I love the idea that you can buy/build pretty much anything, but it will "cost" you accordingly and the "cost" will not be a straight forward X skill/gold, but an actual consequence event happening due to you using up these resources.
Hi Janis and Janis! The one thing that really stood out to me about both your prototypes is that the story aspect may get a little lost with making a territory. Maybe this will come later but I would love this to feel a little more like The Kings Dilemma. Right now It feesl like it could become a little like Robinson Crusoe where the game is trying to kill you every card reveal. That is my main complaint with Robinson Crusoe as the constant bombardment of really bad things takes away from the story. Instead of simple good and bad things happening in the story, make events in the story to change how you play the game or make the game more interesting. A couple things I'm thinking of would be "a new Explorer comes to the territory and with it an ally and materials. Immediately build a library." "There is an enemy amongst you. You have five terns to figure out your enemy or lose your town hall" "keep this card until after you build a school. Pit this card in the school. This card represents the children in the school. Each tun they learn and grow stronger. You can use them once in the game if you need a creative strategic advantage." You get the idea. Your doing great! I can't wait for more videos!
I totally agree. But what if the narrative is a separate thing? What I mean is that we could develop the basic mechanisms and then add the narrative through Kings Dilemma like decks/cards on top of the base game.
Janis, My brain is on fire!!! I see where you are going with this. With a story deck, you could make endless storys, scenarios, addon's ect. Brilliant! I am totally on board! (Pun absolutely intended!) Also, what if the box was a cube that transformed into the screens? You could get two small screens out of it! Can't wait to see how this plays out!
I love the idea of the 'decaying' buildings.. not sure if it's been done before? The way I picture it is that you have X number of workers, and there are ways to gain more, but you have to choose where those workers go every turn. If you remove a worker from a building to put it elsewhere, then that building's production will decay over a few turns (e.g. 5 coin generated with a worker, but only 2 after the worker has left, then 1 next turn, then 0, until you place a worker there again and it would generate 5 again). This creates an interesting dynamic where you always want your workers to be 'cycling' through different buildings, or if you really need a lot of coin then you could leave a worker there for a while.. The downside could be a lot of upkeep if there are many buildings to keep track of, but I don't see it being a massive issue. Worst case is the building has two states of occupied or unoccupied, with two different levels of production.
I hope it has not been done, but it might. That is one perk of designing the game this way, people can point out similarities with other games that we might not know.
The idea of deck building with multiple decks is intriguing. The problem is I don’t see, or may have missed, why in the heck I would pick up one deck over another. Am i tuning these decks for different strategies? If so, do I have to memorize How I am building each deck? So i know which one to pick up for a certain strategy direction?
Great ideas. I particularly like T's use of reaping resources. The more you take, the more likely bad things will happen. The multi deck-builder idea is intriguing. When you first mentioned it, I was thinking something like Aeon's End, where you build your 4 decks by putting cards at the bottom of a deck, but when you buy or use a card, you choose which of the 4 decks it goes under.
@@gruntsudens Ah, I just meant the "No Shuffle" mechanic of Aeon's End. But with 4 decks. And maybe the opponent chooses which deck you draw from or each deck does a different thing. But I like your treatment too.
Hey guys! Pretty fun video! I love the multideck idea. I imagined something like elements decks and having their counter deck and reward choosimg the right deck. Also the combination idea sounds fun! Ill be waiting for the next video!
Combining could easily work. Both of you went for a kingdom building theme. The multi deckbuilding could work in the setting of feudalism. In a feudal system (medieval europe) a king cuts his land in smaller portions which have their own rulers, but they all contribute with armies etc when necessary. I would recommend to keep things simple at first, try to get the core of your game running before adding more stuff. More options, multi-use cards and more decks to build is cool but makes design much more complex early on. Goodluck guys!
This is some of the funniest banter stuff I've seen on TH-cam in quite a while. While you were talking about your game during the episode, I didn't think it was going to be good but when I heard the pitch it actually sounds pretty interesting. I'm definitely interested to see exactly what direction this game ends up taking.
