Ascension Legends
All game designers dream of making games that will last for generations, but none of us can predict whether we will succeed. There are, however, steps we can take to prepare a game to stand the test of time. On the eve of the crowdfunding campaign for Ascension’s 17th expansion, nearly 15 years after its initial release, I wanted to walk through how we ensure that each year, the game continues to grow and change while still holding true to the core design that players love. Ascension Legends is designed to appeal to new players and fans of the game alike, and the campaign will include ALL of our previously released expansions, many of which have been unavailable for over a decade! If this sounds cool to you, you can follow the campaign here. The rest of this article will talk a bit about the history of Ascension and then dive into the universal principles that allow us to create new, compelling content 15 years later.
Beginning the Ascent
For those unfamiliar with Ascension, it is a deckbuilding game where everyone starts with the exact same deck of cards. During the course of play, you acquire new, more powerful cards from an ever-changing center row and use those cards to defeat monsters and earn honor.
When I first started working on Ascension, I never expected it to become the success it is today. It was 2009, and I had recently quit my job to start my own game company. The funny thing about starting a company is that until you start making money and collaborating with others, the difference between "CEO/Game Designer" and "guy sitting on his couch" is quite subtle—it's more about attitude than reality.
In any case, I had spent a significant amount of time playing the deckbuilding game Dominion. "Some time" might be an understatement—I played hundreds of games in just a few months. Dominion pioneered the deckbuilding genre, which is inspired by the collectible card games genre. Its elevator pitch is something like, "The fun of deckbuilding, without the hassle of collecting cards."
As a Magic: The Gathering Pro, I appreciated that Dominion allowed you to experience the fun of constructing your own deck without the hassle of buying packs and sorting through a collection. However, after playing numerous games, things became predictable. It reminded me of playing a "constructed" format in a collectible card game, where you have a fixed set of cards to build your deck from before the event begins. Initially, there was a lot to explore, but over time, the same strategies emerged repeatedly. Once Dominion’s available cards were determined at the beginning of the game, there was very little variation in how each game would play out, leading to the emergence of optimal strategies.
One way collectible card games solved this problem is by introducing “limited” formats, where players receive a random set of cards from which they must build their deck at the event itself. The random assortment of cards both makes the game easier to access (I don’t need to build a collection from home) and forces players to adapt to different situations every time, making the game more varied and fun.
Just like Dominion got the fun of constructed formats into a single boxed game, I wanted to get the fun of limited formats without opening random packs of cards. Thus, the main mechanic of Ascension—the center deck—was formed.
Ascension was a runaway success, selling out of our first print run even before the boat with our stock arrived. However, it is one thing to make a successful game; it is another to create an expandable franchise that can release new content for a decade or more. This design diary will use the elements from Ascension Legends as a lens for how to make expandable games that can stand the test of time.
Same but Different
There is one paradoxical concept that is critical to a successful long-term expandable game. That concept is “Same but different.” People play your original game because they love it. But if they are going to buy a new expansion, they want something that is similar to what they love but different from what they already have. Good design requires a careful balance of these two contradictory desires.
There are five basic principles that I believe are critical to a game’s long-term success.
1. Start with a simple, defined core
Know what your game is “about.” In other words, you need to understand what distinguishes your game from other games in the market and what players love about it. Any game that releases expansions will inevitably get more complicated over time. As you keep layering new mechanics and modifying old ones, holding on to your core is critical to keeping your game moving in the right direction. Stay true to your core, and you can take your players places they never thought they would go without losing the sense of what they love from your game to begin with.
The core of Ascension is adapting to the changing available cards and using those cards to modify your deck and execute your strategy. Each expansion provides new ways to acquire cards or new ways to evaluate cards used for this purpose. The newest Ascension expansion, Legends, introduces the Legendary track, giving you rewards for acquiring or defeating cards of different factions. Moving up the track creates additional tension and incentives for purchases that can alter your evaluation of the center row as you jockey for position or try to prevent your opponents from reaching Legendary status.
