Author: kaelinh

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“Caked” Rules Draft

Setup: There are little slotted trays (the cake table) given to each player to hold main card stacks. Each player gets dealt 7 (for now if that makes sense) cards from the main deck and places them in order in the cake table. Then they are dealt 5 more cards to hold in their hands.

Objective(s): To be the first to complete your “cake” in the slots and also accumulate the most “ingredients”

Actions players take: Every turn players can (1) choose to replace a card from their cake table by taking a new card from the card pile, the discard pile or a card in their hand OR (2) replace 1-3 cards in their hands from the card pile.

The point of the game is to correctly order the fillings of your cake. The different cards have different types of fillings on them and the order they go in indicated on the card. Players must work to order their cakes correctly. You also create mini hands for extra points out of ingredient cards. (I might do different types of card piles that once you ‘finish’ and ingredient stack you can get higher valued ingredients that are worth more we’ll see) It is part of the strategy to either focus on more cake table cards or the mini hands.

Ending the game: The game ends when correctly fills up their cake table or the card piles run out.

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Game Response – Dominion

Dominion is a game where players aim to build their “kingdoms” by buying money and actions so gain the most points (land) against other players’ “kingdoms”.

Was it fun? Yes very much

What were the player interactions? Honestly, if every player knew what they were doing there really wouldn’t need to be much interaction, except if you got attack and had to defend yourself or take a curse

How long did it take to learn? A good bit, if we didn’t have somebody (thank you professor ames) to explain it in person, it would have take quite a while to figure out but thankfully we didn’t have to read the 50 page rule book

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Getting down the reshuffling was frustrating when trying to explain it to others, not too much frustration otherwise

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? The amount of cards was really fun after you understood what they all did, it was very overwhelming at first but then made sense and made it really interesting

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Be able to block witch attacks with the defense even if it wasn’t in your hand (although it would make it too easy)

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Perhaps be able to get coin cards in other ways than just buying them

Is this a game you would play again? Yes, because of the different iterations it’s a game that is designed to be play again so I’d like to with totally different action cards

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. There is the setup and the slow beginning of gaining money and actions, then it gets more complicated with stacking actions and buying point cards, then the end draws near when the piles run out and you count them.

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? It’s not super collaborative in my opinion but pretty much completely competitive with the kingdoms competing against each other

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The metaphor is that of a kingdom (a fantasy one by some of the actions and pictures) where there are kingdoms trying to gain the most land

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Collaborative Game Ideas

  1. A tornado chaser game where your all working together to “diffuse” the storm in a sense before it reaches you are town.
  2. Trying to work together to get the same hand but you can’t see your own or a version that you can but can take turns looking at different peoples cards
  3. building some sort of structure in game form
  4. A memory game but you can’t do it on your own, you help each other out by giving clues but I’d have to come up with another mechanic for it to be more complicated
  5. Like Ticket to Ride but creating food dishes and in a collaborative way, not simply trying to complete “routes” by yourself but in a team dynamic
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Question Set Week 2

  • Question Set 1
    1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer? Everything should be in nanometers – be in tiny moves since you are so infinitely tiny
    2. Who are you making games for? other people
    3. Who will be your play testers outside of class? Probably my family or the friends/classmates I see most of the time
  • Question Set 2
    1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules? Yes, Uno is the first game I would think of, it pretty much is born into me I’ve played it so much, I have no memory of ever reading or being explained the rules
    2. How do you define what a game is? Something fun that has no real purpose in life other than to entertain really and make you problem solve and learn new ways to do stuff
    3. What features can make your games more intuitive? Make the theme relatable and not super niche, don’t make the player have to do a lot on each turn so it’s not too confusing
  • Question Set 3
    1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming? I’d Solitaire was my first game I remember seeing or perhaps Old Maid, but I think there are several categories to games and each one would have a gateway game (like card games versus board games versus videogames); I usually would play Uno with someone or Dirty Bridge, for videogames, I think Minecraft is a great gateway videogame
    2. What features do gateway games share? Easy gameplay, engaging and simple
    3. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own? Well in our text they are 10 different games and the “beautiful ways” in which they make the games not feel like mechanics but as simply an experience. I’m not gonna type them all out cuz they sound weird and cuz they’re on pages 56-60 – but the way we should aim for our mechanics is to strive higher than these mechanics and make it even smoother.
  • How does luck and strategy factor in to game play? Depends on the game but both are quite involved in all gameplay
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Extra Game Response – Yuker

Yuker is a card game in which four players in two teams work together to score 10 points by winning at least 3 sets of a round using trump cards and just cards over 9.

