Game Concept Thread

[Doesntpostverymuch]

okay look, i'm going to go calm myself down so that by the time the current mafia game is over i might not feel like an idiot

[Julia Pseudo]

I know I'm hosting now, but I had this idea earlier

Mafia 40+: Werewolves and Witchcraft
Format: Cardflip - 15 players

Werewolves
Intimidating Werewolf: Can growl at one player each night, preventing them from saying anything in the main thread or #mafia on Discord except for "I've been intimidated.". Intimidation wears off at the start of the next night. Can't target the same player twice in a row.
Wolf of Wall Street: Once throughout the whole game, can cause all werewolves' stock prices to double during the night, making their lynch votes count twice as much as the other players' during the next day.
Wily Werewolf: Can block the ability of one player each night.
Teen Wolf: Cardflips green; however, must choose a word from one of the following on Night 1: "wolf/wolves", "mafia/mafioso", "lynch", or "special", and use that word in the main thread at least once (case-insensitive) per night and day cycle or they will die at the end of the day phase.

Townspeople
Prostitute: Can block the ability of one player each night.
Investigator: Can inspect one player each night and learn their cardflip color.
Bodyguard: Can stand guard outside of one player's house each night. If someone tries to kill that player, the Bodyguard will take the hit and take the attacker down with them as well.
Silversmith: Can kill one player each night, starting on Night 2. If they kill an innocent, they keep their ability but their cardflip color becomes red.
Townsperson
Townsperson
Townsperson
Townsperson
Townsperson
Town Drunk: Lynch vote does not count (but they can still cast a lynch vote). Since no one seems them as a threat, they are immune to night kills, and their identity will be announced if someone tries to kill them. Doesn't count towards the town's numbers in terms of resisting the Werewolves.

Witch: Can use witchcraft to control one player's ability usage each night (causing them to target another specific player) as well as learn their exact role. Wins by being the last player standing (except for the Town Drunk).

Role Details

Spoiler: show

- Players whose votes are doubled by the Wolf of Wall Street (usually the werewolves, but see below) will be notified at the start of the day
- The werewolves' nightly kills are performed by the living wolf furthest down in the list, in addition to that wolf's own ability. The Wily Werewolf (via the Witch) or Prostitute can prevent the werewolves from killing by roleblocking this wolf, and this wolf will be attacked by the Bodyguard, if applicable.
- Players targeted by the Wily Werewolf or Prostitute will be notified as such the next morning if they have a usable ability. These messages are indistinguishable.
- If the Wily Werewolf and Prostitute target each other on the same night while the Wily Werewolf is responsible for killing, the werewolves will not be able to kill.
- If the Wolf of Wall Street uses its ability on the same night as being roleblocked by the Wily Werewolf (via the Witch) or Prostitute, it will not lose the ability.
- If the Bodyguard successfully prevents a kill, it will be announced to the whole game during the following phase change.
- If the werewolves, the Silversmith, and the Bodyguard all target the same player on the same night, only the attacking werewolf will be killed.
- The Silversmith does not turn red after killing an innocent until the next day, so will cardflip blue if they are inspected or killed on the same night they kill an innocent.
- If the Silversmith kills a townsperson, they will be notified as such.
- Players controlled by the Witch will be notified as such if they have a usable ability, but will not be told who they are being made to target (except in the case of the Investigator, since the host PM includes the target's name: "You inspected Pseudo", etc.).
- The Witch's controlling ability cannot be blocked by the Wily Werewolf or Prostitute.
- If the current killing werewolf is controlled by the Witch, the controlled werewolf will use both of their abilities on the specified target.
- The Witch can control the Wolf of Wall Street's ability without deducting from the Wolf's number of uses, even if the Wolf has already used the ability. If she has the Wolf of Wall Street target a townsperson, the townspeople's votes will be doubled for the day, and if she targets herself her vote will be doubled for the day.
- If the Anemic Werewolf is controlled by the Witch, their ability will be used up. The Anemic Werewolf's ability cannot be controlled by the Witch if they have already used it.

Changelog

Spoiler: show

First change
- Alpha Werewolf is now the Teen Wolf, which is always green but has a dumb gimmick, and it has been moved down to the bottom of the werewolves in the role list.
- Replaced Anemic Werewolf with Intimidating Werewolf, a completely different role.
- The Silversmith can no longer kill on Night 1.
- The Witch no longer has a single-use night kill, but learns the exact role of a player when she visits them instead of just their cardflip color.
- Gave the Witch the ability to control the Wolf of Wall Street, with no limitations.
- Clarified the Silversmith's color change.

