Dear Wizards of the Coast,
This computer game is based on the popular card game, Magic: The Gathering. Created, indeed, by you. The concept is all-new, an amazing blend between RPG, RTS and TBS, it will be a revalution. If you are taking the time to read this, you indubitably will see its value, and its potential. Hopefully, you will be in a position to make what is essentially my dream, become a reality. But most of all, i thank you.
This is written assuming you know at least the very basics of the card game Magic: The Gathering. And that you can draw reasonable comclusions from these basics.
Section one: An Overview in the form of an example game.
Mighty legends, powerful wizards, mysterious enchantments... all these things, Magic: The Gathering is based around. How, you ask, do i plan on turning them into a computer game? Well, i will tell you.
Before the game begins, the players have constructed a library, the very bases of the game, the library is where all things begin. This library is part of a greater fortress, a castle representing the strength of the wizard who resides inside. Ideally, a player selects from castles to represent himself/herself, and the strengths of how he fights. A black mage may have a colosul dark citadel, a fire-decon may reside atop an enchanted spire, a time-shifter and illusionist may fortify herself in a flowing castle of illusion. These castles, and the strength of the mage inside, are represented by a life-total, begining at 20. When this total reaches 0, the defenses of this mighty citidel have been breached, causing the mage inside to be forced to flee, and surrender the battle.
The game begins, the players view their mystical library, full of the energies of spells waiting to be cast. These energies may take the forms of books, or orbs of fire, or mysterius swirls of magical energy, depending on the library. Seven of these energies present themselves, as if they were the players starting hand. The players may examine them by a simple click of the mouse. Information on the spell, such as the amount of magical energy required to cast it, and what its effects are, and what it is commonly called.
One player (chosen randomly as the player to 'go first') may now use his magical prowess, aided by the energies of his spells, to mold the land around him/her and attune it to become powerful mana. Assuming one of the mystical energies that have presented themselves are the able to be used by the wizard to form the surrounding land to his/her needs, the wizard may do that, and most likely will. From the player's view, after the draw step and upkeep, the "Phase Bar" at the top of the screen reads "Main phase" and the phase of their magical powers in which they may use certain types of energies (Creatures, Sorceries, Enchantments, etc. ) is passing, at a speed determained by the player (a setting that they can change. Defult about a minute or so)
Most likely, the player will not be able to do very much on their first turn during this phase, other than play a land, perhaps a spell that needs only the magical energies of a single land to cast. In our example, Grandath the arc-bound master Changes some of the land closest to him to an "island". The view flows gracefully out of his solid-metal castle and shows land being turned to water, and a small island being formned in the water. This is the begining of his vast power. Then, will come the next phase. The "Combat Phase". In this phase, Grandath does not have very much to do, because he does not have summoned cratures to attack his opponent with. Next is another, shorter, phase in which Grandath can cast Creatures, Sorceries, etc. again. He does not, and his turn ends.
Now, Rekjarai, the mistress of fire, has her first chance to act. A message appears to her, after she watches Grandath's turn (appeari to her to be nothing but the forming of land). Merely stating, in the top of her screen, "Your opponent has finished, prepare to act!" She is given the choice to respond to Grandath ending his "Turn" or to continue. She choses to continue.
Grandath now views Rekjarai's firey fortress, and has a panel showing 1 availible land, and the option to switch to viewing his library, so that he can cast instants and such during his opponent's turn. Rekjarai views her firey library and recieves her seven magical energies, taking for her the form of wisps of fire, in contrast to Grandath's grey energies. Rekjarai uses one of her wisps to form a mountain in the land her. Her remaining phases pass uneventfully, it is once more grandath's turn.
It is important to note here that that battle is taing place on the land of mirrodin. All native things are made of metal. The players only have DCI-approved type 2 cards available to them in creating their decks, something that i will elaborate more on later.
