Great analysis video! Kohdok's lessons on TCG have also been invaluable to the development and inspiration for my own game. Im always trying to get folks together to playtest.
I personally like Life Decking, but I played a lot of Star Wars CCG and WWE Raw Deal. Two of the better life deck games. One thing I loved about playing both those two games is you show up to the table with the deck, that's it. No dice, no paper, nothing. Has a nice feeling to it.
I had this idea of flipping Life Decking on its head. Basically all your cards would give you draw power and discard power. The objective of the game would be to deck yourself out. The problem is your opponent will have cards that will add cards back to your deck. But by doing that you then have more deck out cards to use to then attempt yourself to deck out. It sounds silly but it could be a fun twist.
@@ShardTCG I wanted to ask you a question, you can answer in the comments or with a video, a video would help a lot. So when I play test with strangers I get hit with questions I’m not prepared for because I didn’t think about them while making my game. What are some questions I should ask myself when making a game? Some of them were about strategy and statistics both on the surface and below the surface. I think I only answered the surface level strategy/statistics but the below the surface questions stumped me because it went into a complicated realm that I wasn’t prepared for or know how to prepare for. Would you be able to help?
Broadly, I agree with Kohdok that balancing is case by case. However, I do think there is more to be said about it. For instance, when he gave the example of draw 2 being strong in Yugioh, you then explained why that's the case. I think by explaining why something is weak in one game but strong in another, you can ultimately give generalized balancing advice.
This is true. You can explain so much, but it would be such a long video, and you could find that you still miss out on a lot of important tips in the end.
The point about draw 2 in Pokemon being weak isn't because Pokemon has an "Energy System," because that's not related to the card draw in Pokemon. Most Pokemon card draw is tied to cards that themselves do not have a cost, energy is a limiting factor for your Pokemon and from my understanding the card draw in Pokemon being so insane (draw 7) is in part a way to make the Energy system less clunky by allowing you access to more of your deck so things are happening instead of just waiting for Energy. There's a game like Vanguard where "draw 2" is also kind of a middle of the road effect (from my knowledge of Vanguard) and it doesn't have a mana system. The reason being because every time your Vanguard attacks you draw 1, sometimes 2, cards, so putting cards in your deck simply to draw more cards is a liability, and leveling up your Vanguard also can get you free draws. This is DOUBLY so in that you actually want to keep certain cards (Triggers) in your deck in Vanguard. No mana system in Vanguard but card draw is still not super important. In Yugioh's spinoff game Rush Duel Pot of Greed is legal (as a Legend card) and some people play it but of the Legend Spell you get there are way more reasons you might choose to play something like Monster Reborn or Pot of Duality over Pot of Greed, because they have effects that are oftentimes better for a game where you get to draw to 5 every turn. Now, it's true that if the Legend card mechanic did not exist in Rush Duel and every deck could play Pot of Greed, most likely every deck WOULD but that's outright ignoring a major part of the game - the Legend Card mechanic DOES exist and when deck building you have to look over every Legend spell and decide which is the most valuable for your deck. You play Pot of Greed and you are losing out on powerful cards like Heavy Storm, Dark Hole or Monster Reborn - maybe your deck benefits from those more than a +1. It kind of is the point of saying you can't really talk about game balance on specific factors without accounting for the entire game. Because in order to actually have a grasp on why something is good in one game but middling or another you can't just sort of have an overarching "well because in my favorite game it does it like this."
You could talk about how your game was balanced so we can get your opinion on the things that worked out for you and the things that didn't. Or at least talk about how the effect "draw two cards" affects Shard TCG.
Good point. With Shard, we spend mana to draw. So 1 mana will be worth 1 draw. So a 2 draw card would be quite cheap as it would cost you a card plus mana. Hand size isn't very powerful in Shard due to Shard and Mana resources that dictate the speed of the game.
@@foyoGames I will check out HP. Star Wars CCG is one of the best games for those who are fascinated by card mechanics. Raw Deal is a lesser known game, but was surprisingly very deep strategically.
@@darthnixilis304 still gotta play those, but I've played some offshoots of those: WARS & Hyper Juken ...great mechanics, gameplay, & life decking indeed
I agree with shard, talking about balance isnt meaningless, every talk has context. same one feature can be bad in one game, but can be good in other game
Yesss Kohdok's the GOAT. Outside of places for more general design thought spaces, he changes my brain chemistry for approaching TCG design
Good content. I've watched like 10 of your videos this week. Time to subscribe.
Great analysis video! Kohdok's lessons on TCG have also been invaluable to the development and inspiration for my own game. Im always trying to get folks together to playtest.
We all love Kohdok. Keep up the hard work, my friend.
Kodok is the goat ive watched all hiz vids! Great advice
I personally like Life Decking, but I played a lot of Star Wars CCG and WWE Raw Deal. Two of the better life deck games. One thing I loved about playing both those two games is you show up to the table with the deck, that's it. No dice, no paper, nothing. Has a nice feeling to it.
