[prototype] Bizcardia v0.3

Tuism

Update: v0.3, a designed version, and now named Bizcardia XD

Please comment and especially let me know if you don't understand anything, thanks!



------ original post --------

Hey guys :)

I am in need of a business card, so I thought, why not try put a game on it? :)
I know that Contactics exists, it's quite a clever little game, so it's not the first time it's been thought of, but I still enjoy the challenge, and why not? :)

The premise of my business card game is:
1. Build your own deck (out of different people's business cards collected at an event)
2. Cards are categorised into darks, whites, and colours (this isn't supposed to have anything to do with race at all, really. It just kinda happened this way :/ )
2. Define your identity (which is your scoring combination) on a copy of my card, which is kept secret from your opponent.

Then, in turns, you lay out cards in a train, to the left or right of each other. Then you reveal your combo at the end and count score.

I haven't quite worked out the balance yet, but I really like the idea - it has elements of deckbuilding, meta, concerns, and hidden information. I'd love to playtest with someone to see if it works :) The real challenge would probably be fitting the rules onto a business card XD

A game end example:




Attached is a PDF of the rules with a bit more detail and the example of play.

Also, I'm really struggling to find a name for this XD Business Train? Card vs Card? Card Game? Bizcardia - The Battle For Game Design? XD

Please let me know what you think about it! :)

dammit

My only concern with this game concept is it might defeat the purposes of the business card itself - as you're now getting lots of people having multiple versions of your card, rather than many more having individual versions.

So, essentially, it's a higher cost for you, if your game is great people aren't going to be distributing your details but rather hogging them to get a score.

Just a thought.

Tuism

Oh no, that probably wasn't communicated properly on my side - the deck of cards you're using are OTHER people's cards, you only need one of MY card to play with another person (the other player must also have one of mine, to mark their combo).

I'll clarify that, thanks :)

Riocide

Haha this is so weird. I'm literally proof reading the rules for our own business card game before we post it here today.

Bensonance

Hey hey - it's a cool idea, and one I had myself a while back.

Darius Kazemi wrote a whole series of articles about networking in the games industry. His one article in particular is useful to this idea.

Of course, the value of his advice depends on how you want to present yourself - but it's still a valuable read :).

Tuism

Yeah, a business card game is not the novelty of the idea - like I mentioned, Contactics already exists out there, and right now there's a game design contest on BGG that has a single card category, and there's been a handful of cool looking entries there already :) (http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1182028/2014-card-game-design-contest/page/1)

We could even make this a game jam if we weren't... already doing it, lol :P

I wanna get some testing done to see if the concept merits... Merit :P I like that I have deckbuilding and hidden information, and then future games would/could be more different with open information and/or changing your tactics/combo :)

dislekcia

@Tuism: Are players putting down their other business cards in the same line, taking turns? How would I get the cards back that I'd placed? Also, are there rules for how the cards transition at all, otherwise it doesn't feel very tactical - the best you can do is bluff your combo early and then the other player just has to make sure that they keep making alternating combos so that none are actually favored above others. Then everyone draws.

Tuism

Yes you're taking turns, alternating. Part of the metagame is trying to read what the opponent's scoring, and maybe try to use their combo to your advantage... But yes I see what you mean.

I wanted to put in rules that change the game, for example, two blacks in a row lets you take back a card, two whites in a row lets you move a card from one end to the other, or two colours in a row lets you swap two cards... Something like that. Also if you have cards with different colours on either side you can use them as either... Which I guess would be chase rares :P

Another idea is different scoring combos - so you get to define a two combo that's worth 1 point and a three combo that's worth 2 points.

But I wanted to also keep the game simple as it's going on a business card XD I'll see what I can fit...!

skinklizzard

I know its not the same thing but maybe put a qcode on the card that links to more in depth rules
and examples. Most people(assumption) have smartphones of some form and should have access to a barcode/qcode reader.
I do realise that this puts a level of barrier between getting the card and playing the game though.

Tuism

Yeah, I think you knew exactly what I would say to that :P I wanted something without a barrier to entry :) If I were to go digital I'd have to compete with Augmented Reality 3D thingamajobs, which... Meh :P

Gonna implement some variations to the rules like the two blacks = swap cards or something, see how that works :) Then test :)

dislekcia

@Tuism: You still haven't dealt with the problem of whose cards are whose... If I'm "building a deck" of cards to use for this, then how can I ensure that my cards aren't commingled with the other player's cards when the game is over? Right now, there's no way to distinguish between cards I've put down and things they've put down, especially not if cards can get moved around by special rules. That seems like it means people will only use cards that they don't want to keep, which means that people are less likely to have the setup to play your game at a conference (because there I only take cards that I want to actually keep with me afterward).

Tuism

Hmmmmmmm you're right.

Relying on people to know which cards are theirs is too much.

How about putting cards in a "zip fashion" so that you know immediately which are yours and your opponent's?

francoisvn

I really like the core hidden goal mechanic. It immediately made me think of games like Archipelago and Takenoko, where the determining your opponent's hidden goal can be very advantageous (versus a game like Ticket to Ride, where it only helps a bit). My feeling is that you can focus on this mechanic alone, there's a lot of room here.

Instead of drawing a hand of 6, what if you have a deck of 6? That way, your only choice is to put the card on the left or right, but games go really quickly and the fact that you have such limited choice might make it easier to hide your hidden goal.

You could even consider playing with an open queue of cards and selecting a hidden goal after you see these queues.

I agree with the sentiment to not add a QR code and require people to visit a site with the rules before they can play. Another negative point of having a QR code is that the code itself will take up a fair amount of real estate on the card instead on valuable rules (otherwise it'll be too small for low-end phone cameras).

Tuism

Can I ask everyone to bring their business card tomorrow to try this game out? I'll bring a bunch too but I wanna see what the local "meta" is like ;)

Thanks guys :D

Tuism

Ok guys, here's version 0.3 of Bizcardia: The Tactical Deck-building Business Card Game :)

I'll print up a few prototypes on paper and bring them along tomorrow, let's see if it's fun/works/is broken :P
Because it's squished into a tight space I'm sure I missed a few things, so please let me know if you understand it just from reading it :)

All comments welcome!

Tuism

Thanks for some cool playtesting at the meetup last night, it was quite illuminating :)



Playtesting revealed:

1. It's a really difficult concept to convey in a few words. The claiming cards to fit your sequence, the writing/drawing/creating your own sequence, etc... Those are all quite unique and un-expected concepts. Which makes them hard to teach. (I seem to always have trouble with this, coming up with concepts and mechanics that are non-standard)

2. The special powers (two lights, two darks, two colours) are actually VERY tactical and work very well.

3. Too many light cards in general, but that might be fixed when people actually deck build :P


Not sure if I should just make something else a lot simpler. You know, maybe, like a normal business card :P

But this mechanic is actually pretty cool, I want to find a mechanic/thematic fit and make it an actual game, not with business cards.

Elyaradine

There's a typo up there. "CHALLENGE SOMEBODY".