Week 10- Deck of Cards

This week in class we are continuing our study of card games, but with a twist. Every group was tasked to make a playable discard card game with a spooky theme and at least 52 cards. Although it took the entire class period, my group and I went with the theme of Trick or Treating, designating each member tasks to complete before our playtest last Thursday. And just as RIchard Garfield stated in From Alpha to Gamma section of his text The Design Evolution of Magic: The Gathering “Moving from Alpha to the Beta version was like releasing a wild animal”- The Design Evolution of Magic: THe Gathering, pg. 542. What I mean is when playtesting our card game with our other classmates, the game itself ran rather smoothly, aside from a few notes on the wordings written on the specialty cards and some basic rule clarifications. However something was missing when playing our game, it was a little too laid back and easy. One of my teammates suggested adding more specialty cards to add more of an edge to the game. Creating the specialty cards is my job and there’s a lot of things I have to consider when creating them, one of the most important things is balance. I have to make sure i’m creating cards that give an advantage to the player dealing the cards, but not too much that they immediately win the game. One way I can help balance the specialty cards is to “describe core rules as clearly as possible, describe any exceptions clearly, and define significant game terms before you use them.”- Writing Effective Rules, James Earnest, Pg. 4. By allowing my cards to clearly state how and when they can be used allows the players to strategize proper ways to use them to their advantage without fear of rebuttal from their opponents. In the end my cards should help the players enough to gain an advantage, while also allowing enough room for their opponents to be able to catch up if they don’t stay on their toes while playing.