I am trying something new for this entry. I am inserting the code for a LJ-cut in this entry, to see if, when it is syndicated into alanv_blog, it will be LJ-cut.

Took a trip down memory lane again today. First, it was my yearbooks, starting from my 5th grade yearbook, through middle school, and then through the two CD and two paper yearbooks from PPA. It's amazing how much happened to me in high school... Reading all the yearbook entries from people (my senior one has every available spot on the 11 blank pages filled) makes me realize just how much.

Then, after working a bit on Student Wars (it's almost done; I'm excited), I explored the PPA TCG folder on my hard drive. Came across all the flyers I made to promote the game (v1), the booster pack backers, the starter deck and theme deck boxes... looked through my binders of the actual cards... not only is it amazing how much the game evolved from its conception (I look back now and cringe) to the final set, Groupings, but it's also amazing what a success it was. I think back, and can hardly believe that someone like me was able to create and market an entire card game, successfully.

Heh, I'm staring at the poster for Pasttimes... "Thought you knew the game? Think again. It's time to break all the rules. Pasttimes Expansion. It's a whole new game."
That expansion was so bad... it broke the entire game, leading me to rework the cards and release Flashback, the base set for PPA TCG v2. I think the problem was a result of me having too many ideas. I wanted to incorporate various events (movies, birthdays, Gameworks) into the game, and ended up creating something like 10 new characteristics, which was disasterous. In addition, the "Hamtaro Ham Ham" character card basically made character-kill wins impossible (990 HP?!?). However, many of the cards from that set (Gather with friends, Barred, Lockdown, Untap, Rejuvenate, Gamble, Download Aim, Unwanted Contact, Change the Odds, Nimble Fingers, Bodyguard, Constant Combat, Increase Carnage, Small Hands, Mysterious Item, Destruction, Not So Unique, Recycle, Plenty of Space, Repeat Success) were very useful, and are still around in one form or another (most of those are even found in the Student Wars base set).

Nerdlings... "Do you have the power? Do you have the strength? Do you have what it takes? Nerdlings Expansion... Now Available."
That set was something to be proud of. It introduced character powers (still around), Rule cards (still around), and Dual characters (yep, still around). It included the infamous Jo(h)n combination, with four John and Jon cards that worked together to attack. It had a slight card redesign which made it look a lot nicer than the base set. And, more importantly, the cards were more balanced. No more dealing 50 damage for one item usage. No more needing one Laptop, one Drinks, one Pencil, and one Binder to pull off a simple attack.

Which leads to the original base set. I remember sitting in the teacher's lounge before school with Vicki, playing with a test starter deck. I very quickly figured out what worked and what didn't (at least as far as cards in the starter deck went), such as 20 damage times your "Technology" being a bad idea. I'm still proud of the base set. One of the things I've lost sight of recently, in my quest to make Student Wars perfectly balanced, is the original vision of the game. It was intended to be fun... to be something that PPA students could buy and either play with, or collect to remember their high school years. Many of the original attacks (tap an item, flip coins equal to the letters in its name; spin around in your chair until you're dizzy; throw this card, see where it lands) were just plain crazy, but that's what made the game so amazingly wonderful.

Thinking back, I don't know how I managed to sell so many starters, theme decks, and booster packs. At times, Dannette would start the week with a full drawer of booster packs, and ask for more to be printed by Wednesday. I don't remember her final tally of profits, but it was hefty... amazing for a student-produced card game (created to fund a student-produced yearbook). Josh and Sean, you two kept the game alive and going, and allowed it to evolve into what it is today. If you two hadn't been interested, I wouldn't have kept creating, and it would probably have ended up another of my failed card games, stuck in the folder of shame on my hard drive.

That leads to PPA TCG v2. The base set (Flashback) was a huge improvement over v1. I started keeping track of characteristics I used (I had an actual list of all the characteristics in the game!), and made sure no one characteristic was overused or underused. The card design, I think, was much nicer. Yet, some of the fun was missing... maybe it was because of that, or maybe it was because it was the end of the year, but it sold very few starters, and even fewer boosters.

The new year started, I was off at college, and sales apparently plummeted. I had created peRsonas over the summer (a set I'm still quite proud of), but sales were dismal. Perhaps it was, as Josh said, due to the cards being outdated, but attempts to fix that failed (Movin' On was originally intended to be produced by Josh, Sean, and Patrick, but they never did anything, so I ended up producing it as a CMU-based expansion set).

