fallen kingdoms: - marissatorres622.files.wordpress.com€¦ · web viewgame setup. map layout:...

Fallen Kingdoms: The Last Hope

Design Document

Rodolfo Santillan-Aka Smith-Marissa Torres-Matthew Whiteman- Morgan Wilson

Latest revision May 11th 2017

Game Design Document for Fallen Kingdoms: The Last Hope | Latest Revision: May/11/2017

Table of Contents

Fallen Kingdoms: 1

The Last Hope 1

Table of Contents 2

Design History 3

Version 1.10 3

Version 2.00 3

Game Overview 4

Where does the game take place? 4

What is the story? 4

What is the main focus? 4

How many characters/units/pieces does the player control? 4

Game Theory 5

Feature Set 5

General Features 5

Game Components 6

Rules & Mechanics 6

Mechanics 6

Rules 9

Game Setup 10

Turn Sequence 12

General Rules 13

Detailed Rules for Specific Pieces 13

Flowcharts 15

End Game Conditions 19

Rules Questions & Strategies 19


Design History

The following below is an overview of the changes to Fallen Kingdoms: The Last Hope. Its purpose is to show the ideas that were not included and cut for the current version of the game. We believe that all ideas should be documented and never deleted so this section includes those ideas. This section also shows how our team has grown as game designers throughout the course of making the game.

Version 1.10

Version 1.10 includes some tuning and tweaking after making the initial pass at the design. Here is what was changed.

1. Added elemental features that have strengths and weaknesses

2. Each player will roll a 4-sided die to determine who goes first.

3. Created hazard zones that let to random events in the game.4. AP POOL set to 5, Champions can move up to 3 hex spaces, secondary units can move up to 2

hex spaces5. Each of the red hexes contains buffs for the champion (+2 Strength, +2 Defense, +2 Agility, +1

AP)6. Success rate measures every combat and abilities.7. Each champion/unit has a starting elemental attribute and can gain more as the character

progresses.

Version 2.00

Version 2.00 is the first version of the design where a major revision has been made now that much more is known about the game. After many hours of design, many decisions have been made. Most of these large design decisions are now reflected in this document.

1. Removed all random events in the game except for one (Curse Card draws). Success rates, random hazard zones, and random order of players removed.

2. Reformatted game board to fit with the updated vision, which includes wall jumping and enhancement spaces instead of pick up searches.

3. Elemental aspects removed for clarity and simplicity.4. Character models changed to make a more balanced, specific-use matrix. 5. AP balanced at the player level (max AP per turn), and AP added to individual units to

balance abilities.6. Units narrowed down to one champion, one healer, one soldier, one archer, and one mage

per team for balance.


7. Movement of Champion changed to two possible spaces per each AP used, to speed up game play.

Game Overview

Where does the game take place?

The game takes place in a medieval era just shortly after 4 Kingdoms fought a bloody war against each other. The location is where the 4 Kingdom’s border each other, where at the center lies a sacred Shrine that houses relics of power.

What is the story?

Four kingdoms have fought an ongoing war for decades. A warlock overseeing the battles, outraged and looking to end the conflict once and for all has halted the war. The warlock places a curse on all four kingdoms, creating famine and misfortune throughout all of their lands. He reveals a prophecy to the Kings of each territory, one that offers a way to remove the curse. He explains that there are three relics that must be obtained, and the Kingdom that procures them will flourish, while the others perish. The kings have gathered their best mages and warriors, setting them out on the journey to retrieve these relics, and save their kingdoms before it’s too late.

What is the main focus?

The main focus of Fallen Kingdom: The Last Hope is to compete with other players in the conquest of capturing all three relics, and bringing them back into your territory, in order to have supreme dominance over all the kingdoms. Each Kingdom must call to arms and race against time and the other nearby kingdoms. As the player progresses throughout the game, their stats and abilities will increase depending on the strategy they choose.

How many characters/units/pieces does the player control?

The player will have control of one main unit called their Champion. The Champion will have the most skills and attributes between the units. In addition to the champion, players will have one healer unit, one scout unit, one soldier unit, and one mage unit.

