I'm curious if anyone has any resources - articles, podcasts, videos, etc - about tailoring mechanical identities of different factions. I'm trying to apply this principle to a non-Magic game, but even if the resource is M:tG focused I could still try to translate the lessons into the other game. To be a bit more specific about what I'm looking for... I'm essentially trying to make a color pie, then apply it so that the game's colors feel distinct and useful. Faction design would apply reasonably well to this I think, especially if "black gets above-the-curve sized creatures with drawbacks" can be considered a facet of black's "faction" design.
If such resources aren't available, I'd love to have a conversation and eventually turn that into a primer.
MaRo talks about this stuff in all of his color pie articles and podcasts, but not exactly in the way you're looking for. I think his podcast specifically on the color pie might be somewhat useful?
My advice from my own non-Magic designs is that flavor is your best friend. Magic's color pie is rooted directly in the different color philosophies and the magic they represent. In reality the color pie is entirely arbitrary, but those arbitrary distinctions hold a lot of significance within the game. Flavor helps you in two very important ways (among others):
- You need to help players remember your arbitrary divisions. If you connect these divisions to something they can understand outside of gameplay it helps to strengthen their understanding and retention.
- You need a jumping off point. In the beginning you've got a bunch of mechanics and no rhyme or reason to split them up. Once you've got a theme, you can make these early decisions and then make changes later to bring the two closer together.
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I have been working on a personal custom CCG for ages (particularly recently) and in my experience, MOON-E's advice is very solid. I stalled at one point in the design even where I felt the game wasn't quite new enough, and I didn't know what to do to differentiate it, so I reworked the flavour figuring it would both be interesting doing a nontraditional fantasy setting and the new setting would help to inspire new things. It did . I made the new factions off flavour archetypes, moving into unifying mechanical themes and strategical dynamics (e.g. how aggressive, how much CA, how good removal) to resolve the nitty gritty. Looking at various MTG or other CCG/TCG effects helps, using equivalent sort of effects to flesh out things.
MaRo talks about this stuff in all of his color pie articles and podcasts, but not exactly in the way you're looking for. I think his podcast specifically on the color pie might be somewhat useful?
My advice from my own non-Magic designs is that flavor is your best friend. Magic's color pie is rooted directly in the different color philosophies and the magic they represent. In reality the color pie is entirely arbitrary, but those arbitrary distinctions hold a lot of significance within the game. Flavor helps you in two very important ways (among others):
- You need to help players remember your arbitrary divisions. If you connect these divisions to something they can understand outside of gameplay it helps to strengthen their understanding and retention.
- You need a jumping off point. In the beginning you've got a bunch of mechanics and no rhyme or reason to split them up. Once you've got a theme, you can make these early decisions and then make changes later to bring the two closer together.
Good to hear that I'm on the right track! I have a few flavor elements for each color, but it sounds like I'll have the most success by fleshing those out first and following up with mechanical tie-ins. Hopefully getting a more comprehensive idea of where each color fits in the flavor will make translating to mechanical divisions more straightforward.
Edit: Read your article Void, it's got some ideas that will help guide my expansion of the flavor.
If such resources aren't available, I'd love to have a conversation and eventually turn that into a primer.
My advice from my own non-Magic designs is that flavor is your best friend. Magic's color pie is rooted directly in the different color philosophies and the magic they represent. In reality the color pie is entirely arbitrary, but those arbitrary distinctions hold a lot of significance within the game. Flavor helps you in two very important ways (among others):
- You need to help players remember your arbitrary divisions. If you connect these divisions to something they can understand outside of gameplay it helps to strengthen their understanding and retention.
- You need a jumping off point. In the beginning you've got a bunch of mechanics and no rhyme or reason to split them up. Once you've got a theme, you can make these early decisions and then make changes later to bring the two closer together.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
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In the beginning, factions are a lot of spitballing. You just have to find the right axes to divide your factions along.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Edit: Read your article Void, it's got some ideas that will help guide my expansion of the flavor.