I had this idea of flipping Life Decking on its head.
Basically all your cards would give you draw power and discard power. The objective of the game would be to deck yourself out. The problem is your opponent will have cards that will add cards back to your deck. But by doing that you then have more deck out cards to use to then attempt yourself to deck out.
It sounds silly but it could be a fun twist.
@@ShardTCG oh that does sound interesting, could be a fun idea to toy around with
That last bit with the camera was hilarious. XD
Yeah, I had no idea where I went for a second xD
Thanks!
When I saw both of you in the thumbnail I HAD to watch it! Not disappointed 😁🤘keep up the great work!
Haha, thanks very much!
@@ShardTCG I wanted to ask you a question, you can answer in the comments or with a video, a video would help a lot. So when I play test with strangers I get hit with questions I’m not prepared for because I didn’t think about them while making my game. What are some questions I should ask myself when making a game? Some of them were about strategy and statistics both on the surface and below the surface. I think I only answered the surface level strategy/statistics but the below the surface questions stumped me because it went into a complicated realm that I wasn’t prepared for or know how to prepare for. Would you be able to help?
Broadly, I agree with Kohdok that balancing is case by case. However, I do think there is more to be said about it. For instance, when he gave the example of draw 2 being strong in Yugioh, you then explained why that's the case. I think by explaining why something is weak in one game but strong in another, you can ultimately give generalized balancing advice.
This is true. You can explain so much, but it would be such a long video, and you could find that you still miss out on a lot of important tips in the end.
8:02 This is false information. Pot of Greed is banned because no one knows what it does.
Dude this one's so good also my games first cup I'll cards should be done this week
Great news!
Thanks
The point about draw 2 in Pokemon being weak isn't because Pokemon has an "Energy System," because that's not related to the card draw in Pokemon. Most Pokemon card draw is tied to cards that themselves do not have a cost, energy is a limiting factor for your Pokemon and from my understanding the card draw in Pokemon being so insane (draw 7) is in part a way to make the Energy system less clunky by allowing you access to more of your deck so things are happening instead of just waiting for Energy.
There's a game like Vanguard where "draw 2" is also kind of a middle of the road effect (from my knowledge of Vanguard) and it doesn't have a mana system. The reason being because every time your Vanguard attacks you draw 1, sometimes 2, cards, so putting cards in your deck simply to draw more cards is a liability, and leveling up your Vanguard also can get you free draws. This is DOUBLY so in that you actually want to keep certain cards (Triggers) in your deck in Vanguard. No mana system in Vanguard but card draw is still not super important.
In Yugioh's spinoff game Rush Duel Pot of Greed is legal (as a Legend card) and some people play it but of the Legend Spell you get there are way more reasons you might choose to play something like Monster Reborn or Pot of Duality over Pot of Greed, because they have effects that are oftentimes better for a game where you get to draw to 5 every turn. Now, it's true that if the Legend card mechanic did not exist in Rush Duel and every deck could play Pot of Greed, most likely every deck WOULD but that's outright ignoring a major part of the game - the Legend Card mechanic DOES exist and when deck building you have to look over every Legend spell and decide which is the most valuable for your deck. You play Pot of Greed and you are losing out on powerful cards like Heavy Storm, Dark Hole or Monster Reborn - maybe your deck benefits from those more than a +1.
It kind of is the point of saying you can't really talk about game balance on specific factors without accounting for the entire game. Because in order to actually have a grasp on why something is good in one game but middling or another you can't just sort of have an overarching "well because in my favorite game it does it like this."
Key moment: James switched corner 0:04
Haha! It felt wrong! Get me back in my corner
@@ShardTCG #GetJamesBackInHisCorner lol
You could talk about how your game was balanced so we can get your opinion on the things that worked out for you and the things that didn't. Or at least talk about how the effect "draw two cards" affects Shard TCG.
Good point. With Shard, we spend mana to draw. So 1 mana will be worth 1 draw. So a 2 draw card would be quite cheap as it would cost you a card plus mana.
Hand size isn't very powerful in Shard due to Shard and Mana resources that dictate the speed of the game.
Life decking is gr8
Life decking is degeneracy.
SWCCG and WWE are both fantastic life deck games
@@darthnixilis304 haven't gotten to play exactly those yet, but another popular 1 I like, that I recently played is Harry Potter
@@foyoGames I will check out HP. Star Wars CCG is one of the best games for those who are fascinated by card mechanics. Raw Deal is a lesser known game, but was surprisingly very deep strategically.
@@darthnixilis304 still gotta play those, but I've played some offshoots of those: WARS & Hyper Juken ...great mechanics, gameplay, & life decking indeed
I agree with shard, talking about balance isnt meaningless, every talk has context. same one feature can be bad in one game, but can be good in other game