[PixelPest]

I like the concept, but personally don't like one-use roles for the most part; it kinda throws me off, especially when there are multiple roles like that and when the Witch can cause an ability to be used up. I also need clarification with the Witch, since I don't see why she couldn't control all of the werewolves, although I'm also not sure whether she learns what the person's ability is exactly or just chooses someone to target, since if so, I see no reason as to why she couldn't control all of the werewolves. Also don't think that the Witch really needs one Nightkill since she could possibly control a killing ability and I feel like it doesn't serve that much of a purpose overall. Just in general I feel that the werewolves' abilities could be so much more interesting too, since again I'll say that I really dislike one (or two)-time moves. It throws me off that much, especially when there are so many of them. Some of the role details are also a little iffy to me, such as why the Silversmith flips Blue, even if they are Red and target the Bodyguard. It just seems over-complicated and a bit pointless imo. It's not a bad game overall, but I would struggle to vote for it at this point because of some of the things I discussed

[MacheTheFerret]

Mafia #: Timewarp

Gameplay:

• 16 Players
• Cardflip (color shown on death)
• No one knows who anyone else is unless specified
• Regular lynching

Roles:

Mafia:
Artistic Mafioso: Has a vast knowledge of colors. Every night, he can find out what color a player is.
Mafioso: Total losers with no special abilities
Mafioso
Mafioso
Everyone in the Mafia know who their teammates are.
Goal: Outnumber the town and kill the Timelord if they are aligned with the Town.

Town:
Sheriff: Has a vast knowledge of his town. Every night, he can find out what color a player is.
Doctor: Posts Mercy fanart on Deviantart. Every night, they can save a player from death.
Assassin: Doesn't matter who, he just likes killin'. Every night, they can kill a player. If he kills someone on his team, he is restricted from killin' for one night.
Townsperson: A whole plethora of idiots with no special abilities.
Townsperson
Townsperson
Townsperson
Townsperson
Townsperson
Student: His student loans are so massive that he suffocated on them and turned blue. Has no special abilities. Doesn't know he's the student (too focused on his loans).
Con Artist: Likes to get into trouble, loves to get out of trouble. He can survive one nightkill. Knows he's a filthy con artist.
Goal: Kill all of the Mafiosos and the Timelord if they are aligned with the Mafia.

Third Party:
Timelord: Has a fascination with time manipulation (and TNT), and has the following abilities:

• At the beginning of the game, he can choose to align with either the Town or the Mafia (not both, and not neither). This decision will be announced to everyone on Day 1 (game starts on Night 1), but won't reveal who he is (obviously). Depending on which team he aligns with, the opposite team will acquire a buff.
  ~If he aligns with the Town, the Artistic Mafioso can paint players Red, Green, Blue, or Purple. Cannot paint Mafiosos Blue.
  ~If he aligns with the Mafia, all six regular townspeople become doublevoters.
  ~Also, if he aligns with the Mafia, he knows who they are and the Mafia knows who he is.
• Once throughout the entire game after Night 2, if he's alive, he can cause a massive time reversal. This will reset the game back to the previous phase (ex: Night 2 becomes Day 1) and revive anyone who died on the previous phase, as well as restore ability cooldowns and colors from that phase (except the Timelord's own ability, of course). Roles are unaffected.
• Can survive a single nightkill.

Goal: If the team he's aligned with wins, he win as well. If the Timelord dies, he automatically loses.

Other note: Anyone who survives a nightkill will also be mentioned in the daily obituary, but how they were saved will NOT be specified.

[Julia Pseudo]

I like the concept, but personally don't like one-use roles for the most part it kinda throws me off, especially when there are multiple roles like that

I respectfully disagree, though I can probably understand why someone wouldn't like that. We can probably chalk this one up to opinion, though, yeah?

and when the Witch can cause an ability to be used up.

This only applies for the Anemic Werewolf, and even if this is used on the wrong target it's most likely going to be useful anyways. Painting has to be restricted in some way, in any case.

I also need clarification with the Witch, since I don't see why she couldn't control all of the werewolves,

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this... The Witch does have the ability to control the werewolves' kills if she targets the current killing werewolf, as well as the Anemic Werewolf and Wily Werewolf's abilities, but she cannot control the self-targeting abilities of the Alpha Werewolf and Wolf of Wall Street. The Alpha Werewolf and Wolf of Wall Street could still use their unique abilities if controlled by the Witch; she has no control over their abilities in any way since she chooses a target to control and another target to use the ability on.

although I'm also not sure whether she learns what the person's ability is exactly or just chooses someone to target, since if so, I see no reason as to why she couldn't control all of the werewolves

She chooses one player to control, and also learns that player's cardflip color but not their exact role (though I may want to change that to exact role - you're showing me why that might be frustrating for her). If she got control of the werewolves' kills it probably wouldn't last long, since the killing werewolf would most likely eventually die and be replaced as the killer.

