Alexander Shen
United States
California
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Newest Rules always updated here!
DOWNLOAD THE RULES (PDF): http://shengames.com/boardgames/punchcityfighters/punchcityf...
Hello BGG!
Long time lurker, infrequent poster. My name is Alexander Shen and I'm a game developer. I typically do digital game development (Flash, mainly), but have stepped into the traditional game world for my recent project: 52 weeks of game development (a new game a week).
Week 6 of 52 for 52 Weeks of Game Development has dropped like it was hot. This week I have a board game for you, just like I promised I would! I've had this need to do a dice based fighting game for a long time. Unlike other dice games out there like Cookie Fu, the dice play more of a Yahtzee role than anything else.
You can download the official rules above, but the quick run down of the game is as follows: two players choose a character to fight with. Each character has five Health Bars and Health Bars determine how many dice you roll (for example: 5 Health Bars = 5 Dice to roll or 3 Health Bars = 3 Dice to roll). Dice have four different faces: punch (x2), kick (x2), block and blank. You roll the dice at the same time and calculate Hits from the results.
Simple, right?
The strategy comes from when the moment after the dice are rolled. You can see what your opponent has rolled, but then you place the dice behind a screen and arrange them in any way you would like on a grid of six slots. So when you start comparing the dice, you compare them in sequential order from the slots (so the less dice you have the more likely you'll get hit, but not necessarily).
My future plans with this game are to distribute and update the game rules while keeping the game free for all. I also plan on doing better artwork when I have more time (and am not under the "game a week" ruleset). I also plan on starting a Kickstarter project to fund a Deluxe version of the game. The Deluxe version will have custom dice (versus the ones I've made or substituting with standard six-sided dice), professionally printed Character Cards and a nice box. Video tutorial would also be a nice thing to have. 
If you have any ideas or comments about the system, character balancing, new modes or even new characters, please let me know! I'd love to continue to support this game and keep it free as long as possible.
Thanks so much for your time!
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Sturv Tafvherd
United States
North Carolina
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Gut reaction: The damage phase seems too complex. The rest of the game flows rather smoothly ... and then it feels like it gets stuck in a Tax Audit ...
It reminds me of old-school D&D where you have weapon speeds and hit locations, trying to figure out if that sword swing that missed you actually hit your backpack instead, and maybe it tore a big enough hole that your healing potion fell out ... but oh look, it's 11pm and wasn't this just the first combat session of the evening?
(If the game was for an electronic medium, the "Tax Audit" steps will flow much faster ... but this seems to be different)
But, I can see what you're trying to do -- having different "levels" of damage as well as a way of requiring your opponent to use more punches or more kicks. But (in my opinion) all it really does is add another layer of randomness to the game ... and I don't see why you need to differentiate between kicks and punches (aside from powering up the super move).
It might be better to simply track the amount of hits you've taken, and let your character card determine how many hits it takes to reduce your Fighting Dice.
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Alexander Shen
United States
California
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@Sturv: that is an excellent suggestion! I played it tonight and really noticed the lag when determining damage. I will try the single health bar with designated points for losing Fighting Dice.
I may try it with a new dice setup as well: hit, double hit, block and miss to see how that plays out. The ordering mechanic will stay as some sort of choice should be available...
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"You may not lock a Fighting Die if there is a Spirit Marker already on the box."
"Once a Super Move is executed, resolve all effects and remove all Spirit Markers from the corresponding player’s Character Card."
Wait... so, who is the corresponding player, exactly? The targeted player, or the attacking player?
The impression I'm getting is that Super Moves are controlled by Spirit Markers--if you use your Super Move, you don't get to use it again for the rest of the game, unless you get hit by someone else's Super Move. Am I right?
Because while I think that makes sense for the purposes of balance, it isn't stated clearly enough in the rules. Additionally, I'm not sure what this means for Crafty Cat or Mustache Gentleman, whose Super Moves are not attacks.
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Alexander Shen
United States
California
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I've gone and updated the rule set to make the game faster and to remove an element of randomness. I've also changed the way health bars work so they are more straight forward and actually allow for more variety between characters.
