Cool Card Design of the Day2/11/2016 - I wanted to make a scalable bolt: one that could deal 1 damage for one mana, 2 for two, or 3 for three.
This is the most direct approach, but notably not common, thanks to the existence of X, further complicated by restrictions and additions.
Two kickers? I borrowed the multi-kicker template to explain how it works.
FINE. I'll just use multi-kicker. Now it can deal 4 damage for four mana, or as much as you've got. So I had to restrict it to hitting creatures so it's not just the best Blaze in mono-red decks. At least it fits the title better.
...I just had one more idea:
AMAAIT R
ReplyDeleteInstant
Kicker 2/R
~ deals damage to target creature or player equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it.
The thing that spawned the last template was the idea of 2/1 hybrid, which normally wouldn't make any sense.
Delete2/R definitely makes more sense than 2/1. Suboptimal that the costs are R:1 RR:2 2R:3, but no less awkward than the concessions in the other designs.
I wonder if there's a mechanic in creating a keyword or mana symbol for this sort of "scalable but only so far" card, it feels like there'd be other interesting examples, both ones that only really have two mode, and ones that have several.
ReplyDeleteEg.
???G
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Target creature gets +1/+1 for each mana you spent casting it.
Eg.
R
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Varikicker 2 (You may spend up to 2 as an additional cost to cast ~)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each mana spent casting it.
Except my problem is, for lots of cheap spells like this I want CMC 1 to mean X=1, and maybe have a separate generic-? and green-?, but for more expensive spells, I want the option that it's not linear.
There would have to be sufficient depth to pursue this, but given that kicker IS this, there must be.
DeleteBurst Lightning [{4}]{R}
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Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to target creature or player. If you chose to pay Burst Lightning's optional cost, it deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead.
Burst Lightning {R} +{4}?
As Many Arrows as it Takes [{1}][{1}]{R}
As Many Arrows as it Takes {R} +{1}? +{1}?
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DeleteI had this strange idea/fusion of level up and modal spells and alternate costs.
DeleteQuick mock up
Neat!
DeleteThe problem floating around with this design space (which is neat) is that the "correct" cards are going to have a lot of math in them, like even your example has an X+1 (which is more math than I want), but the Giant Growth one is probably going to be a +2X/+2X or a +1+X/+1+X, and almost every effect is going to have this kind of scaling.
DeleteAesthetically, that means these designs are going to be really ugly. I would love to find a template that makes there be less math, like some way of printing a table on the card that says "if you spent blah, then you get blah." Many board games have this kind of thing, so maybe we can get away with it. It also allows development the flexibility to design a card where, say, X can be 0, 1, 2, or 9 and does something different in each case.
It is a tough nut to crack no matter what!
Did you see P's mock up?
DeleteOh, I didn't! It showed up as an error earlier. It is like a doubly split card, which is definitely one way to go!
DeleteI like the naming paradigm you've used yesterday and today.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're killing it with these last names :)
DeleteNow I wish I'd included the smiley mana symbol in the site's programming.
DeleteAnother way to do it:
ReplyDeleteXR
CARDNAME deals X damage to target creature or player plus one. If X is more than 2, CARDNAME deals 3 damage instead.
Or maybe:
ReplyDeleteR
As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, you may pay up to RR. CARDNAME deals damage to target creature or player equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it.