Multiplayer Mayhem

WELCOME BACK 'SLINGERS!

Too much excitement? Sorry. Today is all about multiplayer rules. I'll be specifically talking about the physical card game implementation of multiplayer, but it more or less applies to the app as well.

Grimslingers is all about keeping a fast pace, while maintaining deeply strategic card play. If you aren't already familiar with the way the 2 player duel works, both players attack each other at the same time (like you would in a typical western duel).

BEST WATCH YER BACK NOW

The 3-4 player version of the game also has all players attack each other at the same time. I'm not a big fan of waiting on other players to take their turns, which was a big influence on the decision to have everyone go at once.

It's kind of a like a Mexican Standoff. You don't know who's going to attack who, and it's going to be chaotic when it all goes down. Duels aren't meant to last long, so don't expect to live longer than a few turns. When you come out as the last one standing, it's going to feel pretty great though!

The rules are still being finalized and play tested, but here's how they look right now:

- HOW TO PLAY THE GAME -

3-4 PLAYER DEATHMATCH

This version of the game  is set up and works identical to the 2 player duel, with only a few differences.

1. Each player needs to have 4 “Target” cards. If you are player one, take the target card for player one and place it beside your character card. Players are not allowed to be the same number as another. Therefore, someone needs to use target card #1, another player takes target card #2, and so on.

(art and text not finalized)

2. All players attack at the same time. Each player must choose a target for their spell during the “Draw” phase. To do this, pick one of your target cards and place it face down with whatever spell you have chosen to play

1. If you are passing, or your spell does not target one specific foe, you must still play a target card. When you reveal your cards, do not flip over your target card.

2. Once all players have revealed their cards, players must check to see who is opposed and who is not. This means that if the player you have chosen has NOT chosen you, you are unopposed.

3. If more than one player is unopposed, each must draw a card from the number deck. The player with the highest card goes first, and so on. (re-draw if tied). Resolve your card as outlined in phase three, “The Aftermath” of the 2 player duel.

4. If your target has also targeted you, you are opposed. Opposed cards are resolved after unopposed cards. If all players are opposed, each pair of players will resolve their cards at the same time. Opposing players will resolve their cards by following the instructions in phase three, “The Aftermath”, of the 2 player duel.

3. When using “Create Distraction” you must state which player you are trying to distract.

4. When facing off, the player who has the lowest personal target card goes first.

There you have it folks! Cards will soon have further classification to state whether it targets 1 foe, all foes, yourself, or no one. 

Team duels will likely be a small expansion to the game with extra signatures just for teams.

As always, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Grimslingers vs Hearthstone

This post is going to sound somewhat hostile towards CCGs (collectible card games) and in particular, Hearthstone. 

As a disclaimer I will say that I don't think any CCG is necessarily bad, or that Hearthstone is bad. Different game mechanics appeal to different people. But in order to further shine light on why I think Grimslingers will be a terrific game, I'm going to make comparisons and point out perceived weaknesses of the genre/game.

CARD GAMES ON THE RISE

In case you haven't heard, Jagex (makers of Runescape) have announced their very own Hearthstone "clone" (quotes because gameplay sounds fairly unique). You can read about the announcement from several places, like here: http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10/13/runescape-announces-hearthstone-like-card-game/) 

Hearthstone is incredibly popular so it's doing a lot of things right. It's simple, easy to play, everything can be earned by playing the game (A LOT), based on a popular IP, etc. 

CCG's are going to be the new MOBA's following Hearthstone's success. Many companies will make one (many already have of course).  

In fact...Grimslingers (the app) is a mini CCG, but strays from the typical pitfalls of the genre.  

THE PITFALLS OF CCGs

This is probably a somewhat subjective topic, but I know many will share my opinions here. I'd like to share a comment I read for Jagex's new game (http://www.mmobomb.com/news/jagex-enters-card-game-market-chronicle-runescape-legends/).

"I don’t mind people ripping off a game that sucks, because that means there’s potential for them to make a better version of it. I don’t enjoy Hearthstone, there’s a lot of problems I have with it, so I hope Jagex makes a card game that’s more enjoyable, and preferably with more single player content because I don’t enjoy playing against real players.

