Drafting as Character Creation
The game I’m building is a space shooter roguelike, and it uses a unique drafting mechanic to drive character creation.
The system is designed to impose variety on players. Too often in games there is an optimal build, and the exploration of the character possibility space is eliminated by a quick google search.
RPG systems typically give a player a lot of agency in character creation. You’ll be playing the character for a while, so you want it to be good. Old school RPGs built characters with dice rolls. That lack of control frustrates players (because of the long term consequence), and in computer games, fails because a reroll is too easy.
Collectible card game draft systems, like Hearthstone’s Arena mode, or drafting in Magic the Gathering, are obfuscated character creation engines. Draft systems give huge amounts of variety, without the pain of dice rolling your character.
There are 4 factors that make this fun in spite of randomness.
1. The choices make a huge difference. You aren’t forced to take a bad roll, you can pick the other options.
2. Short “lifetime” — you aren’t buckled into a character for a long time, so a bad character is still ok to try.
3. Real costs to restarting. Hearthstone and Magic both require you to spend real money or in game currency to start a draft/Arena. You aren’t allowed to quit and start a new game.
4. Size of stat pool — because you have 30 cards in HS, 40 in magic, the impact of one bad roll is far less. I’d be crippled with a 1 for one of 6 stats, but a bad card somewhere in my deck isn’t the worst thing.
My game utilizes those same principles, but wraps them in more fiction. Its a collectible card game, but deep undercover.
The core game is a space shooter — think Space Invaders. But its wrapped in a metagame of equipment and missions.
The draft takes place throughout your space battles. Each boss you defeat gives you 2 new ship equipment, each chosen from 3 options. These are added to your HQ, which functions like your library. Once you defeat a boss, that mission is over, and you return to your HQ to start a new mission. On each new mission, you start with a brand new ship (a new game, in the CCG metaphor). Like in those games, you start with nothing “in play”; your ship is empty of your acquired equipment. As you defeat enemies, they drop power cores in 3 colors, our equivalent of Hearthstone’s mana crystals, or Magic’s lands. After you defeat a wave of enemies, your HQ (library/deck) sends you a piece of equipment (draw a card) which you can add to your ship (play) if you have enough power (mana). It will wait in your (hand) until you have enough energy, or the right moment to play it. Like Magic drafts, or Hearthstone Arena runs, your time with the character is limited. After defeating 5 bosses (or dying 5 times), your HQ is exhausted, and you must start over.
The design utilizes the draft metaphor to enable diverse strategies, and drives players to explore the space thoroughly. Huge amounts of replayability.
The prototype is currently in development, and will be ready for a friends/family alpha in September.