Game Theory

Symmetry – Our game is symmetric in terms of the placement of walls, hazards, territories, player stats and abilities, springs of cleansing, and Curse locations. Due to the nature of a hex board there may be some situations where the location does not look physically identical to the opposite side of the board. But this does not affect gameplay and the intention is to keep the board as balanced as possible. Our goal is to keep the game balanced so that wherever players may be on the board they will have equal opportunity to accomplish their goals.


Play Style – This will be a non-cooperative player vs. player game, where one kingdom is attempting to reign supreme over the others. Some players might team up on opponents who are dominating, however there are no rules that enforce this kind of cooperation.

Summation – This will be a non-zero sum game, where player pick-ups and curses do not affect the other players. The attacking team does not capture defeated units, and players can choose to revive their characters independently. Stat boosts can be obtained by players for certain players as they choose, which has no effect on the player’s opponents. Finally, the end result of obtaining the relics does not have a direct effect on the other players’ units or status, other then eventually causing them to lose.

Perfect/Imperfect Information – Players will be able to see all of their opponent’s stats and positions during the entire play through of the game. Each player will have in front of them a character sheet where they will display the current stats for their units. These sheets will remain visible to everyone playing the game. Any cards the player draws will be displayed facing up next to their character sheet to indicate the card’s effect to the player with it for everyone to see. This way an opponent can create strategies around certain ability modifiers.

Feature Set

General Features

● Player VS Player gameplay- Players will compete against other players in capture the flag style combat by collecting relics from the middle of the game board and returning them back to their respective territories.

● Night and Day Cycle- Day and night are factors during gameplay. The player will be generally safer during the day and certain actions are restricted during the day. On the other hand the night will be generally more dangerous but the player will have increased attributes.

● Curse Cards and Hazard Zones- Curse card pick ups and hazard zone set ups will be determined by player movement that can either help or hinder players depending on the luck of the draw.

● Springs of Cleansing- If a player lands on one of these spaces and they are cursed, their status effects will be removed.

● Relic Abilities- Each relic will be placed under the character gem, and will move along with them. Relics will give the player certain abilities to aid them along the way.

Game Components

● 1 Game Board with hexagon pattern● 1 Day/Night token & tracking sheet● 3 Relic tokens or 3 coins


● 4 Character champion/unit sheets● 4 Different colored gems/marbles to indicate each player and unit.● 10 Hazard conditions (1 Sheet)● 20 Curse Cards

Rules & Mechanics

Mechanics

General Mechanics:

● Day/ Night Cycles- Each day will consist of 3 rounds of turns. Hazard zones will be inactive during these times; all other conditions listed on the character cards will be active. At the end of 3 rounds, the cycle will switch to night, and the hazards will be active. Relics can only be picked up by units at night and not during the day while in the shrine. Ranged attackers will be limited to one adjacent space for attack range, and defenses of all characters will be halved, with the exception of the champion. At the end of two rounds, the cycle will switch back to daytime, and a new day will begin. Player AP will be dropped to 3 during night cycles, and remain at 5 for days. This is not a meaningful player choice as this mechanic is required to play and serves as a rule in place of player choice. All players are affected by it know matter how they play the game.

● Hazard Spaces- Hazard space layouts will be a choice of 1-10 scenarios (giving a condition on what will happen to the player that falls into the zone at the end of their turn). The youngest player will choose first, and then the next oldest and so on in rotation at the start of each new day cycle. If a character remains in the hazard zone at the end of a player’s turn, and during a night cycle, the character will be affected by the given condition of that Hazard (listed below). There are both meaningful player choices and non-meaningful player choices with this mechanic. The meaningful choice is what hazard is decided. The player choosing the hazard will pick from up to 10 different scenarios, giving them a choice that will affect the next 5 turns. The non-meaningful player choice in this mechanic is landing on the actual spaces it affects. The player can decide to avoid those spaces with their movement making it meaningful, however this is not the movement mechanic therefore it is not a meaningful choice.

