Taking a Break

More like taking a break from Pause and focusing on something else. I've also been taking more time to focus on ye olde job searche. I have also been revisiting an older game idea I called Iconoclast.


In Iconoclast, every player had control of a fictionalized pop culture Icon, be it an analogue of a rich corporate executive, a clueless celebrity princess, a greedy televangelist, or a haphazard politician. Players could then link Puppets - entities who could defend the otherwise defenseless Icon - and Toys - abilities which can be used for instant effects later in the game - to their Icons. Further cards could be linked to these cards, so forth and so on.


Iconoclast was all about positioning the Puppets and Toys. Certain cards could only link in certain directions in relation to the originating card, and linking them in certain ways could trigger bonuses upon the involved cards. Also, the stronger the card, the more cards in your hand it would cost to place the card in the first place.


While promising, Iconoclast proved rather unwieldy in playtesting. First of all, each player had his or her own array of cards surrounding his or her Icon. While good in theory, this required a large playing space for each player in the later stages of the game. Secondly, the rules got a bit complex and difficult to explain, which caused all sorts of grief when trying to make it understandable to the players. Soon enough, I dropped the project, but somehow kept the cards from the playtest.


I would like to revisit the idea of a modular card game, but with some notable fixes. 1) Make the array of cards shared among all players, perhaps leading to more shrewd and treacherous strategies. 2) Make it more rules-light to increase accessibility and playability. 3) Maintain the parodying theme, but make it more relevant to current culture.


Ideas and suggestions are always welcome!