Adjusting Difficulty Levels in Sidekick Quests Card Game [Video]


Here's a fun tidbit from the Sidekick Quests card game development.

We recorded this video a few weeks ago, in the midst of high-intensity game design session on Lyndsay's living room floor. We're clearly very engaged. Megan's waiting for us get on with our vacation. :P

But yeah, we're discussing the difficulty levels of encounters and how to adjust them against varying player groups. Lyndsay offers up a nice iconographic solution that also allows some interesting dungeon customization. Check it!

Comments

  1. G Scary TOctober 10, 2012 at 11:42 PM

    Any progress with the game?

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanielSolisOctober 12, 2012 at 9:34 AM

    Expect Prototype A in about a week or two. Still hashing out some basic mechanics. Here's the gist:

    It's a time challenge for the whole group. Your goal is to go through the whole deck before "time" runs out. Death isn't possible, so monsters and dungeons don't actually give you damage, they just cost you time. Note that the game isn't real-time, "seconds" are simply used as a pacing resource.

    The game is mechanically inspired by No Thanks. Players begin with a mix of elemental types of chips totaling 11. Reveal the top card of the deck. Each card shows a feature of the dungeon, a big number on the top left corner, an elemental suit, and an elemental weakness. The big number represents how many seconds

    On your turn, you have a choice: Take the card or put a chip on the card.

    If you take the card, those seconds get added to your current time. The next turn begins with the next player revealing a new card and facing the same choice.

    If you put a chip on the card, your turn

    ReplyDelete
  3. DanielSolisOctober 12, 2012 at 9:34 AM

    Is over. Again, the next turn begins with the next player facing the same choice.

    If you take a card, you also take all the chips placed on that card from previous turns. This is how the players share limited resources with each other. Some cards can be removed from the game with a specific combination of chips placed on them. Removing a card in this way earns time bonuses.

    The game ends when one player reaches 60 seconds (partial victory) or when the whole deck runs out. (complete victory!)

    ReplyDelete

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