When creating a game (especially a card game), keywords can be an extremely useful design tool. When used effectively, keywords can help convey a lot of complex information to the player in a quick and accessible way. But when used incorrectly, you can accidentally leave players overwhelmed and frustrated. So when should you use keywords in your game, and how can you use them effectively? Let’s learn the key to using keywords.
Read more10 Games That Mattered to Me in 2020
When I look back at the games that I played in 2020, a lot of them didn’t actually come out last year. Sure, a couple of them did, but most of them were either older games I finally got a chance to play or games I grew to appreciate more while stuck in lockdown. So for this year-in-review list, I’m gonna take a bit more of a personal approach. Rather than just limiting myself to new releases, I’m going to highlight the games I played that mattered to me. Some of these games have been out for quite some time, but I believe each one of them deserves to be on this list for helping me get through this wild year.
Read moreChoose Your Allegiance: The Power of Factions in Card Games
As I’ve talked about in the past, balancing games is really hard. And while that’s true for all games, card games in particular are very tricky to balance. Often cards games will feature dozens if not hundreds of unique cards, all of which could have unintended game-breaking interactions with one another. As a designer, you need a way to keep specific cards separated while still providing players with the freedom to make whatever decks they want to play. Thankfully, there’s a simple design trick that does just that: factions!
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