DUNGEON DECKS

GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT

Jonesn Games | 110 West Lutz | West Lafayette, In

Created: January 5, 2017

Non-Confidential
Released 2/24/2017. Copyright 2017 Jonesn Games. All Rights Reserved.
 Dungeon Decks Game Design Document

Overview..................................................................................................................................3
Core game design Goal ....................................................................................................3
Intro..................................................................................................................................3
Genre................................................................................................................................3
Platform, Minimum Specs ...............................................................................................3
Target Demographic ........................................................................................................3
Game Mechanics .....................................................................................................................4
Core Gameplay ................................................................................................................4
Mode Of Play...................................................................................................................4
Pre-Dungeon Crawl .................................................................................................4
Dungeon Crawl ........................................................................................................4
Room Clear ..............................................................................................................4
Floor Clear ...............................................................................................................5
Turn Flow ........................................................................................................................5
Combat .............................................................................................................................5
Card Play Modifiers .................................................................................................5
Attack Cards ............................................................................................................5
Magic Cards .............................................................................................................5
Trap Cards ...............................................................................................................5
Defense Cards ..........................................................................................................5
Movement Cards ......................................................................................................6
Deck Speed ......................................................................................................................6
Turn Order ...............................................................................................................6
Range of Movement ................................................................................................6
Discard Pile ......................................................................................................................6
Discarding ................................................................................................................6
Reloading .................................................................................................................7
Combo Zone ....................................................................................................................7
Combos and Effects .................................................................................................7
Enemy A.I. .......................................................................................................................7
Support .....................................................................................................................7
Offensive..................................................................................................................7
Deffensive ................................................................................................................8
Trickster ...................................................................................................................8
Shops................................................................................................................................8
Media .......................................................................................................................................8
Art ....................................................................................................................................8
Overall Goals ...........................................................................................................8
Game Art .................................................................................................................9
Sound and Music .............................................................................................................9
Overall Goals ...........................................................................................................9
Sound Effects ...........................................................................................................9
Music .......................................................................................................................9

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 Dungeon Decks Game Design Document

OVERVIEW
CORE GAME DESIGN GOAL
The goal of Dungeon Decks is simple: Explore dungeons and fight monsters via tabletop card game systems.

INTRO
Dungeon Decks provides gamers with a new way to explore dungeons together.

The idea is to get players cooperating, and thinking out their actions together as they progress through the
dungeon, as opposed to the plethora of rouge-like dungeon delvers that encourage chaos and simply try to
overwhelm the players with lots of noise on the screen. This is where the tabletop card system comes into play.

GENRE
Dungeon Decks is best classified as " co-op, turn-based rpg."

PLATFORM, MINIMUM SPECS

Dungeon Decks will run on Windows 7/8.1/10.

Minimum Specs:
CPU: 2.0GHz i5 or better
RAM: 4GB
Video Card: Graphics card with 1GB of video RAM
Free Disk Space: 600 MB

TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC
Dungeon Decks is geared towards couples, or casual couch co-op gamers, with just enough tabletop/card
system depth to appeal to fans of those genres as well.

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GAME MECHANICS

CORE GAMEPLAY
Each player gets a turn in which they will: draw new cards, play a card, discard a card to the combo pile.

MODE OF PLAY

Pre-Dungeon Crawl
Gameplay is fairly straight forward for anyone who has played a dungeon crawler, however before the
dungeon crawling begins, the players are given a deck building screen. On this screen they can select from
different packs, such as: defense packs, magic packs, trap packs, movement packs, attack packs, etc.

They will be allowed to open ten packs, each containing 6 cards. They can select cards to put into their 30
card deck which they will take into the dungeon, place them in their side deck, which is a set of 10 cards
that they can swap into their deck in place of another in between rooms, or they can choose to leave them
in a storage pile if they arent sure what to do with them yet.

During this time, players can trade cards with one another to help create synergy within each deck, and
strategize what kind of deck they want to bring into the dungeon. Any cards not used in the main deck can
be stored for later use, or sold for currency, which can be used to buy cards at card shops scattered
throughout the dungeon.

Once all players have locked in their decks, they will be taken to the first room of the dungeon, and the crawl
beings!

Dungeon Crawl
The dungeon crawl experience is not complex. Players will begin in a room filled with monsters. They must
navigate the room, and kill all the creatures within to move on to explore other parts of the dungeon. Before
play begins, players get to survey the room, and swap in any cards from their side deck, after this point they
cant change their main deck until the room is cleared. Play begins with player 1, then to 2, and so on
through all monsters for the first room, however this is only the case in the first room. (for more about turn order
see Deck Speed, pg. 6)

Room Clear
Upon clearing a room, random packs will drop, which will be opened by the players after theyve cleared the
floor. Players will then freely be allowed to traverse the room, choosing which door/path they wish to take
next.

