General > Site Updates

Design Article #1: The Heart of TSSSF

<< < (2/2)

Lord LunaEquie is me:
I was just throwing out random hypotheticals that came to mind. As for what I meant by them...

Yeah, I more or less meant "how does building the grid in the way it is help the game progress?", or, "how is the shape of the grid advantageous over other forms that could have been used?" -- though I understand the connections with actual shipping grids really drove the game towards the shape it is now.

As for points, there are a number of ways board games tackle point systems and winning. You give the examples of judge games like Superfight, Snake Oil, or Cards Against Humanity, and while yes that is a very fair comparison, many head-to-head board and card games have life systems where points go down, while others can use the victory points as a resource. Munchkin, for instance, is a first to ten points game, but your points go up and down like a life source.

Hand sizes and plays, too, can very from game to game. Ticket to Ride has no hand size and lets you play one track from your hand a turn, from one to six trains depending on the route, but you can't draw on the same turn and vice-versa, but it also lets you draw or pick two cards unless you pick a revealed wild from the pool, so you can save up a massive hand (I sat on a ~40 card hand on my first game because of bad draws). Most deckbuilding games give you a predetermined hand size, too, but you have to discard any unused cards at the end of your turn, then draw back up to full (usually 5). I'm not saying I think it's wrong to play as many as you can per turn then draw back up to seven, I'm just curious of the design decision behind it.

N.A. Larson:
yeah, we'll definitely talk about what effect the grid has on the game. As to different shapes, according to HPG's Tumblr post I linked in my last post, they originally tried a hex grid. I imagine that would make it hard to play a Ship between 2 adjacent Ponies.

If the points aren't awarded by a judge, you're left with winning by beating your opponents or completing objectives. Since TSSSF was specifically designed NOT to be head-to-head (again, see the Tumblr post), that leaves completing objectives. If all the objectives are present simultaneously, the game becomes very predictable, like chess with it standard openings. Having the objectives on rotating Goal cards keeps the game fresh, and difficult to plan around (again, because TSSSF is not head-to-head). If you want your victory points (achieved Goals) go down, you should play with Ithry's #MadeOurMark cards ;)

Redrawing up to the hand limit keeps the game moving. The more cards you have, the more you can do. Also, it encourages players to get rid of (play) their "bad" cards. As to seven, I imagine the number was determined by trial and error, but I know that lets you make 3 plays, and hang on one Pony card.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page