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Keeping Track of Data Between Tables

Posted: 27 June 2016, 07:55
by JasonILTG
I want to develop the card game Tuo La Ji on BGA, but I've run into some problems regarding the design of the game:

First of all, for context, Tuo La Ji is played in reasonably long (about 10-15 minute) rounds, with scores for each player and who the dealer is being kept track of across rounds. As it takes many many hours to reach a point where you can declare someone the 'winner', it's usually either played until someone has to leave or played across many sessions.

I'm thinking that it would probably be best to split the game up so that each round is a new table in BGA. However, as the scores and dealer do affect gameplay, a group of people would have to carry them over between rounds. I'm not sure how I would implement this, however.

Is it possible to add settings to creating a table that are person-specific (the scores and dealer)?
Is it possible to have the scores and dealer be automatically carried over from a previous round if "Propose a rematch" is selected?

If neither of those are possible, I would probably have to have each table be for a full game. Then, is it a good idea to make it possible for the players to decide to end the game after each round, instead of having a set end condition? Would that screw up the ELO ratings too much?

Re: Keeping Track of Data Between Tables

Posted: 27 June 2016, 13:36
by Victoria_La
I don't think this is designed to carry game over across the tables. I think going with different tables is no go.
If this is a long game maybe better to recommend to play it as turn based vs real time.

Re: Keeping Track of Data Between Tables

Posted: 27 June 2016, 17:56
by apollo1001
There are a couple of things that spring to mind:

1. At the start of a table, you could simply have an option for how many 'rounds' will be played (one of which may be 'to completion'). This is currently possible in games such as Neutreeko, Through the Ages..
2. You could instead use the game options to specify which player is the dealer (similar to the option in Noir (Killer vs Inspector) where the first player can select to be the inspector).
3. Amending the 'Propose a rematch' button is not a good option as this would be game specific and the button is designed to work with all.
4. You could add either a voting stage at the end of a round, or an opt out option if you were worried. There is a similar button in Through the Ages which allows a player to concede at the beginning of each turn.
5. Transferring scores from one game instance to the next will be problematic, and indeed have negative consequences on ELO.

That all said, it does make me think about Campaign games and how such a system might allow them to be playable on BGA in the future - food for thought...