● Curses- When a player finishes a cycle of turns with a unit on a (green) curse space, they must draw a curse card from the curse pile. The effects listed on that card will apply to that player until the start of the next day for a striped green space, and two cycles later for a solid green space. This is not a meaningful player action as it has a random factor involved. The random factor is the result of the card the player picks up.

● Spring of Cleansing- A player may remove a curse by finishing a turn with one of their units placed on a (blue) space. This is a meaningful player action as it is up to the player to spend AP to get one of their units to a blue space in order to remove their curse effect. Or they can ignore the blue space and deal with the curse effect until the curse’s time has worn off.


● Place of power- If a character is on a (red) enhancement space by the end of a round, that character’s stats are enhanced by that amount until the start of the next day. These enhancements include attack +2; defense +2; and AP (for the character) +1. If they are knocked off the space before the round ends, they will not get the enhancement. This is a meaningful player action as they can take the risk to raise a stat or completely ignore the space. The risk is the combat and attention it brings to other opponents. In addition to the attention, the player is using AP to move a unit to one of these spaces, when that AP could have been used for a different action or used for a different unit.

● Secondary Territory- The game board contains two secondary territories to control. If a player wishes to control this territory, they must have a unit placed at its center while in control. This is a meaningful player choice as they can decrease the distance needed to move with a relic by controlling one of the secondary bases. The trade off is the player has to keep an additional unit behind leaving the field one less unit.

● Unit Death- If a unit is killed, their gem is flipped over on the space they were occupying. If the unit was carrying a relic, that relic coin is moved underneath the attacker, who now holds the relic. This is not a meaningful player choice as there is no choice in the unit dying. The actions used before hand are meaningful but death is not.

Action Mechanics

● Action Points (AP)- Each player is allotted 5 AP at the start of their turn. Players may use these points to perform specific actions, at the costs listed below. Individual characters will have AP as well, which will represent a maximum amount of AP a player can use on that specific character per turn. This is a meaningful player choice as the player is limited to 5AP overall with control of 5 different units. Each unit has separate max AP making the player decide how they should use the abilities in different stages of the game.

MOVEMENT

● Movement- A secondary unit (non-Champion) may use one AP to move one adjacent space while on the ground, as long as the unit has AP remaining. A Champion may move up to two spaces for every AP used. This is a meaningful player action as the player can decide what path to take and how often.

● Climbing- While having a unit on a space adjacent to a wall, a player may use 2 AP to have that unit jump to that wall space. This is a meaningful player action as the walls allow the player to move faster at the risk of being pushed off. It’s up to the player to decide if the wall path is the best path to move on.

● Jumping- While having a unit on a wall, a player may use 2 AP to jump to a wall column that is 2 adjacent spaces away. This is a meaningful player action as it allows the player to move faster along the wall at the cost of extra AP. It’s up to the player to decide if the extra AP is worth the jump onto another set of walls.

● Relic Movement- Relics are placed in the center of the board. Players must reach the space of the relic, and then use 2 AP to pick up the relic. The relic will then move with the unit that


picked it up (as a coin, placed underneath the unit gem), with the final goal of bringing it back to their territory(s). Once in a territory (or at any point for a hand-off) a player may use 2 AP again to drop the relic, and move without it. Relics can only be picked up from the shrine at night. This is not a meaningful player action as this is the only way to move the relics around. This is a mechanic that has little choice involved. The only choices involved are to completely ignore the relic or keep holding on to the relic.

COMBAT

● Melee Attacking- A melee unit may attack an opposing unit that is on an adjacent space, using the AP listed on their unit card. The defense amount of the opposing unit is subtracted from the attacker’s STR amount, and damage is subtracted from the defending unit’s total HP. This is a meaningful player action as it uses 1AP to make an attack on an opponent. The AP spent could have been used for other actions such as an extra move.

● Ranged Attacks- If a player uses a ranged attack unit, they may attack an opposing unit within two adjacent spaces. If the ranged attacker is on a wall, they will not be able to shoot a character within the adjacent spaces of that wall. Their range will be between 2 and 3 adjacent spaces from the wall they are on, and damage will then be calculated the same as a melee attack. This is a meaningful player action as it uses 1AP and the unit has to be in a specific location. The AP spent could have been used for another action such as attacking with melee. The position of the player also could have been spent somewhere else that wasn't stationary on a wall.

