Pergamemnon
Game History
In the beginning of 2009, I began to design a card game based on the browser game Grepolis.
This game idea fascinated me for a long time. The mechanics were somewhat similar to the
deck-building of Dominion, but without as much card shuffling and with more
interaction due to direct conflict. Added to that were civilizations with different
advantages and disadvantages to make the game more variable.
At the beginning, I drudged through the process for a long time with rules that were much too
complicated concerning the counterstrikes and distance shots for each battle.
In order to simplify the game, I removed the extra rules for the different weapons.
In addition, there were powerful mythical creatures who could take several hits, and each
needed several cards to record each wound.
The bookkeeping involved was also too fiddly and complicated. Once this was removed, it was necessary to refine the strengths of each
creature without making them too overwhelmingly powerful. To balance them better, I made
some have the special ability to escape a battle it was losing, and some had “secure”
victory points.
Once the final mechanics were discovered, I entered the most difficult phase in the game’s development: playtesting the civilization against each other to make certain they were balanced. Each nation needed to have an equal chance at victory, although the strength of that nation was dependent each time on the particular strengths of the nations played by the opponents that game. After testing every combination many times, I believe I achieved enough of that balance.
I showed the prototype to Matthias Catrein (the illustrator for Peloponnes and Dominion)
and he was immediately enthusiastic, and could not pass up on the opportunity to produce
the fantastic illustrations for the cards.
Should the game find its target audience, there is nothing standing in the way of expansions,
such as further civilizations and mythical creatures!
