Game Concept

Overview

Working Title

Ascent / Conqueror / Tactician / The King’s Finest (one of these)

Genre 

Abstract Strategy game, Strategy, Deck builder

Abstract strategy games are ones in which nothing occurs randomly, and perfect information is provided. Perfect information implies that all players are informed on all events occurring when making a decision (BoardGameGeek, 2022).

Deck builder games involve the construction of a unique deck as a key component of gameplay. In the case of this game decks are not constructed but rather your army/team.

Concept Statement

This game takes the foundations of chess and blends it with army building strategy. You must take out the enemy King whilst protecting your own with your unique army.

Initially you and your opponent will be required to assemble your team. There is a variety of unique units with differing abilities that you can combine to create your perfect army. This process rewards cunning thinking and encourages forward planning to get the upper hand on your opponent even before the battle begins. Following the building stage, the game commences in a chess style strategy showdown.

Concept Creation Process

In the lockdown of 2020, I got very bored and very addicted to playing online chess. I love the competitive and strategy aspects of the game and how no two games are the same despite having a very basic premise. I thought about how I would approach making a game in this style, that rewards clever thinking and encourages replaying to hone their skills but is still simple and enjoyable to play casually. This eventually led to the concept of this game which, put simply, mixes the basic structure of chess with deck building aspects seen in games like Magic the Gathering, Yugi-oh, Pokémon TCG. This puts a fresh spin on the tried and tested formula of chess.

Audience and Competitive Analysis

This game brings deck builder strategy into a more casual audience whilst still maintaining being complex and deep and appealing to a competitive audience. Furthermore, this will be a fresh experience for seasoned chess fans.

Deck builder games, like the ones mentioned above, sometimes suffer from not being that approachable to casual gamers/newcomers with the overwhelming amount of cards and rules that are involved. The game I seek to make will only consist of a comparatively small number of unique units for deck/army construction to make it more approachable. On top of this, a large percentage of people understand and have been taught the basic premise of chess. Using this as a foundation will make it a more intuitive game to play. This lowers the barrier of entry and means it can appeal to a much larger audience, similar to chess.

Similar games to this include: Chess, PawnBarian, Chess Pursuit

Chess will probably bring good attention to this game rather than the inverse as players may be looking for a fresh chess like experience.

The market for chess spin-off games (Such as PawnBarian, Chess Pursuit) may be slightly oversaturated which means games in that genre may struggle to find traction. The general formula seen in this style of games is taking the skin and look of chess and switching genre or adding a gimmick. The game I intend on creating differs from this as it does not use chess artwork but instead borrows gameplay aspects of chess. I will not match the game with chess visually but moreover use subtle iconography to suggest they are related. The game will have an identity outside of being a chess gimmick/spin off.

Game Treatment

Objective

The premise of the game is to conquer the other team by eliminating their King. This is done by landing two successful strikes on the King (This may be subject to change).

Overview

This game will have options for local co-op and vs CPU mode. This style of game is well suited for online play and ideally this would be implemented however I don’t believe this will be possible for this project. The game is turn based. The basic structure of a turn involves a movement phase and an ability phase which can occur in either order.

Movement Phase

Movement will vary dependent on the unit type. Similarly, to chess if a unit moves to a square occupied by an enemy unit that unit is destroyed. Destroyed units are moved to the graveyard.

Ability Phase

Unit abilities can be either active, reactive or trigger. Active abilities are always active. Reactive abilities are used in response to an action occurring.  In the ability phase you cast a trigger ability. The type of Abilities you can use is dependent on the units you have in play. If a unit is on the board, you get access to their ability. If that unit is destroyed, all lasting effects from that ability are removed as well as the potential to use that ability on later turns. Refer to the ability list to see the differing abilities. Some units do not grant  abilities these are special units ie soldiers and King.

The game window can be broken down into three main sections. Board, information panel, graveyard. The board is where the game occurs.

Information Panel

The information panel (book) is used to analyse a unit. When analysing a unit, the book will provide game information regarding their ability and their movement type. There will also be a tab dedicated to flavour text on that unit type. Example below.

Graveyard

When a unit is destroyed it is moved here. This allows the players to keep track of what has been eliminated. Furthermore, some abilities interact with destroyed units. 

Balancing

Balancing in this game is a process that will require a lot of thought to make sure there aren’t certain strategies that guarantee a win. A system that I intend on implementing is a point buy system for your army. When creating your team, you will have a given amount of currency to spend. More powerful units cost more. Based on player feedback, unit costs could be adjusted to scale power/usefulness.

Story

The priority of this game is the gameplay; therefore, this will be the first area I refine. If I find that I have extra time given the completion of this step, I will try to implement a basic story/tutorial mode. This will involve building your army from nothing slowly gaining allies from the opponents you defeat. This will translate to unlocking new unit types in the game. There will be themed battles and armies that you may verse ie Forest, Scholars, Mythical, Undead. Game board art could be made to mirror these themes. On top of this a basic narrative could be added.

Ability List

Special

    King – Cannot be the target of any ability.

   Solider – Basic Unit.

Reactive

  Shield – Can protect adjacent units against an attack (Usable 2 time).

Active

   Lover – Prevents enemy units from using their abilities (Area affect: straight line forward).

Trigger

   Scholar – Shows hidden opponent information, such as units that have death touch, accelerant.

   Ranger – Can perform a long-ranged attack in a straight line, cannot go through ally units.

  Necromancer - Can bring back any unit from the graveyard in the position of this unit.

  Wizard – Can switch the positions of two ally units.

   Dark Magician – Can grant any unit death touch, units with death touch destroy attacking unit   when they are destroyed. Units with                     death touch are unknown to the opponent.

  Alchemist – Can grant a basic unit accelerant, units with accelerant can move twice their ordinary distance. Units with accelerant                            are unknown to the opponent.

   Divine – Can smite (destroy ignoring Shield) one enemy of your choice, must sacrifice this unit and adjacent unit on use.

   Oracle - Undecided

References

BoardGameGeek. 2022. Abstract Strategy | Board Game Category | BoardGameGeek. [online] Available at:              <https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamecategory/1009/abstract-strategy> [Accessed 24 August 2022].

 Chess.com. 2022. Play Chess Online for FREE with Friends. [online] Available at: https://www.chess.com/home [Accessed 24 August 2022].