It is Grandath's turn once more. After recieving another spell in his Library, he plays a Darksteel Citidel and it is formed dynamically from nothing, flowing with magic powers. Grandath now casts a spell. One of the energies in his 'library' is cinematically taken into his hand, and he raises it to the cieling, muttering an incantation. Energies from his two lands (The island and darksteel citidel) reove themselves from their lands as they fly to Grandath in the form of mana. They join the magical energy as it zooms out of the castle (as the view switches to watch it) and just before it would hit the ground infront of Grandath's castle, it forms into a metalic flying creature, an arcbound stinger. Grandath may see its statistics at any time by moving his mouse over it and reading the information about the creature.
Unfortunately for Grandath, Rekjarai has a responce ready, when the creature comes into play, she quickly moves to destroy it. She uses the energy from her mountain to cast shock. The Arcbound Stranger falls to the ground in pieces. With no other creatures in play, its arcbound ability cannot take effect, and it falls to the ground.
Grandath frusterated, play continues. After a few turns, bolth players have 6 lands under their control, Grandath has a Arc-Bound Ravager and two workers. Rekjarai is falling behind in being able to burn everything that comes out. Grandath ravager is a 8/8 from sacrificing workers (something that, like so many other things, looks very cool) , and then returning them with a skelaton shard that Grandath has inside his castle, but his been reduced to 12 health from various burn spells from Rekjarai, but Rekjarai is at 5 life from attacks from Grandaths Ravager, her firey fortress is not standing very well any more. In order to attack, Grandath moved his mouse over the ravanger and selected from its possible actions to attack. It Stomped up to Rekjarai's fortress and smashed at it, destroying towers and walls, a very cinematic experiance, the marvelous flowing graphics such as these are part of what makes this game so amazing.
It is Rekjarai's turn, the battle is growing intence. Rekjarai forms yet another mountain, and then casts shatter storm. This is a luck break for her, a huge storm of shards of metal crashes down on all of Rekjarai's artifacts. Shattering the gigantic ravager to pieces, and destroying the workers, and toppling the Darksteel citidel tothe ground. The maniachal laughter of the mistress of fire can be heard above the crashing of the storm. When it calms, grandath is left powerless, and forced to rebuild.
Rekjarai then gains the upper hand and ends up winning the game. It was just another game of Magic: The Gathering... But with this game, the epic battles never cease.
Section two: Decks and the single-player saga.
The single-player game will be another big part of this game. They will take the form of regular games against the computer's AI. I have seriously considered making this a purely multiplayer game, where you earn cards as you win more and more games. However, i decided that i did not want to limit the gae to people with good modems, as it would be a fairly high-bandwidth game, and 56kers could not play it very well.
Therefore, and this is something that you could feel free to change, i decided to make the means of earning cards through a single-player saga. In which you play the role of young wizard in mirrodin (as the game takes place n the most recent of settings) who was torn away from the well-known happenings and forced to fight an entirely different evil overlord and his dark minions all alone. Your wizard starts with a simple mono-coloured deck of any of the five colours except for black (as you are fighting the black overlord). As this wizard progresses through the game, getting a few to join his cause and aid him in his learning, and fighting many many evil minions in epic games of magic.
As you defeat your enemies as the wizard who you define, you would learn more and gain more cards. (in the forms of booster packs and tournement packs or even a booster box amount of randomly aquired cards in the end). These cards could be use to improve decks, and make more decks. These decks could be used online in tournament and casual play.
Trading could also be another option, in online trading, you could exchange cards in a (hopefully) freindly inviornment. Others would see your cards that you would be willing to trade, and then make offers on them, which could be accepted or rejected.
Section three: Combat
I have indeed intentionally not elaborated on combat between creatures in this game as of yet, because i wish for it to be an entirely new experiance all together, without perfectly pre-determained outcomes.
Players would fight with their creatures in the form of an action battle. Creatures would each have their different strengths in battle, their could be supporting spell-casters that do just what they do in the card game.
Back to our example, of the battle between Grandath and Rekjarai...
