Last week, I attended a local game development meet-up and showed my game. I left with a crucial new idea: that I should pick one thing that defines the game and make that deeper, not trying to build everything out all at once. The idea i took away was to double down on the LARP, honor and cheating mecahnics. I've updated the game so that every card in the combat deck is now either be an "honorable combat card" or rule-breaker.
Argue Over Armor Points. Their armor never covered that spot and you are sure of it. You keep talking until the game master gives up, and your next hit ignores every point of armor they have.
Illegal Headshot. Hits to the head are illegal. So you position yourself so the blow lands on your head, and it does not count. Your helmet comes off for the rest of the fight and everybody saw what you did.
STOP! The safety word. The field freezes, everyone stands down. The strike was already in flight and you pretended the call came first.
Costume Check. You point at them and announce that they are not really playing their character. They spend the next round arguing about it instead of hitting you.
Forget to Count Health Points. Four hits? I counted three.
Laying In. The rulebook wants a metre of backswing for a hit to count. You skip it. Fast swings, most of which miss.
A wound lands on the part of you that did the cheating. It puts a dead card in your next fight's draw pile, and it stays there until someone binds the wound. There is no cap on how many you carry. If you play them, they leave the deck.
Every enemy in the game had been fighting you with its teeth. The swordsman included. Every NPC now draws its cards from the gear it is actually carrying, which is the same gear you take off its corpse. Their decks run out, too, exactly like yours. A trash mob will likely burn before you do, while a boss will most definitely outlast you. Play your cards right.
No deck size limit. Build it too small and you finish the duel throwing punches. Too big, and the card you need is never near the top.
Enemies talk during a fight. They have opinions about how it is going.
Mage Spell-card no longer pierces armor. Hitrate upped to 100%.
Improved card styling. Archetype colour, strike plate, name banner.
The casino and imbue scrolls are closed. When they return, it will be as a card acquisition source, not pointless gambling.
Free version of the game is currently playable on https://manala.eu/create. Steam demo coming August 10th!