darkSpyro

Hey everyone.

First of all, sorry, I'm French!

I'm a huge fan of the Spyro series, and by Spyro series I mean the original games. I always wanted to have my own website on Spyro the Dragon, like I did for Crash Bandicoot, but I never had enough time to do so (here is a sample of what a level-page would look like). I like to see beyond the game and to dive into the universe, do something with the hundreds of polygons that are left from these games.

That's why I had, several years ago, the idea to make a card game with the Spyro universe. The concept itself and the way it plays don't look like Spyro, but all the illustrations, the words used and the effects of the Attack cards try to consider the "spirit" behind the enemy look and actions in the game.

I won't detail the game because it's quite complex to do so without playing it right away, but the principle is rather classical. You have a fictional table in front of you. You have attack cards, which are minions from Spyro 3's words (my first try was with Spyro 1's minions). They have to be placed on this "table", which is composed of three "lines" : Bouclier (shield), Classique (classical) and Refuge (shelter). Bouclier cards tend to be more tanky, counterattacks, Classique cards tend to be balanced, and Refuge ones are weaker and rather situational with tricky, dirty or helping attacks, but not your standard dealing damage cards. You have to pay gems for each attack you do, and you stack them every turn to a limit. I don't know yet if I still make the lump of gems you get by turn random or calculated on how many cards you put into the game. So each turn you place cards on your tables, attack with those which are already there and try to open a breach in your opponents defense. One row of cards can be composed of only one card of each type (Bouclier - Classique - Refuge), so if your rows are full, you have to open another one. And here is the trick, you win if you empty one of your opponent's row and deal the fatal blow by attacking him with any attack during this turn. This is how you win. You may have 15 cards, if a breach has been opened in your weakest row, you're doomed. So you have to manage your gems to be able to combo, your positioning, which cards you put where, and open rows only if you know you'll be able to fill them with cards - you can't close rows you've opened, so you have to really consider your choice. There are some other tricks like Piège and Bonus (Traps and Bonus) cards, which are hidden under the minions you chose to "trap" and are triggered on each attack. Pièges will deal negative debuffs on the enemy, while bonuses, well, gives you some kind of advantage.

I wanted each card to be different, and each of them is unique - in the way you can't pick the same card twice in the game. I wanted to make players feel like they are in command of their own army with their "tanks", "damage-dealers", and some weirdos who steal the enemy cards or suicide onto an enemy row.

Enough talking, if you have any question, I'll be glad to answer. I just wanted to share my project with the Spyro community, and here are some pictures of the cards so you can see how it looks.
The cards read like that : Name, HP (red number), then below the picture the first Attack (OFFENSIVE or RIPOSTE (COUNTERATTACK)), its cost (green number), how much HP it removes to the attacked enemy (big orange number), and then below, the name of the attack followed by some details when needed. The same goes for the second attack. At the bottom you can see the type of card (Sol, Air, Eau - Ground, Air, Water, like the pokemons) and its position (Bouclier/Shield - Classique/Classical - Refuge/Shelter). The icons are here to help you know at a glance what one particular card is specialized in. With all cards being different, some people were lost and had to endlessly reread the descriptions to know what to do with what. I wanted to lessen the burden. The icons are explained in a separate page that's at the disposal of every player.

(1) Moose
The Moose deals quite a lot of damage, but is very fragile and his second attack requires him to be in the vanguard (no Bouclier-shield card in front of him) to attack.


(2) Monstriole ("Little monster", a coined word by Spyro's French translators)
Deals damage, and compensates its lack of health by being able to take any slot (Shield/Classical/Shelter) in your game. Can't attack/be attacked if behind another card, but can move + attack during the same turn (which is normally not possible)


(3) Swampkeeper
If a card behind it is attacked, any damage taken by the card will regen the Swampkeeper for the same amount (certain cards can bypass cards put in the vanguard, so this may dissuade the enemy from doing so when this card is on your side)


(4) Earthshaper
This card can only counterattack, but can target any card the enemy has it wants when counterattacking - the number of cards taking damage depends on how much you rolled with your dice, from 1 to 6. This card is highly resistant, and cannot be bypassed nor stunned (a stun let you bypass any card, except when told otherwise)


(5) Ling-Ling (Bonus)
If the enemy triggers this card by attacking a card you put Ling-Ling under, you will be able to counterattack to enemy counterattacks with... your own counterattacks. Sick.


(6) Wreslting Yeti (Trap)
Destroys the card that attacked you when triggered. And this is a very weak trap compared to some other ones, you can believe me.


I hope you're curious about my game, and my real question is, do you want me to share it with an English version someday (when I'll have the time to translate + be able to explain clearly the rule without playing with me... and believe it or not, when I play with people, I always lose even though they never played before. I suck at my own game.)

It's a great idea, don't get me wrong, but I really think you should go bigger than this. Did you ever consider Spyro multiplayer?

What do you mean by Spyro multiplayer?

This looks pretty interesting. I'd be interested in an English version

Zwergf, I meant that you should try concepting for an online Spyro multiplayer game. I've already done so, look: //forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=99394

I mean, it might not come true if it's done without a commercially developed story-based game, but it's SOMETHING.

Looks interesting!!

RadSpyro & SamXala: Thanks a lot!

Locoguy107: I already done some games on Game Maker, but I can't do anything multiplayer related. I know that if some day I have the opportunity to work on a Spyro videogame, I will try to do everything I can to bring back gems, dragons, orbs and freaking portals with freaking skies giving onto open and free-roaming polygonal words for the player to explore. I miss these portals so much.