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At the end of the previous game design I realized I'd lost track of my original design goals. Fun, speed of play, and a sense of danger/wonder.
I knew I wanted to create a solitaire card game and about that time I came across a post about an upcoming print and play design contest for solitaire games. It seemed like the stars had just aligned simply to tell me not to give up but to keep pushing forward with this concept. So I entered the contest and started brainstorming.
Once again I threw out everything and started over. I played as many solitaire games as I could get my hands on to see what features would keep me interested for multiple plays. I was horrified to find that I couldn't find any that kept my interest at first. Solo games require a different perspective and a different willingness to commit fully to the experience at hand. Other games are far more social so the game comes from the interactions with other players but solo games offer a level of immersion that is awe inspiring. A few of the games that i discovered that really moved me are:Ranger
Pocket civ
Hornet Leader
Queens of fate
Zulu's on the Ramparts!
Doctor who: Solitaire story game
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Touchstone History 101 - continued
The first touchstone was little more then a mod of bloodbowl, the second was over obsessed with originality to the point of making it slow to absorb. I was determined to not make the same mistakes again. I based the foundation of the game off core solitaire cardgame concepts...
-you loose if you get to the end of the deck (run out of cards)
-the deck represents unknown threats
-abilities can let you look ahead and see those threats
I added some new concepts like having abilities that allow you to turn over the deck so you can see the next threat and abilities that allow you to gamble with time.
THEME: It was at this stage that the theme evolved. I needed a dark dangerous environment where the world itself was out to get you. A location that fought hard to protect its secrets. Immediately I thought of the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth, but not because of the shifting labyrinth but because of the dark mystery of the Oubliette. Ever since I saw that movie I have wanted to know more about the Oubliette. The idea of a labyrinth no longer holds any mystery for me, but an Oubliette is still a place of mystery and horror.
GAMEPLAY: One of the main inspirations for the quick flow of Touchstone: Oubliette is another solitaire card game... Onirim. I love its dark them, its terrors that always lurk somewhere beneath the next card BUT I hated reshuffling the deck every 5 seconds and It made me sad that the theme disappeared the more I played it. I was also sad to find no reason to keep playing no greater purpose or goal then to simple get through another nightmare. I had to find a way to not fall into those same pitfalls while maintaining the same frantic speed of play and fear of the unknown dangers ahead.
The portal concept is my favorite new concept in the game. The portal can either rewind time to the instant you first started the game (a full reset) or fast forward time, leaving you in a even worse position. Another core concept was that there is no death in the game. My girl friend hates wargames and always challenges me to take my designs in fresh directions. So players lost in the Oubliette aren't dead they are simply entombed there. Players hit by the creatures in the Oubliette aren't wounded they are simply dazed and loose a certain amount of time.
DIRECTION: So here I am face to face with this terrifying creature blocking my path. I have trained all my life for this moment but I'm still quaking in my boots. The gameplay is done and now all that remains is to settle on the art direction. The game is dark so obviously the game's art should be dark as well, right?
The current art direction is inspired by tarot art and symbols.
But now I'm starting to have my doubts. This art is not for everyone. I recently started playing a card game called Hecatomb. I bought it for the art. Its a game that didn't play it safe or focus on the mainstream appeal. Its some of the darkest art I've seen in a published game and while I really like some of the gameplay innovations I sometimes dread picking it up because thematically and artistically its very heavy. Touchstone: Oubliette is meant to create a sense of danger AND wonder. Wonder and beauty and mystery are more important then that sense of danger or dread. In the end the goal is to create a senses of something magical and to give hope. Yes maybe that's too much to expect from a card game but its important to dream big.
Recently the setting of the game has changed to reflect this dream of hope. The game is no longer set in generic fantasy world filed with hard to identify fantasy races. Its now in modern day and the Oubliette and the Touchstone have become urban legends. Modern legends that offer hope to a hopeless generation.
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