All real players do is recycle the same decks and cheese strategies they see everyone else using, and so every game feels like you’re playing against the exact same opponent. This is why the only enjoyable aspect for me in Hearthstone was their Naxxramas content. The PvP was horrible – every other game was the same Unleash the Hounds/Buzzard combo deck or Zoo deck and I got tired of going against the same crap in 90% of my games."

Harsh but speaks to a large part of what I dislike about Hearthstone/CCG's. OP (overpowered) builds and flavor of the week decks.

OVERPOWERED CARDS/DECKS

Balancing an entire game with hundreds of cards is incredibly hard. Plus it PAYS to have imbalances (people will drop a lot of cash to get that OP deck built). There are just so many variables making it hard to balance.

That's why I've designed Grimslingers differently. Players attack at the same time, and have the same set of 6 spells (Fire, Water, Earth, Ice, Wind, Lightning) which means there is a foundation for balance in PVP there. 

In addition to "element" spells there are "signature" spells. This is where the CCG part comes into play. You'll be able to customize your deck with these signature spells. However, you can only have a max of 3 signatures (currently it's only 2 until we add more). 

There are only 6 signature spells in the game right now. That's not because I couldn't think of more, but because I wanted to focus on balancing what I had. Each signature is no more powerful than the next. In Grimslingers, the cards you build your deck with only change how you play, not your power. How you use the cards (your personal skill and strategy) is what gives you power over others. 

In time, more signatures will be added. Keeping the limit to 3 signatures makes balancing the game easier and avoids having too many variables. Because each signature is as powerful as the next, I also avoid a "pay to win" business model, forcing players to drop tons of cash, trying to get the best signatures from a random outcome.

Another reason for only allowing 3 signature spells is that it makes the game much easier for first timers to card games. You don't need to coordinate 30 cards to work in unison, just 3. This helps even the playing field and allows non-hardcore players to feel competitive and competent when facing others. No need to Google the  deck of the week.

The game is geared towards mobile players, which are inherently more casual in their play styles so the overall process of deck building is very simple here.  There are planned features that support more serious card gamers who like lots of customization.

I can't share specifics at the moment, but it's called the "Boon" system.

THE CASH GRAB

I've already written a lengthy blog about p2w (pay-to-win) games here: http://isaacblacksstudio.blogspot.ca/2014/09/pay-to-lose.html , but I wanted to talk about it in the current context some more. 

In Hearthstone, your chances of getting the cards your WANT or even NEED (to be competitive) are not in your favor when purchasing a booster pack of 5 randomly selected cards. It costs a 2.99 USD for 10 cards (two packs, you can't buy just 1 with money). The more you buy, the better the price is (though as a digital game, it literally costs them nothing to give you more booster packs. At least physical card games can be connected to distribution and packaging). It's a cash grab, plain and simple. One that works very well, mind you. Millions are buying into it. 

But millions are not, and would like a different approach to competitive card games.

Grimslingers doesn't need the income to support a big studio of employees, so the game doesn't need to take this kind of cash-grab-pay-to-win approach to game design/monetization. 

Grimslingers is only being produced by two people for the app version and just plain ol' me for the physical card game. I can't share all the details on how the game will be monetized, but it will be free-to-play with IAPs (in app purchases). I can say that it won't have a pay to win approach, as nothing in the game design supports that. 

PVP vs PVE

Card games are fun, but not everyone wants to play them against others (as stated in the comment I posted earlier). It's why I like FFG's LOTR coop card game. It's why, after having perfected our PVP experience in Grimslingers (or close to it) we're shifting our focus to PVE content. 

I'd also wager that for a mobile game, a PVE experience will appeal to a larger audience than PVP. I must admit that I enjoyed Hearthstone's new PVE content more than playing others to rank up. 

How PVE will look in Grimslingers is still being designed. Initially it'll come in the form of challenging AI opponents, and I hope to build on that and add unique boss mechanics and story content (suppose it partially depends on how much our kickstarter funding ends up being). 

One thing I've seen a lot of people ask for in Hearthstone are coop battles. The Grimslingers app has been designed around having 2-4 players. It's something myself and my partner, Jeff Faust, are super excited about producing.

IN CLOSING

Grimslingers aims to be a truly unique and refreshing experience for those that love card games and those who don't (yet). 

