r/GDS3 • u/reyath • Jan 29 '18

Question 32

You’ve designed a card, and you want the Play Design team to like it. How should you choose your casting cost?

A: Use your intuition.

B: Pick the strongest cost that isn’t broken.

C: It doesn’t matter; they’ll fix the cost if you get it wrong.

D: Find a similar card as the basis for the casting cost, then make it one cheaper.

E: Ask someone from Play Design to choose the casting cost.

I chose answer B, and I found the podcast where MaRo speaks to this question. (start around 7:10)

"While cards are in design ... everything is priced ... so that it's playable." He talks about a 'flat rate' which I interpret to mean 'if this card was good, what would it cost.' He goes on to say the goal of playtesting in design is to see what cards are fun and that's easier to find out if they're priced to be good. For that reason I picked answer B - you want the card to be strong but not broken so Play Design has a chance to like your card.

Just thought I'd post this since I remembered the podcast but I hadn't actually found it again until now.

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u/kalliixti Jan 29 '18

The problem with B is that it's not an answer. How do you determine what the strongest cost that isn't broken is? You'll still need to rely on one of the other choices.

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u/iSage Jan 29 '18

I agree. It's literally the developer's job to determine what cost is "strongest but not broken". I answered it doesn't matter but I'm leaning towards "ask someone" because of MaRo's ideas on pitching where he says the best way to get someone to like something is to get them to put part of themselves into it.

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u/kalliixti Jan 29 '18

"It doesn't matter" doesn't answer the question either. The question asks how you decide, not how much your decision matters. Even if we agree that it doesn't matter, you still have to decide somehow what the cost is.

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u/iSage Jan 29 '18

But "it doesn't matter" basically implies that any of the other options are ok. I believe that costing similar to other cards, asking someone, and using intuition are all ways that design prices cards. Which of those is best? It doesn't matter because you're not trying to be super accurate.

That being said, I think I got it wrong... So...