In any case, I will probably change the Witch to not have a night kill, but give her the ability to learn the exact role of the targeted player (which is more similar to her origin in Town of Salem anyways).

Also don't think that the Witch really needs one Nightkill since she could possibly control a killing ability and I feel like it doesn't serve that much of a purpose overall.

You're probably right about this, and I may change this.

Just in general I feel that the werewolves' abilities could be so much more interesting too, since again I'll say that I really dislike one (or two)-time moves. It throws me off that much, especially when there are so many of them.

You're probably right here - the thing I struggle with most in designing Mafia games is giving the mafia good abilities. I'll look into this.

Some of the role details are also a little iffy to me, such as why the Silversmith flips Blue, even if they are Red and target the Bodyguard. It just seems over-complicated and a bit pointless imo.

I guess this is the one corner case I didn't cover - the Silversmith is supposed to cardflip blue when killed by the Bodyguard only if they are currently blue; if the Silversmith is currently red they will cardflip red. The point was that killing/being killed by the Bodyguard would not inherently turn the Silversmith red (even though the Bodyguard is a townsperson) - apologies for that being unclear.

also hey PaperPlayer, welcome back from the dead lmao.

[MacheTheFerret]

also hey PaperPlayer, welcome back from the dead lmao.

Thanks. Any criticisms on my game? I feel like the Timelord needs tweaks but since he's completely new I have no idea what.

[Julia Pseudo]

also hey PaperPlayer, welcome back from the dead lmao.

Thanks. Any criticisms on my game? I feel like the Timelord needs tweaks but since he's completely new I have no idea what.

Frankly, I think the turn back time ability is way too strong - and invalidating the whole game up to that point seems like it'd be soul-crushing, possibly even for the losing team. I would have it turn back time, like, a single in-game day (Night 3 -> Night 2 for example) as opposed to all the way to Night 1. That way, it could still have a big effect (that's the difference between the sheriff being alive and dead), but most strategy up to that point would still be relevant.

The rest of the game seems good, I like that you compensate the team that doesn't get the Timelord. Him liking TNT is also great.

Also, does allying with the mafia put the Timelord in contact with them or not?

Also also, do the student and con artist know who they are?

[MacheTheFerret]

Thanks for the quick response.

Frankly, I think the turn back time ability is way too strong - and invalidating the whole game up to that point seems like it'd be soul-crushing, possibly even for the losing team. I would have it turn back time, like, a single in-game day (Night 3 -> Night 2 for example) as opposed to all the way to Night 1. That way, it could still have a big effect (that's the difference between the sheriff being alive and dead), but most strategy up to that point would still be relevant.

Sounds like a good change to me. The original idea behind having him rewind to the very start was because I thought it would make for a difficult strategic choice and makes dying on Night 1 far less brutal than in most games. The Timelord would be able to revive his entire team at the cost of reviving the enemy team, while both teams retain all information they got before the rewind, which can allow them to shift gears.
That was just my design philosophy behind it, but I think your idea of it will work better.

Also, does allying with the mafia put the Timelord in contact with them or not?

Also also, do the student and con artist know who they are?

Yes and no, respectively. I should add those notes in. Thanks for the reminder!
Edit: Actually, I'm debating whether or not the Con Artist should know who he is.

[Julia Pseudo]

Glad to be of service - the Timelord is a cool concept in any case.

[MacheTheFerret]

Decided to make the Con Artist aware that he's the con artist. Shouldn't affect a whole lot.

[MacheTheFerret]

Forgot to change the Timelord's ability yesterday. Should be more balanced now.

[Thehelmetguy1]

In my opinion, if all the townies became doublevoters, they would get quite overpowered

[Julia Pseudo]

Updated the game I posted above, changelog included. What do you think now?

[PersonNamedUser]

Which do want to see more, this one or the wizard one?
M??: Ace Attorneys Vs Ace Mafia

18 Players
Roleflip/Cardflip Game
Role usage is mandatory

The Mafia

Busse Bosse the Godfather: The Leader of the Mafia, he can not be nightkilled, flips as green instead of red.
Cruella Wench the Consort: Can block a player’s ability each night
Deven Booms the Bomber: If they target a player and that player is killed that night their role will be unidentifiable.
Stocklin Faller The Agent: Can inspect a player to find out their role on even number nights.