If you disagree, have questions, or agree, leave a comment!

TAKE COVER!!!!

Howdy 'Slingers, 

Welcome back! I'd like to share a few updates to the Grimslingers gameplay.

• More Standoff Abilities Added: Take Cover! and Create Distraction.
• Water's element effect is now a red banner. 
• Fire's effect only discards elements now instead of all spells. 
• Reckoning scores adjusted.
• Elements are now deactivated when used. 
• Solo element effects have been removed.

Alright, so lets go over each bullet.

More Standoff Abilities Added

My design philsophy with Grimslingers is that you ALWAYS have a chance to turn the duel around and come out on top. Well, there were times when you only had 1 hp and 0 energy. Which meant you could do absolutely nothing but wait to die next turn. Not cool!

Hence the "Take Cover!" ability being added. Here's what it does:

"Try and find some cover. +2 energy, foe’s element spells will do no damage or red banner effects if you succeed. If you fail, you will not be allowed to use any spells this turn. Draw a number card, 3 or 4 is a success."

So, if you happen to be at 1 hp and 0 energy, you could try and find cover. Your chances are slim, but you DO have a chance!

"Create Distraction" wasn't put into the game to solve any problems but rather to add to your options. You'll only ever be using 1 spell per turn, so this ability lets you get some decent use out of your unused spells.

Here's how it looks:

"Use any active element spell to create a distraction. Deduct energy costs and deactivate it. Foe will take double damage this turn if successful. Draw a number card, 5 is a success."

If both players successfully distract each other, the effect is nullified for both. Creating a distraction doesn't guarantee you anything, but it COULD be awesome if you manage to hit them with a spell. Personally, I'd try and distract, then if successful I'd surge, cast Foresight, pop in lightning. That'd do 8 damage, potentially 18 if I apexed in a face-off and my opponent busted. Single turn win. Now....the chances of that going perfectly aren't great, but they are there!

The skills are located on the back of your character card. You can only use one or the other, so you'll flip the card over and state which one you are attempting to use.

Water's Effect is now a Red Banner

If you aren't familiar with the game's mechanics, blue banner effects are guaranteed to happen, red banner effects only happen if you successfully hit for foe. 

I switched water to red because healing in a game that is meant to be quick slows it down, especially if said healing is guaranteed (which it was if you used water). Water is still very effective when you do get healed, because you can convert that health back into energy after. It also made Earth a more practical defense (instead of water) because it's "-2 damage from foe's attack" is guaranteed to happen. So...if you need some defense and energy, try and use water. If you really need to avoid damage, use Earth. 

Fire's Effect

Fire's effect use to discard any spell at random. Now it will only discard element spells. The reason behind this relates to reckoning scores, which requires a longer explanation than anyone would want :P.

"The Reckoning" Scores Adjusted

Lots of testing in the app version of Grimslingers has helped me fine tune the scoring system for the physical card game. Admitedly, this is probably going to require more adjustments. It works good as is, but until we get players really testing it out and providing feedback, it's as good as it's gonna get. 

Deactivate After Use

Elements are not deactivated after each use (deactivations only last one turn). This was implemented to prevent players from spamming a particular element over and over. Spamming didn't break the game at all, it was just annoying. This way, players are forced to try different spells from turn to turn.

Solo Element Effects GONE!

I've removed the solo effects of each element. So now, if the element's synergy is broken, the element will no longer have any special effects. For instance, water will give you +2 HP if your ice is active. But if your ice ISN'T active, your water will no longer have that special effect. This has had a huge a meaningful impact on the strategy of the game.

That's all for now folks.

High Moon Is No More.

As a noob game developer, I've made a few mistakes. Ok fine, a lot of mistakes. One of them being a misunderstanding of how trademarks work.

Now, I haven't been accused of infringing, and I don't think I ever would be. But the reality is, I could be. There is a webseries comic called "High Moon", which I knew about after I started using the name High Moon (but totally should have known about it beforehand) and thought distinguishing my IP as "High Moon The Game" and "High Moon: The Elements" would be good enough to avoid any legal troubles.

Well, this week, for the third time in the year I've been using the name High Moon, someone asked if it was at all related to the web comic. Both are westerns, both feature supernatural things.

