EVERGREEN VALLEY - A life simulation card game. UPDATED 19th Jan - HOW TO PLAY

timecatcher

EVERGREEN VALLEY

OVERVIEW

Evergreen Valley; a quiet suburban neighbourhood in paradise! No cars, noise or fossil fuels here! Life is a dream and humans have progressed to perfect society with a unique and calming blend of the natural and technological. Your future has only just begun. Welcome to Evergreen Valley!

A CARD GAME

Evergreen Valley is played as a singleplayer sandbox card game, each card represents an aspect of your world.

-Time
-Vitals
-Satisfaction
-Skills
-Jobs
-Objects
-Life Tokens

And more to come!

(Please note the game is handmade and will potentionally be distributed through print and play should enough interest be developed.)

(All images are prototype stage.)

TIME

The game is played through a series of turns, a time card manages this with 8 hours; 4 day, 4 night. Each hour corresponds to a turn.

VITALS



Similar to The Sims your character has needs and each day you are required to fulfill 3 mandatory vitals (Energy, Hunger & Bathroom) and 3 optional vitals. Non Vital fulfilling objects mostly required a certain level of vitals to be fulfilled in order to use. Vitals reset to 0 at 6am unless the last Vital fulfilled was energy.

SATISFACTION



A world with nothing but survival isn’t a little bland at best so your character wants to do satisfying activities and the more satisfied you are the more perks you unlock. Satisfaction goes up as a result of object card actions and automatically decrements by one each turn; it does NOT reset at night. At the higher levels you can gain vitals, life tokens and other perks.

SKILLS / JOBS



The prototype image above shows the Cooking skill in its early form. And next to it the Mining Job. Long story short you level up skills and occupations with Life Tokens. Each has 3 levels Bronze, Silver and Gold plus a base action.

Example: Mining by default gives 5 resource tokens as a result. If you level up however you gain the corresponding perk in addition each time you use that card. Mining on each level just gives you MORE resource tokens (the in game generic currency).

The same applies to skills which become more and more useful at the higher levels.

The current skills include:

-Cooking
-D.I.Y
-Cleaning

LIFE TOKENS



Life tokens are gained via a variety of actions, through skills and the higher levels of satisfaction. The tokens are used as a kind of progression currency and have no set use. Current implementations include leveling up skills and occupations etc. Future features will also utilise the tokens to give you sandbox gameplay.

OBJECTS



Last but not least we come to Objects. At the start of the game you are given a set number of resource tokens to spend on a little house and a few basics. Objects are pretty versatile and may have one or more action ‘Orbs’ which dictate effect such as increasing vitals, using skills, gaining life tokens etc. The Orb feature is used extensively to dictate gameplay and is incredibly versatile allowing for many combinations and of course entirely new orbs etc

FIMO CLAY MARKERS

All of the above doesn’t just work with cards and will be complimented with a variety of fimo clay markers (yet to be designed) which will be used to show progress and track various features of the game.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it, finally since starting to design the game concept back in March 2017 I’m very close to having a simple working prototype which is exciting! I will of course play test extensively myself and with friends but let me know what you think / further ideas! Going forward once I have the basic game finished I am intending to expand it adding features like weather, NPC’s and deeper skills.

ORIGINAL CONCEPT BELOW FOR REFERENCE

LIFE SQUARED (The logo uses the miniature 2.)

(Name updated to better reflect the concept!)

Overview:

Life Squared is a single player life simulation board game inspired loosely by The Sims video game franchise.

Features:

+Design your house layout & furnish it.
+Manage your personal alias’ life!
+Advance your alias’ skills through practise.
+Go to work to earn credits and expand your house further.
+Random events keep and progression elements keep the game experience fresh and unique each play through.
+Modular expandable design allows for features to be added once the base game is finished.

Thanks,

Nytician.

Chazzzy

How is the game played?

Also, I’d be careful saying this game of yours is inspired by The Sims. You wouldn’t want anyone to think you’re infringing on their copyright should you decide to profit monetarily from this.

timecatcher

Thanks for your comment, not planning to release it just sharing the concept. No desire to hurt the Sims franchise in anyway! Also I’ve done some research on trademarks and am not infringing copyright afaik.

The game mechanics are like everything a continual work in progress but the overall idea is that the time / date cards are used to pace turns and each hour equates to one turn.

The 4 green tokens are covering up your health attributes which include, energy, nutrition, hygiene, bladder and they decrement each day and then in response to interactions with the objects you purchase etc.

Next you have happiness which increases as a result of interactions and will affect your ability to do further actions.

Finally skills increase (shown is DIY but currently Cooking exists too) allowing you various benefits moving forward.

Clearly that is a fairly ambiguous overview as I’ve yet to settle on exact gameplay myself but the gist is there I hope!

SimmySimian

Sounds awesome

timecatcher

Thanks!

Update 28.06.2018:

Been coming up with logo ideas here is a preview:



In other news I’m continuing to trial new gameplay ideas to streamline the experience and also to diverge a little from the classic life sim experience, trying to be creative while maintaining the fun!

