v0.3 || Multiple adventure support

Summary

This update focuses on adding support for multiple adventures, or decks of cards. Before this only one adventure, the rat themed one, was implemented/supported. As of this version it will be much easier to experiment with multiple kinds of gameplay & mechanics. As each deck can serve as a stand-alone prototype, or a proof of concept for a certain idea.

My take on the open-closed principle in game development

This update is aligned with my bigger vision for this project, with modularity and extendability being in focus. My aim is to create a product that can easily be modified by each user, generally referred to as modding. Hence my focus on having all game data being read from json files. There will be a future update where each users local json files can be read, meaning that anyone can make their own adventures/cards by following my sort of json API.

In my opinion games have two main aspects:

1. Underlying architecture
   1. For example the logic, graphics, animations, UI, simulations.
   2. This part is typically implemented as a closed engine, only accesable to the development team.
2. Content
   1. This can be anything from textures, to assets and dialog.
   2. This can be working on by the development team, but many games support modding, allowing for alterations in the games content. 

Open games:

Some examples of games where the architecture is closed to the user, but it's content is open:

• Skyrim
• Minecraft
• Rimworld

These games can be heavily modded, and much of their success is because of this openness. They can live on and adapt long after the official development teams have finished active development, they live on and adapt because of the community. The kind of gameplay one can encounter in these games is very varied. Skyrim has everything from super silly mods turning dragons in Thomas the tank engine, to hardcore combat focused mods. This variety in gameplay increases replayability.

Closed games:

Example of games where both the underlying architecture, and it's content is closed:

• Hearthstone
• Dota
• The last of us

These games typically need to be closed either because they are built around competitive tournaments/ranked systems, or because they are heavily story based. These games require more active development by it's creators to stay relevant, and might rely on an active competitive scene. They provide more of a catered experience, where gameplay is strictly determined by the developers. Their replayability relies heavily on competitiveness and the social multiplayer experience. In terms of story driven games their replayability can be low.

There of course exist a lot of games in the middle of these two ends, but it is a generalization that fits my current agenda.

My opinions:

Looking back at my own gaming history, almost all the games I've enjoyed falls in the "open" category. I've spent 1000s of hours in Rimworld playing around with some Call of Cthulhu mods,  or building factories in Mincrafts Tekkit mod when I was younger. I want to make the kind of game I myself like playing, hence my focus on openness. I believe that my role as a developer should not be to develop content, my role is to create a framework or platform where others can adds their own content. It is very hard to be good at both, and so I must prioritize. I will add some content of my own, but it will mostly serve as tutorial material.
Henceforth I think I will refer to this project as "Open Closed Card Adventures", or OCCA for short. Is that a good title? No probably not. Am I going with it anyway? Yes!

New content & features

Future

Now that I have support for multiple decks of card I want to add more card functionality. Some examples of functionality I've wanted to add for a long time:

• Cards that can generate new cards
  • Maybe an "enemy" card can clog up your deck with garbage, or there is a card that will duplicate itself etc. It will also be possible to start of with rather small "enemy"/"market" decks. Where more cards are added along the way, could be part of a "discover" mechanic.
  • This would make each run more unique, and not overwhelm the user with all cards being in the market from the start.
• Multiple choice effects
  • For example some "enemy" cards could provide the user with multiple bad options: "Discard one card, or lose one life" is a very basic example. This would add more choices for the user, which could be interesting.
• More card pile manipulation
  • For example scrying, and more flexible/conditional search actions. Searching for, or actively avoiding, card rewards players for planning ahead.
• More market interactions
  • Card effects that restock cards in the market, or lock them in place could be interesting. Right now the market is VERY random.

There are more card effects I will add. But in general that is what the next release will focus on.

There are other things that needs to be improved, like the GUI and animations. At the moment cards can become very hard to read when there are a lot of them in a single row. Improving this is not my top priority right now and will be fixed later.