Card & Soul

A (cooperative) card game with simultaneous turns.

Everyone has their own deck of cards. (Displayed above their head? In a corner?)
Each turn, people can freely play any cards from their hand, try out moves, etc.
Once everyone is satisfied, the changes are committed and the actions are handled.

To make this work, everyone is their own player character, and the field is a grid. Yes, moving would also be a card that you play!

Basically, I wanted to see if you could make a “deck building” or “card-based video game” that can be played multiplayer. One where everything happens via selecting and deselecting cards, so you can even play with multiple people behind the same screen, and you’re all part of the same world.

More specifically,

Players simply play cards, choose targets, etcetera in real-time (simultaneously)
Drawing new cards or re-charging “mana” => how to solve that?
- Put on a timer?
- Collect stuff around the field to restock?
- Only do so when the round ends?
- Cooperate to help each other with this? => probably strongest. Others need to give you something/work together with you to get new cards.
We need some idea of pauses or rounds anyway. Why? Because people need that time to read what their card is saying.
- Alternatively, we can go a step further: add a card that, when played, initiates such a pause/time freeze.
- When that happens, the game completely pauses for X seconds. Nobody can play cards, but you can read your hand, strategize, communicate, and generally take a breather.

Input

Joystick/arrow keys moves through your cards.
Press a button to highlight a card (to make it bigger, get extra info, etc.).
Hold that button for a second to actually (permanently) play the card.

I think an undo/reset button per player would also be nice.

Theme

I don’t want the typical “fantasy heroes battle monsters” theme that all these games go with. Instead, I want something cute, family friendly, innovative, simple.

How about: you are ghosts/spirits trying to scare as many people as possible?

The map would just be a simple 2D (or 3D?) layout of a location, perhaps a street or small city.
Cards could combine to increase “scariness”
More positively, we might also be spirits trying to help as many dead people as possible, guiding them to the afterlife.

I also like the idea of running a school. But in that case, the whole game would become a parody, with cards like “Teach useless facts” and “Waste time”

Objective

With a title like “Card & Soul”, it feels like we should be guiding spirits or something. => @TODO

Notes & Issues

The Name

Alternative titles:

Cardache
Deckless Druids
Speaking from the Card
Eat your Card out
Card & Soul
Follow Your Card
A Change of Card

Proverbs with “heart” (replace with “card” for a title): https://www.spellzone.com/blog/Twenty_Five_Idioms_about_the_Heart.htm

Problems

These are big problems that would have to be solved to make this game work:

Lack of space => each player has its own deck, with cards that have to be easily readable, without hiding too much of the map
- Of course, instead of literal “cards”, they could be simplified to just an icon and some text?
Replayability => how to increase difficulty/make each next level interesting?
- Decks are permanent? So after each stage, you keep your deck and must do with what you have?
- (In which case, discarding cards/being picky becomes an important factor. As well as permanently losing “the good cards”.)
AI => because it’s cooperative, it would need some strong computer challenger.
- In this case, it might be easier to fight against a system, instead of literal enemies.
- For example, running a kitchen, running a school, etc.

A **(cooperative) card game** with **simultaneous turns**. - Everyone has their own *deck of cards.* (Displayed above their head? In a corner?) - Each turn, people can freely play any cards from their hand, try out moves, etc. - Once everyone is satisfied, the changes are committed and the actions are handled. To make this work, everyone is their own **player character,** and the field is a **grid**. Yes, *moving* would also be a card that you play! Basically, I wanted to see if you could make a "deck building" or "card-based video game" that can be played _multiplayer_. One where _everything_ happens via selecting and deselecting cards, so you can even play with multiple people behind the same screen, and you're all part of the same world. More specifically, - Players simply play cards, choose targets, etcetera in real-time (simultaneously) - *Drawing new cards* or *re-charging "mana"* => how to solve that? - Put on a timer? - Collect stuff around the field to restock? - Only do so when the round ends? - *Cooperate to help each other with this?* => probably strongest. Others need to give you something/work together with you to get new cards. - We need some idea of **pauses** or **rounds** anyway. Why? Because people need that time *to read what their card is saying*. - Alternatively, we can go a step further: *add a card that, when played, initiates such a pause/time freeze*. - When that happens, the game completely pauses for X seconds. Nobody can play cards, but you can read your hand, strategize, communicate, and generally take a breather. ## Input - Joystick/arrow keys moves through your cards. - Press a button to highlight a card (to make it bigger, get extra info, etc.). - Hold that button for a second to actually (permanently) *play* the card. I think an *undo/reset* button per player would also be nice. ## Theme I **don't** want the typical "fantasy heroes battle monsters" theme that all these games go with. Instead, I want something cute, family friendly, innovative, simple. How about: **you are ghosts/spirits trying to scare as many people as possible?** - The map would just be a simple 2D (or 3D?) layout of a location, perhaps a street or small city. - Cards could combine to increase "scariness" - More positively, we might also be spirits trying to *help* as many dead people as possible, guiding them to the afterlife. I also like the idea of **running a school**. But in that case, the whole game would become a parody, with cards like "Teach useless facts" and "Waste time" ## Objective With a title like "Card & Soul", it feels like we should be guiding spirits or something. => @TODO ## Notes & Issues ### The Name Alternative titles: - Cardache - Deckless Druids - Speaking from the Card - Eat your Card out - **Card & Soul** - Follow Your Card - A Change of Card **Proverbs with "heart"** (replace with "card" for a title): <https://www.spellzone.com/blog/Twenty_Five_Idioms_about_the_Heart.htm> ## Problems These are big problems that would have to be solved to make this game work: - **Lack of space** => each player has its *own* deck, with cards that have to be easily readable, without hiding too much of the map - Of course, instead of literal "cards", they could be simplified to just an icon and some text? - **Replayability** => how to increase difficulty/make each next level interesting? - Decks are permanent? So after each stage, you keep your deck and must do with what you have? - (In which case, discarding cards/being picky becomes an important factor. As well as permanently losing "the good cards".) - **AI** => because it's cooperative, it would need some strong computer challenger. - In this case, it might be *easier* to fight against a *system*, instead of literal enemies. - For example, running a kitchen, running a school, etc.