Updates:

Vitality Tokens

On play testing it was actually a little boring managing needs directly not to mention lacking creativity from a design standpoint...

Enter Vitality Tokens! You have a card like the following: (Prototype)



Currently you have 6 slots which are filled one by one when you choose to use a card containing the Vitality Token Orb. Cards that contain such a token include the Bed, Toilet, Shower, Cooker and so on. In short all the characters needs have now been replaced with Vitality Orbs which in turn are ‘spent’ on more interesting cards such as The Computer, Bookshelf, and Hobby related objects.

On using a card that gives you an Token that card is no longer available to use until the following day being placed face down. In effect you are limited in your actions during the day and given a gameplay reason to achieve all of your basic needs each day!

Using this instead of individual needs makes the game more interesting in the long run as it’s less repetitive and you can focus on the story of the character etc.

Occupations

Next up I designed a simple idea for how Careers will work in the game although the prototype is different to the idea. Please see image below:



As you can see you have 5 ‘Progress Orbs’ and 1 ‘Level Marker’. The Orbs increase each day you complete and the markers increment Bronze, Silver, Gold resulting in pay increases.

Now the primary flaw here is that those parameters are on the Occupstion card itself when in practise you will have a character card dedicated to recording job progress and the Occupation card will tell you the rate of pay, ability requirements, interview difficulty and extra features.

Abilities

Now I don’t have a prototype to show you here but the concept is simple enough. You will get a character card with a variety of abilities displayed in Orbs (maybe 9 on one card). Each ability will increment Bronze, Silver, Gold and unlock improvements in your...ability haha. Abilities include Cooking, Fixing, Interview Skils etc

Lifestyle Points

How would one increase said ability I hear you ask? (Yes I’m British so apologies if I’m writing this weird )

With Lifestyle points of course! You gain lifestyle points using a variety of objects, completing a day at work, achieving high Vilitality etc In turn once you have a specific number (I’m thinking 9...) you can spend them on Abilities and increase the level.

In future as more features are added you will be able to spend them on a variety of perks and character progression cards.

Achievements

Finally... and I mean finally we come to Achievements. Need I explain? Well I. Short you need to work towards goals in the game and while it’s open ended in design it’s nice to have a framework to help should you choose.

Similar to other cards you will have an array of Orbs which will each represent an achievement and once achieved you will gain any variety of rewards such as perks, lifestyle points, ability increase options etc

Conclusion

So... that was longer than I thought! Apparently I updated more concepts than I imagined! More coming soon of course as I continue to plan new features and implement prototypes of the above. The idea is to keep it relatively simple for the base version and then go from there.

Let me know what you guys think and any further tweaks!

Thanks.

Orisein

cool works bro

so the gameplay is not trading card game, isnt it?

timecatcher

Hey thanks! No not a trading card game

timecatcher

UPDATE 9.7.18

Good evening everyone!

Back again with another update with a reasonable amount of progress that I am rather pleased with anyhow! Decided to slightly rename the thread as it’s now being used as a Dev Log style space really but comments and ideas very welcome!

EVERGREEN VALLEY

Ok so the first and most obvious update is the name! ‘Paper Life’ didn’t quite cut it... ahah...

But seriously the name wasn’t unique and didn’t in my opinion engender the relaxing suburban paradise vibe I was going for. Evergreen Valley however suggests serenity and persistance which is exactly what should be experienced upon playing the game!

PROGRESS OVERVIEW

First a new photo.



On this occasion I decided to collage all the new cards together which I will explain in detail below. Also due to the quick changing nature of prototyping I am no longer cutting each design, I will build the entire prototype and then cut them out for test if that...

NEW: HAPPINESS (Working Title)

The top leftmost card is Happiness which is as the name suggests a measure of your current mood in the world. Evergreen Valley is a paradise and as such you will never be ‘unhappy’ you can merely be content at worst and experiencing euphoria at best! I figured this would keep the game positive while adding further incentive to your characters progression. The mechanics share similar properties to other leveling cards namely a Bronze, Silver, Gold system. Unlike other cards however you can achieve a Platinum level and perks are only unlocked upon reaching a minimum of silver.

Below the level unlock you can see the 3 work in progress orbs which are unlocked the further up the Happiness ladder you go.

Example: You reach Gold level Happiness which in turn allows you access to Orb one and two respectively.

The result of the individual Orbs will be explained below as we move on to Interaction cards.

The way you gain Happiness in the first place is as a result of Interactions, perhaps from work, skills or certain objects.

INTERACTIONS

Moving on to the 2nd, 6th and 7th cards respectively are the Interaction cards!

Almost every action you take is a simple instruction as a result you may get similar effects from a variety of cards for example gaining a life token, fulfilling a vital (updated explained below) etc. Instead of each skill / job / object card rewriting the same action they simply display the same Orb which can be researched as to effect by browsing through the interaction cards!

