Welcome back to another design diary entry! I'm thrilled to share how my tabletop gaming concept has evolved in exciting ways. When I first started developing this game, I had a clear vision inspired by the deck-building mechanics that made Dominion such a phenomenon. However, as the design has matured, the game has transformed into something entirely different yet equally compelling. Today, I want to walk you through this evolution and explain the core mechanics that now define the Tactical Deck Builder experience.
From Combo-Driven Deck Builder to Tactical Warfare
Let me quickly recap where this journey began. The original concept was rooted in the classic deck-building game formula popularized by Dominion. For those unfamiliar, deck-building games are a subgenre of card games where players construct their own decks during gameplay by purchasing cards from a shared market. The goal is typically to create powerful card combinations that generate resources or points. The appeal lies in the strategic puzzle of identifying synergies between cards and building an engine that produces increasingly impressive results.
My initial design followed this template closely. I was fascinated by the idea of creating combos—chains of cards that worked together to produce spectacular effects. However, as I playtested and refined the concept, something unexpected happened. The game naturally evolved away from pure combo-driven gameplay and toward something more tactical and spatial. Instead of players sitting across from each other managing abstract resources, I envisioned units moving across a battlefield, engaging in tactical combat, and creating dynamic interactions based on positioning and timing.
This shift was transformative. While deck building remained a core pillar of the game, it now serves a different purpose. Rather than building a deck to generate resources and purchase more cards, players now build decks of actions. These actions represent the tactical decisions your units can make on the battlefield. This fundamental change opened up entirely new design possibilities and created a more engaging, interactive experience.
Understanding the Core Mechanics
To fully appreciate how this game works, it's important to understand two key mechanical concepts: deck-building games and action selection mechanisms.
What Are Deck-Building Games?
Deck-building games are card games where players actively construct their decks during gameplay rather than before the game starts. Unlike traditional card games where decks are built beforehand and remain static, deck-building games feature a shared market of cards that all players can purchase from. As players acquire new cards, these cards are shuffled into their personal decks, creating an evolving collection of cards that grows and changes throughout the game. The strategic depth comes from deciding which cards to purchase, how they synergize with existing cards, and how to build an efficient engine that accomplishes your goals. Dominion, Thunderstone, and Star Realms are classic examples of this genre.
What Are Action Selection Mechanisms?
Action selection mechanisms are game systems where players choose from a limited set of available actions on their turn. Rather than having unlimited options, players must prioritize and decide which actions to take given their constraints. This creates meaningful decision-making because choosing one action means forgoing another. Action selection mechanisms can take many forms: worker placement games where players place workers on action spaces, hand management games where cards represent actions, or simple menu-based systems where players select from a list of available moves. These mechanisms create tension and strategic depth by forcing players to make difficult choices.
The Three Action Types: Moving, Placing, and Attacking
In Tactical Deck Builder, the action selection mechanism revolves around three primary action types, each with specific rules and limitations:
Moving Actions
Moving actions allow units already placed on the board to reposition themselves. This is crucial for tactical gameplay because positioning determines which units can attack, which units can support allies, and which units are vulnerable to enemy attacks. Move actions are drawn from your deck, and the number of move actions available limits how much repositioning you can accomplish in a turn. This creates interesting decisions about whether to move units into better positions or save actions for attacking and placing new units.
Placing Actions
Placing actions allow you to introduce new units onto the battlefield. However, placement is restricted—new units can only be placed at one of three spawn locations assigned to your side of the board. This prevents players from simply spawning units anywhere they want, which would eliminate tactical positioning as a meaningful decision. The limitation creates interesting decisions about which spawn location to use and when to bring new units into play. Since your deck determines how many placing actions you have available, deck composition directly affects how quickly you can build your army.
Attacking Actions
Attacking actions allow your units to deal damage to enemy units. However, attacks can only be performed by units that are in range of their targets. This range limitation is crucial—it means that positioning matters enormously. A unit that's out of range is useless for attacking, which creates tactical depth. Players must carefully position their units to ensure they can attack when needed while also protecting vulnerable units from enemy attacks.
The Unit System and Card Variety
The game features several unit types, each serving different tactical roles:
Unit Types
Melee units excel at close-range combat and typically deal high damage but have short range. Ranged units can attack from a distance, making them valuable for controlling the board from safer positions. Support units provide benefits to nearby allies, such as healing, damage bonuses, or movement bonuses. Defense units can be placed to block enemy advances or protect key areas of the board.
Card Actions and Selection
Each unit card allows you to choose one of three actions, unless it's a more advanced unit card. This means that when you draw a unit card, you have flexibility in how you use it. You might draw a melee unit card but choose to move an existing unit instead of placing the melee unit. This flexibility is essential because it allows players to adapt to the current board state rather than being locked into predetermined actions.
Advanced unit cards are more powerful and provide more actions per use. They might allow you to take two actions instead of one, or they might provide special abilities that enhance your tactical options. However, these advanced cards come at a cost—they're more expensive to purchase, which means you need to generate currency to acquire them.
The Strategic Depth of Deck Composition
The strategic heart of Tactical Deck Builder lies in deck composition. Your deck determines what actions you can take, which units you can deploy, and how flexible you are in responding to your opponent's moves. Building a deck that emphasizes certain actions makes those actions more common.
The currency system adds another layer of strategy. When you empty your opponent's deck of actions, they receive currency they can use to purchase more advanced cards. This means that aggressively attacking your opponent's actually helps them acquire better cards. This creates an interesting tension—you want to pressure your opponent, but doing so gives them resources to improve their deck. This mechanic prevents any single strategy from being dominant and encourages varied approaches.
Fine-Tuning for Snappy, Interesting Interactions
Currently, my focus is on fine-tuning the stats and mechanics to create interesting but snappy interactions. The goal is to ensure that every action feels meaningful and that games move at a good pace. This involves carefully balancing unit stats, action costs, and card effects so that no single strategy dominates while still allowing for diverse viable approaches.
The challenge is creating enough complexity to be strategically interesting without bogging down gameplay with excessive rules or calculations. Every mechanic needs to earn its place in the game by contributing to the overall experience.
Conclusion
The evolution of Tactical Deck Builder from a combo-driven deck builder to a tactical action-selection game has been exciting and rewarding. By combining the strategic depth of deck building with the spatial tactics of dudes-on-a-map games, I believe we've created something truly special. The game rewards both careful deck construction and tactical positioning, creating multiple avenues for victory.
I'm genuinely excited about where this design is heading, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. What aspects of this design sound most interesting to you? Do you have suggestions for how these mechanics could be refined further? The design process is collaborative, and feedback from the gaming community helps shape the final product.
Stay tuned for more updates as development continues!
0 comments