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Floor Clear
Upon clearing a floor, players will be taken to the deck building screen again, at which point they can open
all the packs theyve acquired, trade, and cash in cards again, as well as rebuild their main, and side decks
for the next floor. After theyve locked in, theyll be taken to the next floor and play will continue as usual.

TURN FLOW

DRAW SELECT FROM DRAWN CARDS PLAY END TURN

The player will get 4 cards in their hand to start with. Before drawing, any status effects will take their effect,
i.e. burn, heal, etc. They will then get to draw 3 from their deck of 30 (now 26). One of those cards must be
placed in the discard pile, (see discard pile, pg. 6) one of them must be placed in the combo zone (see
combo zone, pg. 7), and one of them must be added to the hand. If the before drawing the player has 2 or
fewer cards in their hand, they may choose not to place a card in the combo pile, and instead add two into
the hand. After that, players can play a combo from the combo pile, or play an individual card from their
hand, as well as move a number of spaces on the grid that scales with deck speed. Any cards played from
the hand or combo pile are then placed in the discard pile. At any point during the turn after the draw, a
player may choose to end their turn, no action is required. Upon ending their turn, status effects will again
occur.

COMBAT/CARD TYPES

Card Play Modifier

Every card has a designated Card Play Modifier, or CPM, and this determines how the player activates the
card. Some are more simple, such as stopping a spinner at the right time to try and land a critical fireball, as
opposed to a normal one, while some are more complicated, like a string of randomized button presses that
must be completed properly in a set time limit in order to successfully cast a powerful spell card.

Attack Cards
The player will primarily battle enemies via attack cards, which will deal damage in a variety of different ways,
varying in area of effect, element, and strength.

Magic Cards
Magic cards can also deal damage, but they usually do it in a more round-about manner, such as dealing
damage to a monster based on the number of cards it has already played, or something of that nature. They
can also be used to cast buffs, or de-buffs, on enemies as well as allies.

Trap Cards
Trap cards can be physically placed somewhere on the floor within the level. If a player places one, all
players can see it, however the a.i. will not be able too. If an enemy places a trap, the reverse will be true.

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Defense Cards
These cards can be played in response to an event, and are the only cards that can be used, even when it is
not that players turn. Defense cards will list what they can be used in response to, for example, an enemy
attacked with fire, or an enemy cast a spell on you. If you choose to play the card in response, they will
usually divert or redirect the danger in some way, and sometimes have a secondary effect, such as, draw a
new card, or, that enemy cant move next turn.

Movement Cards
These cards allow the player to move in unique or specialized ways. Every player can walk a number of
spaces per turn without playing any cards, however movement cards allow the player to say, jump over a pit,
or lightly step across traps safely, or teleport to an ally etc. Some of these cards can also target allies or
enemies, to move them about the level as well. These may not seem essential at first, but they can really get
the player out of some very sticky situations, and help keep control of the combat.

DECK SPEED
Every card in the game has an associated weight value assigned to it. These numbers range between 1 and
10. The bigger the number the heavier the card. This is a balancing method, as the better the card is, the
more it will weigh, so even if you had 30 really great cards, it wouldnt be very smart to use them all in your
deck at once. There are a couple of things that weight influences, and they encourage the player to only
take the heavy cards that are really useful to them.

Turn Order
When the game initially begins, the players get to take their turns before the monsters. This gives the players a
room to find their footing in the game. After this first room however, turn order is decided entirely by the
weight of the players decks. Both enemy, and player deck weights will be compared to determine turn
order upon entering the room, and if a deck is too heavy, some units may even get to play multiple times
before the unit with the heavy deck.
Range of Movement

On top of turn order, card weight also determines range of movement per turn for each unit. This isnt based
off of the deck weight however, this is based off of the weight of all of the cards currently in that units hand.
The heavier the hand, the more restricted the movement. This will lead to interesting situations where it may
be better to use an attack from a location, but the player needs to avoid a more threatening attack next
turn, so they instead play a trap to lighten their hand, and retreat with their newly enhanced mobility.

DISCARD PILE
Most card games out there have a discard pile, or graveyard, or banished zone, etc. and Dungeon Decks is
no different. The discard pile will not be something that players interact with beyond looking at it to see which
cards theyve already played, so they know not to wait around hoping to draw it, as theyve played their last
copy. It has a few simple interesting functions though.