Current Interactions In Order Top to Bottom:

- +1 Happiness
- Roll 6 to Break (Object Fixing)
- Take top Job card
- +5 Resource Tokens (Carpentry Job Explained Below)
- +1 Resource Token
- +1 Life Token
- -1 Hour Time (Gain a free hour... the Platinum Happiness perk)
- +2 Hours Time. Fulfills energy
- Fulfills Hunger Vital
- Fulfills Bathroom Vital
- Fulfills Hygiene Vital
- Fulfills Pleasure Vital

Hopefully relatively self explanatory, I’m fully aware that I will need to clarify all the gameplay rules at somepoint!

OBJECTS

Next up we have a basic computer object. Pretty simple, you have two options the top row of Orbs or the Bottom and each Orb must be fulfilled including the roll to see if the computer breaks.

SKILLS / JOBS

I decided to group the explanation of both as they have similar properties.

You start both without a level and work your way up Bronze, Silver, Gold etc. Each level can be achieved by exchanging a full card of life tokens.

Once you level up you permanently gain the coloured perks below.

Example:You are Silver badge level at cooking. You gain one Happiness point each time you eat and also one life token!

CONCLUSION

A variety of holes in my description I’m sure but the gist is there and it’s gradually getting to a more playable state rather than purely conceptual! Feel free to comment and questions you may have I’ll happily answer.

Long term I’m considering the potential for releasing it as a print and play title if there’s interest, but for now the plan is still the same to design a fun personal life simulation game that I can gradually add gameplay too.

Thanks again,

Nyt.

timecatcher

ART DESIGN UPDATE 11.07.18

Decided I needed to attempt a full card design. Of course still not final quality I’m pretty pleased with the outcome and feel it’s very close to the overall concept.



Nyt.

timecatcher

WEEKEND UPDATE 15.07.18

Decided to take a small break from gameplay design and focus on creating prototype cards. Originally I planned to use only black and white for the prototype but it doesn’t really capture the spirit of the game to do that so instead I’m just designing a basic set of cards for essential gameplay to test with.

The image below is the progress so far top-bottom left-right showcasing the evolution of design. The bottom three most closely resemble the style I plan on using going forward!



Let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Nyt!

SimmySimian

They look fantastic!

Aivira

Ahh I always loved coming up with little games like this!! I'd totally play it ^^

timecatcher

Thanks for everyone’s nice comments here’s an update on how you play!

HOW TO PLAY (currently...) OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW: A sandbox life simulation card game.

GOAL: To work towards one of many end game ‘Life Cards’ (Marraige, Rich, Family, Best Promotion etc

SETUP: Game is separated into 5 categories of cards.

- Simulation (Time, Day, Weather etc)
- Progress (Character trackers: Emotions, Body, Social, Skill Tokens etc)
- Community (Jobs, Community Centre, Coffee Shop etc)
- Home (Furniture, Garden, Pool etc)
- Life (Promotions, Learnt Skills, Life Achievements, Housing/Property etc)

Simulation and Progress: cards are all laid out permanently during the game unless otherwise specified.

Community: cards are all available in a pile from the start unless specified.

Home and Life: cards are all earned/bought during gameplay and form the sense of progression throughout. All cards are in non-active piles separate from the rest of the game.

BASIC JOB COMMUNITY CARD OVERVIEW:



GAMEPLAY!

As stated the goal is to achieve whichever life card you set as a personal goal or to simply play and see if you can ‘achieve’ everything. Technically the game is endless.

At the start you begin at the Welcome Centre:



Seen here are 3 options (the same format for every card in the game). For this particular card you can do 3 actions. The type of options are defined as follows:

- Action (You gain something or it affects a progress tracker / simulation card in some way.) [Green]
- Perk (You gain a permanent (usually) improvement for your game... an example would be the promotion life card where your job salary increases for all jobs etc) [Pink]
- Prerequisite (Mostly seen on Life and Home cards in order to use them, you will have to fulfill the criteria stated before you gain that card permanently.) [Blue]

WELCOME CENTRE BREAKDOWN

A community card.

Action I: Kitchen (Costs 1 Credit to gain 1 body orb on the body progress card.)
Action II: Recreation (Costs 1 Credit to gain 1 emotion orb on the emotions progress card.)
Action III: Study Room (Costs 1 Emotion orb to gain 1 skill token orb on the life tokens card.)

(Not seen in the older Welcome Card is that some actions take ‘time’ to perform in the sense of affecting the time simulation card to simulate the progression of life etc)

EARLY GAME SETUP IMAGE:



One final note is how you actually choose your actions and resolve them. You will have 4 action tokens (made of fimo clay) which will be performed in a specific order denoted by colour. I have yet to make the tokens as the game doesn’t require them to be tested. The reason I chose tokens like this is that it essentially can become up to a 4 player game (each player helping advance the character and discussing progression etc)

Well I hope that was a little more in-depth explanation as to gameplay hope that makes the overall goal and play experience more clear. It’s constantly evolving but getting stabler each play through and technically I can add hundreds of cards and combinations to allow for long deep play sessions and goal paths.

Kind regards,

Nytician.