Designing the TCG topic

[IAmSerge]

Alright, if you're actually interested in designing a TCG, there will be a number of topics to discuss upon what will go down:

1: What will the theme of it be, if any?  Just because this is a chrono site, doesn't mean thats all we think about all day every day, nor does it mean thats the kind of TCG we'd want to play.  Not ruling out the idea of a chrono TCG though.

2: Game Setup.  Stuff like, how many cards in a deck? How many of each card type can you have at once? etc.  Pre-game info.

3: Card Types, a little more specific than #2.  What types of cards? what will they do? why have them? etc.

4: Gameplay.  Hows the game going to be played? Turn based, how?  What can you do when? Why?

And Finally:
5: The Actual Game: How we gonna do it?  Design a video game based on the above predetermined standards and use online play to rock it out?  We gonna sign a contract with some Taiwan mass-production company to make these cards for us?  We gonna do it ourselves?

Anything else I missed, lemme know.

All of the above are open for dicussion and opinion injection, so please inject opinions!

[ZaichikArky]

This seems kind of unlikely considering the online medium...

[IAmSerge]

Definitley not the kind of helpful ideas I wuz lukkin 4... =(

[ZaichikArky]

Sorry. Good luck on your project. 

[Temporal Knight]

The only issue that this presents is the TCG online play. Unless you had ties with a person who can super-program and practically make an online game, it's relatively unlikely that this online play would happen.

However, I have seen something similar on other forums.

1. Forums set up a Card Shop, while cards are made by somebody. Special permission to this person, and nobody else can make cards. However, ideas for cards can be submitted.
2. Some sort of money system, in which individual cards or "packs" of cards are purchased.
3. Players create a forum in some sort of Off Topic area, such as an RP area or a forum directly contributed to the TCG.
4. Set rules for the TCG.
5. Etc etc etc.

It's a bit more complicated, but also easily done. Only a suggestion.

[Thought]

Ah, I love system design. But at TK noted, to really work as a card game, there would essentially need to be a central repository (GMesq) to manage everything. A "tranditional" card game, like Munchkin or Bang! might work better.

[IAmSerge]

Ah, I love system design. But at TK noted, to really work as a card game, there would essentially need to be a central repository (GMesq) to manage everything. A "tranditional" card game, like Munchkin or Bang! might work better.

I'm not so sure you would need a central server as much as you would just need clients.
FOr such a small group which this would be reaching, I think it would be safe just to go with IP connections direct to another client, have the clients themselves host their personal array of cards by storing the data encrypted (or less!) in a simple .txt or other data file.  Personally, the data-based side of the design, from my point of view, seems simpler than the gameplay side of the design would be.

[alfadorredux]

As I see it, a server has two potential uses: tracking who's on-line and available to play,
and keeping track of what cards are in people's decks, both to allow deck restoration in the
case of a catastrophic hard drive crash, and to prevent cheating. It might also make
distributing new "special edition" cards easier if we decide we want to do something silly
like that. But a server certainly isn't necessary...and worrying about the on-line play
mechanics before designing the game itself is a bit premature.

Unfortunately, I don't normally play TCGs, so the best game idea I've been able to come up
with so far is a sort of Chrono-themed Triple Triad clone. Hopefully, someone else
can do better than that.

[Temporal Knight]

That system might work, but it would require a very large amount of elbow grease, methinks.

[V_Translanka]

Cro-No-Gi-Oh! But, seriously, there's bound to be plenty of card games that have come out for various systems that should be hackable, yes? Quite a few emulators support online multiplayer, so it would just be a matter of seeing which card games worked on those. I actually wouldn't mind seeing about retooling a Yu-Gi-Oh to fit in with the Chrono game world, actually...

[ZombieBucky]

oh dear god he said the bad word! everyone! duck and cover! this is not a drill! i repeat! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!

...
id love to make some sort of game that would be all our own. it could be chrono people as well as compendium people. a nice mix of all good things!

[Temporal Knight]

*laughs* Special cards being those of the members.

[Acacia Sgt]

Let me guess, the Ramsus card would be an auto-win.

Wait, maybe that's too much.

[Temporal Knight]

We could have the Five Burning Passions of Zeality, as our "Exodius" replacement. *laughs*

The only reason I know this is because I used to collected Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh cards.

[GenesisOne]

I like your idea for this TCG concept you've got going here.  When I first saw this thread, it got me thinking about the "Heroes of Guardia" card game from CT Unglued.

Exactly what TCG system were you planning to model it after... or were you trying to come up with an original system?  I must say, though, the second option would be a lot harder to pull off.

As for your list, in this order (these are just my ideas and are totally optional to this game):

1: What will the theme of it be, if any?

Wars across the eras, of course. A Pre-determined era will be chosen via an Era Card. This card will come with attributes for a specific era. Later in the game, if someone uses a card that changes eras, it will replace the original Era Card.

2: Game Setup. 

60 cards in a deck, six cards in a hand at max (Unless you have a card that allows you to exceed the limit, which there probably will be).

Six Sections: Deck, Graveyard (right of the deck), Monsters at the center front, Characters in the center back, Spell and Item cards in the upper-left section, Event and Location cards in the upper-right section.
 

3: Card Types.

Monster: Enemies from any era (Reptites, Mystics, Robots, etc.) to form your army
Event: Uses any significant event and sidequest in the Chrono games to your advantage.
Character: Both PC and NPC characters from any of the Chrono games.
Item: Need I say more?
Spell: Must match character's base element to be used.
Miscellaneous: Does not fall under the above categories (I thought of a Location card and the aforementioned "Era" Card)

4: Gameplay.  Hows the game going to be played?

Draw Phase: Draw your card.
Main Phase: Use any Spell and/or Item card(s) you have.
Combat Phase: Attack your opponent.
Main Phase: Use an Event card
End Phase: Self-Explanatory.

5: The Actual Game: How we gonna do it? 

Why, Make it an interactive Flash Animation Game.  The Compendium will be the sole "factory" for what cards get produced and who gets them (e.g. the more you post, the rarer the cards you can get).  Everyone would get a starter deck, and moderators would be responsible for creating "booster packs."

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Anyways, this is just my idea of its setup.  What says you, IAmSerge?

Also, what name for this TCG did you have in mind?