I think it was at that point that I began creating cards just for the fun of it, rather than any funraising purpose. Throughout an additional three expansion sets, I managed to keep the game balanced, cumilating in the introduction of a new card type (the first in v2), Group Nodes, in Groupings. I still don't know if they work or not (no one has built a good deck around them yet), so I don't know whether to call it a success, but I certainly had fun creating them.

So, the lowdown...
Base Set (v1) - Started it all. Sold very well. Quite unbalanced.
Nerdlings Expansion (v1) - Concentrated on characters and added two new item types. Added Dual characters, Rule cards, Special Item cards, and character powers. Added many deck staples, and rebalanced things.
Pasttimes Expansion (v1) - Concentrated on rule cards, adding 10 new characteristics. Broke the game, but still managed to include many important cards.
Flashback Base Set (v2) - Rebalanced the game after the disasterous Pasttimes Expansion. Reduced item count to 6, standardized characteristic list.
peRsonas Expansion (v2) - Concentrated on characters, based on personalities. Added Introvert, Extrovert, and Insanity, along with many related cards. Introduced TapEffects (failed).
CMU Mini-Expansion (v2) - Concentrated on item-card-related cards, such as rules limiting special items. Introduced Major text (failed). Helped balance the item usage in the game.
Flashforward Base Set (v2) - A port of Flashback for CMU. No character cards.
Movin' On Expansion (v2) - The most important expansion of v2. Concentrated on GPA cards and lesser-used characteristics. Helped make GPA win viable (even necessary) again.
Groupings Expansion (v2) - Concentrated on dual characters, and added Group Node cards (failed?). Added many new options for players in both event cards and character attacks/powers. Also ported over many old (and useful) promo cards.

Student Wars...
Base Set - Takes the best of PPA TCG v2's 6 card sets and combines then, rebalancing the game in the process. Introduces Abilities, splits Powers into Powers and Effects, and reduces items to 5. Renames game mechanics. Adds primary trait mechanic and related mechanics. Standarizes card stats based on primary trait.
Alliances Expansion - Combines the item-based effects from the CMU expansion with the standard character-based first expansion set.

Sorry... I'm just proud of the PPA TCG. Almost makes me wish I was still in high school... I could be selling all these wonderful (to me) cards and raising money for the yearbook. As it stands, I'll probably tell Vicki to include the entire game (in JPEG format, on a CD) with this year's CD yearbook.

If anyone is still with me at this point, you deserve a huge gold star and/or something nice. I'm printing Student Wars stickers. Ask for some.

Back to high school... it was certainly an interesting experience. It had its ups and downs (and the downs were certainly plentyful), but I think it was definetly all worth it. I mean, where else would I have had the opportunity to not only start a yearbook for the school (one that's still around and being produced yearly), but a card game that sold? And where else would have thrown me a party (I'm so serious; the principal and counselor bought me a cake and ice cream!) upon the news that I was accepted to CMU? Where else would I be able to consider the entire staff friends, not intimidating grown-up peoples (and I mean that in a respectful way)? And where else would I have been able to know every person (with the exception of a couple who only had one Academy class) in the school?

I've been asked (a lot recently, since I worked there over the summer) if I wouldn't have been happier at Mountain Pointe, where all my middle school friends were. I really think I wouldn't have been successful there, and that it was that very success that got me into CMU in the end. I keep hearing things like, "Oh, if you had come to Mountain Pointe, you would've been able to got to MIT." I don't believe it, nor would I want to be anywhere else :)

I'm so insanely thankful for everything that's happened to me in life, even though I know I often forget that. From the world's best parents ("You have a car, go and have fun."), to the best and most supportive friends ever, to great job opportunities landing in my lap, to an amazing high school experience, to my ideal college... I guess the entire point of this entry was to force myself to realize how fortunate I've been in life, and how I shouldn't focus on the negatives ("dammit... *cries*" "i wish i had..." "i wish i could..."). I need to stop being so whiny and paranoid and negative about everything... maybe, by writing all the good things down, I can start doing that.

At the same time, I need to start acting better. I need to help out around the house. I need to bitch less and be more supportive of people. I need to start having initiative in the things I do. I need to concentrate more on school, because I know I goof off too much.

This entry has taken me an hour. I am marking it as a highlighted entry because, well, I guess that's what the highlights page is for. It is now 4 AM. I should sleep, considering I have to wake up in about 2 hours to drive my mom to work. Yar.

Random note: The name of Jason Mraz's new album, Mr. A-Z, without punctuation spells his last name (MrAZ). That's really neat!

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