A Pitch

By Bradford Hale
GAM385 Final
Instructor Chandler

Overview
Transcend is a fantasy card game based loosely on an old card game featured in the
Might and Magic games called Arcomage. The object of the game is to destroy your opponent's
castle by destroying both the gate and the keep, respectively. There are four types of cards:
Attack cards, Siege cards, Defense cards, and Spells. Attack cards represent the units that take
the field. These cards do direct damage. Siege cards (like Catapults) are similar to Attack cards,
but they do extra damage to Defense cards (Castles & Towers), and do reduced to no damage to
Attack cards. Defense cards are immovable and incapable of attacking directly, but some can
harbor units in them to protect them. Finally, Spells are self-explanatory. They are single-casts
(unless otherwise noted), and have a variety of uses. These can include direct damage spells like
fireball and thunderstorm, or beneficial spells such as Stoneskin or Resurrection. The game will
be able to be played online in multiplayer, or in offline single-player against a computercontrolled opponent.

Gameplay
The cards are played similarly to other card games and RPG's. Each Attack and Siege
card has damage and health, among other things. Once someone surpasses that card's amount of
health by direct damage or spells, they are "dead" and removed from play. Defense cards are no
different, though they do not attack. While all cards capable of attacking have damage and
health, some have special abilities or bonuses. Archangels, for example, do extra damage to
Undead and Demon class unit cards. However Archangels, themselves, are Celestial beings,
meaning that some more powerful Demon cards, like Devils and Pit Lords, also deal double
damage to them in return. Archangels, being one of the most powerful Celestial class cards,
have two additional spells they can cast. These are Holy Wrath, which deals extra damage to
Undead or Evil cards, and Revive, which brings a selected dead card back to the player's hand.
Some cards have more passive abilities, such as the powerful Strike Minotaur. The Strike
Minotaur's feared attack has a chance on attack to inflict Cleave Armor, which deals an extra
25% damage to anything it attacks, including Siege cards, making them effective defensive or
offensive cards.
Both players start with a castle and tower, which are each immune to all magic, each
receives half of the Siege cards, and half of the Attack cards. The castle is, gameplay-wise,
useless. It must be protected, however, for you to win. The tower can have up to two ranged
units inside. When said units are placed in the towers, all melee damage intended for them must
go to the tower instead. Ranged units can attack them as normal. Once/if the tower is destroyed,
the units must then be played on the field where the tower was. Both the gate and the keep are
heavily fortified, and require some work to destroy. Siege vehicles, like catapults, are an

important aspect of the game because they do double damage to Defense cards (towers and the
castle). This makes them prized cards to have, and makes the placing/playing of them very
strategic. However, if the siege cards are all destroyed, the game isn't over. All units are capable
of damaging Defense cards, but at regular or reduced damage, depending on their damage type.
Units attacking a wooden door with a sword or bow wouldn't do as much damage, after all. The
design goals of the game are to make a game where the players defeat each other with the use of
strategy and quick thinking, while still remaining original and fun in the execution.

Controls
All of the cards in the game move by being selected first, and then clicking on the die in
the middle of the control panel at the bottom. This generates the 1-6 movement. Once the die
displays the number of spaces, the player is free to decide what direction to go in. Everything
involving the selecting, moving, and using of cards or unit abilities is controlled by the left
mouse button. This button is also used for attacking other cards. Using the right mouse button
brings up the tooltip of the card that the mouse is currently hovering over, which contains all of
the unit's stats and abilities. These controls can be set to two types: the mouse-controlled, or
directional-keys controlled. This ensures that players can move their units in the game to a style
that they prefer.
The game is played in a 2.5D over-the-top setting, and is turn-based. This means that
rather than being played in real-time, it is based on giving a player the opportunity to plan things
out, move when they are ready, and then they end their turn. Each player gets their turn after the
other player selects to end theirs, and so on and so forth until the game ends. In any given turn,
the player can place or move a card unit, or play a spell card. From the unit viewpoint, the
player can move any of his/her units once, and place any other cards on the field. There is no
limit to the amount of cards that can be played, but they must be placed at the far edge of their
playing side. If there are no free spots, then additional placing is disabled. The player can
choose to place card units on the field, and then move whichever one they desire, but only one
(unless otherwise noted on the card). If the player has moved/placed a card unit, they cannot do
anything else in the turn. The same can be said for spellcasting. The 15-by-10 play-field doesn't
show in its entirety, but the player can pan to other sides of the field by moving the mouse cursor
to one side of the screen, which will move it over in the desired direction. Also, in the upper
right-hand corner is an icon to rotate the playing field, should the player desire to see the action
from different perspectives. This style of camera control is more commonly seen in things like
RTS's.