Grandath attacks with his arcbound ravager, as a 6/6. This number determains its power in battle, but the skill of the player fighting also has alot to do with the outcome.
Rekjarai sees the ravager leave Grandath's castle, it must be attacking. Therefore, when it leaves Grandath's land, the view goes to Rekjarai's empire as she selects which of her creatures she wishes to block with. She orders two spike-shot goblins to block. Combat is now initiated.
The game takes the form of an action RPG, the view zoomed in, the Ravager approaches the goblins, who right now look rather hopeless. As it takes its first swing at a goblin (trigered by a click from Garandath, as in many WASD games), Rekjarai skillfully jumps out of the way with the goblin. Suddenly, Rekjarai casts a spell. Fists of the anvil sprout from the hands of goblin who didn't just avoid the attack. And it find the strength to Lunge iself at the Ravager just as the other goblin does as well. This is done by Rekjarai by skillfully tabbing between bolth of her creatures very quickly and atack before the ravager springs another attack. The ravager swings at the attacking goblin, and kills one of them, but the goblen with the fists of the anvil scores a powerful hit. And then attacks quickly again before the ravager can turn around can attack again. With the two powerful hits from the goblin who had been made a 5/1, the ravager dies swinging at the goblin again, and it dies, but not before the ravager. (not because 5+5 is 10 which is > 6, its toughness. and 6 power can kill the two goblins with 1 toughness each. But because it played out that way. The battle could have infinate other outcomes)
Section four: Your job
If your think about it, a team of 30+ people, with 140 cards an expantion, and one expantion every few months or more isnt that bad at all. And it would be SOOO cool for the gamers. Trust me, i know.
Perhaps, when 9th edition comes out, you can make a Magic: The Gathering 9th edition and start anew. Or, perhaps, no one will ever read this. But if you ARE reading this, and have made it this far, you are my hero, and i thank you again, and hopefully you realize how awesome this game would be, if made a reality.
With thanks and sincerity,
A.K.A. milkshake276
This computer game is based on the popular card game, Magic: The Gathering. Created, indeed, by you. The concept is all-new, an amazing blend between RPG, RTS and TBS, it will be a revalution. If you are taking the time to read this, you indubitably will see its value, and its potential. Hopefully, you will be in a position to make what is essentially my dream, become a reality. But most of all, i thank you.
This is written assuming you know at least the very basics of the card game Magic: The Gathering. And that you can draw reasonable comclusions from these basics.
Section one: An Overview in the form of an example game.
Mighty legends, powerful wizards, mysterious enchantments... all these things, Magic: The Gathering is based around. How, you ask, do i plan on turning them into a computer game? Well, i will tell you.
Before the game begins, the players have constructed a library, the very bases of the game, the library is where all things begin. This library is part of a greater fortress, a castle representing the strength of the wizard who resides inside. Ideally, a player selects from castles to represent himself/herself, and the strengths of how he fights. A black mage may have a colosul dark citadel, a fire-decon may reside atop an enchanted spire, a time-shifter and illusionist may fortify herself in a flowing castle of illusion. These castles, and the strength of the mage inside, are represented by a life-total, begining at 20. When this total reaches 0, the defenses of this mighty citidel have been breached, causing the mage inside to be forced to flee, and surrender the battle.
The game begins, the players view their mystical library, full of the energies of spells waiting to be cast. These energies may take the forms of books, or orbs of fire, or mysterius swirls of magical energy, depending on the library. Seven of these energies present themselves, as if they were the players starting hand. The players may examine them by a simple click of the mouse. Information on the spell, such as the amount of magical energy required to cast it, and what its effects are, and what it is commonly called.
