The Aces - GxB vn in progress

[azureXtwilight]

Wow, this is getting even more complicated. By the way, I don't understand a lot of card games, so I do hope you put a simple tutorial at the beginning or make a disable-battle options in the game.

[Jake]

You could of course still keep some form of Rock-Paper-Scissors if you likes, by say having the Attack card deal double damage if the Defence card is the kind it's strong against. (And maybe some of the special effects could negate the change, or switch which is better...)

If you did do this, I'd recommend making it simpler than a four-way thing where each suit is strong against one and weak against another, since (unlike things like fire and ice) there's no natural weakness/strength relationship between card suits that people will easily remember, so it may appear random to people even if they're pre-warned.

(Even in games where sometimes a suit ordering is needed, people can't make their minds up on a standard.)

I'd suggest keeping it simple so that people can easily remember it. Perhaps an attack is stronger if the defence is of a different colour, or perhaps (particularly if one-and-only-one of your Ace characters is going to be fighting at once) the suit of the player's Ace is stronger against any other suit, or against suits of opposite colour, or something like that.

[sheetcakeghost]

If you wanted to do the extra coding you could set a difficulty level. A simple one like azureXtwilight suggested and then more complicated one as well. Maybe playing through the more complicated one could open up a few more CGs. If this were hentai you could even make a pun out of the term 'hard mode.'

[CaesMRaenes]

@serenity-blue:
Yes, there will be an option in the preference. I plan to so that people who would like to skip the battle sequences may and enjoy the story more. Plus, uh, it'll make finding endings a lot less complicated. :P I pull the "lol" card on your last comment.

@Cain0425:
I'm glad that it does! And thanks.

@Starling:
I totally did that in high school. Spent so long playing "War" since it never ended. Our games were always put on hold and we'd finish it two days later. >_> Thanks for your support there.

@azureXtwilight:
I do intend to create some sort of tutorial before the first game start since this has turned out into quite a system, and yes, they'll be an option to turn battles off in the preferences.

@Jake:
Hearing you say that, yes, it could get complicated being that it is not a common rule of power (and I totally see what you mean by the link). In the system, one Ace is going to be the player's combatant except in certain situations. It'll always be their highest Ace and how the story puts it out, the player could experience battle with at least two different Aces, at least one at a time.

Being that is the case, and I like the suggestion you mentioned, the battling Ace that the cards correspond to would gain a certain boost if their suits are played. So, when Hearts fight, say he'll get a bonus of 3 to his card which could or couldn't override the monster's card. It'll have to be a bonus low enough that it isn't a winning streak and high enough that it actually works.

Thanks for the input.

@Showsni:
An interesting idea for eliminating the need for a status screen. It does help with it for that much and gives the aces a purpose in the battle which was my primary problem after so much collaborating. I also like the idea of giving monsters different AI to give each their own personality. Man! This is going to be a lot and a handful. Thanks for your thoughts and ideas!

@Everyone about the system:
Correct me if I state something that seems out of left field for the current Ren'Py as coding is not my forte (though, I wouldn't mind actually messing around to get this system going). After thinking for some time, this is the system so far:

Basic Gameplay in Battle
Upon entering the battle, five cards are drawn for each side (there will always be five drawn cards for both sides). Three cards are chosen from the drawn cards and placed on the playing field upside-down: one for the base damage, one for the attack power, and one for the defense power. When both sides have placed their cards in the field, they will reveal themselves and subtract the difference from the losing side. The math would be then: Base damage + attack power - defense power = losing side's subtracted health. HOWEVER! Cards played as base damage would be discarded for the rest of the battle while defense power can only be exchanged once every two turns. Attack cards can be interchangeable between the drawn hand and the playing field.

The IFs:
- "Held" cards are cards pulled to the "held" position can be put onto the playing field at any given moment BUT cannot return to the drawn hand.
- The card of ace can only be used in the position of base damage.
- Healing cards can only be used in the position of the base damage.
- Special cards can only be used in the position of base damage. The effect will only last for two turns. There will be a side notice on the playing field about the effect and can be by both sides.
- Should the event of a combatant running out of cards come to be, that combatant loses the battle automatically. (I would say that they can retrieve 43 random cards from the discarded pile which would then give the monster player an advantage of grabbing the ace but it just feels complicated from the base mechanics.)

Other Things to Consider: (if marked **, the numbers may change)
- There is a total of 43 cards: 36 which are the cards 2-10 (basic attack cards), 3 healing cards** (which can be placed in a held position), 3 special cards (obtainable via some major choices you make in the game and can be held), 1 which is the ace (special attack card which causes 20 damage**).

• - There will be three holding positions so it's limited as to how many cards can be held. i.e. 1 healing, 1 special, and the ace.
  - Special cards are the turning points of battle such as attack plus, defense plus, and draw new cards.
  - Healing cards acts as a base damage and healing health. The math would then be for healing: Base damage + DEFENSE power = amount of health healed.

