I've put the story game on the side for a bit. There is some difficulty in figuring out how the game could theoretically be balanced competitively. I mean, if your goal is to play cards and collect points based on the story told then if you know the deck you would be able to tell stories that are entirely unconnected to the other players, and if you don't know the cards then maybe you entirely miss connecting other players. You would also be able to focus your story telling so that it makes it extra difficult for others to join in.

If it wasn't clear, I am having problems sticking to a project. Mostly because I run into issues that makes them not work, and i need time to think. Therefor, i'm back again on the shell game!

The shell game inherently had a mechanic that just made it too obnoxious to play. the idea, "collect or drop cards" is novel, but when you're sitting on 20 cards, it just gets frustrating and annoying to keep track of what you got.

therefor, i was thinking, and this is crazy, but. what if we distill "fantasy realms" to a very basic gameplay loop. basically, each card has a combo chain, but because it is limited what cards get played onto the table and what cards get drawn during the game due to the limited draw opportunity. this way, the game is super approachable and it gives you enough room to make decisions without complicating things. it does sound boring, yes, but so does skyjo, and the idea is to produce a game that is as easily approachable as skyjo while still having a decision space and satisfying conclusion.

what i mean is, what if you have several cards with combos you can fulfill but you can only fulfill some of them, and how well you do depends on your draw and on what is placed in the discard area, and what risks you are willing to take, what swaps you are willing to commit to before someone else takes the chance, within a space of limited rounds.

oh by the way, the new name of the shell game (was Quinty) is now Thistle. I'm aiming to do something with plants and decay style, and a heavy arthurian feel. since I think it's an untapped graphic direction!