Was it fun? Very much so

What were the player interactions? The players have to strategize and guess what the other players have in their hand so they can try to win a set.

How long did it take to learn? At least a round or so to get down the rhythm and then a lttle longer to understand the strategy fully

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? When people do dumb moves that mess up you taking the hand is frustrating

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I like guessing games and it’s satisfying when your strategy works out

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Not really, it’s a well thought out game that didn’t feel lacking

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? The way scoring is done is kinda of silly even though i don’t mind it but you could simply just write down the number of score

Is this a game you would play again? Yes, because I like card games and this is an intriguing fun team game where the point is to win (I also had a good partner so we won)

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. 1- the beginning where you deal and reveal the trump card 2 – playing 5 rounds (you have 5 cards in your hands) 3 – putting down the score and reshuffling the deck to start at 1 again

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? Collaborative because you are on teams and have to work together to win a round and try not to subvert your partners strategy and competitive cuz it is a definite winner at the end

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? There’s not really a metaphor for this game since it’s regular cards, but I like the mechanics of guessing and strategy for trying to win a hand with the highest card value.

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5 Card Game Ideas – 9/11/25

  1. Story sort of card game where different card piles dictate what you do in your game life and you pick them up in turns and can change your story per the rules

2. A card game revolving around colors, no idea what it’d be but that would be cool

3. some sort of memory game, not quite like a matching game but you have a hand of some sort and can mess up other peoples strategy or something like that

4. (I will admit my brain was not functioning since wednesday so chatgpt did help me jog my creative juices for this) the cards become the game board in a sense, changing the cards can determine what people have to do each turn

5. Like Racko but instead of numbers you are trying to fulfill some card set by the whatever picture/theme of the game (which would yet to be decided)

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Game Response Questions – Argument

Was it fun? I think it would have been given more time and a little more brain space

What were the player interactions? Well, they mostly consisted of me helping the other players or else we probably could have played the game in silence

How long did it take to learn? Not too long, although you had to remind yourself of the rules during the game quite a bit

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? How close the pieces looked to each other so scrutinizing every move to make sure you could do it

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? It was a cool concept

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? not really, it sort of just worked well

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything

from the experience, what would it be? Perhaps make it easier to see the game board and differentiate the other teams pieces from yours

Is this a game you would play again? Maybe, I’d give it a shot with people who know how to play chess to cuz then strategy would come into play and be fun

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. Well there’s the setup, the gameplay, and racking up pieces at the end (even though we didn’t get to the end)

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? I wanted to play it competitively the whole time but we were supposed to work together to get all the pieces off the board, and if we fail we all lose.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? There wasn’t really a metaphor (other than on off shoot of chess). The different move and the fact that they were illustrated on the back of the pieces was cool

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Game Response Questions – Hanabi

Was it fun? Yes

What were the player interactions? We couldn’t see our cards but had to tell the other players what was in their hands

How long did it take to learn? A little while but not too long

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Trying to figure out how to tell the other players what they have without giving too much away or not being able to remind the other players what was already told to them

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? It was like a card game but with fun graphics so I enjoyed it (and I like cards so that was good)

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? be able to use the wild cards as just wilds when we played the second round

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Being able to use the wilds differently

Is this a game you would play again? Yes I would, Why, because it was fun and engaging

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure: Honestly it was less of a 3 act game in my opinion, it felt like one continuous action for some reason

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? Collaborative was the entire game really, we couldn’t win on our own and only won as a team and how well we all performed and got scored on that.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? You are firework pyrotechnicians trying to save a firework show; I really like not being able to see your own hand, made it infinitely more interesting

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Game Response Questions – Sushi Go! + Bohnanza

Was it fun?

  1. Yes! I really liked this one
  2. It was alright, I didn’t not like it after we got the hang of it

What were the player interactions?

  1. Player interactions were limited in this one other than passing around each other cards
  2. This one was heavily interactive with much trading and discussing each others cards and having to pay attention to other “bean fields” and hands

How long did it take to learn?

  1. Sushi Go only took a little to understand once we jumped in and played the round and gradually understood how many points each card counted as.
  2. We had to a video to understand this one and ask Professor Ames a lot of questions but eventually understood the concept after a good 15 minutes or so

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?

