Cards!

Cards! is a set of card games.

Design Principles

Standard design principles include:

• Physical deck: cards printed with symbols and skinning
  • Symbols comply with deck syntax, and provide basis for game syntax
  • Skinning is decoration, on top of syntax
• Deck syntax: logical structure of deck symbols
• Game syntax: logical structure of game rules
• Skinning: decoration on top of syntax
  • Simple skinning is merely decorative, does not affect game syntax
  • Complex skinning modifies game syntax (and is decorative as well)
• Plug-in cards: "Specials" which add marketing appeal, game options, etc.

Physical deck

• Custom-printed deck of 52 standard-size playing cards
  • Plus two Plug-in cards ("specials")

Deck syntax

• The Forty-Eight - set of forty-eight cards
• The Four - set of four

Game syntax

Rules of the game, for a given:

• Physical deck
• Deck syntax

Game syntax expresses game logic in a symbolic form.

Use standard terminology and abstract symbols to express game syntax.

Give names to individual game syntaxes.

• Each game syntax will be re-usable across multiple decks, with multiple skins
• A given deck might have two or more different game syntaxes

Skinning

Skinning is the process of creating a "skin" for a given deck.

Skinning adds decoration, and can optionally modify gameplay.

• Simple skins are merely decorative features which express the deck syntax.
• Complex skins also affect gameplay: the skin specifies new game syntax, modifications to existing game syntax, etc.