2. For each expansion, find the hook that plays with your core.
For each expansion, try to find the one to two-sentence hook that will draw people to your game. What will make your players want the new expansion? Finding a good hook is not always easy, but good typical places to look are the following:
Designs cut from your initial release: In general, when you are working on a first release for an expandable game, you should cut out anything not essential to the core of the game and keep things as streamlined as possible. Those extra discarded features, however, are gold that can be mined for future expansions. In Ascension: Storm of Souls, we introduced Trophy Monsters, which allow you to control when you want to use a monster reward rather than being forced to use them immediately. This was a part of the original Ascension game but was cut to reduce complexity.
Player Pain Points: Games are all about tension and key decision points. This tension is valuable as it creates drama and various outcomes, but the flip side of the joy of discovery and victory is the pain of frustration and loss. Players who enjoy your game are likely familiar with the pain points and difficult choices it presents. Offering a solution to this pain is a great way to excite them about new content. You can offer players freedom from that pain, but only if it comes with a new price and a new form of tension to keep the game interesting.
Ascension Dreamscape directly addressed a common player pain point: the ever-changing center row. Regularly, players had to watch as their favorite card was acquired or defeated by another player. With Dreamscape cards always available and exclusive to each player, you can now relax, knowing that the card crucial to your strategy won't be lost. The new tension introduced is the Insight resource, which can be hoarded from turn to turn but is hard to acquire. Spending it at the right time and on the right card is key to victory.
3. Force players to re-evaluate old concepts in light of the new hook
Look at the elements in your game where the learning curve has flattened out. Almost all players who look to purchase expansion content have a lot of experience with your game. What “truths” that they take for granted can you disrupt? How can you force them to reevaluate their previously held assumptions? A common practice in collectible and expandable games is to take old staple effects and merge them with a new hook or mechanic.
In Ascension: Rise of Vigil, we introduced treasure cards that stack up underneath a center-row card and act as a bonus when that card is acquired or defeated. It is common practice in Ascension to buy the most expensive card you can, but now, with treasure cards coming into play, it can sometimes be correct to buy a “worse” card to access the treasure underneath, forcing a reevaluation of the board depending on your need for that treasure. In Ascension Legends, we re-introduce a fan-favorite mechanic of multi-faction cards, which have new context because those cards let you move up multiple legendary tracks at once, making them intrinsically more valuable.
4. Rotate focus and cycle mechanics
Ascension Legends is designed to appeal to both old fans and be a great starting point for any new players. This is not an easy balance to strike! Each expansion to a game needs to add something new. Every new thing is something else that must be learned. Every new thing that has to be learned increases the barrier to entry for someone new to enter your game. While a good tutorial and slow introduction of new material can help, it will not solve the problem entirely. For a game to last many years, this problem must be addressed.
By rotating your focus and cycling mechanics in and out of your game, you can keep complexity manageable and reuse old mechanical hooks in future expansions. In Ascension, we will typically keep a new mechanic around for two consecutive sets, then retire it for a while before returning it to the game (e.g., multi-faction cards in Ascension Legends). Older players get to enjoy the return of a favored mechanic, while new players do not have to deal with learning every mechanic from every set all at once.
5. Listen and Engage
No game can thrive without a dedicated community of players to support it. Engaging with and listening to your players is the most important thing a designer can do to ensure their game stands the test of time. I played Magic: The Gathering professionally for several years, and while the game itself is great, it was the players and the community that made me a lifelong fan.
Don’t just focus on the mechanics of your game; engage your community and encourage them to interact with each other. You can do this through organized play, Twitch streaming, giveaways, fan-created content, and more. Listen to what your players want and respond with elements that resonate with their needs (not necessarily their demands).
As you develop expansions and navigate the "same but different" paradox, you will inevitably encounter some unhappy fans. Phrases like "It's too similar to the last set" or "Mechanic XXX ruins the game!" are criticisms you will have to get used to. Understand that fans respond strongly because they care deeply about your game. Learn to appreciate even the hostile reactions—they are far better than deafening silence.
It is a great privilege to design games for a living, and showing gratitude to your players will help build that community and sense of trust so that even when you make an expansion that they don’t love, they will still be interested in checking out the next one.
Until then, may all your gaming dreams come true!
Thanks Justin!