"Chronicles: Rise of Rome" - Game Design Document

Goal

Goal is to create Solitaire Deck Building game that educates the player about Roman era. If successful, I can continue doing this into my retirement.

• Gameplay: Aims to play like Dominion, but single player.
• Educational aspect: Each new game can highlight a single card (e.g. Julius Caesar, or Roman Legions) and provide interesting but accurate historical information. (intro screen, player needs to click "continue" to proceed)
• Solo games, examples
  • Gate: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/gate1
  • Friday: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43570/friday

Implementation

Cheapest possible, since the whole idea is to do this solo.

• Use pen-and-paper cards to prototype
• Use GPT to create visuals, in "Pompeii fresco" style for uniformity
• Use Godot to develop a product
• Keep as close to Dominion formula as we can

Mechanics

Solitaire specific mechanics:

• Use additional "history" deck to provide random help and challenge during the game, both for education and replayability
• Use victory cards as culmination and real challenge
• Trash player's cards when not able to overcome history/victory cards, to put mild pressure to finish the game

Educational specific mechanics:

• Game progresses in chronological stages corresponding to historical periods
• Make cards for each stage reflect economy, culture, military, religion, everyday life for that stage
• Have short (two paragraphs) "popular-history" text for each card when selected
• Have "card of the day" show-cased when starting a game

Historical stages, each with their own decks, are:

1. Kingdom
2. Early and mid Republic
3. Late Republic
4. Early Empire
5. Mid and late Empire

Player learning curve and progression:

1. Start simple (kingdom, stage 1): only 2 cards for money and army each, cards have only basic effects
2. Increase strategic complexity (republic, stages 2-3): 3 cards for money and army each, some advanced effects
3. Increase management overhead (empire, stages 3-4): additional 3 "provisions" cards, complex effects

Gameplay

Decks are:

• 10 action card same-card decks (chosen at random). Five cards available in each
• History deck, shuffled to be random. Ends with victory cards in precise order.
• Treasure same-card decks (differ for each stage)
• Player's deck of 10 cards (7 basic money and 3 basic army)

Game flow:

1. Player draws five cards. When no cards are available, discarded cards are reshuffled and become new deck.
2. Player can play action cards from his hand (1 by default) with immediate effect.
3. At end of turn he must "overcome" a top history card. If successful, top history card is trashed. If not then top card from player's deck (or discarded deck) is trashed.
4. Player can buy action cards (1 by default).
5. Player discards used cards.

When all victory cards (last cards in history deck) has been "overcome", player wins this stage.

Game Loops, Cues and Feedback

New game: tips

On screen tips when starting the game, uncovering one by one (other parts of the screen are hidden/blacked out):

1. buy resources - and actions (deals these decks, audio effect)
2. to improve your deck (deals players hand, audio effect)
3. and overcome all events until victory (deals history deck, audio)

Progress - overall

Cues:

• progress counter x/N on the history deck (current history card / total num of history cards)
• game phase indicator for early history / late history / victory sequence (eg. screen border green, than yellow, then red)

Progress - current turn

Cues:

• history card should be indicating whether it has been overcome or not. E.g. red exclamation/warning icon jumping and wiggling, turns into green checkbox with audio cue
• there should be clear indicator how many money/army more you need

What to do

Cue: Hint text that wiggles (or something) whenever it changes, with audio cue

Playable actions

Cues:

• valid action cards should glow green when player should pick actions to play
• it should be clear how many actions player CAN play

Buyable cards

Cues:

• valid buyable card should glow green when player should pick cards to buy
• it should be clear how much money player has available
• it should be clear how many cards player CAN buy

Player drawing a card / Dealing cards

Cues:

• sound of dealing a card
• animation: card going into its slot

Play action card

Feedback:

• animation, card moves in its slot
• sound for card moving
• Effects activated one by one: money, army, action, buy (sound + badge wiggling or popping)

New history card

Feedback:

• animation: card animation
• challenge sound
• effects activated (sound + badge animation)

More

• Trash card
• Discard card
• Buy a card
• Overcomming a challenge
• New Turn

Unlocks

Possible unlocks:

• More levels
• Cards: more powerful actions, special actions you "spend" once per game (more money/ army/ anything)
• joker cards
• more history cards

How to unlock them:

• win level
• play level N times (eg. 1,2,3,5,8,13)
• win with N extra money/army (total from all turns)
• win with 0 failed challenges

Levels

Five levels:

1. Kingdom
2. Early/mid republic
3. Late republic
4. Early empire
5. mid/late empire

Level 1: Kingdom

Cards are:

Money	Army	Action cards	History cards	Victory cards
Barter Goods	Citizen Militia	Grain Harvest	Romulus	Tyrant Exile
Aes Rude	Centuria	Roman Gods	Sabine Women	Dual Consuls
		Plebs	Curiate Assembly	Regillus Victory
		Patrician Clans	Solar Calendar
		Early Roads	Port of Ostia
		Agrarian Economy	Circus Maximus
		Regional Trade	Servian Wall
		River Tiber	Servian Reforms
		Roman Magistrates	Centuriate Assembly
		Latin Language	Temple of Jupiter
		Saturnalia	King's Election
		Private Schools	Military Triumph
		Military Outposts	Pontifex Maximus
		Roman Phalanxes	Seven Kings
		Urban Prefect	Vestal Virgins
		Debt Bondage	Roman Sewers
		Palatine Hill	Etruscan Neighbours
		Roman Senate	Latin League
		Public Forum	Magna Graecia
		Mars

More: Seven Hills, First Aquaduct, Origins (Troy, Alba Longa), Pater Familias

Maybe: Divide history cards into two periods, so they are not completely random - then second period cards could be more challenging for example

Ideas for Republic and Empire

Early and Mid Republic

Maniples Legions

Consuls Latin Wars Pyrhic victory Macedonian wars Punic wars Hanibal Scipio 12 tables Navy Public Tribunes Slavery Sessesion of the Plebs Siege of Syracuse Dictators Annales maximi

Sicilia Sardinia, Corsica (Mercenary Wars) Hispania Macedonia North Africa

Victory Sequence: Carthaga Corinth

Late Republic

Cohorts Legions

Coins: Sestertius, Denarius, Aurus Triumvirates Servile Wars Cicero Pompei Crassus Caesar Sula's civil War Conquest of Gaul Cleopatra Mark Antony

Victory sequence: Marius Sula Caesar Civil War Assasination of Caesar War of Actium - Oktavian Augustus

Early Empire

Illyricum Augustus Tiberus Calligula Conquest of Britan Vespasian Trajan Hadrian Hadrian's Wall Antonine Plague Mesopotamia and Assyria Year of Four Emperors Praetorian Guard Great Fire of Rome Nero

Mid and Late Empire

Diocletian Diocletian Reforms Rise of Christianity Constantine the Great Tetrarchy Barbarian Invasions Dacia Constantinople Alaric Sack of Rome Vandals Sack of Rome

Unsorted

Province Uprising Senate Session Barbarian Invasion Pax Romana Slave Revolt Marcus Aurelius Seneca Cicero Plague of Galen Pantheon Colosseum Julian Calendar Roman Numerals Jupiter Venus Minerva Neptune First Triumvirate Reforms of Diocletian Council of Nicaea Roman Decadence Empire Decline Public Bath Theatrical Play Gladiator Games Chariot Races Aqueduct Roman Bridge Roman Road Cursus publicus Acta Diurna Bureaucracy City Planning Roman Law Bread and circuses Military Medicine Legionary Training Roman Citizenship Basilica: Christian Temple Temple of Mars Roman Welfare Watchtowers Client Patron Relationships