Hi all!
Well, as everyone who reads this knows, I make a lot of games:)
My most recent one is a very simple little card-based wrestling game for one of my favorite, and one of my son's favorite, toys... MUSCLES! They are an old wrestling action figure toy that came out years ago; I loved them, so I found some for my son and he loves them too! Of course, any wrestling figures need a game too, so I made one!
It's VERY very simple. Each player gets a hand of cards, made up of attack and defense cards. As a player takes more damage, it gets easier to pin them. The cards are broken up into generic cards that make up a chunk of both players deck, but each player also gets some cards that are specific to the "style" of wrestler they are playing (Hulks get a lot of close range, high damage attacks... Flyers get a lot of longer range attacks and also cards that let them move, Ghoulies get to snatch away opponent cards, and Brains get a lot of cards that let them move and recover damage.) They also get a single "Special" card that is different for each wrestler... you can see those above.
So we had a match (each lasts between five and ten minutes) between Sumo and Vampire!
Here is my guy, Sumo, ready to go. He is a hulk, so he likes being up close and personal.
Here is my son's guy, Vampire, as the match begins!
You get three cards each "round." Here is an example hand, where I had two attack cards (A Hammer Punch, which is specific to Hulks, and a Big Punch, which is a generic card) and one defense card (A Quick Sidestep, which is a generic card.) You can either use the cards as they say, or just discard one to move a single space.
Here is one of my son's hands... he had two generic attacks (Quick Kick and Snap Suplex) and a Ghoulie-specific defense, which lets you block two damage and also move your opponent one, which can let you drag an opponent into range of an attack, or even move them away from you if you worry they have some huge damage, close range card in their hand.
Another of my son's hands... a bit of a beast! A generic Spin Punch (which is nice, because it lets you move as well as attack) and then the Ghoulie attack Kendo Stick Smash (really high damage and some decent range) and Embrace Attack, a tricky Ghoulie defense card that has no actual defensive value, but makes your opponent take the same damage you take!
Here is one of my hands... the best generic defense card (Heroic Defense... there are only two in the whole game) and two Hulk attacks... Chest Smash and Overhead Press, which is an interesting card because it moves the opponent AWAY, which isn't ideal for Hulks, who like to work up close.
Here we are... Vampire and Sumo have smashed away at each other, and have each gotten a few Pin markers. Basically, if you want to pin your opponent, you can use your last card of a round to make a Pin Attempt. Roll under the total number of Pin markers your opponent has, and you win! But if you don't, they actually heal away one Pin marker... if you know how wrestling goes, you know that, when a guy gets out of a pin attempt, he often gets a second wind! So going for a pin can backfire!
Here we are, deeper in the game, and my son pulls this nasty hand...
Here is a sample round... I played Bear Hug. My son had no defense cards, so the damage went through. He responded with Vampire's special attack, which moved HIS damage over to ME! Yikes! I responded with Overhead Press and moved him a square away from me. He used a card to move towards me, into range 1. This made me suspicious... why does he want to get close to a Hulk? So I played another card to back off. He growled, and played a second of his cards to get into range 1 again.
Turns out I made the right move, as he had the Range 1 Ghoulie Attack, Cheating Attack! Here you can see the three cards we used to move. It's tricky, using cards to move instead of what they are used for!
My son was starting to put serious Pin makers onto me, although here I gave him a Big Boot to the face!
Not to be outdone, he drew these three cards for a hand... getting hit with Kendo Stick Smash, and also getting bit by Vampire's special move AGAIN, started to really wear me down. I tried one last desperate attempt at a pin, needing to roll under a three, but it failed, and my son went down to only two Pin markers...
... and he promptly pinned me, rolling under the seven pin markers I have! (Although we realized afterwards that a six is supposed to ALWAYS be a fail... a guy always has a chance to fight out of a pin, no matter how desperate it looks!)
So that's the game! I made it in one morning, and I'll be honest, it is the smoothest game I've ever developed.
Up next? Adding cards to represent special match types (i.e. Table Match cards) and also developing Tag Team matches!
Anyway... thanks for reading, and if anyone wants more specific info for the game, lemme know!