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Discarding

Simply put, whenever a card is played, its effect occurs, and then the card goes to the discard pile. This
includes every type of card, even trap cards, the trap is set at a location in the room, and then the card goes
to the discard pile, regardless of when the trap is actually triggered. If you play a card, discard it! In addition
to this, at the start of every turn the player discards one of the drawn cards. This is the exception. The other
would be if a card specified discarding a card from the hand, but this is a very rare case! (Props to you for
getting such a strong card!)

Reloading

When a player, or creatures deck empties, play has to continue, so all of the cards currently in the discard pile
get shuffled, and placed once again face down in the players deck. From here play continues as usual.

COMBO ZONE
As stated earlier, at the beginning of every turn one card is discarded to the combo zone. Which can hold up
to 9 cards. If the combo zone is full, the player putting a card in it, may simply discard 2 cards to the discard
pile, or send one from the combo zone to the discard pile to free up a spot for their new card. Every card in
the game has one of five colored card backs. The color of the card back does not correspond to the card
front. You can have five copies of the same card, all with different colored backs. These backs are strictly for
combo zone interaction, and have no other impact on gameplay whatsoever.

Combos and Effects

The smallest a combo chain can contain is 3 cards, but more cards than that can be used in one combo.
The effect of the combo is determined by the colors within that combo, and the number of cards determines
the strength of the effect. Effects vary widely, some examples would be: 3 greens heal a unit, 6 greens heal
all units in an area, 3 reds create a wall of fire at a designated location, etc. These combos are there for the
players to experiment with, however they add another layer of thought that encourages cooperation. A
player may have a card they would really like to play, however it has a green back, and their partner really
needs to heal, so instead of taking it into the hand, they put it in the combo zone, for their partner to use on
their next turn!

ENEMY A.I .
This is obviously a fairly complex subject, and very integral to the gameplay, as it is all player vs computer. To
break this down simply, we will have 4 different modes. The mode will determine how they make their
decisions, so if you gave the same hand to the 4 different a.i., they would all play it a little differently.

Support
This kind of a.i. will prioritize giving buffs to allied units above all else, including its own safety. Of course if there
are any situations where it can kill a player, it will prioritize that. However, other than that, unless it cant help
any allied units from its current position with the cards available, it will choose to do so.

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Offensive
This a.i. will prioritize damage to enemy players above all else. These a.i. are a bit brainless in that they will
look at which ever card, and movement option gives them the highest damage on a player, and even if that
action leads to their death, they will take it. This unit is predictable, is threatening because it cant be scared
off.
Defensive
This a.i. will also attempt to deal damage, but they calculate their survival into the equation. They will look to
deal the most damage possible of the options that involve taking the least amount of foreseeable damage.
If they are low on health they will retreat towards a support unit, or strive to avoid player threats, focusing on
staying alive as long as possible.
Trickster
Units with trickster mode a.i. are very unpredictable. They will cycle between all three of the previous a.i.
modes randomly. At the start of each turn, it will randomly select one, potentially even the same one as the
previous turn. These units will keep the players on their toes, so that they cant take their actions without a
grain of salt, because you never know when they could switch it up and go Offensive when you least expect
it!

SHOPS
Occasionally the players will happen upon a room with no combat. These are shop rooms. They will contain
individual cards that the player can buy with in-game currency, as well as an interface to sell cards and
packs that they currently have.

MEDIA
ART
Overall Goals
In all honesty, Dungeon Decks strives to emulate the esthetic of Enter the Gungeon as closely as possible. A
good mixture of adorable sprites, with a lot of personality in the animations.

Game Art
Multiple highly detailed sprites, with very unique animations. (This is where the characters really come
to life.)
1 sprite per card, and 5 card back sprites.
A variety of level layouts to provide diversity in combat.
A thematic text bubble/u.i. style for all user interface.

Marketing and Package Art

Marketing will consist of various gameplay trailers edited to awesome up-beat 8-bit metal music.

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SOUND AND MUSIC

Overall Goals
The music of dungeon delvers will be very old school 8-bit music, but in contrast to the trailers, it needs to be
rather low, calm, subtle music that allows players to think and communicate during their turns. The point of
the game is not to over-whelm and stress the player out, but to get them thinking, and the music needs to
support this.

Sound Effects
A card play effect for each of the different card categories, and a variation of that effect that is more
dramatic for very powerful cards.
A discard sound.
A move sound per unit.
A draw sound.
A combo sound.
A trap triggered sound.
A death sound per unit.
A deck reload sound.
A sell/buy sound.
An open pack sound.
A menu tick noise for traversing the menus.

Music
Main menu
Deck builder screen
Combat
Post combat
Shop
Game over