Game Development/Iteration 4 - Lucas

Working with feedback from the group I went back the Triple Triad concept and reworked it again (this time using math - see formula below) to get the balance right. I stated with the 11 cards from the original game and began to work it into the context of My own design.  

Now the habitat conditions are back around the border of the card, making it easy to understand where cards can be placed (1 for 1 - just match the colors).

I tested a few different ways, first using the old rules and produced similar results to what I had previously - mild success?

I tested play with the added rule of being able to rotate the cards and direction you want, effectively making any cards with the same colors compatible. this made it really competitive as it was much easier to spread out and over eat your opponents. However it made for a really short game with far less tactical options than there were previously.

Finally I tested using a different Diet model. Instead of the diet of individual cards being modeled after a careful selection of species i boiled it down to make it the same for every card. this took out alot of thinking time and guesswork (and mistakes) and made for a simplier faster game. The new model is as follows:

- everything eats plants

- pests eat everything

birds eat lizards 

lizards eat insects

insects eat plants only

The mathematical formula:

In order to accurately balance the game i decided to convert the number distribution from Triple Triad from 6 different possibilities into four - the amount of habitats im working with. This way i can be confident that my cards are balanced enough that play should be smooth but not to easy. 

triple triad:

#1 x 15 = 34% chance

#2 x 8 = 18% chance

#3 x 6 = 13% chance

#4 x 6 = 13% chance

#5 x 6 = 13% chance

#6 x 3 = 6% chance

Reworked into My game:

forest x 18 = 42% chance

scrub x 10 = 22% chance

dry lands x 8 = 18% chance

freshwater x 8 = 18% chance