For for my Game Design class we were tasked with coming up with a few different ideas of mechanics, themes, and ideas in regards to our board game development project.
I have been playing with the idea of a board game in which the players are tasked with navigating to the center of the board and obtaining some sort of relic or item. The first player to reach the center has control of the relic. They must then navigate back the way they came and exit the board game.
Movement is based on rolling dice and grabbing tiles that dictate which way you must travel. Think of it like navigating a dungeon in Diablo or a similar dungeon crawler game.
The main mechanic is that players have the ability, when prompted, to move tiles on the board, possibly screwing up the path that their opponent was hoping to take.
Idea Generation
A few ideas I have been playing with adding include the following:
- Player Card mechanic in which players may opt to draw a card that will somehow offer a power-up. Ex: "On your next turn, add +1 to you tile pool."
- Event Card mechanic in which after every turn (all player movement) an event happens that affects all players. Ex: "The roof caves in. Grab a trap tile and place it in your path."
- A board set up that allows for 2 different game types; King of the hill and Capture the relic.
- Combat systems based upon a dice roll.
- Health system that gives each player a certain amount of HP (hit-points).
- Character specific attributes such as DEX, STR, DEF, AWAR.
- Movement tiles that have special values associated to them. Ex: Left, Straight, Three Way
- Trap tiles that block and hinder player movement. Ex: Gas, Barricade, Chasm, Cave In
- Portal tiles that give the players ability to quick travel around the map.
- Magic based theme in which Grand Mages are trying to navigate a mystical library.
- Fantasy based theme in which Explorers are navigating a crypt.
- Fantasy based theme in which Explorers are navigating haunted sewers.
- Humor based theme in which Hobos are navigating city blocks.
- "Hand painted" art style, popular in a lot of fantasy video games.
- Realistic gritty style, possibly horror themed.
- Zombie themed, possibility of outside elements killing you.
- The ability to choose, on your turn, whether or not you want to roll, replace tiles, or grab a player card.
- Player cards that only go into effect once you gather a certain amount. Ex: Once you have 3 speed cards, add +3 to you dice roll for that turn.
- Player card that opens a portal. Based on your roll the effect might be different. Ex: Roll a 1 sends you back to the start square.
- A secret bookshelf tile that completely rotates 360 degrees on the board.
Player Cards:
I really like the idea of this mechanic. I think it offers a bit of diversity to play. For example, a player would essentially sacrifice all of their movement to constantly get player cards.
This could possibly lead to a substantial amount of power-ups. However, if they spend too many turns on cards their opponent could be much closer to the center. Players have to balance moving tiles and grabbing player cards.
Portals:
Portal tiles could offer a very dynamic element to the game. If the players draw portals tiles they could be able to freely move between their portals to quick travel around the board. A cool mechanic that could go with the portals is a player card that allows an enemy player to move between the portals of an opposing player.
