Design Journal: Theme Forward

There are a few ways to approach game design. You can start with a mechanism that you want to work around like worker placement or card drafting. Another way is to start with a thematic idea like the old west or battle in space. I find that I am most comfortable with the latter. My design philosophy is that of simulation. I find inspiration around me and I try to find the most elegant set of mechanics to put to the inspiration to simulate the idea.

Cards in Space Prototype

In my first design, Meowy Cat Mess I tried to figure out how to simulate a cat climbing a tree and knocking ornaments off. With my latest design Cards in Space I tried a different approach. I picked 2 things that I thought didn't go together and then thought of a theme that would work with it. I chose trick taking and miniatures. Growing up I played a lot of card games with my family. In my early twenties I played a lot of Battlefleet Gothic so the thought of putting them together seemed like a wild idea at first.

 I picked 2 things that I thought didn't go together and then thought of a theme that would work with it.

As I thought through what the game would be about the smaller components came pretty easy. The game would be about a demolition derby in space. The teams would have to assemble their ship from spare parts. The building of the ships would become the trick-taking and card drafting part of the game. The actual derby would be the miniatures battle part. Now that I had the broad strokes I could start filling in the details.

I knew I wanted suits for the trick taking portion because I wanted it to feel familiar to new players. I also new that I wanted the suits to represent different aspects of the ship that players needed to collect. This would provide a way to build out the parts for player to draft and build their ships. In my next post I will discuss how I customized the deck and how I am refining it.