Frederico Nevard
•
Game Designer
This is an essential one-page design document detailing the game's framework. I made it to inspire myself about the theme and influences of the game and as a reminder of what the game is about if I ever go off track. This was one of the first parts of the project I created before even starting work on the cards. Planning out your project from the start can help bring yourself and others to understand the core tenets of the game.
Being the first proper card game development journey I've embarked on I wanted to have a good foundation and understanding of the genre and what players would expect from the genre.
While somewhat generic picking a fantasy theme is a tried and tested approach many other developers have taken over the years and have proven to be successful with the likes of Hearthstone and Gwent. As this was an exercise in game design for myself I wasn't too overly worried about making the theme generic but I did try to add some extra 'spice' by not making it just about orcs and dragons.
Thinking about commercial ability I wanted the game to be mainly aimed at males between the ages of 18-24, this is mainly due to an independent survey I conducted showing this being the main group that would enjoy this kind of game. This isn't to say that other groups would not enjoy the game as my goal is to make a TCG that is accessible for all kinds of gamers, just my primary audience is something I would have to keep in mind if I were to make the game commercial.​
The Cards
In total Monster Melee has 36 unique cards for play spread across 5 separate classes. These classes denote the approximate strength of each card. Separating the cards out made the development of the game a lot easier on my end as it allowed me to easily cross reference and understand a baseline of how strong each card should be, streamlining the development process.
The way the cards and gameplay are designed is heavily inspired by Hearthstone so I had to add my own twist so that they are distinctly different in some way.
-
I went about this by removing summoning sickness, that being not being able to play a card as soon as it is put on the table, as a passive mechanic that all cards have to abide by, and instead, I made it a mechanic where some cards will have the denotation 'Ambush' and would have to wait a turn to be played.
​
-
'Vicious Taunt' also denoted as just 'Taunt' means that the card must be attacked first on the field before attacking the player directly. This mechanic is in place to prevent players from only targeting the other player and makes the game far more strategic.
​
-
Finally 'Battlecry' is a bonus effect on a card that is activated when it is first played. This is mostly where the stronger cards are separated from the weaker cards. These battlecry effects can range anywhere from dealing 1 damage to returning and card to a player's hand.
​
All of these effects, while simple, really bring the whole game together and add lots of variety and personality to cards rather than them all being simply changes in stats. I believe if the game didn't have the Ambush, Taunt or BattleCry mechanics then the game would feel a lot emptier and become a mindless game where there is very little incentive to play one card over the other.
The Research
This is a small questionnaire I made near the start of the development of Monster Melee in 2020, it features results from young adults from multiple genders and asks basic questions about what kind of card game they would enjoy in terms of genre, theming, etc.
The results of this questionnaire helped me curate aspects of the game to not only make a game that hits my target audience but is also enjoyable to those outside of that audience.