As I understand it, trademark infringement depends a lot on if your IP can be confused with another, and seem logically linked. If the other High Moon was a research lab dedicated to studying the lunar cycles, there wouldn't really be much of an issue.

So, before any issues arise, I'm changing the name of the game.

It's a pretty big hit in terms of progress. Seeing as everyone knows the game as High Moon. The transition itself will take awhile too as I've got to change the name everywhere. But this is the consequence of not doing my research. Learn from my bad example! LEARN!!!

The new name is...

Undecided so far! But here are a list of candidates that are available (all of them would likely have subtitles, like High Moon: The Elements): 

Dusk 'til Death
Iron & Magic (the game has a lot of robots in it)
Sundown: Duels (this one probably sounds the most like a game)
Sunset Slinger
Grimslinger (Grim is short for Grimoire Animus, which are little companion robots you use to cast magic. It's what gives you your abilities really. So, technically you play a grimslinger in the game. More on that to come later!)
Wild Iron

Which do you prefer?

Perfection Is A Fallacy

Perfect is an interesting word. I think society's general idea of it is "without flaw", but how that translates into the real world is very subjective and even ambiguous to ourselves.

I'd like to talk about the pursuit of perfection first. We all do it in some way or another. We either want to look perfect for a date, create a perfect work of art, a perfect game, whatever. I don't think we usually expect to achieve perfection, but we pursue it, often to some degree of frustration. 

In terms of game development, perfection comes in the form of the feature creep, or tirelessly working on details that are irrelevant, or will be glossed over. Or focusing on every aspect of the game equally. If your game is combat oriented, you better make dang sure it's solid before wasting time on other features.

Well, the reality of it all is...you can't create a perfect game. So stop trying. Perfection, "without flaw" isn't attainable. Sorry. So if you ever find yourself in that mindset, please abandon it. 

As a general rule, I usually ask myself "Does this increase sale value? Will this increase people's desire to buy it? Will this help the majority of people enjoy the game more?", and I try to be brutally honest as I answer my own questions.

I'd like to offer a new pursuit, and that's "Purpose". What is the purpose of this feature? What is it trying to accomplish? If the purpose is to say...increase longevity of the game, then work on that feature until it accomplishes it's purpose. But go a step beyond, be specific with each feature's purpose. Instead of "increase longevity", make it "increase gameplay time by 1 hour". The more specific the purpose (or goal) is, the better off you are. You'll know exactly if you're fulfilling the purpose of that feature or not. 

For instance, I wanted High Moon to be a quick game that was casual friendly. Thus I needed gameplay to last between 5-15 minutes. So I set about refining various aspects of the game until a duel was fun, and only lasted for the amount of time I wanted it to. I also wanted it to be hardcore friendly for those who wanted a more difficult challenge and a lengthier play duration. So again, I worked on features that would allow the game to be both a 5-15 minute game, or a 20-30 minute game and just as much fun either way.

I guess this post is really about setting goals, and avoiding a more ambiguous vision for your game. When I first started designing High Moon, I had a few goals, but the majority of what I was trying to create was quite ambiguous. Overtime I refined and refined until I knew exactly what I was trying to create, and then set about doing that. 

Glad to say, I've finally achieved it, and you can too!

Is it fun?

Here is a list of things I generally consider when designing a game (in no particular order). These are personal preferences/opinions based on my own experiences.

• Progression
• Players need to feel as if they are progressing in a meaningful way as they play your game. Whether it's for 5 minutes, or an hour, or more! (depending on how long you intend a play session to typically last).

• Challenge
• EVERYONE that plays needs to feel challenged. Challenges are fun, but don't make it too hard because it can easily discourage players. Challenges comes in all shapes and sizes. They can be puzzles, opponents, figuring out how to build your deck, etc. 
• Each facet of the game should typically offer some kind of challenge to the player. Something to "figure out". It doesn't always have to be hard, but things generally shouldn't just be handed to the player.

• Customization
• Players should be able to differentiate themselves from others in a meaningful way. Cosmetics and Abilities are what it really boils down to. Altering your "stats" is essentially altering your abilities so attribute/stat customization is really ability customization. 

