Title: L4 - Game Challenge 7-3
Course: RITA MC - VIDEO GAME DESIGN HYBRID > Section: Module 4

Challenge 7   - Massively Two-Player Offline Card Game

Your ability to analyze a digital-game IP, determine its strengths and weaknesses, and take into consideration its target market as you create games in a variety of different forms.

The results of these challenges should result in a board game that takes at least 30 minutes to play and does not involve the roll and move forward mechanic.

A popular MMO wants to release a separate stand-alone card game that reflects the thematic content of the virtual world. They are not looking for a literal interpretation, but hope that you will be able to incorporate some degree of story into the cards and feature at least one of the locations in the game.  How you do that is up to you, but they’d like to have at least 50 cards total in the game and have it be for two players.

Components Required

- Research (Internet Connection)
- Experience playing an MMO (note that there are many FREE MMO’s)

Deliverable

- 50 card playing deck based off of your selected Intellectual Property
- One page rule sheet

Suggested Processes

1.       Choose a suitable MMO.

This challenge will be more meaningful if you choose an MMO that does NOT already have a card game based on it, of course. Selecting an MMO you are unfamiliar with will also expand your knowledge.

2.       Focus on one aspect of the game.

Most MMOs have massive amounts of content, storylines, and game worlds, and there is no way you can hope to capture all of that in 50 cards. Instead, consider capturing one part of the larger game that you think will translate well to this new medium.

3.       Create a goal.

As with earlier challenges, it often helps to start your design by stating the goal of the game. This may come naturally from the piece of the MMO on which you’ve chosen to focus.

4.       Create the mechanics.

How do players achieve victory in your game?  By capturing all of the cards?  By taking all of the other players’ hit points?  What actions can they take? What effects do those actions have?  Given your mechanics, consider what kinds of things must be on the cards. If your game is based on combat, the cards may need to list combat stats. If your game is based on auctions and trade between players, the cards may need to represent items and their costs. Consider all the ways that cards can be used in a game. They can be shuffled to make a common deck from which players draw. They can be held by players in a closed hand. They can be played in front of the player face up or face down to signify ownership. They can be placed in a grid to form a makeshift game board. They can be placed in a device or implement to simulate levels. Think about how you would like to use cards in your game, and brainstorm what mechanics will come from that.

5.       Design the cards.

Once you have a general idea of how the game works, create the content on the individual cards. This is likely to be the most time-consuming part of this challenge.  Start by writing on index cards with a pencil, so that you can easily make changes if certain cads seem too powerful or weak or confusing.  You may find it easier to write the cards on a standard piece of paper or in a computer spreadsheet first, so that you can see all of the cards next to each other and how they compare to one another. You can then transfer them to paper manually or print them out.

6.       Create the deliverable

Be sure to PLAY TEST your game to make sure that the rules are complete.