How to get mana/resources?

Question

 

There are a couple of ways this could be done, and I think we need to decide which we will use.

1) Resource cards

Magic:The Gathering style where resource cards are drawn and cast at no cost to increase resource pool.

Pros:
- Can't think of any.

Cons:
- Less balanced since it is based on random luck.
- More work for users as they have to balance their deck to account for resource pool.
- Generally less fun, in my opinion.
- More potential for exploits, e.g. a deck with lots of mana and a few "god-cards", etc.

2) Resource ticker

Hearthstone style where your resource pool increases automagically on each turn.

Pros:
- Simple to the user
- Fair to all players
- More time for users to focus on their combat deck balance
- Easy to program

Cons:
- Can't think of any

3) Another form

We could explore other possible mechanics, but I cannot think of any. Suggestions welcome!

Comments

Or Yu-Gi-Oh's style which they do not use mana at all. They just limit the amount of cards you can have on the field at one time, and they use a star based rating system on the importance, rare value, and strength of the creatures. To bring out your bigger guys, you have to tribute your smaller guys. Traps, spells and effects cost nothing to play, but are very specific as to how and when you can use them, and are also limited. Just something to think about.

Answer 1

At the current time it looks like there will be a fairly simple system, and it is documented in the GDD in Google Docs.

 

- Main resource will be Mana, and is acquired Heartstone-style (increment total mana once per turn). It will be used to cast Bio/Mech creatures in the mod.

- Alternate resource will be Scrap, which is acquired by sacrificing a Mech creature for 1 scrap. Scrap is used to cast upgrades on other units.

Refer to the shared GDD for details.

Answer 2

I'm a fan of the Hearthstone mechanic personally. To set it apart we can always call mana something different (Glyphs, Runes, etc, just general ideas). But I think that is the easiest and most accesable. Plus it keeps the deck count low and will keep the games moving consistently without down time where people are fishing for mana during their turns. Also, it completely eliminates the risk of someone not drawing any mana and getting steamrolled by the enemy (in comparison to the MTG alternative)

Comments

The "name" of the resource would be up to the modder, I can just make a "name" table in SQL with a generic reference as the PK and the "custom name" which the game will actually use.

Answer 3

I agree that I like the HS mechanism but just wanted to contribute some more options:

Accumulative Resources

You get x resources each turn, you can have a maximum of y resources. Those resources you don't use in a turn gets stored and can be used the next turn.

Example: You have 12 resources now, you get 2 more each turn. You have a card that costs 15 that you want to use. You wait two turns so you have 16 resources. Then you use that card and you now have 1 resource left.

Example game: Castle Wars 2

Fixed Amount of Resources

You have x resources available each turn that you can use, that's it.