Concept 2
After our first concept did not pan out, one of my team members, Gi Kei, suggested a game that involved capturing different tiers of dragons and getting to a high tier as fast as possible. This concept involved a 12 by 12 board with cards depicting tiered dragon card being cast out face down randomly at the start of our game by the players. Players would start at the corners of the board and movement would be done by 2 dice. The first dice, a pyramid dice, would denote movement and the second dice, which was a normal 6-sided dice, would denote the value. Players could also challenge other players within a certain radius of themselves and whoever had the higher tiered dragon would lose that dragon and be sent to a corner of their choosing. The way to win this version was to capture the high tier dragon in the centre by being on its tiles for a certain amount of turns of having the highest tier until our deck of action cards ran out. For this version, I was mostly just tried to give ideas and build off the concepts made by my teammates as most of the concept for the movement and core game play was done by my other teammates. This time, we did play test. However, we soon ran into an immediate problem in that the movement was too random. Players would just end up in a corner as the random direction and value would just cause them to run in circles. This cause players to never venture out of their corners which cause problems for how the game ran. Furthermore, if they lost a challenge, they would just end up back in another corner, which made for a frustrating experience. Other problems that we found was that the dragons being face down did not bring any strategy as you had no idea what you were moving towards. Afterwards, we reverted to an action point system of movement where moving cost 1 point and picking up a dragon would cost 1 point. However, this too had problems as there was not much strategy to game. There was no reason not to move towards a dragon to pick it up so players would just keep going towards the next dragon. The feeling it invoked was a "I guess I'll go there" so we decided to change the concept again.
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Concept 1 The process of designing our GPN game was a long and arduous one and all our different prototypes were different in one way or another. To start, our first idea was an RPG like board game. The objective of the game was to eliminate all other players or stay on a 2X2 tile for a certain amount of turns. The game would be played on a 12x12 board. During a turn, you had two action points which you could do for various things such as moving to another tile or claiming the various treasures that were littered around the map. These treasures would contain various items like a legendary sword that dealt a lot of damage at the cost of movement or a bow that increased your range and attack. Basically, we would design items that would amplify a certain play style while it would reduce the effectiveness of another play style as well as to provide an incentive to players to initiate combat. The map would also contain a merchant which you could upgrade your stats at set locations. I tried to brainstorm of various items that could fill the treasures as well as work out how to balance range and damage of the weapons. However, we still were met with problems. For example, we had the bow item that gave a lot of range but because of how range worked, the bow would end up covering 1/4th of the map. This also created issues with kiting because how the range system worked meant that the range was exponential. This made it hard for me to try and balance the range as well as the other weapons. Eventually, we fixed this by tweaking some of the values. However, the game still felt empty so we decided to add classes which would allow players to play different styles based of their chosen class. However, balancing their perks in addition to the upgrades for the merchants was quite a challenge, especially for our Archer Class as range would keep on increasing exponentially. We were also unable to find a balanced location to place the merchant. If we placed a merchant in the four corners, we felt it was too easy to get to the merchant while placing it further made the merchant feel not very worth it as it placed the player at risk while not gaining much. However, in the end, we decided to drop this concept as we were having a lot of problems balancing the various items and how the class would interact with each other. Admittedly, we did not play test this version so it could have been a interesting concept given some tweaks in the right direction but I felt that the game also did not really fit the theme of school as although we could create a setting that would set it in a school environment, other settings that did not involve a school could also work with this game. However, the main reason we dropped this concept was still because balancing felt like a nightmare. https://youtu.be/DqJkABxZFyE
The above link links to our GPN assignment 1 Video Pitch I have played many different types of board games with different mechanics. I have played Carcasonne which uses area control and worker placement. I have also played Mafia and Avalon which uses hidden role as well as Monopoly which uses roll and move. I have not played any games that use pick up and deliver. I enjoy playing hidden role games as well as area control. For hidden role, I like being in the 'traitor' role so that I can try and mess with other people's attempts to win the game as well as be able to trick them as to what role I am. In a normal role, you are constantly looking out for any discrepancies so that you can identify the 'traitors' and when you are able to identify them, it makes for a fun mechanic.
