Seasoned players of free to play trading card games or players that invest large amount of money in digital or physical trading card games, end up having superfluous cards that hold no value to them. The purpose of this thesis is to create designs that would counter this problem. We analysed a selection of popular games on the market to get a better understanding about the depth of the problem and existing designs and mechanics to counter said problem. With the knowledge gained from the research, we intended design several systems that would give cards a polymorphic value. To validate those designs we decided to conduct qualitative interviews with highly experienced players of the genre. We discovered from our research and interviews that the problem with superfluous cards was larger than we had anticipated, and few games had taken steps to counter the problem. The systems we designed gave cards a polymorphic value, and the designs were proven successful through our validation. Our research and interviews suggest that by implementing polymorphic attributes to cards it could lessen or even remove the problem of superfluous cards, and at the same time increase the sales figures on booster packs. / <p>Jerry Jonsson går speldesign och programmering och Lina Tonegran går speldesign och grafik.</p>

The relationship between narrative and game mechanics has been researched under terms such as ludonarrative dissonance, ludonarrative resonance and narrative mechanics. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Trading Card Game which contains game mechanics that symbolically represents sections of the Arthurian legend. In this thesis the mechanics of specific Yu-Gi-Oh! cards were compared to the Arthurian legend. From this analysis were design guidelines derived, on how to represent a narrative with game mechanics. Game objects can be referenced by listing associated cards. The name of a mechanic can help in symbolically tell a narrative. The exclusion of a mechanic can also represent something. The conditions for a mechanic to be available is an area where narrative can be implemented. If a narrative mechanic is surrounded by many other mechanics, the symbolism can be “drowned out”. There is a balance between effective symbolism and a good game mechanic.