Gameplay Mechanics
All of the units move with the roll of a 6 sided die. The rolling of the die is one example
of a game mechanic, or a set of rules that govern how a game works. The die governs how far a
unit on the field can move per turn, either forward or down. The only time a unit can move
diagonally is if it is considered an "aerial" unit.
This brings us to another game mechanic: unit abilities and attributes. Units in the game
have various attributes that affect gameplay. These include health, damage, damage type, unit
type, melee or ranged, unit race (dragonkin, human, orc, undead, etc) , aerial or ground
movement, any extra damages, and castable spells. An example of a complete set of abilities is
the Crusader, who is a human, has 35 health, deals 25 damage (double to demons and undead), is
a ground melee unit which deals slashing damage with his sword, and can cast heal on any
friendly units 2 times per battle.
Another mechanic in the game is the turn-based aspect of the game. Each player is only
allowed one move to make before their turn is over, unless otherwise noted. This makes the
strategy aspect of the game better for each player, because it encourages the players to think
about their moves instead of rushing to beat the other player. Also, the game is meant to be a
fun, light-hearted game. The faster a game is played, the less often the players can enjoy the
strategy aspect of the game.

User Interface
The user interface of the game is very user-friendly. There are basically two parts of the
screen that the player should know their way around - the 15-by-10 game field, and the control
panel, which takes up about a third of the map, at the bottom. The game field is where all of the
action takes place. This is where cards are placed and played. The player selects the card they
want to use by clicking on it with the mouse button. All of the cards in the game move by being
selected first, and then clicking on the die in the middle of the control panel at the bottom. This
generates the 1-6 movement. Once the die displays the number of spaces, the player is free to
decide what direction to go in.
The control panel tells the player, from left to right, what cards they have, where to roll
for a card's movement, and where to end their turn. The die in the middle has the icon of a black
and white 6-sided die. When the player clicks on it, it will show the die spinning, and then it will
land on a randomly-generated side. When the player is done with their turn, they can click on
the button in the lower-right, labeled "End Turn". This passes control over to the other player.
The left side of the control panel covers all of the unit control and management. There are four
cards visible here - a red-outlined card labeled "Attack", a blue-outlined card labeled "Spells", a

green-outlined card labeled "Defense", and a gold-outlined card labeled "Siege". Each of these
is a category of cards, and clicking on one will bring up all cards of the same type, outlined in the
same color. To the left of the cards will be a "Back" button that will return the player to the
previous screen. Clicking on one of these cards will also cause it to glow, anticipating the
placing of a card on the field. When a card is selected, playable squares will also glow, showing
where the cards can be played.

Player Feedback
The only forms of feedback that the player receives are auditory and visual. Flashing
colors are fairly common. When a card is selected in either the play field or the control panel,
the card will begin flashing green. If a card is selected to play in the control panel, all available
squares in the first column will flash green as well. If no squares are available in the starting line
of squares, a drum will sound, as well as a message stating "You cannot place a card until there
is free space in the starting column of your side." When a card is moved to attack another card,
or when a player's card is in range to attack another card, it will glow red. If the player engages
combat with another card, the sound of a sword clashing will play. Finally, if a card is destroyed,
it will disappear in a flash of grey. The noise, however, will depend on if the card belongs to the
player, or their opponent. If one of the player's cards is destroyed, a bell will toll. If the
opponent's card is destroyed, the sound of a trumpet will play.

Audience & Marketplace

Transcend will be enjoyed by fans of fantasy card games, as well as fans of fantasy
RPG's. The game shares some common features with its older, bigger RPG brothers, but is much
less complex. Fans of quick gameplay will likely be bored of the game, because it requires a
large amount of thinking and planning. Rushing headfirst into the fray without strategy will
likely result in a hazard situation. The game was designed as a more light-hearted adventure,
rather than a bloody, gory one. The atmosphere is quite family-friendly, but children younger
than 5 or 6 might find a few of the images on the cards to be frightening.
The game will most likely be distributed online from a portal as well as from a main
website, and it will cost a very small fee. A single-player demo will be available, but with
limited capability and play time. I find playable demos to be the best way to get players to try
out a game, because it lets them play a game before they buy it, but it also taunts them with
missing things they could be experiencing with the full version.

The main source of revenue for this game, besides the actual purchase of the game, will
be downloadable content. Because I won't charge a monthly fee (most likely) I will need other
sources of revenue in order to survive. This will be in the form of expansion packs, which I will
release every month or two, perhaps. This will include new maps and new units. Players
wishing to download the packs will pay a very small fee, perhaps around 99 cents. The game
will update either way, regardless of whether or not they have the pack, which does a better job
of not forcing the player to download the content, or punishing them for not getting it.

Community
Most of the community for this game will be via the game's main website, which will
feature a forum which the designers frequent for ideas, chats, etc. There will also be a
marketplace for players to purchase things like mugs, t-shirts, and pins. Since all of the
expansion packs will be downloadable from the website, this will better facilitate traffic on the
website for updates, news, etc.

Conclusion
At the time of Transcend's inception, my friend and I were heavily involved with playing
the Heroes of Might and Magic games. In these games, each player has an army of 5 to 7
creatures (depending on which one in the series you're playing), and the goal is to beat all the
creatures on the other team. This is achieved by utilizing your units and spells in strategic ways,
and out-thinking your opponent. We decided to create a card game that was similar in play style
to these games, but with a different UI and victory condition. It also incorporates a card style
and play style similar to the game Arcomage, which was a card game contained in the Might and
Magic series of FPS's. This game was based on either building a tower up to a certain amount,
destroying your opponent's tower, or getting a set amount of resources. With the combination of
game mechanics and looks of both games, a fairly solid casual game idea formed. Several decks
were created and played for years after, until we both graduated High School.