For area control games, I like it as you have to plan how to take over certain areas while competing with other players. This type of game may have some luck involved but overall I find it to be a fun mechanic to play with as you are constantly vying for control with other players Mechanics that I dislike include abstract strategy. Generally, I find myself to be a slow learner and abstract strategy is hard to play as a first time player and you have to be more experienced to be able to play at a certain level. When playing chess, a game that uses abstract strategy, I find myself aimlessly moving pieces around. Furthermore, having no theme around a game can get dry as it might feel like there is no objective in the game. The two board games we played during the lesson are King of Tokyo and Carcassonne.
Firstly, King of Tokyo is a board game where you control a monster. The aim of the game is to kill all other monsters or reach 20 victory points, which are gained by staying in Tokyo, getting points from the dice or abilities from cards which are gained by spending energy which is gained by dice throws. You can attack other monsters by getting attack points from dice throws and you attack all others while in Tokyo. Health can be gained back from dice throws but if you are in Tokyo, you cannot heal. This game was pretty fun as you had to balance between staying in Tokyo to get points and damage at the cost of your own health. So, you had to find a good balance between getting points or dealing damage and staying alive. Although using dice throws does need some luck, overall, it was a fun game to play. The second game we played was Carcasonne. It is a map building board game where each turn everyone draws a tile and extend the map. The tile can only be placed to continue the illustration. Depending on the feature in the illustration, you can put markers which are known as 'meeples' to take control of that feature. During the course of the game, if you are able to complete a feature, you can take back your meeple and gain points for completing the feature. Once all tiles are placed, the incomplete features in your control are counted and based on their value, a last burst of points is given to everyone depending on how much you control. The winner is the one with the most points. This game had a good balance of strategy and luck. You had to get somewhat lucky with your tile draws but you had to make sure you did not over commit to features that are not likely to be complete which would keep your 'meeple' stuck. You also had to balance between complete features now or waiting till end game to get the last burst of points. Although not being able to complete a feature by one tile felt frustrating, overall, this game was a fun experience. From the list, the two mechanics I enjoy are mouse dexterity and protect a target. Mouse dexterity is actually quite a difficult mechanic to get good at, so when your mouse movements are on point, it feels good to be able to pull it off. Some games which incorporate mouse movements are League of Legends and PUBG.
Protect the target is usually in games where you face a large amount of enemies and you have to go against all odds to beat them back. It can get very hectic, so once you successfully complete the objective, a feeling of relief washes over you and you are ready to get back into it. Some games I play that use this mechanic include Left 4 Dead as well as custom gamemodes of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne The mechanics I dislike are disinformation and being timed. I dislike disinformation as I am very bad and keeping my cool when trying to present false information or bluff an opponent. Games that use disinformation are Hearthstone or party games like Mafia. The other mechanic I dislike is being timed. As said before, I am quite bad at keeping cool in a high pressure situation so more often than not I will panic while being in a timed situation. Some games which use this mechanic are Mario games . The random mechanics are got were Push Mole Down, Moles Comes Up, Timed and Repeat Pattern. A game idea that could use this mechanic an rhythm game where you have a time limit to press a certain rhythm and with each successful attempt the rhythm changes or becomes faster and the objective of the game is to have as many successful attempts as possible My two favourite game genres are FPS(First person shooters) and MOBAs(Multiplayer online battle arena). For FPSs, distinguishing features include a view from a first person perspective while gunning down enemies, with high amount of action and quick reflexes. FPSs that I enjoy are squad-based competitive games like Overwatch or Counter Strike:Global Offensive. I enjoy this game genre as it requires good reflexes and skill, which make good plays very rewarding, and they are fun to play with friends.
