Do I Smell Bacon?

While I can't stand playing the Heavy in TF2, I decided to go over it now as it was the first stumbling block I came across while laying out the classes. What is the Heavy good at? Dealing damage. Sound familiar? In the PC game, the Heavy and Soldier are both damage dealers, but in slightly different situations. The Heavy is most effective at closer ranges, whereas the Soldier is better at a distance, where his rockets won't hit him too.

In a card game, the idea of distance isn't really applicable. So if they were both damage dealers then they would be pretty much identical. In the end, I decided to make the Heavy a defensive class (please don't kill me).

During his turn, the Heavy can attack like any other class and, like other classes, attacking causes him to tap (Tapping is a card game term for placing a card on it's side, indicating that it can no longer be used until it is untapped at the start of that players next turn). However, if the Heavy isn't tapped at the end of that players turn, then he becomes really useful.

Whenever an opponent taps one of his character cards during his own turn, the Heavy can attack that character, provided the Heavy isn't tapped. This causes the opponent to make sure everything they do is definitely worth doing. But wait, it gets better! Because of his wondrous spinning chamber, attacking in this way doesn't tap the Heavy! So if the opponent then taps another character, the Heavy can fire again! Of course, this still uses up ammo, so eventually the Heavy will have to stop, awww... This regulates a player's ammo usage, while at the same time allowing them to use up any remaining ammo for the turn without the player feeling it has been wasted.

Example Heavy cards:

• Get Behind Me Doctor! - Allows the Heavy to take damage instead of a Medic.
• Makin' Bacon - Allows you to search your deck for a Heavy and put him into play.
• Slow Mover (Nemesis card) - Causes your opponent to double-tap (causing him to wait two turns before he can be used again).
  

Soldiering On

The first class to be overviewed is the Soldier. As he's armed with a massive rocket launcher, it made sense to make him the primary damage dealer in the game. In addition, his splash damage will ensure that he always does damage, even if he misses his attack roll (yes, this card game will be using dice). The downside to the Soldier has always been his limited ammo, and that will be reflected here, but more on that down the line when I actually discuss ammunition.

Example Soldier cards:

• Rocket Jump - Allows the Soldier to avoid incoming fire by granting a temporary defense bonus, at the cost of ammo.
• Crit Rocket - The soldier deals double damage on his next attack this turn, whether it's a hit or splash damage.
• I Fell Asleep Reloading - Stops the opponent from regaining ammo at the start of their next turn.

NOTE: The last of these cards is a Nemesis card. While the others require you to have a Soldier to play, this can only be used if your opponent currently has a Soldier.

A Brief Overview

Most card games are based on patience. Building up resources, waiting for those ultra-rare, super powerful cards to come into your hand. Team Fortress 2 however, is about fast paced action with a host of characters that do not advance or 'level up' in anyway. Would it make a good card game? I figured there's only one way to find out.

Over the coming months, I'll be designing, developing and distributing (for free of course) what I hope will be a half-decent card game based on TF2. Here, I'll be posting brainstorms, rules, sample cards etc, for anyone interested to comment on. An important part of any development cycle is feedback, and this is no different. So let's set some goals shall we?

• First and foremost, the goal is to create a card game that accurately portrays the style and feel of a Team Fortress 2 match.
• At present, I am aiming for an initial set of 300 cards including characters, weapons and maps, along with various effect cards that reflect the tactics and strategies used in the PC game.
• As the success of the PC game depends entirely on it's community, I feel the card game should be no different. With this in mind, I aim to incorporate as much player feedback as possible into the game.

Check back soon for the first of many design diaries, beginning with, of course, the characters.