Valkyrian Project has launched!
Welcome to the official launch of the Valkyrian Project. Our first mission is to create the collectible card game Valkyrian Girls Academy. Actually, is collectible even the correct term for it? Perhaps expandable fits better? Maybe it's both. You tell me.
First a bit of thematic story. Valkyrian Girls Academy is a boarding school for girls. It doesn't really have classic classes though. Instead it's entirely club activities. Lots of randomly insane things happen there such as mass water balloon fights, mecha wars, or zombie outbreaks. Also, there's a fantasy MMORPG that's popular with the schoolgirls.
Now for the idea behind the game. The plan is that the core "set" is a collectible card game consisting of all students. These cards are basically a collection of characters with stats which are then used in various different game types. To those worried about this turning into a massive money sink, rest assured that each game is playable with premade decks. Also, one deck will be reusable in many other game types.
I already have two game types planned that will be playable with just core decks.
Water Balloon Warfare
This is a duel type game mode that is basically a water balloon fight. It's meant for 1v1 or 2v2. You build up a team of girls and balance out between having them gather resources(water balloons) or attack(throwing water balloons at opposing team). Each girl's effectiveness is determined by their stats. There will be rules for playing with just a single deck as well as playing with personal constructed decks.
Boarding House Buildup
This game type is another duel type but it's also a dexterity game. This one requires each player have a deck. In this one, the object of the game is to build up a house of cards. Your "hand" is actually the house of cards you're constructing. You play card abilities by removing cards from your own house, and depending on the element alignment of the girl you pulled, it will either help you build faster or force your opponents to remove cards from their card house.
Along with these game modes, there are other game modes I will be developing that will have more components to it.
Schoolgirls vs Zombies
This idea originated as a flash tower defense game. However, I have adapted it to become a cooperative game mode in which the players defend their sector of the school from invading zombies. Players must balance tasks between searching for supplies, throwing supplies at attacking zombies to get rid of them, or searching for other girls to reinforce the defense.
Fantasy World Royale
This is the more traditional style dueling game mode that is similar to the likes of Magic the Gathering, Yugioh, or Elements the Game. The key differences in this game is that the resources are more player controlled in that any card can be used as a resource. That card will produce resource of it's elemental alignment. Another key difference is that the girls themselves don't have any inherent special abilities. Instead, there are "rule cards" you select before you start the game that will give abilities to girls of certain stats/alignment. It may give passive or active abilities. It may allow you to discard them from your hand for a spell like effect. I believe this will allow games to be far more strategic than you'd get in other TCGs.
Cultural Festival Clash
This is a deck builder game mode. Players are on a mission to make the most of the school cultural festival by running their own event as well as enjoying what others have to offer. Buy supplies, craft items or sell services. Gain victory points by participating in events. In the end, the player with the most victory points wins.
Mecha Mayhem
This is the least developed of my game ideas despite being the only one that I've actually made prototype cards of before. A very long time ago my brother made a card game which involved constructing mechs and battling with them. It was very fun though it was unrefined and he never did anything with it. That game doesn't quite fit into VGA as is, but I believe with some modifications I could make a combination deck builder/dueling game out of it. Each player race to build mechs and fight each other until only one team is left standing. The girls will be the ones gathering the materials, building and piloting the mechs.
So, in development stage 1, I'd like to play around with some card designs and build the world up some. Here are some designs of the card backs.
And here's the design of the front of the card.
From the template card, the icons are as follows: 1) Strength, 2) Endurance, 3) Agility, 4) Intellect, 5) Charisma, 6) Willpower. Above the 7 is the elemental sign and the 7 itself is where the cost of the card will be. It seems like a lot, but not all the games will use every stat. Also, I find that it's actually less cluttered and more straight forward than you'd find in other TCGs. This is just the initial design, so I'd like to hear your opinions on it. I'm thinking of redoing the elemental icons, and maybe giving the stat icons some color. I may play around with giving it a more compact design too.
There gold V on the top left of the Vallerie cards are the set symbol. This will let me show which print run the card originated from. Magic the Gathering does the same with their cards, and honoring the same system I am going to make commons black, uncommons silver, and rares gold.
As of this moment, this is primarily a solo development project. I have no clue when that will change, but what this means is that it will take a long time to produce a CCG. So my plan is to develop a premade deck that is basically a standard playing card deck. The reason I show a sketch version is because I may do a print run of a sketch set if there is enough interest. I may also include sketch cards in boosters when it comes time for them in place of foil cards since the printer I'm planning on going with can't do foils. Alternately, I could just use the sketch cards as promo cards and not have them up for sale for general public.
Anyway, if you want to help me out by taking a survey, you can do so here. I'd like to hear any input you have on the project. Next news update will be a bit more coherent as I start focusing on the smaller aspects of the Valkyrian Girls Academy. If you'd like to keep up to date, be sure to follow our twitter.