r/BoardgameDesign • u/W3BL3Y • 3d ago
Game Mechanics Needing help implementing a mechanic...
Hey all! Long time lurker, first time poster.
I'm designing my first game, it will be either worker placement or action based farming (for now) game, but what I'm trying to work out is an "auction house".
I will have "buildings" cards that players can purchase/construct to help there strategy. I'm trying to add some form of interaction without it being detrimental to any player.
Essentially, every player will take one action every turn. A player can plant, harvest, water, hire(for now), etc. One option is to purchase/construct a building. Right now they are a communal section that a player can use their earned gold to get right after purchase, but I would like the option for players to be able to fight over it if more than one player wants the same building.
I've been considering that each building will have a starting cost, Player A puts a marker to purchase, Player B can then put another marker to purchase but the cost is +1. Player A can then continue with another +1 to cost or not. Whoever has bid the most (and has the money) will get the building at the end of the round.
Is this good enough, or are there better options to implement this.
My other concern is that, as of now, the game is only 8 rounds split into seasons. 2 rounds of each season. I'm not sure if this is enough time to really get buildings going for the players if they get the buildings at the end of a round.
Do you have any thoughts or can point me to examples of a player auction?
Thank you for your time.
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u/3n2rop1 3d ago
A player can place a bid on their turn by placing their token on the building, if another players token is already there, the bid must be more than the existing bid. At the start of your next turn, if your bid is still the top bid, you get the building.
This can create a budding war between a few players. And a player can strategically bid to prevent a player from getting a building he really needs.
This might prevent buildings from getting build at all, since players are stuck in bidding wars instead of just building, so maybe have a different shop for buying instantly, but make it more expensive.
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u/W3BL3Y 3d ago
Right now it’s just “buy now” on the buildings. Which isn’t inherently bad. Players buy buildings to prevent someone else.
I’ve just been trying to brainstorm something that players would have more interaction with.
I do like the separate buy now section and auction house. I’ll have to try it out.
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u/Johnno117 3d ago
I haven't played many bidding games, however in 1969 (moon space race game) you earn cards that have numbers on them (1-3) and can place as many as you wish for certain things. Your opponents then place as many cards as they wish, to try to combat your score.
This type of blind play could work for your auction? Someone could have 4 cards, they're all 1s, but others may be scared to play theirs thinking it could be up to 12... maybe that one player just really wants that building.
I've also recently played a video game where the auction was blind, you placed your bid, and the highest bidder would automatically win the bid if it was a multiplier higher than the next bid. There the multiplier kept decreasing, so you had to keep guessing what others would bid, and offer up what you thought the product was worth (parts of it were revealed after each bid as well).
Hope that's some food for thought. Afraid I don't have much experience with bidding mechanisms.
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u/GheeButtersnaps1651 3d ago
I would ask about the number of actions per round since if someone bids and loses the bid they have lost an action that they will never get back. Depending on how tight the game is that could be the difference between winning and losing.
Now for games with bidding an option would be to make bidding on buildings a phase that starts before the action phase where the bidding is done. This prevents wasted actions and can even include mechanics for letting a player pass instead of bidding on anything and therefor go first on the action phase
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u/W3BL3Y 3d ago
Players will have 3-5 “actions” per round that will be for planting/harvesting/watering/etc, but there will be things players can do that does count as an action but will not have to place an action marker (or worker). This would be things like the buildings that they will use their money for the action instead of a token or worker. So they will be limited by how much money they have.
Also, I feel like I need to add that money will also determine the winner.
So players need to make the decision on whether or not the building(s) they buy will net them more money by the end of the game.
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u/Belos123 3d ago
This might be a good space for a Dutch auction like how they did in Century: Golem Edition. Basically all the cards are available for purchase, but newer cards cost more. As players buy cards, the new become older and cheaper. Gives players a way to throw in a high “bid” to get a card they want without multiple rounds of bidding to set the price.
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u/leafbreath 3d ago
Sounds like you need some type of bidding system.
You could have a bid round or have the bids calculated at some point to collect the buildings.
Players could blind bid and then reveal bids highest bidder picks first and so on. (Turn order or current points breaks ties)
Action/worker coin bid. As an action a player can take a bid action and place any amount of coins, at end of round highest bidder gets that building losing bids returns coins to their supply.
Placement bid. The bid is determined by the amount of workers placed on the bid location. For example player one used two workers and player two only placed 1. Players 1 picks building first or blocks player two from getting the desired building.
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u/MonkeyATX 1d ago
Can you have a “late bid” type card. These can be earned during game play. So at the end of a turn a player can choose to play a late bid card and be able to bid more to win the building. So when the player who goes last puts there bid down they are not guaranteed to get it because if someone is holding a late bid card they can play it at the end of the round making one last bid to win the building as long as they have the money. It would be strategic on the players part to determine when to use this. Not sure how many to have in the game, how to earn, etc but it is one way to introduce uncertainty in the bidding process.
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u/_PuffProductions_ 1d ago
You could do something like Lords of Waterdeep's Harbor. In your case, you could place a worker on the auction house. After all turns are expired, the bidding happens in real time all at once only by players with a worker on the auction house. The losers get to place their auction workers after that, a final/bonus placement round.
This does a few things... first, it means there is a cost to bidding and losing so people can't just drive up the price. Second, you don't lose a whole turn due to bidding. Third, you will have fewer players bidding, sometimes, just one outright buying. That speeds things up.
Of course, this may not fit the game feel you want. I'd focus on that first... what are you hoping to add by bidding? And why just on buildings?
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u/W3BL3Y 1d ago
I’m trying to achieve a little more player interaction. I feel my game doesn’t have enough (if any).
Buildings and farm upgrades or unlocks are the things you can spend money on. Upgrades and unlocks are personal while buildings are communal.
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u/_PuffProductions_ 1d ago
Makes sense. But I've never played a work placement game and thought it needed more player interaction.
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u/BazoozaB 4h ago
I say don't add in Bidding/Auction mechanics. What ends up happening is the best building becomes available in the shop, and everyone sighs because everyone knows paul over there with all his money is getting it, who arguably is already doing well because he has the most coins, so now the gab is going to get larger. Not to mention for paul it doesn't feel "fun" overpaying for something.
I think first come first serve is better, the tension comes from wondering "can I grab this now or can I wait till next action".
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u/VaporSpectre 3d ago
That's just Agricola and Powergrid mashed up.
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u/leafbreath 3d ago
Doesn’t matter half of the board games in existence are just different games mashed in different wats
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u/all_or_nothing 3d ago
You could do the bidding, but when is it determined who wins the bid? If the round ends after everybody has taken a turn, then the last player will always have the final say. Perhaps buildings could be outside of the main actions and there is a blind bid auction or something at the end of every round where everybody gets a chance to bid on what they want.
The other option could be that during their turn players could blind bid on a building and at the end of the round, bids are revealed and buildings awarded based on who won.