It took me a while to really decide what kind of game I wanted to create for DIGC this semester, and i’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it throughout the holidays. During the long break, I decided I wanted to create a type of card game that requires an engaging and attentive participants, as I found these types of games particularly entertaining. I drew influences from multiple games throughout the holidays (with the lack of university work) including; Cards Against Humanity, SpyFall, Bohnanza and SuperFight. I also found a great Youtube Channel that uploads a type of “Let’s Play” with all sorts of games that I found pretty relevant!
So here’s my game: Survive
The idea of the game is for the main player to think his/her way out of a situation and survive whatever event is thrown their way by the “Devil’s Advocate(s)”, overcoming their weakness and taking advantage of whatever strengths they have. It is then up to a judge to decide whether or not the player survives, or if their arguments and plans would ultimately have them killed.
Players: 3+
Roles: (1) Survivor, (1) Judge (the player to the Survivors left), (1 or more) Devils Advocate(s)
Decks: Event, Weakness, Strength, Wild Card
Rules:
- Nominate a beginning Survivor (Then rotate clockwise afterwards)
- Clarify Roles (Survivor, Judge, Devils Advocate)
- The Judge draws 1x Event card, 1x Strength card and 1x Weakness card. The Judge must reveal the chosen cards and place them face up.
- The Judge reads out the cards, and begins the context and event for The Survivor, then asks, “How do you survive?“
- The Survivor must give a detailed argument as to how they would survive the event with their particular strength/weakness
- The Devil’s Advocate then must question his argument and find flaws that would have him killed.
- The Judge determines the length of the argument.
- If no resolution can be found, The Judge may pick up a Wild Card and change the context of the game.
- The Judge then determines if the survivor does indeed, survive
- If the Survivor wins, they keep the Event Card
- First to 3 Event Cards wins
I plan on designing the cards myself and printing them through an online service in the next few weeks, but i’m going to be bringing in some rough paper versions of the game to see what the game play is like, and see if the game mechanics need any changes. I’m excited to make the game, and see who can survive!
jakepascoe.com 
Reblogged this on Digital Game Cultures.
Great post jake. I especially love the idea that you have given a player a chance to almost moderate the rest of the players and decide who survives based on their answers. It adds a new level of gameplay as you have to construct what you are saying based on the judge as you might know some peoples way of thinking and through this try and appeal to them. The game works really well so far as it is plays off the other players sense of imagination and the depth that they can reach into to survive. The only thing i could think of that might help make the game more polished is that while having a variety of different situations would be amazing by a gameplay standpoint, having too many cards with different themes could make the players flustered and if the cards don’t connect to well then there might be less of a chance of winning the event card. Or because of this it could make the game more interesting!? Great idea!
Great original concept! I like the way you have drawn from various inspirations that seem to somehow show how they helped without taking the idea away from your game! This game see’s the involvement of all players, and I foresee the judge having some kind of influence by the surrounding player’s reactions to the scenarios. Perhaps this will be a flaw/strength of the game itself, or perhaps it’ll depend on the player who is the judge’s character. Lots of room for expansion on this game, one example could be the integration of team play. Multiple players are dealt for example an epidemic and have various cards to help and hinder. Otherwise this idea sounds really exciting! Further reading if you’re interested would be this game called ‘Ready, Set, Respond!’ (http://www.socialskillscentral.com/free/Ready_Set_Respond_Complete_Game.pdf) that has the element of reaction to various cards drawn.
This sounds like a great game for several reasons. Firstly, the possibilities are almost endless, meaning there’s heaps of room for expansions and new parts, and hence hours of entertainment for players. Secondly, It seems really simple to design, not that the idea or mechanics are “simple”, but the game mainly involves cards and imagination, meaning easy production for you and easy set up for players. I also feel like there could be really interesting ‘Lets Play’ videos for this. Imagine a group of well known YouTubers playing and arguing who survives a zombie apocalypse, this in itself could be very entertaining.
Sounds suuuper open and would be an extremely easy way to tell out those who watch Man Vs. Wild. But how restricted are the survivors? Are they running on a clock? Will the event cards determine the time limit the surivor gets to explain how to survive almost simulating the survival itself? IE. 10sec cards, 20sec cards and 30sec cards? You would have to figure a way to time this easily, maybe a simple phone app could compliment the cards and serve as a timer? I’m keen to see how this develops
Hi Jake!
I’m very excited to see your final project, as I too am producing a narrative-driven card game. There is something about these types of card games that engages you, isn’t there?
In this post you’ve demonstrated that you’ve clearly thought about the overall rules and purpose of your game, and have a significant number of inspirations that will contribute to how you go about your own project.
I have no constructive feedback to provide on this post as you seem to have a clear understanding of what you want to pursue, but just for your own personal reading, here is an interesting post I came across in my research for my own story-driven game. Although the post primarily discusses digital gaming, many of the same principles and ideologies can be applied to a physical card game (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130770/what_every_game_developer_needs_to_.php).
I wish you the best of luck with your game!