Should things be subtracted? Should things be more simplified? Would it function in Ren'Py? Those are the questions I would like to ask so I ask you guys for your opinion.

By the way, for the visual learner, here's a visual representation of the playing field above.

[PyTom]

Reading your description of the game system, I'm not 100% sure how the battles would work. My questions are:

- Probably the big one is, how does one determine who is the losing side?
- The formula for damage is: (Base damage + attack power - defense power). Which side is each variable taken from?
- In what case can people draw back up to 5 cards? Can people discard cards without playing them?

Once the game system is formalized, it seems like it could be fairly easily made in cardgame.

[\Nish/]

Interesting, I gather this is something similar to the YuGiOh games? It'd be awesome if you really get it to work, you have my full support!

[ThirstingHeart]

The Ace of Clubs looks awesome! Green. <3

I totally support this idea. Card battles always make things more interesting then just the regular Attack or Heal options.

[CaesMRaenes]

@PyTom (and anyone about the system):
Thanks for addressing some issues that I would have. Here's my answers to your question.
- The base damage is the leading card. Much like war, one card will have a greater value than the other card. Thus, the card with the lesser value is the losing side. The bit that gives the player an advantage is determined by their fighter. Each Ace has his dominance over his suit. i.e. Your fighter is the Ace of Spades and he pulls a "2 of Spades" while the enemy pulls a "5 of hearts". He will win for the fact that he has a +3 (could be changed later) and the dominance over his suit.
- Haha. I realized that I wasn't clear about that. In fact, I'm not sure what was going through my head. After the system determines the losing side, as stated above, the formula is played out as such: Base damage (A) + attack power (A) - defense power (B). So once the losing side is determined, the formula will take the damage and attack from the opposite side and subtract it from their own defense power. i.e. Monster's 6 of Hearts + Monster's 7 of Clubs - Diamond's 9 of Diamonds. Diamonds being Diamonds, gets a bonus of 3, therefore increasing defense by 3. So the result would be: 6 + 7 - 12 = 1.
- I was thinking that the drawn hand would always be at 5. i.e. If you played 3 cards in your previous turn and and have 2 open spaces in your drawn hand, the system would compensate and fill it up. The player can't discard any card so all cards must be played one way or another.

That's the idea of it. How it's implemented and how it works out... Well, I might add of subtract some so that the code would function.

@\Nish/:
I suppose it is similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! except with standard cards. (Though Yu-Gi-Oh! is probably one of the easier cardgames to play.) Thanks for the support, Nish!

@ThirstingHeart:
Oh now, you like Clubs? That's great. That's great. Hahaha! Thanks for liking my idea. I wanted to be a little creative and step out of my comfort zone so it turned out this way. :D

@Update:
At Update? Nah, I just got a little update. I've been messing with interfaces and colors and pretty much nailed a main menu screen. My background artist also sent me the first digital painting she pulled off for me so we'll see how that turns out with character sprites. Prologue is complete except for images, and Chapter 1 is halfway through the planning process. I made a logo. If things go smoothly (as if, this is a side project after all), I'll have a demo out, no music, to have my writing style critiqued. I'm not much of a writer, that's why (burying myself but digging out of my comfort zone).

And here's the title screen. This is probably going to be the most you'll see unless I decide to tease people a little. >:D Muahahaha! The character here is Elias Hunson, the main character.

[Deji]

ohhh I like how that title screen looks!
The logo is very clean. I'd personally would try to pull something more artsy, since the correct one looks kind of serious corporate/company liketo me, but it works the way it is C:

I really like the illustrrtion of the title screen too, and the color scheme you used on it ^^ (yay for purple-ish shadows <3 ) The card there could use a little more polishing, though, imo

Keep it up!

[Riviera]

I also love the title screen.

The battle system looks promising.. I think I could pick it up reasonably easily. It almost reminds me of Princess Waltz's thing of drawing cards to determine damage, but yours looks nicer.

[PrettySammy09]

This looks awesome! Good luck on the card battles! ^^;;; God, I'd never be able to figure out how to code something like that without someone holding my hand.

[azureXtwilight]

I love that title screen, yes neat!

If you use imagemap.main menu maybe the title screen will look even better!

[Starling]

Whew the defense and attack part is a bit confusing in the game, but other than that I really like it, I like the way the aces play in it as well

Aaaannnddd

The title screen is gorgeous! Such pretty art, I want to create art that pretty~

[Red Lilies]

Wow, the card game looks complicated, but I'll probably understand it more when I can try it, rather than read it. Didn't get bridge either till I started playing it...
Anyways, I think your art is simply amazing - the title screen is gorgeous! I cannot wait to see more of this game.

[Mai-Oujo-sama]

This game.
I do believe.
Is made of pure win.
I'm amazed at the concept and the creativity put into it!
I also am in love with your art style. The boys look wonderful. (I'm leaning to the Red boy :3 bishieee)
Keep it up ^^