● Wall Ram- If an opposing player has a unit on a wall, and a player has one of their units on a space adjacent to that wall, they may use 3 AP to ram the wall, attempting to make the opposition fall. If the attacker’s attack is greater than the opponent’s agility, the opponent will fall onto the ground on the adjacent space opposite of the attacker’s position (on the opposite side of the wall). This is a meaningful player action as the player is using 3AP (over half) to knock their opponent off a wall, offering both a combat move and moving the opposing player’s unit. The player could ignore an opponent on a wall and use the 3AP elsewhere.

● Spell cast- A mage unit may target any opposing unit within a one hex radius to lower the opposing unit’s Max AP by 1 for the next turn. This is a meaningful player action as it can be casted on any opponent in the casters range. Depending on the situation on the board, a player might want to drain a champion’s max AP vs. an archer’s max AP. It’s up to the player on how to best utilize this mechanic.

HEALING

● Healing- A Healer may heal a character by 2HP with the use of 1 AP. This must be used on a character adjacent to the healer. This is a meaningful player action as they must spend 1AP to use this ability. They also have multiple units to manage, and depending on the severity of the unit’s health, may choose to move towards that unit or stay with a different one.

● Reviving a character- A player may revive their fallen characters in two ways:

● Healer Special Ability-If the player has a healer unit adjacent to the fallen player, they may use 2 AP to revive the unit where they stand (flip the gem back to normal position) at ½ the total


AP of the revived unit. This is a meaningful player action as the player can decide if reviving in the field is worth the position advantage with the cost of the ½ AP. There are multiple ways of reviving a unit, but depending on the situation, a player may want to have the healer instead of a base revive.

● Base Revive-The player can choose to revive the player at their home base, giving them full HP, and returning them to their starting position (within the limits of their home base) At the cost of 3AP from any unit in the base. This method of reviving is also a meaningful player choice as the player can decide to skip the cool down for a unit’s revive and bring them back immediately at the cost of 3AP and the setback of being revived at a base.

Rules

● Each player may only use 5 AP per turn. If a player is caught using more than the allotted AP, they will be forced to move their units back to their previous location, and they will forfeit their turn. A player may choose to use less than their max AP during a turn, and will declare to the other players that they are forfeiting the rest of their points.

● Every action must be verbalized to the other players. A player must state the action, how much AP they will be using, and then they can proceed with physical action on the board.

● All character cards must be kept up to date with changes as the game progresses. Players must move gem markers over spaces to denote enhancements or limitations from curses. They must also keep a live record of player HP, erased and revised every time damage is taken.

● Players must check all units on the board at the end of a round. If a curse is missed (not verbally called out to an opposing player), and a new round begins, that player is not obligated to pick up a curse card.

● The player who picks up the last curse card in the pile must shuffle the discarded cards, and place them back in the deal pile.

● Players may choose a set number of days to play for casual play. This amount must be agreed upon by the group, and should not be changed once gameplay begins.

● Enemy players may not take action against any fallen units in the field.● A player must have at least one active unit on the board to revive another character. If all of a

player’s characters have fallen, they will be removed from gameplay, and their base will be treated as neutral move space.

● When playing with less than 4 players, the territory not used will be deemed a neutral zone.● The last player to take their turn at the end of a round must move the token on the day/ night

cycle, signaling the start of a new period.


Game Setup

Map Layout:


Types of Spaces:

Base Space- This is where players will position all of their units at the start of the game. At the center of base spaces is the bases capture point. The player must have a unit remaining on the capture point


in order to claim it as a base.

Wall Space- Wall spaces are an alternative path that the player can take in order to move faster or position their archer for a special range attack (see Mechanics/Action/Combat).

Hazard Space- This space will apply the hazard effect to a player’s unit that remains there at the end of their turn (see Hazard list in the detailed rules for specific pieces).

Place of power- these spaces allow the player a boost in different stats (defined in the Mechanics/General Mechanics/Place of Power).