• Reward
• Players MUST be rewarded for their actions.
• Rewards should be satisfying and something the player is interested in.
• The more challenging something is, the greater the reward should be. 
• Offer micro and macro rewards. For instance, in High Moon you are rewarded +1 damage for "Apexing" during a face-off (micro reward) and then doing damage/effects for winning the face-off and avoiding damage/effects (macro reward). 

• Consequences
• Along with rewards, there should be a punishment for playing poorly. Technically a reward is a consequence as well but typically we think of consequences as a negative.
• Consequence means player choice has weight and meaning. If the player has options in a game, those options should matter and alter their experience. 
• Punishment shouldn't be so severe that it discourages the player. They are playing a game to have fun, and over penalizing a player isn't fun. Punishments that require a player to sink a significant amount of time back into the game are bad (I'm looking at you, Everquest corpse runs!).

• Different ways to win
• Players should have different paths and options for winning the game. Guild Wars 2 is a great example of this. Each quest usually had 2 ways to complete it that suited different tastes.
• The different ways to win should be equally viable. This means no overpowered build in your card game that results in everyone wanting to play that build. It means in an MMO, no OP builds for classes in games. It means balanced options that treat all player's preferences equally (this is extremely hard to do, and developers spend years trying to balance their game). If designing paths in a level, each one should be equal but different. Example: Path 1 is shorter and takes less time, but has harder monsters or more traps. Path 2 is easier but takes longer. 

• Immersion
• An important part of immersion is simply how you present the game to people. Do you have a cluttered UI? Does the game constantly take you out of context with pop-up boxes and notifications? (*cough*neverwinter lockboxes*cough*). 
• Story. Story is important, and how it's presented is even more important. I feel it is better to present story in small bits throughout the game, not all at once or several giant chunks. Allow the story to unfold in smaller ways, it feels more fluid. Star Wars: The Old Republic (and other bioware games) do an amazing job at immersing you with the story because you choose what your character says. The game treats you like you are actually there, instead of like a spectator. 
• Bad Example of presenting story: "John! Oh I'm so glad you're here. The town is on fire and I couldn't find you! Please you must go rescue my cat, whiskers. He's all I have left after my grandpa died. I'll give you 5 gold coins if you do it, just please! Please John!"
• Good example of presenting story: "John! I need you, I lost my cat escaping the flames, please go find whiskers!" (after the cat is found) "Thank you! Whiskers is all I have left after my grandpa died. Here's 5 gold, you must take it for your troubles". 
• It's also not important how unique the premise of your story is. Sure, your game may be the 100,000th zombie apocolypse game. That doesn't matter. What matters is how you tell the story. That's where people get immersed, that's how it becomes compelling. 

• Social
• Games are often more fun with friends. Mobile games have some pretty unique and simple ways of making their games social...even for single player games. Example: Dead Ahead allows you to connect to facebook and see your friends' high scores. It also lets you see where they've died in any given level/how far they made it.
• If the game is meant to be multiplayer, that should mean more than just people are sharing the same online space. Give player's GOOD reasons to play together. Make the experience altogether more rewarding and more interesting when player's work together. Make it easy for people, and especially friends, to play together. 
• Example: Rift allows you right click any player and form a group with them without their consent. It has no negative consequences whatsoever. 
• Example 2: Guild Wars 2 gives you a map notification of defeated players who can be brought back to life, and then gives you experience for doing so. 
• Example 3: Tomb Raider: Guardian of Light, players MUST work together to solve puzzles and progress, it cannot be done Solo. 
• Example 4: In Warframe, if you are playing with others, there will be locked doors that require two players to press buttons at the same time for them to open. This is small, but it forces players to work together instead of independently. 
• Independence is not something you want in a social game. Interdependence (i.e. "I could do this on my own, but it will be better and more rewarding with someone else) and dependence is best.

• Art/Graphics
• Whatever style you choose, do it well. Art is the first impression a player gets of a game. Make it count. Art needn't be lavish or expensive, just make it look good.
• Art cannot save a poorly designed game. Many mobile games try to cover up horrible design with good art. Good art makes a game seem more legitimate, a higher production value and thus we think it would offer an equally good game design...but it's just a trick to get you to download the game, open it up and see ads while you waste your time realizing the game sucks.

