Neko Harbour: The Card Game

Insights on the Game & Designer Diary about the Mechanics
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 16, 2020 at 09:03:36 PM

Dear backers, 

We have 3 days remaining, let's look into more details about the game. Today i gonna share with you more about how A Pleasant Journey to Neko evolved to Neko Harbour: The Card Game. And what is the insights of the game. For sure, here we mention many things related to the core mechanics and rules, would be easier to understand if you know the game structure before reading the update. Also i will cover a bit the history of designing the game.

Why Card Game?

If you've ever played A Pleasant Journey to Neko, you know the most unique parts of the game is dice drafting and ship lane building (tableau building). Time traced back to 2017, i was thinking if the way of card drafting like 7 Wonders could also work on dice. Because of the curiosity, i build a simple prototype and started the journey. More details about A Pleasant Journey to Neko i have written a Designer Diary for it. 

After A Pleasant Journey to Neko published, i started to think if the game could also work on card game version. Since if you removed dice from A Pleasant Journey to Neko, building the ship lanes can still work . I decided to keep the ship lane element, as it's the most significant and essential part of the game.  So the last thing is how to introduce the cards to the game.

Card Drafting System

I know the typical way of drafting is not what i want to represent in the game, since there are already a bunch of games doing that, let alone 7 Wonder-ish games are everywhere nowadays. I mean i must try new drafting system in the game. On one hand, i want to introduce new system.  On the other hand, i want it is a simpler game than previous and also keeps the spirit of origin. The most difficult part was trying to find the balance between both side. 

I'm happy that i found it. As now you can see, after numerous playestings, the drafting has became a solid part of the game. The concept sounds easy and net, however it's not easy to pick cards "correctly". I mean, you have to have in total 6 cards in hand after drafting, but the tricky part is each time you can only choose 1, 2 or 3 cards combination, and can't choose same combination, what will you choose first? and what's the order? That's for sure depending on what / how you build your preparation line later in Action phase. 

Ship Card = Dice?

One of unique part of Neko Harbour: The Card Game is a ship card working like a dice. For example, if you flip level 1 ship to its back, it's level 6 ship. If you flip level 2 ship, it will be level 5 ship, etc,. What does that mean? That means if you don't upgrade your ships, you are like deactivating higher level ship, since you won't flip over the card. In the mean time, if you upgrade your ships too fast, you probably difficult to trigger hub reward when moving them to a hub (you trigger a hub reward only when your ships' levels in a hub are lower than a hub level). 

Ship card is like a dice came to my mind from very beginning when i started to work with card game version. It shapes the challenge for players in this game. You must control the timing about when will you upgrade your ships and your hubs. The best way is to upgrade both but we know it's not that easy. It also depends on how you build your preparation line, how frequent you move your ships and how many ships (max. 6) you have introduced to the game. I think it's one of the notable parts of the game. 

Preparation Line = Engine

The first few prototypes for the game, i still kept ship lane element from origin. Just i decrease the ship lane's quantities you can build from 5 to 3. But looks like in a "card game", it became a bit too fiddly. Finally, i cut to only one ship lane and it worked very well after i changed it. Since that, i feel like the ship lane is like you are preparing for you trip. Especially when i introduce the new attraction system that didn't use in original game, called it Preparation Line becomes more reasonable. 

Each player only builds one Preparation Line, it's also a kind of your "engine", if you can build and operate it well, they could provide you a lot of victory points from many aspects. So the second challenge for players is how you build a powerful preparation line.

Originally, you can put the card in any place and any ship lane. But in card game, you only build one preparation line, same kind of cards will gather in one column and forms an "Action Column". To simplify more and make the game more streamline, you can't activate the cards freely, but have to activate Action Columns from left to right, one by one. It has the concept of "programming"  here, once you put the cards in the preparation line, they will run like routing. Though each time after you added a card to preparation line, the inspiration of strategies might flash on your mind. You have to create your own tempo or we said "groove" of it. It's kind of controllable pace in tableau building for the game. 

About Attractions - Interaction in the Game

In original game, use dice to bid the cards is the most interactive part of the game. In card game, we don't need to bid cards, you mostly have everything. In this situation, how can i introduce a system to make the game more competitive between players but also keeps interesting interaction? I kept asking the question myself. Finally i decided to make a new attraction line which originally i want to use in A Pleasant Journey to Neko expansion. Score from attractions is actually another form of auction. That's also a bit connected to the origin. 

Externally, players will move their ships to attractions when ships have fully prepared. In actual fact, it's an "invisible bidding" here. When a ship moves to a column that meets its level, the ship has prepared. That means if the ship has higher level, the ship must move farther in preparation line. Since only "prepared ships" can move to an attraction and thus earn victory points when the game ends, player should see which attractions they want to "bid" and use which ships to "bid". Higher level ship wins an attraction easier but in the mean time it spends a lot fuel to move in preparation line. Though ships are like your bargaining chips, players should find the balance between upgrade ships and build their preparation line. Also, don't neglect your opponent's develop.

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Okay, i think it's so far the contents i want to share with you. And it's already too long for an update. 

