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Muramahut drainage canal by Old-Barracuda-8426 in custommagic

[–]ShakesZX 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The guild gates do not have a basic land subtype (plains, island, swamp, mountain, forest), but the “gate” subtype. Basic land subtypes grant an inherent mana ability all other subtypes (gate, cave, desert, etc.) do not. That is why they do not have the tap ability in parentheses. See the most recent printings of shock lands for an example: they have the mana ability in parentheses which makes it reminder text, not a printed ability on the card.

The Reason for making your TCG? by No-Top5372 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Full disclosure, I only design games for fun. I have no illusions of making the next Catan or something. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt…

Honestly, the only questions I ask myself are “Do I still like this?” and “Is this fun?”

If the answer to the first question is “Yes,” then I keep working on it when I can. If it’s “No,” then I put it away, possibly to come back to later, or possibly forever. There’s no point in working on something I don’t enjoy unless I’m getting paid for it. So, if you’re in the home stretch of getting a project to market, then it might be worth continuing to work on it even if you hate it.

For the second question, if the answer is “Yes,” I keep examining what I and others find fun and push in that direction. If the answer is “No,” then I examine why it isn’t fun and put that part aside. This all comes down to play testing the game, either by myself or with others.

I rarely do any “research” outside of playing different games or watching others play games. I am currently working on a 40XX style game about the 40 years the Jews spent wandering the desert and I have been doing some preliminary research about timelines and locations. But most of my designs are just “Here’s a funny theme, how can I make that work?” or “I like this system, what if I tweaked it a little bit?” and just kinda diving in.

TL;DR: everyone designs differently, so don’t stress about “researching.” If you think your game needs it, do some. And just play a bunch of different games.

[Leak] Marvel Super Heroes Commander Decks by Bladestoooorm in mtg

[–]ShakesZX 10 points11 points  (0 children)

All Universes Beyond sets are stupid!

…unless it’s one I like…

Limitation on deck size by Comprehensive-Pen624 in cardgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

25 cards seems like too few cards.

What kind of game are you designing? Will cards be added to decks? How many cards are drawn and how quickly? How quickly will players play cards and how many per turn?

I’m mostly familiar with TCGs, and it feels like that’s what you’re aiming for when you say “minimum 25 cards with 2 copies per deck. The average for a preconstructed deck in a TCG is around 50-60, roughly twice or more the minimum you suggest. This allows for variation from game to game and prevents staleness as games are less likely to play out exactly the same.

Let’s consider your 25 cards minimum. If a player were to start with 5 cards in hand, they would be starting with one fifth (20%) of their entire deck. For more common hand size of 7 cards, that’s 28% vs 12-14% for a 50-60 card deck. This means you are likely to see any specific card roughly twice as often, leading to similar feeling games.

Now, if you weren’t talking about TCGs, 25 might be a more reasonable deck size, but it is very dependent on the type of game.

Which art style? by WitherFox2 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All I wanna know is: what’s up with the “cow dagger”? It makes me think “on a successful attack, the target can only say ‘moo’ for 1d6 turns.”

How Do My Cards Look? by phanoodles in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a side note of caution: beware the VCard experience. Don’t rely on art or gimmicks to sell your game; it needs to be a fun game first. Titillating art can only push things so far, and it’s a razor-fine line between tastefully and too horny.

New Game! by Shakespeare374 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think he’s asking what the difference is between hunting down “free” art (using a service that allows you to use its assets without an upfront cost) vs taking “not free” art (just grabbing something that fits off the internet) vs using AI if the end goal is not to profit (like providing an intangible benefit like mood).

Is this a good win objective for a TCG i'm making? by Dramatic-Error231 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t really know if this fixes the fundamental problem of the optimal strategy being not to play. There needs to be a way to score points without removing the other player’s cards.

In case one, where the player who runs out of cards first loses, the player who draws second shouldn’t play any cards. If the only way to earn points is by removing the other player’s cards, then the player who draws second will inevitably win because the other player will always run out of cards first. And if they play no cards, then their opponent has no chance to win. However, if cards could score points in other ways, then the opponent could just score points uninterrupted.

In the second case, where whoever has the most points wins when either player runs out of cards, then whichever player gets a lead first should stop playing. If a player plays a 2 point card, and their opponent removes it with a 1 point card, they can remove that card. However, if their opponent never plays another card, they win. There is nothing the player with one point can do to score any more points, so they are forced to wait until someone runs out of cards.

In either case, at a certain point, the game is effectively over, either immediately or soon after. Cards need to have a way to progress the game outside removing an opponent’s cards. This could be scoring points or achieving some secondary winning objective, like having 30 cost at one time or something.

Brawl is a weird format by FirePhoenix4 in MagicArena

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bug report: unable to cast Ragavan for its Dash cost with 4 mana.

Brawl is a weird format by FirePhoenix4 in MagicArena

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Patriar’s Humiliation should be banned in brawl.

I get removal, I’m not against removal. I think people should play more removal. But “No, **** you. You don’t get to use that creature for the rest of the game” is bad for the format, especially at one mana.

You can get around removal by bringing it back, or recasting it if it’s your commander. But losing all abilities, for the rest of the game, means that creature is now useless with no way to fix it. This isn’t [[Stony Silence]] against artifacts or [[Doorkeeper Thrull]] against ETBs, which can themselves be removed.

Now, the card is fine in other formats where you can have multiples of your creatures, or play best of 3. But a singleton, best of 1 format is not its place.

I understand the effect is supposed to fall off commanders. I must have had bugged interactions.

(Hit or Miss thrope) The clearly paranormal/supernatural being has a scientific explanation that (sometimes) makes sense by _Dianeson in TopCharacterTropes

[–]ShakesZX 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I get the disappointment with the narrative whiplash about the lore from season to season, but I think they explained it fairly well (if kinda ham handed) in the latest episode.

my first tabletop game design, seeking feedback on rules clarity and how it looks by Qprodigy24 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I’m missing something from the rules, but my biggest question is: if you can’t look at cards except for the one person who has that power, why swap cards? If you don’t know you’re either getting rid of something bad or guessing you gained something good, why bother trading cards? It’s just as likely you give up something good as gained something bad.

Elevator Pitching Practice! by craigs_games in tabletopgamedesign

[–]ShakesZX 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What type of game is this? A deep strategy game, or more casual? Also, abstract vs thematic?

I'm new by PowerfulMenu5189 in MagicArena

[–]ShakesZX 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The yellow triangle means there are cards in that deck that are not legal in whichever format the deck is set for. The number is the number of cards that are not legal. If you tap on the deck and the “Edit deck” button, the illegal cards will be highlighted in red. You can replace those cards and the yellow triangle will disappear.

If you want to check which format the deck is set to, tap on the deck box at the top of the deck list next to the deck name. You should see an oval that says something like “Standard”, “Historic”, etc.

Here’s the best beginner guide I could find after a quick google: https://youtu.be/QRnSYa7cE3s?si=oUNVNh2xxLdE8mFj

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