Welcome to the latest post in our weekly design series, wherein I talk about the design of one of our upcoming games. The goal of these posts is to have a frank discussion on game design, both what works and what doesn't.
Today I want to continue talking about our upcoming comedy horror card game, We're All Going to Die Here. I started talking about it a couple weeks ago in its reintroduction post.
We're All Going to Die Here plays off the clichés of the horror genre. In it, a group of teenagers explore a spooky location as they each die one-by-one, until only a single victim remains.
But this is not a game about surviving to the end of the night. It's a game about dying in the most hilarious and cliché way possible!
In the game each player takes on the role of a victim, representing a particular archetypical character in the horror genre. For example, one player may be dealt the Cheerleader, while another plays the Stoner and yet another plays the Know-It-All.
At the end of the first round the monster is released, and one of the victims will die at the end of every round thereafter. But the players of killed victims are not out of the game! In future rounds they will take on the role of shades, who make the remaining rounds all the more dangerous.
Every victim comes with a special ability that changes the game for that player. For example, the Cheerleader can redirect cards targeting her to another victim, while the Jock can steal another player's spotlight. These abilities change the optimal strategy, increasing replayability.
When a player's victim dies, they turn their victim card over, revealing the shade on the back. From this point they can no longer use their victim ability, but instead gain access to powerful shade effects. At this point the strategy of the game also changes, from trying to gain the most spotlight, to interfering with the strategy of the others so that one comes out ahead.
Over the course of the game, a player will have a hand of trouble cards. Each turn a player will play one of these cards, using the appropriate effect. Each card lists two effects: one for victims and one for shades. This means that players whose victims still live and those whose victims have met their end will have different actions to choose from.
That's it for victims and shades in We're All Going to Die Here. I hope it's been useful to anyone interested in game design or who might be interested in the games we have in the works. Tune in next week for the next post in the design series!
Tab Creations
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