One player (chosen randomly as the player to 'go first') may now use his magical prowess, aided by the energies of his spells, to mold the land around him/her and attune it to become powerful mana. Assuming one of the mystical energies that have presented themselves are the able to be used by the wizard to form the surrounding land to his/her needs, the wizard may do that, and most likely will. From the player's view, after the draw step and upkeep, the "Phase Bar" at the top of the screen reads "Main phase" and the phase of their magical powers in which they may use certain types of energies (Creatures, Sorceries, Enchantments, etc. ) is passing, at a speed determained by the player (a setting that they can change. Defult about a minute or so)
Most likely, the player will not be able to do very much on their first turn during this phase, other than play a land, perhaps a spell that needs only the magical energies of a single land to cast. In our example, Grandath the arc-bound master Changes some of the land closest to him to an "island". The view flows gracefully out of his solid-metal castle and shows land being turned to water, and a small island being formned in the water. This is the begining of his vast power. Then, will come the next phase. The "Combat Phase". In this phase, Grandath does not have very much to do, because he does not have summoned cratures to attack his opponent with. Next is another, shorter, phase in which Grandath can cast Creatures, Sorceries, etc. again. He does not, and his turn ends.
Now, Rekjarai, the mistress of fire, has her first chance to act. A message appears to her, after she watches Grandath's turn (appeari to her to be nothing but the forming of land). Merely stating, in the top of her screen, "Your opponent has finished, prepare to act!" She is given the choice to respond to Grandath ending his "Turn" or to continue. She choses to continue.
Grandath now views Rekjarai's firey fortress, and has a panel showing 1 availible land, and the option to switch to viewing his library, so that he can cast instants and such during his opponent's turn. Rekjarai views her firey library and recieves her seven magical energies, taking for her the form of wisps of fire, in contrast to Grandath's grey energies. Rekjarai uses one of her wisps to form a mountain in the land her. Her remaining phases pass uneventfully, it is once more grandath's turn.
It is important to note here that that battle is taing place on the land of mirrodin. All native things are made of metal. The players only have DCI-approved type 2 cards available to them in creating their decks, something that i will elaborate more on later.
It is Grandath's turn once more. After recieving another spell in his Library, he plays a Darksteel Citidel and it is formed dynamically from nothing, flowing with magic powers. Grandath now casts a spell. One of the energies in his 'library' is cinematically taken into his hand, and he raises it to the cieling, muttering an incantation. Energies from his two lands (The island and darksteel citidel) reove themselves from their lands as they fly to Grandath in the form of mana. They join the magical energy as it zooms out of the castle (as the view switches to watch it) and just before it would hit the ground infront of Grandath's castle, it forms into a metalic flying creature, an arcbound stinger. Grandath may see its statistics at any time by moving his mouse over it and reading the information about the creature.
Unfortunately for Grandath, Rekjarai has a responce ready, when the creature comes into play, she quickly moves to destroy it. She uses the energy from her mountain to cast shock. The Arcbound Stranger falls to the ground in pieces. With no other creatures in play, its arcbound ability cannot take effect, and it falls to the ground.
Grandath frusterated, play continues. After a few turns, bolth players have 6 lands under their control, Grandath has a Arc-Bound Ravager and two workers. Rekjarai is falling behind in being able to burn everything that comes out. Grandath ravager is a 8/8 from sacrificing workers (something that, like so many other things, looks very cool) , and then returning them with a skelaton shard that Grandath has inside his castle, but his been reduced to 12 health from various burn spells from Rekjarai, but Rekjarai is at 5 life from attacks from Grandaths Ravager, her firey fortress is not standing very well any more. In order to attack, Grandath moved his mouse over the ravanger and selected from its possible actions to attack. It Stomped up to Rekjarai's fortress and smashed at it, destroying towers and walls, a very cinematic experiance, the marvelous flowing graphics such as these are part of what makes this game so amazing.
It is Rekjarai's turn, the battle is growing intence. Rekjarai forms yet another mountain, and then casts shatter storm. This is a luck break for her, a huge storm of shards of metal crashes down on all of Rekjarai's artifacts. Shattering the gigantic ravager to pieces, and destroying the workers, and toppling the Darksteel citidel tothe ground. The maniachal laughter of the mistress of fire can be heard above the crashing of the storm. When it calms, grandath is left powerless, and forced to rebuild.