Thanks for the comment shout outs in the video! Like how these are shaping and definitely see potential mixing the designs. Sorry for another long comment. Pitch 1: Like the multi-decks. As I previous mentioned, I see more strategy and deduction value in scouting smaller decks rather than one single large deck. Seems like many players do not like memorization, so consider ways players can mark down scouted info, or perhaps scouted cards remain face up. With up to 4 decks, I imagine some good dilemmas. Do I prioritize just a couple decks or go for 4 balanced decks? Fun, tough choices. Pitch 2: Cool resource system. If the tracks are universal, there's some fun blocking/rushing to get the last of the wood or maybe scout for a new forest to harvest. Events are great, especially when I have time to react and prepare rather than just a random immediate effect. Perhaps you can scout intel on the next secret event . Ex. An NPC army attack will occur in X rounds. You scout to learn details like which districts or decks they will attack, invading unit types, or resources they will steal, etc. The prison adds some push-your-luck. Might be too random/punishing, but worth testing. Could check out the prison in Architects of the West Kingdom. P.S. Nice suit jackets.
Would like to see both games presented separately first, then can look into combining. Seems each have unique features and would love to see how they get polished.
That's what we wanted to do, but we do think that designing two different ones is going to take quite long. So we are going to try mashing them up from the get go. Let's see how it goes. We might come back to two different ones.
Hi guys, mine are more questions than comments, but I hope you will find them useful. 1) what is your target audience? Try to be very specific when you answer this question. I would suggest you always keep it in mind through each step of the design. Loosing focus on who are your players could be a rough mistake 2) Have you considered the production costs? I understand you are at the very early stage of the process, but using plastic or heavily designed components may add to the production costs to the point where it gets too expensive to crow found and publishers loose interest. Don't mean to discourage, on the contrary, I wish you very good luck!!
Combining both could be something big. Mutli decks is nice but I think 3 is enough. With more then 3 there could be a to high entry point for players wich do not play complex games that often.
To be honest, I prefer Janis’ game, although I could see myself really getting into Janis’ game once I see the final components. ;)
Yes, I knew it!
I looooved JT resource effect on environment, would love to play that just because of that, neat mechanic :)
Yes, as I mentioned in the video, Jānis had the most original ideas in his pitch.
Can't wait to see the next episode of this series
Thanks for tuning in.
I love the idea that you can buy/build pretty much anything, but it will "cost" you accordingly and the "cost" will not be a straight forward X skill/gold, but an actual consequence event happening due to you using up these resources.
Yes, Jānis came up with a very good mechanism that can drive the narrative.
Hi Janis and Janis! The one thing that really stood out to me about both your prototypes is that the story aspect may get a little lost with making a territory. Maybe this will come later but I would love this to feel a little more like The Kings Dilemma. Right now It feesl like it could become a little like Robinson Crusoe where the game is trying to kill you every card reveal. That is my main complaint with Robinson Crusoe as the constant bombardment of really bad things takes away from the story. Instead of simple good and bad things happening in the story, make events in the story to change how you play the game or make the game more interesting. A couple things I'm thinking of would be "a new Explorer comes to the territory and with it an ally and materials. Immediately build a library." "There is an enemy amongst you. You have five terns to figure out your enemy or lose your town hall" "keep this card until after you build a school. Pit this card in the school. This card represents the children in the school. Each tun they learn and grow stronger. You can use them once in the game if you need a creative strategic advantage." You get the idea.
Your doing great! I can't wait for more videos!
I totally agree. But what if the narrative is a separate thing? What I mean is that we could develop the basic mechanisms and then add the narrative through Kings Dilemma like decks/cards on top of the base game.
Janis,
My brain is on fire!!! I see where you are going with this. With a story deck, you could make endless storys, scenarios, addon's ect. Brilliant! I am totally on board! (Pun absolutely intended!)
Also, what if the box was a cube that transformed into the screens? You could get two small screens out of it!
Can't wait to see how this plays out!
I love the idea of the 'decaying' buildings.. not sure if it's been done before? The way I picture it is that you have X number of workers, and there are ways to gain more, but you have to choose where those workers go every turn. If you remove a worker from a building to put it elsewhere, then that building's production will decay over a few turns (e.g. 5 coin generated with a worker, but only 2 after the worker has left, then 1 next turn, then 0, until you place a worker there again and it would generate 5 again).
This creates an interesting dynamic where you always want your workers to be 'cycling' through different buildings, or if you really need a lot of coin then you could leave a worker there for a while..
The downside could be a lot of upkeep if there are many buildings to keep track of, but I don't see it being a massive issue. Worst case is the building has two states of occupied or unoccupied, with two different levels of production.
I hope it has not been done, but it might. That is one perk of designing the game this way, people can point out similarities with other games that we might not know.
The idea of deck building with multiple decks is intriguing. The problem is I don’t see, or may have missed, why in the heck I would pick up one deck over another. Am i tuning these decks for different strategies? If so, do I have to memorize How I am building each deck? So i know which one to pick up for a certain strategy direction?
