[Module 2] Guitar Hero IP Tabletop Game | Project

Card Hero - A Guitar Hero IP Tabletop Project

Picture on an example of an ongoing session

Platform/Genre: Tabletop

Players: 4 players only (1 BOSS Member and 3 BAND Members)

Can your BAND beat the BOSS of Rock?

In this card game, a BOSS plays his master SONG against the brave BAND who dared challenge him. Every NOTE card hit by the BAND improves their overall performance, but the BOSS won’t let the BAND beat his SONG so easily, using every trick he can to stop them!

Why create this game?

The reason of the game’s creation is apply content learned in Module 1 and 2 of the Games Design & Production course, by producing a non-commercial product that reflects the learning outcomes required in the Module Brief.

The artefact should demonstrate the capacity of the author to design a fully playable tabletop game by using specific Process of Design methodologies and Game Design fundamental skills, tied to a fixed deadline and brief.

What is unique about this game?

Guitar Hero experience in a card game

• “Card Hero” offers in many ways a memorable experience inspired on the iconic Guitar Hero series: the NOTE mechanic resembles the “note highway” in the original music themed game, even making use of the same colour scheme in the cards. Furthermore, the card game is filled with music themed references to the Metal and Rock universe, and terms such as STAR POWER and ROCK METER increase that Guitar Hero flavour.

BOSS vs. BAND gameplay

• Fans of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will have a great time playing as a BAND member to beat the BOSS of Rock over and over, or turning to the other side and punishing the puny players who think beating a BOSS is easy. Anyways, the asymmetrical gameplay provides a feel of a worthy quest, no matter the side players impersonate.

Humorous presentation

• To make a game as exciting and fun as possible, a lot of effort was put into making the cards not just balanced and polished, but also quite funny! The artwork and flavour text can provide a great time for the more inspecting players. Every detail might contain just that reference to your favourite band you were looking for!

What inspired this game?

“Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock”: when designing “Card Hero”, this specific title of the Guitar Hero series inspired the main theme of the game, reminding the epic boss battles present in the Career Mode inside “Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock”.

"Dungeons & Dragons": as soon as the NOTES were designed, the iconic RPG adventure game became a resource of inspiration. For that reason, NOTES can be seen as minions clashing against the BAND in waves, and turns are divided into the BAND’s turn to attack, and the minions’ turn to activate their effects.

“Magic: The Gathering”: the fantasy trading card game is considered as a reference staple for its currency usage system, keyword interactions and art layout. “Card Hero” is one amongst many to be influenced in this manner, specifically when it comes to the STAR POWER mechanic.

What is the core experience of this game?

BOSS and BAND gameplay interactions

• The first notable aspect of the card game is that 3 players play against just 1 BOSS, and the whole gameplay revolves around a challenge for the BAND to complete a song without failing in the performance. So this makes the interaction between the single BOSS and the three-man BAND one of the main keys to the gameplay structure.

NOTE Mechanic

• As cited in the previous sub-topic, the gameplay is centred on the concept of interacting with a set of NOTES that are progressively generated by the BOSS. At the start of every BOSS’s turn, all NOTES in play slide down one row, simulating the “note highway” motion in the Guitar Hero IP titles.
• The NOTES are the most present cards in the gameplay because they direct affect the fail/win state of the game every time they are either HIT or MISSED, making interactions from the BAND or BOSS likely about making so that the NOTE effects are positive for their own side.

Storytelling Style

• As it would be too much of a challenge to reproduce the rhythm involved in the use of an electronic peripheral (the plastic guitar) or audio such as in the Guitar Hero videogames, the most efficient way to easily represent the intellectual property is through the visual components that do not rely on electronic assistance (peripherals, speakers, software): art and narrative are essential to the game structure then, as they help conveying the atmosphere of a musical game like in the Guitar Hero series.

How can this game be played?

Evergreen Rules

• Turns go clockwise. 
• The BOSS always draws from the BOSS deck and discards into the BOSS discard pile. 
• The BAND members always draw from the BAND deck and discard into the BAND discard pile. 
• When dice rolls need to be untied between players, those players roll until they are untied. 
• Each player can hold up to 7 cards in hand. At the end your turn, discard any extra cards.

Setting up the Game

• Players decide who will be the BOSS and who are going to be the BAND members. 
• All NOTES are placed in the table in the following order: GREEN, RED, YELLOW, BLUE, ORANGE (a picture will be available to help players position the NOTES) 
• The BOSS takes the BOSS deck, and the BAND members take the BAND deck. 
• The ROCK METER is set to 8. 
• Each player draws 7 cards.

Game Mechanics

• ACTIONS
• They are used one time and then discarded
• CURSES
• They are placed in the board and have an ongoing effect until destroyed
• The only way they can be destroyed is by the use of a Power Chord (a BAND ACTION): the player who is trying to destroy the CURSE needs to roll a dice, and if the number fulfils the Curse Roll number specified in the target CURSE, it is then destroyed (and placed in the BOSS discard pile)
• NOTES
• Whenever the BOSS plays an ACTION or a CURSE, a NOTE of that same colour is activated, meaning that it is placed in the first row of the “note highway” 
• NOTES have HP (hit points), meaning that they can be damaged by BAND members who use ATK points against them 
• BAND members can invest any amount of ATK into a NOTE individually and/or in group (ATK Counters may be placed over a NOTE to keep track of partial damage dealt to that specific NOTE) 
• NOTES can only be hit when they are in the STRUM BAR 
• If a NOTE is destroyed during the BAND’s turn, the HIT effect is triggered 
• If a NOTE on the STRUM BAR is not destroyed during the BAND turn, the MISS effect triggers and it gets discarded at the start of the BOSS’ turn 
• The BOSS can activate only ONE NOTE for each colour in one turn (other cards played from a repeated colour do not activates more NOTES in that turn)
• SP (Star Power)
• Is the currency used to the cast all BOSS and BAND cards (indicated on the Guitar Pick icon)
• SP is a permanent currency (if you don’t use it all, it remains banked)
• ATK
• Is the currency used to damage the NOTES 
• ATK is a permanent currency (if you don’t use it all, it remains banked)
• ROCK METER
• Is the performance status bar for the BAND, and gets updated every time a NOTE is MISSED or HIT (certain BOSS cards also directly affect the ROCK METER) 
• Its maximum value is 15 (any effect the increases the ROCK METER’s status is ignored if it is already in 15)

Turn Loop

Description of how each turn is developed, also displaying the sequence of the turns

Game End

• The game ends instantly if the ROCK METER reaches 0. The BOSS wins in this case. 
• The game ends when there are no more NOTES on the board. If the ROCK METER has never reached 0 by then, the BAND wins.

References

Access the following link for the complete art gallery and card list in "Card Hero": https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GTgDmxcW2Md-ICuNaL6L-OPRN_w7XIKW?usp=sharing