Ludology & Gameplay – Final Project

Time-Management card/board game

Confidential Page 1 4/10/2023

Table of Contents

TITLE 3

STORY 3

NUMBER OF PLAYERS 3

RESOURCES TYPES 3

CIVILIZATIONS 3

ARTEFACTS 3

WEALTH ARTEFACT 3KNOWLEDGE ARTEFACT 4FAITH ARTEFACT 4

GAME SETUP 4

GAME DETAILS 4

MAIN GOAL 4PLAYER’S TURN DETAILS 4RESOURCE GATHERING 4EVENT DEFINITION 5PRODUCTION PLAN 5ERA’S PROGRESSION RULES 5WINNING CRITERIA 5

EVENTS CARDS DETAILS 5

SINGLE-PLAYER EVENT CARDS 5VINTAGE YEAR 5MYSTICISM 5DISCOVERY 5FAMINE 5CATACLYSM 6EXPLOSION 6FANATICISM 6GREAT FEAST 6ADVANCED RESEARCH 6ROBBERY 6GLOBAL EVENTS 6PEACE 6WAR 7

NUMBER CRUNCHING (TO BE DELETED) 7

Production Range 7

Confidential Page 2 4/10/2023

TitleTBD when a story background is decided.

StoryTBD later. Possible options:

Historical Irish folklore related Galactic Post apocalyptic future Etc.

It will be conceived as soon as we have a solid and funny gameplay.

Number of PlayersThe suggested number of players is from 2 to 6 players.

Resources TypesThere are three types of resources:

Wealth Knowledge Faith

Resources are useful trading goods, they can be spent to build artefacts and they will let the player to go forward in the game.

CivilizationsThe are six different types of civilizations each one with pros and cons:

Trader (+1 Wealth Bonus + something else TBD) Bard (+1 Wealth Bonus + something else TBD) Zealot (+1 Faith Bonus + something else TBD) Shaman (+1 Faith Bonus + something else TBD) Scientist (+1 Knowledge Bonus + something else TBD) Sage (+1 Knowledge Bonus + something else TBD)

ArtefactsThere are three different types of artefacts, one for resource type. Each player can build a maximum of three artefacts.

Wealth ArtefactThis artefact provides you one more wealth resource during Resource Gathering Phase. Building price:

2 Wealth

Confidential Page 3 4/10/2023

4 Knowledge 4 Faith

Knowledge ArtefactThis artefact provides you one more knowledge resource during Resource Gathering Phase. Building price:

4 Wealth 2 Knowledge 4 Faith

Faith ArtefactThis artefact provides you one more faith resource during Resource Gathering Phase. Building price:

4 Wealth 4 Knowledge 2 Faith

Game SetupAt the beginning of the game each player has to choose his/hers civilization and will receive the related country. Each country is divided in 4 different regions and every region can produce only one resource per turn.Each player will start with 5 units of each resource type (i.e.: 5 Wealth, 5 Knowledge and 5 Faith).Each player will throw the dice to decide the starting player. The player with the highest total starts to play then the rotation will be clock-wise.

Game Details

Main GoalEvery 5 rounds, each player has to gather enough resources to progress to the new Era. At the beginning of each new era all the players have to pay Era’s progression target. If a player cannot afford it, he/she will loose the game.

Player’s Turn DetailsEach turn is divided into three phases:

Resource Gathering Event Definition Production Plan

During his/hers turn the player is free to trade resources with other players and to build an artefact, if he/she can afford it.

Resource GatheringThe player will gather his/hers civilization racial bonus, the resources he planned to produce during previous turn’s last phase and, if he managed to build one or more artefacts, the bonuses produced by them.

Event DefinitionThe player has to draw a card from Event’s Deck.

Confidential Page 4 4/10/2023

Production PlanDuring this phase the player has to decide the resource type produced by each region based on his/hers needs.

Era’s Progression RulesThe game will progress through eight different eras with an increasing resource target. First era resource target is:

6 Wealth 6 Knowledge 6 Faith

Every new Era’s progression target will increase by one resource for each type by reaching the maximum amount at the 8th era:

13 Wealth 13 Knowledge 13 Faith

Winning CriteriaThe last player left in game wins. Otherwise, the game will end at the beginning of 8th Era, if two or more players manage to survive until the end of the game the one with highest number of resources wins.

Events Cards Details

Single-Player Event Cards

Vintage YearYour harvests were plentiful, your merchants traded well and your people is happy. Good work!!!Gain 2 Wealth resources.

MysticismAfter a great time spent in prayer and meditation, you people reach a new state of illumination.Gain 2 Faith resources.

DiscoveryYour researchers made a great discovery. A little flash of light spread through the dark mysteries of the universe.Gain 2 Knowledge resources.

FamineYour harvest were poor, most of your merchants bankrupted and your people is starving.Loose 2 Wealth resources.

CataclysmDespite the great effort spent in prayer and meditation, a cataclysm hit your country. For this reason a lot of people started to avoid religious rituals.Loose 2 Faith resources.

Confidential Page 5 4/10/2023

ExplosionDuring an experiment a great explosion occurred in one of your laboratories, many researchers lost their life.Loose 2 Knowledge resources.

FanaticismA group of fanatics broke-up in all libraries of your country and started burning all the books in name of a religious purpose.Loose 3 Knowledge resources and gain 3 Faith resources.

Great FeastDespite their religious duties, your people started an unending feast. It’s going on for weeks and it seems they are not going to stop soon. All religious representatives become indignant for this misbehaviour.Loose 3 Faith resources and gain 3 Wealth resources.

Advanced ResearchSeriously convinced that your civilization should be the most advanced of all times, you have commissioned a huge experiment to make a great step forward in technology. Now it’s time to pay the bill…Loose 3 Wealth resources and gain 3 Knowledge resources.

RobberyYou have ordered your spies to enter in a foreign country in order to steal some of their resources.Choose another player and roll the dice:

Even number occurs:Your spies succeeded the mission and managed to escape the country without being noticed.Steal a total of 4 resources of your choice from the declared player (you can choose different resource types).

Odd number occurs:The enemy has captured your spies and, after few weeks of torture, they confessed you were the person behind this attack. In order to avoid a war you decide to bribe the foreign country leader.Pay to the declared player a total of 4 resources of his/hers choice (he/she can choose different resource types).

Global Events

PeaceA long and stable period of peace all over the world made flourish all the countries.All players gain 2 Wealth, 2 Faith and 2 Knowledge resources.

WarFor a futile reason all the countries declared war to each other. After years of bloody and gruesome fight a cease-fire is established. Only destruction and misery remain.All players loose 2 Wealth, 2 Faith and 2 Knowledge resources.

Confidential Page 6 4/10/2023

Number Crunching (to be deleted)In this chapter there is the brief analysis I made to write down the rules.

Production RangeAmount of resources produced by each player at each Era (every 5 rounds) without considering events cards (from a statistic point of view they should be balanced):Minimum amount:(1 racial bonus + 4 produced) x 5 round = 25 mixed resourcesMaximum amount:(1 racial bonus + 4 produced + 3 artefact bonus) x 5 round = 40 mixed resources

Below you can find a spreadsheet of each Era deadline. Following a simple reasoning if a player doesn’t build any artefact will loose at the beginning of the 3rd or 4th era.Since every era progression becomes more and more expensive I expect that the game will end between 6th, 7th or 8th Era.

Confidential Page 7 4/10/2023