Last week I announced this new Open Design project with the purpose of designing a new game on this blog with my friends. I also polled to see which of three ideas people would like to develop. The votes resulted in a unanimous decision to develop the idea for Mercenaries (check out the original game idea article to refresh your memory on the premise and concept of the game). So, now we begin designing.
When designing a game from a basic premise, the first thing I like to do is establish what exactly needs to be developed. For this game, we know that game play is going to be split between two phases – bidding on mercenaries and battling with those mercenaries. Strategy should be important to both phases. So, we need to develop game mechanics for both phases. We also need to develop game statistics for the individual mercenaries, but we can’t really start on that until we’ve done some work on fleshing out the rules for battling. Since the bidding is a good deal more separated - mechanically speaking - from the rest of the game, let’s isolate that aspect of the design and work on it first.
Each player is going to need something to bid on the mercenaries. For now, we’ll use poker-style chips to represent a player’s in-game money. We’ll also assume that each player begins with the same amount of money to be fair. At some point we’ll need to decide how much money players start with and how they get more money, but for now let’s not worry about those details.
Let’s imagine that each mercenary is a card in a deck. The bidding phase should involve a card being drawn from the deck and placed face-up where everyone can see it. Then, everyone gets a chance to bid. How should this work? Let’s look at a game that is pretty much all about bidding for some examples. That game is Modern Art, and it is about people buying and selling works of art at auction, hoping to score a greater profit than everyone else by manipulating the market. In Modern Art, there are four types of auctions, each with its own bidding style, and the type of auction for a specific work of art is indicated on that painting’s game card. The different types of auctions are:
Open Auctions: All players can bid in any order. To make a bid, simply state the amount of your bid out loud. The auction ends when no player wishes to add any higher bid. The highest bid wins the auction. (This is the typical sort of auction you’ve probably seen in movies, etc.)
Once Around Auctions: Going clockwise around the room, each player gets one chance to bid a higher amount than the previous bid or simply pass. After going around once, the last player who chose to bid wins the auction. This type of auction lets players earlier in the round drive the price up for later bidders, but gives players later in the turn the ability to place their own higher bids, without giving those earlier bidders another chance to outbid them.
Sealed Auctions: All players simultaneously make one bid in secret. Choose how much you want to bid, and secretly put that much money in your hand. If you don’t want to bid, simply put no money in your hand. Without letting any other player see your bid, hold out a closed fist. Everyone opens their fist at the same time and the highest bidder wins the auction.
Fixed Price Auctions: The card being auctioned has a fixed price. Each player, going clockwise, has one opportunity to buy the card at the stated price. If nobody buys the card after one go around then it gets discarded with no buyer. This type of auction gives an advantage to bidders earlier in the round, so long as they are willing to pay the fixed price.
So, those are four examples of different bidding systems we could use in this game. There may be other options, too. Here’s how you can contribute to the design right now:
Leave a comment addressing any thoughts you may have on the bidding system for Mercenaries. Should we use one of the auction types described above? Should we use a different auction type I haven’t thought of? Should there be multiple auction types like there are in Modern Art? If so, should the auction type depend on the card being auctioned, or some other factor? Even if you did not vote in the initial poll, I would be glad to have your input now.
Open auctions I think are fun and I like how they work but I think hey tend to encourage acting on impulse rather than giving time to think strategically, especially before you really know the game well. So it could be good to have that kind of system, just to have that sort of element in the game, or it could be counter to the tone of the game.
ReplyDeleteThe one I do NOT like ever tends to be Once Around Auctions. Dunno what it is but I just don't like that.
I like the idea of sealed auctions.
And fixed auctions don't feel like you're really competing for them so I tend not to like them either. They kinda feel like once around only worse.
Could using various methods work? For Example: the most common method used would be something like the open auction; in some situations though, the merc may want to go by one price only (fixed auction).
DeleteSimilar to No Thanks (never played it) or Catchphrase (hot potato + Taboo), an element of sabotage, as noted in the original posting, can be utilized at least by the first two styles . Humandisaster made a good note about the impulsive bidding (which may play into the strategie of one the players) since that could result in things getting out of hand. I can't say I have much familiarity in the Once Around method, but that is the other method I thought of.
