Pokemon, Digimon, Yugioh, Whisp, Rummy etc. all start from drawing a "hand" of cards from a deck. From that point on you play the cards that you think will suit the game situation best. Infinite strategy will play the same way. Each card will have the stats on as described in the last post and the skill will be choosing the right cards for the right situation. As I am working through this developing research, I am also building up a rule system. I will submit the full draft rule book with my BA7 work.

Stats

Looking into Warhammer, the stats and rules have changed over the years, many many times. The basics are this. Each character has stats unique to them that act as attributes when in combat. The players take turns to attack and roll dice determined by their characters stats. The outcome is left to the chance of the dice. Again this is simply playing the odds, but in a more tactical and devised manner. I am devising a very similar stat system but less complicated and less constricting. This is so the creative side of the game is not too limited by the rule connotations. Another system that I believe is quite interesting that is utilized by Warhammer is its points system. Each character is worth a certain amount of points determined by how good their stats are. For a game to be fair each army has to be worth near enough the same amount when added up. With my idea however, seems as I am using cards, I will make each character worth a specific point COST. Then every turn each player will get a wage of points that they are able to spend on characters in the hand of cards to deploy onto the board.

A board with specific movement and pieces

The most prominent of any game like this would be Chess. An extremely intellectual game that challenges both whit and composure. This game is a game of pure skill and no chance, the player must utilize tactics to over come his opponents attempts to do the same. Each piece has a predetermine movement type. I am going to utilize this also in my game, so that movement on the board will require tactics and understanding of the situation, removing the aspect of luck as a factor.

Dice

Perhaps the most famous dice utilizing game would be snakes and ladders. An ancient indian game of pure chance, where the dice are simply used to randomly determine player movement along the spaces, the person who get to the end first wins. This isn't much use however because I don't want the to be too much luck involved, I want to se if I can use the dice in a more skillful way. When looking monopoly I see the the dice are still used in a random way for movement. The only way I can really see dice being utilized for skill or even a small factor is in games when you play the odds. Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons or even a few gambling games. These games give you a situation with different outcomes, the skill comes taking the right chances. The dice are simply used to determine these outcomes. Warhammer and DnD use stats to determine characters abilities and when this character enters a situation in the game, the dice are used to determine the outcome, very simple. I will look into this more and try and devise my own system when I look into cards and stats.

Game Mechanics

I have loosely based the rules around my original game from my first year. However I am going to look at games that relate to my concept in hopes of finding some inspiration to integrate into and solidify the rules as a whole. There are three main mechanics that make my game. Cards with stats, die and a board. I am going to look into games that utilize these aspects and learn how they are used.