Again, I apologize. Also, I'd like to be the first to wish our readers a Happy New Year! Now, onto the meat of today's post.
I'm introducing a new segment today, which I am hereby titling "Game Thesis". So, break out those card sleeves and warm up those 20 siders, and let's jump right into Game Thesis!
Now, I have to do some obligatory background exposition, and for that I'm sorry.
I love CCGs (collectable card games for those of you who aren't card chuckers...or customizable card games if you're a Decipher nut like I am), and have been playing them since Magic came out. In fact, I've played MOST CCGs that have been out, (minusing some of the ridiculous licenses like Austin Powers). But the one I fell most ass over shoulders in love with was Decipher's Star Wars CCG.
Now, this comes as no surprise to some of you that I am a huge Star Wars nerd, so this CCG was like that magical combination of chocolate and peanut butter to me. The game was in depth, required strategy, had many, many different ways to play, and was an artistically great interpetation of the Star Wars universe in Card Game form, and the templates these cards are on has set the bar for me (artistically) on what a card could look like. (Although Honorable Mention goes to the Star Trek CCG's Second Edition)
That's not to say that the game didn't have problems, because it did. In the rules, they stated that the average game lasts 45 minutes, but I have YET to play a game that fast. Usually games would last 2-3 hours and then my brother and I would declare "Final Battle!!!" move all our characters to the same location and have one last winner take all fight.
Ah. good times.
Also the with the strategy being as complex as it was, that lead to one of the most confusing games to explain to new comers. Decipher ended up releasing TWO more Star Wars themed games (both with lower complexity) in order to try to lower what I like to refer to as the "New Player Threshold."
The New Player Threshold is the point as which the new player goes "Oh, okay, so if I do this, this and this, that happens." Basically when you have to stop explaining everything to them. Magic, despite having 9,000,000 keywords (words that have rules attached to them used to save space), has a fairly low "NPT." Star Wars didn't.
The game lasted until Episode II came out. Then Lucasfilm went with powerhouse Wizards of the Coast, who made a mediocre Card Game. During that time, I played the excellent if undermarketed Buffy CCG, the Wonderful Lord of the Rings CCG, and Magi-Nation, the best game that nobody played.
And during this dark age of CCGs for me, I discovered that something was missing. And I couldn't put my finger on it. And then, my Dad, smart guy that he is, told me "If you want something done right, do it yourself."
Okay, Dad might not have been talking about my specific situation, but like an episode of House, a light went on and I started designing my own CCG.
And behold I did. And it was...okay.
It was based on the fictionalized exploits of me and my brother and our fighting. It was the CCG equivalent of a the first Fanfic someone writes. Full of self-insert Mary Sues. But mechanically it was sound. It got through a few playtest games before I decided to merge it with my comic book. Try to create something a little more marketable and solid.
What a difference Art School and a few years make on the design and art of the game, huh?
And that concludes the the history section, onto the mission and what you can look forward to in future Game Thesis segments.
The CCG market isn't what it used to be. At all. The games are drying up, and if a game doesn't have a built in marketable license, or is Magic, it's dying a quick painless death.
But "adventure games" (board games with more rules, cards and usually played in about 3 hours) are popular enough, and can provide enough story elements to satisfy my need to have my game be about more than just punching the other guy. So, tune in next time, dear companions as we set about converting a CCG with almost of decade of work behind it into an Adventure Game!
This is the kind of thing I'd come to a blog to read. The pacing is good, it's new and relevant, and has information you care about. Keep up with this trend!
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