Sealed Auctions... hmmm... I can think of the usage of poker face for that one, or getting to know how your competitor thinks. Since it is not as interactive as the Open Auction, a sealed auction seems to definitely call for discetion and discernment. A player may choose not to bid or, if the merc is potentially valuable, might try to discern how much their competitors would pay to be able to out-bid them, reasonably.
Though not neccessarily a part of bidding, can time limits be considered for certain auction types?
These are all that I can think of so far, don't know if any make sense or help.
(I am not an expert in auctions, I only know mainly from watching Storage Wars. Little experience do I in actual auctions.)
Note: Sorry! I meant that as a standard comment, not a reply. No offense meant towards humandisaster either.
ReplyDeleteNo offense and no worries. =)
DeleteThanks for giving your feedback so quickly. Here are a few more quick thoughts on auction types.
ReplyDeleteOnce Around Auctions and Fixed Price Auctions may be better if the option goes in a variable order, instead of just clockwise. For example, perhaps the player with the current lowest score gets first choice, and the choice goes up from there. This might give players who are falling behind a chance to snag a useful merc before other players who are currently leading in points.
Another variation I didn't think of earlier might be the Reserve Auction. This is a cross between the Open Auction and the Fixed Price Auction, where players can bid freely, but the merc won't go to anyone who doesn't bid at least a certain amount.
As to a time limit on auctions, I think some play testing would be needed first to determine if this was really necessary. Implementing a time limit means adding another component (a timer of some sort) to the finished game. I find it's usually best to avoid unnecessary components. A time limit could make the auctions more intense though, which might be fun. It could also lead to "sniping", an annoying behavior that is prevalent on eBay.
It's annoying but it's kinda fun. It's rather thrilling to winning at the last possible second. =D
DeleteMy problem with Once Around Auctions is you only get ONE chance to win whatever it is you're bidding on. So if you REALLY want it, you have to make your bid one that no one else will want to raise you on. So you end up bidding and having to pay possibly more than you really would like to, just to stand a chance at winning. OR if no one is willing to really do that then whoever goes last can basically walk away with the card for next to nothing since no one was willing to put out any decent bids. The reserve bidding idea helps a little, but it's still not my favorite.
ReplyDeleteAnd a sealed auction, would there be trouble with discretion in secretly making your bid? I know in some games you use cards from your hand to select the number you want to bid or use. So everyone has to pick A card. It's easy. But if you have tokens or something to use as your money and you're sitting there counting out what to put in your hand, it might make it difficult to be discreet. And I wouldn't want to have to count on the honor system when it comes to players observing each other during that phase. lol
I can see your complaint against the Once Around Auction - makes a certain kind of sense.
DeleteAs to the sealed auction, it works in Modern Art by giving each player a little cardboard screen to hide their chips behind. You can count out your bid (or pretend to count out a bid) behind the screen and prevent the other players from seeing what you've got. Of course, that creates another physical component to the game. I suppose another method of tracking resources might be preferable. Values on cards could work. Then you just choose the cards to represent your bid and play them face down for a Sealed Auction. When everyone has bid you turn all of the cards face up. Between bidding phases, you could make change with the bank. The problem here is that people could still count the number of cards that make up your bid, and get some idea from that. Hmm... It's tricky, but I don't think it's unmanageable.
Based on something Ricardo touched on, what if different bidding styles were specific to certain mercs? Most mercs would be won through Open Auctions, though some high-profile mercs would have a reserve. More stealthy mercs, like commandos or assassins, would have Sealed Auctions, representing that they don't advertise their services on the open market. A few rare mercs might offer their services to players in a specific order in an Once Around or Fixed Price auction (a merc who favors the underdog, or a merc who would rather join the winning side, or a merc who values some other specific tactic a player might be using).
ReplyDeleteJust another idea I thought I would toss out there.
I really like that idea!
Delete