• K.I.S.S. 
• Keep it simple, stupid! Don't over complicate your game. This doesn't mean the game needs to be simple. What it really means is simplify. 
• Don't make it look like there are millions of choices when 99% of them have the same result. Don't make skills that look different but do the exact same thing, just have the one skill or make them each different! 
• Don't offer a million choices for different game types because you CAN (board games do this all the time). Figure out what is most fun, and offer that. 
• Don't spend 10 hours working on something a player see's for 1 second. Don't spend hours writing out a generic dialogue players will skip anyway. Refine it, simplify it to it's core purpose.
• DO spend 10 hours writing significant dialogue that is well written, moving, and important to the story. 
• Etc

• Is it fun?
• "Fun" is completely subjective. Though there seems to be some general objective things that people find fun, many of which we're listed above. 
• Because fun is subjective, you can't expect everyone to love your game. That's why we choose a "target audience", a group of people who generally share the same subjective opinion of what is fun or not. 
• A lot of mobile/free to play games aren't actually fun. They are designed the same way a slot machine or lottery is, it appeals to a psychological weakness in the human brain that urges them to continue playing beyond any true logical reason. Sort of a "waiting for the fun to happen" (payouts). Real fun is immediately rewarding. It's not a gear treadmill, it's not a grind, it's not a "title" or an empty "achievement" that took hours and hours of monotonous, punishing gameplay to get. It's not, stop fooling yourself. Get out of the casino, put down the lotto ticket and go do something worth your time and money.

So do you agree or disagree with the points in this list? How do your favorite games stack up? Or for you indies, how does YOUR game stack up (challenge issued!)?

Don't Look Down!

This one is for all my fellow indie developers.

Do you ever feel discouraged? Ever feel like you've lost your way or your game has fallen out of grace with fans? Ever feel like giving up and moving on?

I'm not here to say "STOP THAT!" because it's okay, all of these things ultimately define you as a developer. Adversity is a refiner's fire and will make us into something far more shiny and worthwhile than the lumpy piece of ore we started out as, stuck deep in a pile of dirt. 

Opposition in all things.

Another way to define adversity can be opposition. Not to say that anyone is really "opposing" you, aside from the follies of life in general. I'm going to quote a scripture I read that I think define's how important this opposition can be. 

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

Opposition gives us context, a context for our happiness, success etc. A tangible thing to compare it with. Don't you think that Chris Gardner (guy the pursuit of happyness movie is based on) appreciates his fortune a lot more than say...Paris Hilton? (celebrity born into wealth...as if you didn't know!! :P ). 

He does, without question. And so will you, my fellow indie! 

You don't know what's around the corner.

There have been many times in the last year that I've been doing indie dev that I was quite discouraged. But ALWAYS, right around the corner, was something to reignite the flame of passion I needed to keep going. 

I'll give a very recent example. I've been making a lot of changes to High Moon...frequently for the past year (that's normal in development, just ask any indie). Problem was I was very open about my development process and the many changes. 

I think I lost some fans along the way who preferred the original, broken concept, or the original pixel art presentation of it. One such fan was Insomnicron (that's his twitter handle). He liked the original game so much he went and made a boardgamegeek.com entry, full with an articulate rundown of the game and all it's details. 

I loved it! But as I kept changing the game, he became less and less vocal and participated much less. So yesterday I was musing about this and a lack of fans in general, when out of the blue I get this tweet:

Cannot tell you how happy that made me. It swept away my discouragement. He followed it up with a direct message (which I hope he doesn't mind I share...):

(um...ignore the typos!)

You may not have fans like this yet, but if you let discouragement get the best of you and stop refining your game (or working on it in general), you never will. 

Then, on my deviant art, I got this message the same day:

I realize now that sometimes you have more fans than you know, they just aren't vocal. Reflecting on my own fanness (is that a word?!? nope) I tend to stay silent most of the time for games I LOVE...it's just my personality. The point is, the future holds amazing things you for, but only if you don't give up (I know sometimes it IS the best option though). 

Opposition makes you better. Perseverance makes you

better-er, and being indie just makes you awesome :)

Side Note: We're all fans of indies, so lets try and be vocal (even if it's not your personality, like mine). Because who knows...maybe that indie game you're in love with is about to fail from discouragement? Or just in a big slump...So let's offer encouragement wherever we can!