Weak Curse Space- The player will draw a single card from the top of the weak curses deck if they end their turn on this type of space (see Cursed cards in the detailed rules for specific pieces).

Strong Curse Space- The player will draw a single card from the top of the strong curses deck if they end their turn on this type of space (see Cursed cards in the detailed rules for specific pieces).

Ground Space- This space is used for movement and navigating across the map.

Spring of Cleansing- This space allows a player to remove any curse card in their hand(see Mechanics/General Mechanics/Spring of Cleansing).

Starting Setup:Players will begin This should be your first section, explaining how to set up the game. This is how to set up your players for play, not the process by which the board or cards are constructed from your Prototype. That will come later under detailed rules for specific pieces.

Players will set up the board to match the map above and place it on a flat surface. They will then select their champions and select a corner of the map to claim as a base. Relic tokens will be placed in the middle of the board.

The game will come with character sheets displaying the champions/units, and a Day/Night tracker will be included. The characters will look fierce and war ridden on the character sheets. The board will be arranged in a symmetrical layout where the shrine is at the center and player territories around the corners. There will be alternative routes and control points designed around the shrine to encourage strategic movement. The board will be a hex pattern. Curse cards and discard piles will be off to the right of the board.

Turn Sequence

When a player’s turn starts, they must first check all conditions for their characters, and for the possible curses they have incurred. If a new day cycle has started, they will remove any curses they have acquired, and drop any enhancements they have obtained for their characters. The player is allotted 5 AP points to use between their 5 units. Each player must choose the best moves possible


between their units, to move closer towards obtaining the relics, and to impede other players from doing so. Once their AP has been depleted, the player ends their turn. After all players have had a turn during a round, they will check the placement of their units and update their status/ draw curse cards depending on their current spaces. After all the status changes have been applied, the first player will move the day/night tracker down one icon (or if at the last night icon to the next day icon) so all players know what turn it is. Players will keep repeating this until a winning condition happens.

Quick turn breakdown:

● Player turn begins.● Player can use 5AP per turn.● Player can choose from the actions listed in the mechanics.● Player keeps making actions until they have reached 5AP or less if debuffed by a curse card.● Next player will play their turn following the same procedure.● Once all players have had a turn in a single round the positions of their units will be examined.● Players will adjust stats/pick up cards based on what space type they end on at the end of the

round. ● After all stats have been adjusted they will move the day/night token to the next icon.

General Rules

There are no rules like this that apply in the game as of this version. All players will wait until their turn to make all of their actions and moves.

Detailed Rules for Specific Pieces

Champion (Max 3AP):Can use 1AP for a melee attack that reaches a max of 1 hex on the ground. Can use 2AP for a ranged attack that reaches up to 2 hex spaces. Can move up to 2 hexes per movement action.


HP AG STR DEF

10 6 8 8

Archer (Max 3AP):Can use 1AP for a range attack that reaches a max of 2 hexes on the ground and 3 while on a wall. If an enemy is on a ground hex that borders the wall hex the archer is on, the archer cannot

attack that enemy.

HP AG STR DEF

5 7 6 2

Mage (Max 3AP): Uses a special attack that affects one enemy within a 1 hex circumference lowering that unit’s max AP by 1 for the next turn. Can use 1AP to make a standard melee attack to an adjacent foe.

HP AG STR DEF

5 4 6 5

Soldier (Max 2AP): Gives a +2 DEF stat boost to any unit within a 1 space circumference around it. Can use 1AP to make a standard melee attack to an adjacent foe.

HP AG STR DEF

3 3 7 7

Healer (Max 2AP): Heals +2 HP to an adjacent unit at the cost of 1AP. Can revive fallen units at the location of their death for 2AP: revived units from the healer spawn at the location with half of their health.


HP AG STR DEF

3 7 3 7

Curse Cards:

Strong Curses-Are indicated by the green cards.Weak Curses-Are indicated by the white cards.

Units become crippled and will not be able to climb walls as long as this card is in play.

Champions and unitsattack damage is reflected unto themselves and the enemy.

Champion is teleported to their base immediately. One time use only discard after.

Champions and units take 1 damage to a stat of their choice while this card is in play.

