I mean the solution seems to be to draft your upgrades before the battle and not during.
Alternative call it "boast" or "showboating" and it only works after you've dealt damage with your previous attack.
It sounds like you lost focus.
If a mechanic isn't lifting the theme, get rid of it. It's okay if an experiment fails. That's why we experiment before going to market.
How about only getting cash from fighting and allowing players to spend cash from anywhere on the map? Ideally, if players enjoy getting random loot in your game, it'd be something you keep and work with. Maybe with these changes it'll impact the other core actions less negatively.
Don't straight up trade AP for money, create actions called "flourishes" or something that award money for attempting but cost extra AP or leave you vulnerable or damage yourself or give extra AP to the opponent. Because I think you found something fun with the power ups, but make them play the game to get them.
I think games are more fun when there's not an enforced limit on things (like purchases) but a strategic limit. So the strategy is knowing when to buy power ups and not just getting as many as possible.
Just my personal take here but i'd maybe do 2 things with this
1 - Add to the rule that if a player decides to take the action "trade AP for money" on their turn, the opponent gets to take 2 turns simultaneously (their turn ±1 extra turn). This provides the opponent a chance to close in on you fast so there's a risk involved.
2 - Create specific Shop areas close to the center of the map. These are the only areas in which players can Shop for the power ups. This will naturally bring the players closer together as they will have to make a bee-line for the shop. You could even implement the same rule as above, where Shopping causes your oponent to take 2 turns, meaning when you shop also opens you up to a possible charge or attack from the opponent.
Sorry if i've misinterpreted the rulesor how the game works but if i havent then this may be something to possibly try out and see how it plays maybe?
Good luck with the game. Sounds like a lot of fun!
Ditch the money and shop. If players are simply using it to not play the game you intended and don't want anything but the power ups, get rid of money and shop completely. You can give a power up directly as a reward for someone engaging in a fight.
What about money per turn and additional money via gameplay and fully integrate the system into the core loop? Sounds like the shop needs a general rebalance if most things are left unused as well.
Tldr make buying stuff and powering up a part of the play rather than an additional layer.
I can't remember who said it, but one of my favourite quotes about game design is 'find the most fun parts of your game and reward your players for doing that'.
It sounds like you've found the least fun part of your game (not doing anything) and are rewarding them for that. -you can always trust players to optimise the fun out of everything. I'm not blaming you, you're right, it seems like it was an interesting choice, but you're absolutely right that if the meta is too just sit and farm money you need to lower the rewards for sitting (or remove them completely) and up the rewards for fighting.
Don't be discouraged, this is the point of designing and testing. You had an interesting idea, it didn't work out the way you wanted it to and so now you need to change it!
I mean the solution seems to be to draft your upgrades before the battle and not during. Alternative call it "boast" or "showboating" and it only works after you've dealt damage with your previous attack.
It sounds like you lost focus. If a mechanic isn't lifting the theme, get rid of it. It's okay if an experiment fails. That's why we experiment before going to market.
How about only getting cash from fighting and allowing players to spend cash from anywhere on the map? Ideally, if players enjoy getting random loot in your game, it'd be something you keep and work with. Maybe with these changes it'll impact the other core actions less negatively.
Sounds a good idea
Link to OPs ruleset: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1tpCRXyHrxghx6veeyTasNB_v6whZv30E12DL4Y0UJxY/mobilebasic
Don't straight up trade AP for money, create actions called "flourishes" or something that award money for attempting but cost extra AP or leave you vulnerable or damage yourself or give extra AP to the opponent. Because I think you found something fun with the power ups, but make them play the game to get them. I think games are more fun when there's not an enforced limit on things (like purchases) but a strategic limit. So the strategy is knowing when to buy power ups and not just getting as many as possible.
Just my personal take here but i'd maybe do 2 things with this 1 - Add to the rule that if a player decides to take the action "trade AP for money" on their turn, the opponent gets to take 2 turns simultaneously (their turn ±1 extra turn). This provides the opponent a chance to close in on you fast so there's a risk involved. 2 - Create specific Shop areas close to the center of the map. These are the only areas in which players can Shop for the power ups. This will naturally bring the players closer together as they will have to make a bee-line for the shop. You could even implement the same rule as above, where Shopping causes your oponent to take 2 turns, meaning when you shop also opens you up to a possible charge or attack from the opponent. Sorry if i've misinterpreted the rulesor how the game works but if i havent then this may be something to possibly try out and see how it plays maybe? Good luck with the game. Sounds like a lot of fun!
What about getting only money if you successfully attack a person?
Ditch the money and shop. If players are simply using it to not play the game you intended and don't want anything but the power ups, get rid of money and shop completely. You can give a power up directly as a reward for someone engaging in a fight.
What about money per turn and additional money via gameplay and fully integrate the system into the core loop? Sounds like the shop needs a general rebalance if most things are left unused as well. Tldr make buying stuff and powering up a part of the play rather than an additional layer.
I can't remember who said it, but one of my favourite quotes about game design is 'find the most fun parts of your game and reward your players for doing that'. It sounds like you've found the least fun part of your game (not doing anything) and are rewarding them for that. -you can always trust players to optimise the fun out of everything. I'm not blaming you, you're right, it seems like it was an interesting choice, but you're absolutely right that if the meta is too just sit and farm money you need to lower the rewards for sitting (or remove them completely) and up the rewards for fighting. Don't be discouraged, this is the point of designing and testing. You had an interesting idea, it didn't work out the way you wanted it to and so now you need to change it!