GRPS (Ghost Rock-Paper-Scissors) is a 3-6 player, 10-minute deck-building card game where players manage attack defense cards along with point cards which serve as lives and currency.
GRPS was made in collaboration with Amanda Powel and Shey Bala in a month.
While we each worked in design roles, I contributed especially to balancing our resources in response to playtests. I also contributed pixel art helped with select card design.
Attack and Defense Design
The value of one’s attack card has to exceed or match the defense card of the player they are attacking.
Damage is taken from the victim’s store of point cards equal to the defense card minus the attack card – a design meant to encourage risk assessment.
Example
If my scissor value is equal to the value of their rock I might want to use it anyway to eliminate their rock and leave them vulnerable to other players attacks, or I might keep my scissor to remain a threat to others.
reducing the amount of low value cards and increasing the effects of the ghost cards reduced the game from over 35 minutes to a cool 10.
Economy
Because paper counts as both lives and their means of exchange, each transaction has obvious and immediate consequences.
How players use identical numbers of starting points defines their strategy early in the game, but they receive random attack and defense which identifies who is a threat right away.
Example
Both the addition of ghosts to the game, allowing scissors to stack in larger attacks, and particularly having a paper card limit that encouraged players to be strategic with their available slots helped us contribute to more active gameplay.
Player Elimination
In longer games with 6+ players, ‘dead’ players get to stay engaged by continuing to use up any attack cards in their hand.
they can also draw ghost cards which shake up play, or might allow them to revive back into play. These cards were balanced like the others, with less powerful cards available, but few neutral ones to avoid prolonging play.
Example
Most allow ghosts to boost certain living players or sabotage their enemies, but some function like uno cards, reversing play or forcing players to swap hands.