Champions and units will have the reversed effect of day/night while this card is in play.

Any modifier buffs will be halved for the next power up.

Player’s healer unit will not be able to heal while this card is in play.

Player’s archer unit gets dazed and range will be reduced by one while this card is in play.

Players Soldier unit will lose the ability to add defensive buffs while this card is in play.

Players Mage unit will lose its ability to reduce the AP of another unit while this card is in play.

Reduce champion movement speed to 1 hex while this card is in play.

Wall rams will cause the unit to take damage as well as long as this card is in play.

Champions and units will not be able to revive while this card is in play.

Move an additional space while moving with the relic while this card is in play.

At the end of each turn the unit drops the relic and has to pick it back up while this card is in play.

Choose a stat to deduct one point for each base the player holds. One time use only discard after.

Units and champions will not be able to do basic attacks while this card is in play.

Units and champions will not be able to wall jump while this card is in play.

Climbing now takes 1 more AP to accomplish while this card is in play.

A cursed radius will be put on the unit, any enemy unit within the radius will receive the curse instead. That player will draw a new cursed card.

Hazards Table

An earthquake has just hit -1 on agility.

A fog has rolled in -1 to defense.

Wild Dogs have attacked -1 to health.

The heat is unbearable leaving you weak, -1 to attack.

A flash flood has left the area very muddy, -1 for AP.

The lights in the area are shot out, any archer will not be able to attack.

Quicksand has dragged you down, immobilize for 1 turn.

Poison has affected your unit; unit cannot be healed until the next day cycle.

Heavy rain is in effect; soldier will not be able to defend for one day/night cycle.

Solar Flare is in effect; the champion cannot attack enemy units during the day.

Flowcharts


End Game Conditions

The first end game condition to the game will be when a single player has returned all three relics back to their controlled territory(s). The second end game condition to the game can be determined when all of the days and night cycles have passed: the player with the most relics wins. If there is a tie on the total amount of relics, the amount of units and health points each tying player has remaining will be compared. The player with the most points and units will take the win.

Rules Questions & Strategies

Questions

“How do you determine who goes first?”

The players pick order is determined by the players age, the oldest will go first and the youngest will go last. If this is your second play through then the youngest will go first and the oldest will go last.

“What if I have multiple units on cursed spaces?”

Curse spaces apply to each individual unit/ the player as a whole depending on the space. If multiple units are on unit curse spaces, then one card must be drawn and placed for each unit. If multiple units are on player curse spaces, then that amount of cards will be drawn and applied to that player.

“My last unit was destroyed, but I held a relic. What happens to that now that I am out of the game?”

Relics that were obtained by a player that is out of the game are no longer possessed, and are up for grabs by any opposing Kingdom. The territory you possessed is now neutral space, and anyone can follow the usual methods to pick up the relic.

“A relic has been dropped by a fallen player outside of the shrine. Do I have to wait until night time to pick it up?”

No, nighttime pick up rules only apply to entering and exiting the shrine. If a unit reaches a relic on any other part of the board, they may use the appropriate AP to move onto its space, and pick it up.


Strategies

● Players will attempt to move their units closer to the relics with every turn. They must plan their moves wisely, however, to avoid ending on a cursed space at the end of their turn. A common strategy will be to place units just outside of the cursed spaces right before a night cycle. This way, they can get in and out of the shrine on their next turn, and plan their moves to finish back outside of the zones.

● Players will have to keep an eye on enemy units, and their current stats. Players will attempt to attack and dispatch enemies who are in range of the relics, upgrades, and their units (able to attack them). Players must balance these attacks with their own goals of moving their units towards the relics.

● Players will monitor the day and night cycles, planning on an opportune moment to get into the shrine and pick up relics, as well as avoid hazards.

● Players will place units around favored/ needed characters, upgrade points, and obtained relics, to guard opposing players from attacking or taking them.

● Players will have to calculate the differences of attack amounts, and defense amounts of the players they are attacking, going after players whom they think they can dispatch, without retaliation.


fallen kingdoms: - marissatorres622.files.wordpress.com€¦ · web viewgame setup. map layout:...

Documents