The Town

Phoenix Wright: Is able to interview someone each night, revealing their role. Also, anyone that visits him with be revealed to him
Apollo Justice: Flips as green unless Phoenix dies in which his color will change to blue and he’ll be able to inspect but only find out color.
Miles Edgeworth: Being a seeker of the truth, once in the game during the night phase, he can find out about two things that happened in the Activity log that night.
Detective Dick Gumshoe: As long as he’s alive, the roleflip mechanic will stay in as he will be able to perform autospys on the victims but if he dies, then roleflips will be retired in favor of of regular cardflips.
Maya Fey: They can both once in the game find out anything in the activity log about one paticular action and are in contact with one another
Pearls Fey
Flynn Heather The Doctor: Can protect a player from death each night phase
Larry Butz: Regular Townsperson
Connor Townson: Regular Townsperson
Ms. Lanquid: Regular Townsperson
Loster Woods: Regular Townsperson
Destan Fisher: Regular Townsperson
Millwright Stones: a retired member of the mafia who no longer works for them. However, since he is still slightly suspected, he flips as Red. Can't be night killed.

Third Party

Serra Ciller the Female Serial Killer: They can kill someone each night and along with that they can use one of 3 abilities. they also can’t be nightkilled. Anyone that visits her will be slienced the next day phase:
- They can inspect someone to find out their role
- They can block someone’s ability
- They can cover up a death

Win Condtions:
The Mafia: Outnumber the Town and Kill Serra Ciller
The Town: Take out all the Mafia and Serra Ciller
Third Party: Take out all the Specials as well as the mafia, The Specials, meaning Phoenix, Apollo, Edgeworth, Gumshoe and Flynn Heather

[Valentine]

The Female Serial Killer

You know because it's not obvious from the name of the person. Also if you want to make a good game try actually being creative. This one is basically the equivalent of a recolor of a basic mafia game (And so are your other ones), try coming up with some interesting mechanics and make a game based around that

[PixelPest]

This is basically a rip-off of Pseudo's last game, but with less creativity and more classic roles

[TDK]

I'm not going to active for M38, so I've decided to post this here for feedback.

M99: Might is Right
Cardflip
18 players

Obligatory plot: In some town somewhere, a secret society had enough with the idiocracy of the town.

The secret society of enlightenment:

Group leader: Can place his vote privately. He's the good guy so obviously he will card flips green.
Successful psychic: Can make an anonymous post each night either in the thread, or as a PM.
Wise cheater: On odd number night, can remove a person’s ability to vote. This effect only works the following day. On even number nights can inspect someone to find out if they are a special or not.
Friend: Knows 2 other friends.

Wins: Same as usual.

The almost unsuspecting town:
Incompetent Detective: Find out the colour of whoever he investigates.
Competent Detective: Find out the colour of whoever he investigates, but gets the opposite colour. Thinks he’s the incompetent detective.
Jailer: Save someone from getting killed at night and also blocks their ability.
Governor: Can prevent a person from getting lynched, by announcing it publicly. If he tries to do to do it again, everyone else will get pissed off and he will get lynched automatically instead.
Kid with a gun: Can kill someone. From Night 4 if he doesn’t try to kill someone, he loses the ability to vote for the following day.
Zombie: Can make one extra vote after death.
Explosive amateur: Can kill someone as well if they get lynched.
Double voter: Has 2 votes. Doesn’t know his ability. Card flips orange.
Unsuccessful psychic: Can make an anonymous post each night either in the thread, or as a PM. Card flips red.
Friend: Knows 2 other friends, but doesn’t know their roles.
Friend: Knows 2 other friends, but doesn’t know their roles.
Townie: Nothing.
Townie: Nothing.

Wins: Same as usual.

The orange group:

Painter: Can paint someone each night. This effect only works the following day. Cannot be night killed in Night 1.
Colour effects:
Red, Blue, Green, Orange – Same as usual.
Yellow – Negative vote.
Purple – Double voter.
White – If the person dies, their death is not announced.
Black – Card flips black.
Grey – Cannot talk but still vote.

Wins: Survive until another team gets their supposed win condition, and steal the win.

[Julia Pseudo]

Ooh, the Zombie is a really interesting role in that game, and pretty strong too. It might have issues in a meta sense unfortunately because of issues with communicating with dead players (which isn't your fault, but makes roles that can act after dying be a bit tricky).

[PersonNamedUser]

This is basically a rip-off of Pseudo's last game, but with less creativity and more classic roles

Was being rude about it really necessary?

[PersonNamedUser]

Also if you want to make a good game try actually being creative. This one is basically the equivalent of a recolor of a basic mafia game (And so are your other ones), try coming up with some interesting mechanics and make a game based around that

Are you basically saying my games succ just because they don't have some SUPER CRAZY NEW mechnanic in it? it is pretty much going to be outdated since i plan on completely overhauling it.

Also, i'd like you to define what you mean by "creative" do you mean like roles or functions never before seen?