  1. I didn’t get frustrated with this one, it was pretty seamless
  2. This one wasnt too frustrating either just took some time

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?

  1. The art was adorable and made the game so much more enjoyable – it was super simple too
  2. It was complex enough to keep you engaged – trading and making deals was also very fun

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?

  1. I wish some of the sushi interacted a little more, like being able to build more complex rolls, like maybe having a version with basic ingredients you have to stack instead of fully made rolls that just stack on each other.
  2. I wanted to make black market deals not on my turn – that makes everything more interesting

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?

  1. More stackable cards
  2. The art style ESPECIALLY the box and instructions were TERRIBLY designed with the text and color choices – the art on the cards was fine but just the graphical layout with the bright yellow and red was so bad

Is this a game you would play again? Yes – Sushi Go; Maybe Bohnanza – they were fun enough and engaging to a degree (especially the cute little sushi)

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5 Game Ideas – Game Design Week 1

  1. Goat Heirarchy – some sort of card/board game that centers around animal peck order
  2. Real life mario kart (always wanted to play this)
  3. Trivia Game – RMU themed
  4. Virtual RMU – conquering your undergraduate degree
  5. TikTok song game – how chronically online are you

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Question Set 1 Week 1

  1. Every game should have a clear point that is engaging and fun. There should be enough rules that are easy to follow so it is enjoyable and doesn’t hurt your brain. I like my favorite game because it is simple to understand yet has several parts and strategy involved in it that keep it interesting.
  2. Board Games: Sorry, Monopoly, Shoots and Ladders, Candy Land, Safari, Herd Mentality, iKnow, Poetry for Neanderthals, Hues, Clue, Telestrations, Yatzee, Chess, Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Parchisi, Balderdash (etc)

Card games: Spit, Dirty Bridge, Uno, Solitaire (double, triple, etc), Black Jack, Poker, Phase 10, Crazy 8s, Tacocatgoatcheesepizza, Michigan Rummy, Sabot

PS2/PS5/Xbox/Wii/Switch/Mobile Games, etc: Minecraft, Fortnight, Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, NASCAR racing, ATV adventures, Gang Beasts, Breath of the Wild, Skyward Sword, Tank Warriors, Blazing Angels, Mech Arena, Candy Crush, Merge Dragons, Fruit Ninja, Temple Run, Farming Simulator, Wii Sports, Wii Resort, Wipeout, Wordscapes (etc)

Misc: Jackbox Games (T.K.O, Quiplash 1+2, Drawful, Murder Trivia), Kahoot, Gartic Phone, Charades, FishBowl, Pictionary, the laughing game, Sharks and Minnows

3. Dirty Bridge Card Game: Each ‘act’ lasts a few minutes each and there are two different phases of the game each lasting also a few minutes each. It’s pretty fast paced and engaging

4. I start usually with the metaphor and concept or theme of the game and then figure out how it actually works

5. I’m not sure what this means by who you want to collaborate with but I am open to working with anyone really.

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Game Design 1 Fluxx Test Questions – Kaelin Hartman

  1. It takes too long to understand in my opinion and not having a general idea of what your getting into kind of annoys me.
  2. When the Rules stack up it gets interesting (even though slightly mind boggling)
  3. There didn’t seem to be a way to easily win honestly, and I wanted to win so I couldn’t do that.
  4. It wasn’t super captivating somehow so I would want it a little more intriguing somehow – it might have been the design or theme of the game that didn’t really keep me engaged. Also there are too many words on the cards which makes it complicated and a bit boggling to comprehend.
  5. It would not be my first choice, no. (We didn’t finish so that’s no fun)
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4D Five Final Project Ideas – Kaelin H

  1. Stop-motion of growing with paper clips
  2. video of around campus maybe with some creative audio about past year
  3. moving collage of pics of this year-more animation
  4. those paintings where you see someone’s age by moving by the painting
  5. similar to #1 but clips of me cut up creating my face with projection maybe (maybe moving too)
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Natural Light Projection Experiment

Kaelin H.

I wanted to experiment with natural light projections that you see in everyday life. I chose to just walk through certain places and just record to see what unique light shapes or shadows were created by moving through different lights. Filming at night was also really rewarding with the amount of unique shapes and shadows and light tones and values were visible at night. Having the clouds in the one video clip was really cool to see natural light projection of the moon behind the clouds to see all those funky shapes and amazing colors. My shadow is also visible in many shots and its interesting to observe how it morphs and distorts. Using the absence of light as my main subject was kinda cool.