Rekjarai then gains the upper hand and ends up winning the game. It was just another game of Magic: The Gathering... But with this game, the epic battles never cease.
Section two: Decks and the single-player saga.
The single-player game will be another big part of this game. They will take the form of regular games against the computer's AI. I have seriously considered making this a purely multiplayer game, where you earn cards as you win more and more games. However, i decided that i did not want to limit the gae to people with good modems, as it would be a fairly high-bandwidth game, and 56kers could not play it very well.
Therefore, and this is something that you could feel free to change, i decided to make the means of earning cards through a single-player saga. In which you play the role of young wizard in mirrodin (as the game takes place n the most recent of settings) who was torn away from the well-known happenings and forced to fight an entirely different evil overlord and his dark minions all alone. Your wizard starts with a simple mono-coloured deck of any of the five colours except for black (as you are fighting the black overlord). As this wizard progresses through the game, getting a few to join his cause and aid him in his learning, and fighting many many evil minions in epic games of magic.
As you defeat your enemies as the wizard who you define, you would learn more and gain more cards. (in the forms of booster packs and tournement packs or even a booster box amount of randomly aquired cards in the end). These cards could be use to improve decks, and make more decks. These decks could be used online in tournament and casual play.
Trading could also be another option, in online trading, you could exchange cards in a (hopefully) freindly inviornment. Others would see your cards that you would be willing to trade, and then make offers on them, which could be accepted or rejected.
Section three: Combat
I have indeed intentionally not elaborated on combat between creatures in this game as of yet, because i wish for it to be an entirely new experiance all together, without perfectly pre-determained outcomes.
Players would fight with their creatures in the form of an action battle. Creatures would each have their different strengths in battle, their could be supporting spell-casters that do just what they do in the card game.
Back to our example, of the battle between Grandath and Rekjarai...
Grandath attacks with his arcbound ravager, as a 6/6. This number determains its power in battle, but the skill of the player fighting also has alot to do with the outcome.
Rekjarai sees the ravager leave Grandath's castle, it must be attacking. Therefore, when it leaves Grandath's land, the view goes to Rekjarai's empire as she selects which of her creatures she wishes to block with. She orders two spike-shot goblins to block. Combat is now initiated.
The game takes the form of an action RPG, the view zoomed in, the Ravager approaches the goblins, who right now look rather hopeless. As it takes its first swing at a goblin (trigered by a click from Garandath, as in many WASD games), Rekjarai skillfully jumps out of the way with the goblin. Suddenly, Rekjarai casts a spell. Fists of the anvil sprout from the hands of goblin who didn't just avoid the attack. And it find the strength to Lunge iself at the Ravager just as the other goblin does as well. This is done by Rekjarai by skillfully tabbing between bolth of her creatures very quickly and atack before the ravager springs another attack. The ravager swings at the attacking goblin, and kills one of them, but the goblen with the fists of the anvil scores a powerful hit. And then attacks quickly again before the ravager can turn around can attack again. With the two powerful hits from the goblin who had been made a 5/1, the ravager dies swinging at the goblin again, and it dies, but not before the ravager. (not because 5+5 is 10 which is > 6, its toughness. and 6 power can kill the two goblins with 1 toughness each. But because it played out that way. The battle could have infinate other outcomes)
Section four: Your job
If your think about it, a team of 30+ people, with 140 cards an expantion, and one expantion every few months or more isnt that bad at all. And it would be SOOO cool for the gamers. Trust me, i know.
Perhaps, when 9th edition comes out, you can make a Magic: The Gathering 9th edition and start anew. Or, perhaps, no one will ever read this. But if you ARE reading this, and have made it this far, you are my hero, and i thank you again, and hopefully you realize how awesome this game would be, if made a reality.
With thanks and sincerity,
A.K.A. milkshake276