My second genre is MOBAs. MOBAs typically consist of a map with 3 lanes going from base to base and a space in between hidden by fog of war known as the 'jungle'. Minions spawn in each lane and you gain gold from killing them which help you become stronger. Players pick characters with different abilities to fight, with the goal usually being to destroy the enemy's base. Examples include Dota 2 and League of Legends. I enjoy this game genre for a lot of the same reasons I enjoy FPSs in that skillful play feels rewarding and it is fun to play with friends. The game genre I do not really like are strategy games. Strategy games can be turn-based or real time and involve making a base and growing your strength to achieve a end goal. Examples of this genre is the Starcraft series. I do not really enjoy this game genre as it feels very slow and takes a lot of thinking. Perhaps when I become less impatient as I grow older, I will grow to appreciate this game genre more. This is the link to my gamer motivation profile https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/profiles/gamerprofile/RenSshUVVSViYxC2C3p9U6/ 1. Does your motivation profile match your own understanding of why you play games? Yes, my motivation profile matches my understanding of playing games. I mainly enjoy the social aspect of playing games, however if I feel motivation, I can get on the grind of improving my gameplay 2. Are there games that you enjoy which do not match your motivation profile? I feel that a game I enjoy that does not match my motivation profile is a game called Stardew Valley. It is a farming game similar to the Harvest Moon franchise, which does not feature multiplayer so there is no social aspect to the game. However, I enjoy it as it gives me a way to pass time while in between sessions of playing with friends. 3. How many of your top 10 recommended games have you played? I have played 5 of my recommended top 10 games. The games I have played/tried before are Counter Strike:Global Offensive, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Dota 2 and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. 4. Of those you have played, which have you enjoyed? Briefly explain why. I enjoyed Counter Strike: Global Offensive and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Both of them are similar in that they are squad-based FPS games which gives a social aspect to it and can create a lot of funny moments when playing with friends. 5. Of those you have played, which have you not enjoyed? Briefly explain why. I did not enjoy Dota 2 and Clash of Clans. At that time, I had not played MOBA games before and Dota 2 had a high learning curve which put me off the game. Clash of Clans was really slow and a lot of time was spent waiting for resources which I did not really enjoy. Choose and play 2 games from Kongregate (www.kongregate.com). Please spend only 10-15 minutes playing each game.
Answer the following questions about each chosen game. Be as precise as possible. Game 1 (Sort the Court) 1. Why did you choose this game? (“I chose it randomly” is a valid answer ) The game I chose was called Sort the Court. I chose it because it reminded me of another game that I saw before. 2. What is the game about? The game was a kingdom simulator where you made yes-no decisions to manage your kingdom's population and happiness as its king. 3. Is there any background story? If so, what is it? You are the new king of a region hoping to make it to the Council of Crowns by succeeding with your kingdom 4. As the player, what role are you taking on? The king of the region managing the populace with yes-no decisions 5. Did you enjoy the game? What is fun or not fun about it? I did enjoy the game. At first, the game starts slowly so you may get bored if you aren't willing to stick with it. However, in the long run, once you are familiar with all the different decisions, you will be able to optimize how to grow faster and get to the late game. 6. How would you improve the game further? I would try to increase the pace of the early game or create more events. Within the first two days, I already encountered duplicate decisions so by creating more variety in events you could convince the player to stick with the game. Game 2(Fleeing the Complex) 1. Why did you choose this game? (“I chose it randomly” is a valid answer ) It looked interesting. 2. What is the game about? This game is a strategy game where you have the option to take different types of actions while on a timer, similar to Telltale Games series. 3. Is there any background story? If so, what is it? Yes. You are a prisoner of a highly secured prison that no one has escaped before and you are trying to escape the prison. 4. As the player, what role are you taking on? I am playing the escapee trying to make decisions to make a successful escape. 5. Did you enjoy the game? What is fun or not fun about it? I did enjoy the game. The game subverts your expectations when you least expect and also make references to other video game franchises. 6. How would you improve the game further? When you make a wrong decision, you are put back to the decision you just made and you can just trial and error your way through. An improvement that can be made is that checkpoints should be put so that if you fail a stage you aren't just put back to the decision you just made. Instead, you should be put back further so that you try different combinations of decisions while not being too set back that you feel frustrated |
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August 2018
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