Let's see next update and hope we can unlock more stretch goals. :)

Best,

Citie

New stretch goal task announced! Intro video uploaded
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 01:33:05 PM

Hi every Neko Harbour passenger, we have just announced the new task for our trip! 

7 days remaining and i have many contents to share with you.  

There are many planned stretch goals for the game, but looks like we couldn't reach them all. For the reason, i add a special task for it. If we can reach 320 backers, we will unlock a special new attraction card which is a KS exclusive like Half Moon Island. I just finished the artwork for the card and can't wait to show you :) And this time we have not only penguins, a special quest will join the game. Can you guess? 

Now we have new introduce video! You can click and watch on project page or on Youtube. 

I'm still editing the tutor video since before all my recorded materials were missing :( i have to redo everything. Still if you would like to try the game online on Tabletopia, please send me message, i will teach you how to play there! 

I really thank everyone's support. To make the project even better, i really hope to hear more from you. Don't hesitate to leave your comment below or send message to me directly if you have any suggestion.

Best,

Citie

See Macaroni penguins in Livingston Island. Playtesting on Tabletopia!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 10, 2020 at 10:05:16 AM

Hello penguin lovers and Antarctica adventurers, today we will see Macaroni penguins in Livingston Island :D

Not only game play, i would love to gradually introduce you the illustrations and stories in the game. And if you are interested to play the game online, please check the last section of the update!

There are 5 attractions in the game (plus one KS Exclusive, in total 6). As we know, over hundred attractions or viewpoints in Antarctica. My principle on choosing attractions to the game is of course based on the penguin distribution in Antarctica and also the popularity on traveling. I tried to gather some "hype" places, ensuring they are visitable and reachable. I haven't been to Antarctica, and i believe most of you neither too. I hope through my illustrations, they will virtually bring you mind to those beautiful places. 

Livingston Island is my third finished attraction among 6 and i was very impressive on Macaroni penguin when researching related information. They look like a fashionista in penguin world. They are absolutely charming and stylish. 

Many years ago, a review estimated that the macaroni was the most abundant species of penguin in Antarctica. They cover many places but finally i chose Livingston Island to be their home (in real they inhabit there too!). It's because the Livingston Island i draw looks a bit too cold. Their yellow eyelashes make a big contrast on the background. Their existence makes the image feel warmer. I like what i composed at early stage of setting up the illustration because of the reason. 

I hope you like it how it looks right now. 

As you can see above, this is how the card looks like in the game. Because of the card size and proportion, i must cut most part of the illustration. It's a pity but early bird backer will get one Post card from randomly choosing illustration from the game. That means you might get the attraction in full size print!

Now let's talk about attraction card. In the bottom of the attraction card, each box has different meaning. Left box means if your ship moved to see the attraction and is the first ship to be here, you will get two Fish as a reward. If not, you will only get one Fish which is on middle box. Right box shows how many points you can score from the attraction when the game ends. Depending on the rank, you score full, half or quarter points of the amount. If you manage well, you will score a lot of pints from attractions! After all our goal is to see those cuties :)

Play on Tabletopia! Apply for a seat now

Yes! The game has set up on Tabletopia. I will teach you how to play the game step by step on it. If you would like to join the game, please send me message to book a seat. I will then send you a link. If it's full, you probably can also watch our play. (I'm still a newbie on Tabletopia!)

If you don't have time to play with us, don't forget to see the rules here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17rEzHCLb50kHQ1pzikbwjKdKr9RWlpea1Y13WO1rXpo/edit

I will set at least two games in the afternoon (GMT+2) on this Friday(Oct 9th) and Sunday (11th). It's a 2-4 player game, so each game i will invite at most 3 players to join. 

I hope you like the content i have shown today.  

See you next update!

Citie

We have unlocked first stretch goal!!!!!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 07:15:21 AM

We have unlocked first stretch goal!!!!! 

The box inlay will be upgraded. So the card storage will be more easier and well organized. 

We have inquire the box inlay from our print company and they provided us a reference pic. 

So the left box inlay is the one we will do. 4 squares that can store big cards and small cards. We even leave some space for sleeved cards. That means if you sleeve all the cards for Neko Harbour: The Card Game, you can store them well. I hope you like the update. 

Next! i have revised the scale of stretch goals, the next goal dropped from €7500 to €7000. 

If we reach €7000, a new research station card will add to the game. In this game, research station provides many different abilities. So more research station cards makes each game diversified. 

Last thing. Unfortunately, we couldn't finish the tutor video. We are sorry about it. Because of technique issues we lost all the needed files. We hope to bring it soon! 

See you next update!

Citie

Draft rules is online! Half way to first stretch goal!
over 3 years ago – Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 08:54:13 AM

We know all of you have been waiting for a while. Today we would like to share the draft rules with you!

Now you can click and see the rules online. You can add a note if you have any question or suggestion. Please note: the rules is still editing and not final. 

Next week we will upload a tutor video, then you will know how to play the game in an easier way. 

Also, we are on the half way of first stretch goal! Hope we will unlock it soon :)

Best,

Citie