You don't have to memorize. As it is your kingdom, you can check each territory any time.
Great ideas. I particularly like T's use of reaping resources. The more you take, the more likely bad things will happen.
The multi deck-builder idea is intriguing. When you first mentioned it, I was thinking something like Aeon's End, where you build your 4 decks by putting cards at the bottom of a deck, but when you buy or use a card, you choose which of the 4 decks it goes under.
Hmm... I have to look that up. As I have only played the first Aeons End game and there you just build your own single deck.
@@gruntsudens Ah, I just meant the "No Shuffle" mechanic of Aeon's End. But with 4 decks. And maybe the opponent chooses which deck you draw from or each deck does a different thing. But I like your treatment too.
Hang on. I was wrong. It is Lost Ruins of Arnak that has the "No Shuffle" mechanic.
Hey guys! Pretty fun video! I love the multideck idea. I imagined something like elements decks and having their counter deck and reward choosimg the right deck.
Also the combination idea sounds fun! Ill be waiting for the next video!
Thanks!
Combining could easily work. Both of you went for a kingdom building theme. The multi deckbuilding could work in the setting of feudalism. In a feudal system (medieval europe) a king cuts his land in smaller portions which have their own rulers, but they all contribute with armies etc when necessary. I would recommend to keep things simple at first, try to get the core of your game running before adding more stuff. More options, multi-use cards and more decks to build is cool but makes design much more complex early on. Goodluck guys!
This is some of the funniest banter stuff I've seen on TH-cam in quite a while. While you were talking about your game during the episode, I didn't think it was going to be good but when I heard the pitch it actually sounds pretty interesting. I'm definitely interested to see exactly what direction this game ends up taking.
oh i missed You :D:D:D havent seen few last episodes, but this one was so fun :D
Welcome back ;)
Thanks for the comment shout outs in the video! Like how these are shaping and definitely see potential mixing the designs. Sorry for another long comment.
Pitch 1: Like the multi-decks. As I previous mentioned, I see more strategy and deduction value in scouting smaller decks rather than one single large deck. Seems like many players do not like memorization, so consider ways players can mark down scouted info, or perhaps scouted cards remain face up. With up to 4 decks, I imagine some good dilemmas. Do I prioritize just a couple decks or go for 4 balanced decks? Fun, tough choices.
Pitch 2: Cool resource system. If the tracks are universal, there's some fun blocking/rushing to get the last of the wood or maybe scout for a new forest to harvest. Events are great, especially when I have time to react and prepare rather than just a random immediate effect. Perhaps you can scout intel on the next secret event . Ex. An NPC army attack will occur in X rounds. You scout to learn details like which districts or decks they will attack, invading unit types, or resources they will steal, etc. The prison adds some push-your-luck. Might be too random/punishing, but worth testing. Could check out the prison in Architects of the West Kingdom.
P.S. Nice suit jackets.
Hey, thanks for the comments all very good ideas.
Would like to see both games presented separately first, then can look into combining. Seems each have unique features and would love to see how they get polished.
That's what we wanted to do, but we do think that designing two different ones is going to take quite long. So we are going to try mashing them up from the get go. Let's see how it goes. We might come back to two different ones.
Excited in seeing the next episode
It is coming... just slowly..
Hi guys, mine are more questions than comments, but I hope you will find them useful. 1) what is your target audience? Try to be very specific when you answer this question. I would suggest you always keep it in mind through each step of the design. Loosing focus on who are your players could be a rough mistake 2) Have you considered the production costs? I understand you are at the very early stage of the process, but using plastic or heavily designed components may add to the production costs to the point where it gets too expensive to crow found and publishers loose interest. Don't mean to discourage, on the contrary, I wish you very good luck!!
Thanks for the feedback Chiara! Great suggestions and will try to adress these questions in our next video.
Love this series!
we need more David!
Nice video.
Thanks for watching.
Combining both could be something big. Mutli decks is nice but I think 3 is enough. With more then 3 there could be a to high entry point for players wich do not play complex games that often.
Good point. We will take that into account.
The second pitch it's almost Through the Ages with some twists
I can see the similarities. Yes.
Combine!
Red rising metallic cubes as part of the prototype?
Terraforming Mars this time. But the same planet for sure.
JG can i mill in multideck game? :D
I am going to say no, but damn, milling is a fun build.
Prototypes are great, but prison like in Monopoly? Really? :)