Damage: The dice now have miss, block, hit and double hit (instead of punches and kicks). If you get hit then you take the damage. As simple as that.
Losing Dice: Losing dice is now associated with the new Health Bar (one single health bar vs. multiple health bars). Characters lose dice at different rates. Some characters are even able to have more than 1 die at the end. There's more variety for characters now!
Spirit Bar: I decided to take a page from Red Dragon Inn and Street Fighter. Your damage counter starts at the top of your Health Bar, but your Spirit starts at the bottom. As soon as the Spirit Counter crosses the Damage Counter, you are then able to use the Super Move.
Thanks for the feedback! Looking to continue to make this game better.
DOWNLOAD THE NEW RULES (v1.01): http://shengames.com/boardgames/punchcityfighters/punchcityf...
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Alexander Shen
United States
California
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kurthl33t wrote: "You may not lock a Fighting Die if there is a Spirit Marker already on the box."
"Once a Super Move is executed, resolve all effects and remove all Spirit Markers from the corresponding player’s Character Card."
Wait... so, who is the corresponding player, exactly? The targeted player, or the attacking player?
The impression I'm getting is that Super Moves are controlled by Spirit Markers--if you use your Super Move, you don't get to use it again for the rest of the game, unless you get hit by someone else's Super Move. Am I right?
Because while I think that makes sense for the purposes of balance, it isn't stated clearly enough in the rules. Additionally, I'm not sure what this means for Crafty Cat or Mustache Gentleman, whose Super Moves are not attacks.
This is a rude awakening on "how not to write rules". I need to brush up on making things more clear. Fortunately, the updated rules have somewhat removed those lines.
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Much better! Although I don't see anywhere in the rules that mentions how the Spirit Marker moves. Does it advance when I strike my opponent? When I get hit? X number of spaces each turn?
Also, game rules will typically mention the number of players and the expected game time. "2 Players, 20-30 minutes" or whatever. 
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Alexander Shen
United States
California
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kurthl33t wrote: Much better! Although I don't see anywhere in the rules that mentions how the Spirit Marker moves. Does it advance when I strike my opponent? When I get hit? X number of spaces each turn? Also, game rules will typically mention the number of players and the expected game time. "2 Players, 20-30 minutes" or whatever.
Thanks! I'll definitely add the players + expected game time to the start of the rules.
As far as moving the Spirit Marker, it is done after a player has decided to LOCK a Hit/Double Hit Fighting Die. I have also added the rule that if a player does at least 1 successful Hit to their opponent, they may move the Spirit Marker up 1 spot.
I'm still on the fence about if a Hit can counter a Hit or if a Hit can nullify a Double Hit to only 1 point of damage.
I really appreciate the feedback.
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Alexander Shen
United States
California
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DOWNLOAD THE NEW RULES (v1.02): http://shengames.com/boardgames/punchcityfighters/punchcityf...
Played the game some more with some other folks and came across some new features that should make the game more fun and faster.
NEW DICE: The starting 5 Fighting Dice are now going to be of three types: hit heavy dice, block heavy dice and an average die. This makes it so when you discard a die, it's up to you how you wish to strategize your post-game. Maybe you want to become more defensive as you get lower in health or maybe you want to go aggressive.
What's on these dice will probably require some more balancing.
SPECIAL MOVES: As your Spirit Marker moves up, I felt like having additional abilities instead of the single Super Move would be nice. This allows you to do something with that Spirit earlier since it takes a long time to get to a point to actually use a Super Move.
You're limited to 2 Special Moves or 1 Super Move per turn.
GOALS: I hope that after some more play testing that I can get more characters in place. My goal is at least 12 (a la Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition). More would be a bonus. Then official artwork and putting together a video for Kickstarter.
I found a dice maker that will do custom dice and the prices seem reasonable. For 100 sets of the game (1000 dice), it'd be roughly $1.00 a die. Then again, now that I've decided to do multiple dice types, it may be more expensive. :X
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You've got places where you call it "Super Block" and places where it's "Double Block." You might want to be consistent.
I like Special Moves! It's nice to have another use for Spirit.
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Posted Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:39 pm
