Day 11
I found this nice little "window to nowhere" on a sealed off door in a house for sale today.
The view yesterday evening from the top of Stinson Mountain, NH. Unfortunately I forgot to take a real camera; this was shot on a dirty cell phone cam!
The view yesterday evening from the top of Stinson Mountain, NH. Unfortunately I forgot to take a real camera; this was shot on a dirty cell phone cam!
I printed a polished version of the cards today. In the photo there are three card types: the planet cards, detection cards, and the larger star cards. There are six types of planet cards and six type of detection cards, with eight of each shown here. The three in the center are star cards. Normally, the game is played with 30 star cards and a mix of the other cards, depending on the value it holds.
Some people have asked how the game is played. The directions are as follows:Star Card
The first card type, the star card, is wider than the other cards. Star cards remain in a deck, facing information side up in the center of the game board. On each star card is a star name, a graphic of said star, general stats about the star, and what detection method cards will work on it. The star card remains on the board until the allowed detection methods have been played against it. Once exhausted, or all players pass, the star card is flipped and discarded. The new card shown on the board is considered to be the one in play for the next turn.
Detection Method Cards Each player starts the game with seven of these cards, held in a hand or in front of the game board. Detection method cards correlate directly with star cards. At the start of each turn, a player draws one new Detection Method card, but is not allowed to have more than 7. If drawing a new card results in more than 7, the player must choose one to discard.Planet Cards These cards represent planets found at the stars shown on the star cards. Planet cards are formed into combos to create points. Each card type can perform both a weak and strong combo, with some combos worth more than others depending on the rarity of the card. The player needs to keep in mind which combos work the best with the cards in hand, as the difference between weak and strong combos is not always the same. There are advantages and disadvantages the player must keep in mind when choosing what combos to create. Combo information is at the bottom of each planet card, displayed as symbols. Matching the planet card's symbol to a symbol in a combo displayed on any card in the hand makes it eligible for use in that particular combo.How the Game is Played The game is set up by placing the three card decks on the game board. The wide star cards are placed in the center, with the other two decks placed to either side of the star card deck. Each player starts out drawing seven planet detection cards. A die is rolled to see who goes first. The first player organizes his hand by type, for example he may have 3 "astrometry" cards, 2 "pulsar timing" cards, and 2 "direct imaging" cards. The star card in play will state what detection methods work on it. For example, it may say, "astrometry: 2". The player above is able to use two of his "astrometry" detection cards on that star. For using these two cards, the player draws two cards from the planet deck. The detection cards are discarded, while the planet cards are kept in the players hand.
A player can only use cards of a single detection method against a star card once. No other player can play the same detection method once it has occurred. However, players can still use other detection methods if they haven't occurred yet and the star allows for them. A player can choose to pass and not play any detection cards. Once all the detection methods listed on a star have been used by players, or if all players pass, the star is discarded. Points are built up by gathering planets from the planet deck and combining them into combos. There are multiple ways to combine planets, depending on which cards are used in the combination.
Once in a combo, the planets cannot be removed to form new combos. The strategy here is to build the most rewarding combos possible with the planets discovered throughout the game. The player must choose whether to form a combo right away with available planet cards, or wait until he has the right cards for a larger combo that is worth more points. The game ends when the star deck is exhausted. At that point, all points from combos and individual planet cards are added up, and the player with the most points wins.
I was mucking around today trying to come up with a design for the back of the game cards. Ultimately, I took a different approach, but I finished this concept for thing a day.
This is a calendar for a cabin in NH my family shares with relatives, used to determine whose week it is. I get nagged to make a new one each year.
Hello creative people! As you can probably gather from my Day One post, my name is Andy. I'm a graduate of Springfield College in the CG major, and it looks like we have some fellow Springfield College CG majors here this year. Always a good thing!
The perpetual academic, I'm currently a grad student majoring in Interactive Design and Game Development at Savannah College of Art and Design. Twenty Ten marks the start of a whole new decade of awesome. Let's start it off with some style!
