EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ZhFyklU.png)
Rawr
So I guess we named the game... kind of. Like everything, it's subject to change. But this will be the placeholder for now. Action Points were changed to Mana, which is a good change, because Action Points sounded really dumb.
* The Game
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DnESzCf.jpg)
An example card
Mana is a game with drinking, for 2-6 players. After struggling between a "Drinking Game" and a "Game with Drinking", I've decided it's better to go down this path. It might reach less people, but it will be much more interesting designing a game with a little bit more depth.
Players control 1 of 12 Heroes, using Mana and Drinks to transform people, animals, and resources into powerful Minions, Equipment, Spells and Battlefields. Drinks are not a game resource, they are Drinks you are required to take to play cards.
Each Hero has unique Abilities that will (hopefully) push players to play with differing styles. For example, the Ranger gains an extra Mana per turn, allowing her to play the early game very quickly and compound that advantage by levelling up earlier than other players.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xWqwxMV.jpg)
All art by Coagulation. I did nothing :_(. Actually I drew some stuff for Coagulation to reference, and it's probably the biggest "LOL" reaction I've gotten from him since we started working together :_(
* Lore
I hate reading and I don't enjoy lore. When I was a kid, I never really played with action figures and made stories up about them. Instead I usually made up games or played board games, even by myself. But lore is important to a lot of people. Many people were drawn to Starcraft because of the story, not because of the gameplay. I see posts on Reddit about crazy theories tying champions together in League of Legends. That made me realize this game needed to some back story, no matter how small.
After our first phone conversation, Coagulation mentioned it would be much easier for him if he knew who all these Heroes were, and what they were doing, why everyone was fighting, etc. Being a project manager at my real job, I know when busy, talented people (Coag) ask for support from useless, untalented people (unnamed), you give them what they need. Fast forward a few days, and this beauty was born. I won't tell you who drew it. Names were censored to protect the innocent.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0M5sgXO.png)
Yes, this caused the "LOL".
One thing led to another and our basic story has been fleshed out. We are flexible enough that we seem to rename / add / cut about 50% of whatever we are working on that day, but the basic backbone always remains there.
After finishing the basic story, Coagulation brought up a great point: Some Minions seem like they could relate to a few of the Heroes, but many of the Heroes seem like they don't have anyone in this fight at all... For example, where is the Pirate's army?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/o6kZwJv.jpg)
The lonely Pirate
This caused us to completely revisit every Minion. I ensured we had a balance of good and evil Minions, humanoids and monsters, and made sure every Hero had a reasonable piece of the fight. I think the game is heading in a fantastic direction at this point.
* Progress
I think we've gotten a lot done this last week:
- We mapped out the story and assigned the "good side" vs "bad side"
- We gave every Hero a 3-6 sentence backstory and determined their alignment (lawful good vs chaotic evil, etc.)
- Coagulation finalized a preliminary card design. This was a lot of work for Coagulation. Special shoutout to him for me driving him insane with endless revisions.
- We revamped all the Minions, determining their origin, allegiance, and leader.
- I cut the instructions from 12 pages to 7. This was a lot of tweaking. I'm pretty happy with them now.
- I feel like Coag has some sort of slave labour drawing camp. It's like Chinese gold farming but for drawing card art. It's the only explanation...
- I finally got my card sleeves and a set of reusable cards.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IV3I6I9.jpg)
Hooray! Beer spilling for everybody! Also pictured - the 5 decks of playing cards in between 42 pages of paper I had to painstakingly cut out with scissors. Thanks Breaking Bad for making it fun.
* Book Learnin'
I was really enjoying the Rules of Play book that was recommended... but that kind of slowed down. The book moved from a useful (to me) phase where it introduced new ways of thinking and comparing, to a history and etymology lesson for several chapters. I endured it for as long as I could but eventually started skipping pages. I'm on Unit 2, page 160. I read about 15 pages every day at lunch, hoping for that one nugget of information that's going to really change the way we're designing... but I haven't found it yet.
It continues to be a fun project and I have no idea where it will go. At the end of the day, worst case scenario, I'll have a deck of cards and a game that I made with an awesome TL member. Ain't nothin' wrong with that.
I'll leave you with my favourite card art so far, the Summoner:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rebdoyL.png)
Thanks for reading.
. I wonder how much planning happens to facilitate playing the game compared to these aesthetic plans; of course that will probably happen later when the art design and background is set up.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/a2qQUTH.png)
