Forest Guardians: Players take turns drawing event cards that introduce threats to the forest, like wildfires or invasive species. They can use their unique abilities to counter these threats and collaborate to restore balance. The game could also include a resource management aspect, where players gather materials to build defenses or heal the forest.

Nature’s Balance: Players represent different elements and have unique abilities that can help or hinder the ecosystem. The game progresses through rounds where players draw event cards that can disrupt the balance. Players must strategize together to mitigate these disruptions while achieving their individual goals. The game ends when the ecosystem is either saved or irreparably damaged.

Currentcy: Players act as traders navigating a river, aiming to gather and trade natural resources like fish, wood, and herbs. Each turn, players move their boats along the river, encountering different trading posts and natural obstacles. They can trade resources for points or upgrades to their boats. The goal is to amass the most wealth by the end of the game.

Summit: Players are climbers attempting to summit a mountain. Each player has a unique set of skills, such as navigation or endurance. They must plan their route, manage supplies, and face challenges like avalanches or wildlife encounters. The game includes a weather mechanic that changes conditions on the mountain, affecting movement and safety. The first player to reach the summit and return safely wins.

Castle Clash: Players compete to build the most impressive sandcastle before the tide comes in. They must gather sand, water, and shells to create their structures. Players can also use tools to enhance their designs. However, they have to be strategic, as waves can wash away parts of their castles. Players can also splash water onto their opponents’ sandcastles to weaken them. The player with the most intact and elaborate sandcastle when the tide reaches the shore wins.

 5 Game Ideas:

Castle Builders is a medieval strategy game in which the players collaborate to construct and defend a castle by using resources like stone, wood, and metal to build structures and fortifications. 

Sky Scrappers is a construction game in which the players collaborate to build floating cities in the sky by using various scrapped building materials and engineering tools. 

Nowhere Nomads is a survival game where players navigate through a vast desert, managing resources like water and food, and creating shelters to survive sandstorms and extreme heat.

In Search of the Light is a navigation game in which players attempt to find their way out of a pick-dark maze by communicating with other players, battling strange entities, and solving puzzles to illuminate their path. 

Dont believe me is a party game in which players compete to be deemed the “liar” of the group by recalling facts about their lives so obscure that another player would find it hard to be true. 

Hanabi

Was it fun?

Answer: Yes! This game proved to be enjoyable thanks to its heavy reliance on player communication. 

What were the player interactions?

Answer: Drawing cards, giving hints, placing cards, discarding cards, and moving around game pieces. 

How long did it take to learn?

Answer: It took me a couple of read-throughs of the rules to fully understand how it worked. 

Would you play it again?

Answer: Yes! I would love to play this again with a different group to see how the energy shifts. 

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.

 Act Structure:

Act 1 – Players learn they must create a fireworks display by playing cards in sequence, but they can’t see their own cards.

Act 2 – Players give and receive clues to deduce their cards, managing limited clue tokens.

Act 3 – Final rounds where players aim to complete the fireworks display before making too many mistakes.

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?

Answer: Collaborative: Players work together, giving and interpreting clues to achieve a common goal.

Competitive: Mainly collaborative, but players may compete for higher scores in subsequent games.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?

Answer: Metaphor: Represents the challenge of communication and teamwork.

Standout Mechanics: Players can’t see their own cards, relying on clues from others; limited clue tokens add strategic depth.

1. A tabletop game in which you are growing items in your own planter box. Different plants and herbs are worth varying points, and there could be bundles that when completed award players extra points. It would go through all the seasons, with some plants only being able to grow in certain conditions. Selling your reapings, players could buy different buffs they could add to their garden to make it more efficient.
2. Tick-Tack-Throw! An outdoor spin on the classic game of tick-tack-toe. Players will throw frisbee-like discs with no center toward a large board made of pegs. Get your disc to land on a peg, and count it as your mark!
3. Business owner simulator. Allows players to create their own unique start-up business and create their dream store in virtual reality! Hire employees, define your store layout, determine prices, and gain real experience on what handling a business might be like!
4. Head Count! A fun outdoor game to play with big groups that only requires one ball! Have a large group divide themselves into two teams. Make sure they can identify one another. Proceed to have all players form a large circle while still standing. A ball is then bounced hard into the ground so that it shoots into the air. From here, players will try to run under the ball to someone on their team on the other side of the circle without touching another player, or getting hit by the ball.
5. Hall Pass. This online game is fun to play with friends. One player is randomly assigned to be a delinquent student roaming the hallways without a hall pass. All other players will play as teachers, who will try to allocate the student player among the slew of many NPC students. The student player will have objectives, but doing them will draw attention to themselves and create a cause to get caught.

Was the game fun?

The constant chaos and changing nature of the game made it enjoyable to play!

Would you play it again?

I would! Further, it would be fun to see the different versions of the game and how they compare to the one we played.

How long did it take to learn?

A quick read-through of the rules helped our group learn how to play in just a few minutes.

What was the interactive aspect, and how was it?

The game had players interacting with cards, drawing them, playing them, and discarding them. The mechanics worked well and made it so our game played out smoothly.

In Your Opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?

In my opinion, every game should have obtainable goals/achievements that intrigues and entices any given player. When I think about games I don’t enjoy, I reflect on objectives that are not pleasurable to chase, or that the route to achieve them leaves things to be desired. Thus, I hold high value in the experience of what the game asks me to do. My favorite game, Stardew Valley, stays true to this testament. Within the game, there are varying routes you can take to accomplish different tasks and master different skills. It hands the user the freedom to decide what they want to pursue, and constantly switches up experiences as to not make gameplay stale.

List the games you have played or currently Play.

To the best of my knowledge:

Tabletop: Apples to apples, Blokus, life, Scattergories, Sequence, Taboo, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Cartographers, Splendor, Telestrations, Wingspan, Codenames, Rummikub, Mysterium, Catan, Sushi go.

Digital: Cooking Mama, Gardening Mama, Nintendogs, Wii sports, Just Dance, Minecraft, Do Starve together, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Among Us, Jackbox, Leauge Of Legends, Valorant, It Takes Two.

Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?

Stardew Valley Is a game that allows the player to go at their own pace. Tasks have no set timeline, so users can choose how swiftly or leisurely they want to go about completing them.

Applying the three-act structure to my favorite game, Stardew Valley, It breaks down as follows:

Act 1 (Setup):

• Introduction: The player inherits a run-down farm from their grandfather in the quaint town of Stardew Valley. They leave their monotonous city life to start anew in the countryside.
• Inciting Incident: Upon arrival, the player meets the townsfolk and learns about the challenges of restoring their new farm. They also discover the looming threat of the Joja Corporation, which is trying to take over the local community center.

Act 2 (Confrontation):

• Rising Action: The player begins to cultivate their farm, plant crops, raise animals, and explore the town. They build relationships with the townspeople and participate in community events. Throughout this time, they face various obstacles such as harsh weather, financial struggles, and the need to upgrade their tools and facilities.
• Midpoint: The player discovers the mystical side of Stardew Valley, including the presence of the Junimos, magical creatures that can help restore the community center. This revelation adds a new layer of depth to their mission, as they now have to collect specific items to complete bundles and restore the center.

Act 3 (Resolution):

• Climax: The player works diligently to complete all the bundles, facing the final push to gather the remaining items. This often involves overcoming the most challenging aspects of farming, mining, fishing, and foraging.
• Resolution: Once the community center is fully restored, the town celebrates, and the Joja Corporation’s influence diminishes. The player has successfully revitalized the farm and the town, forming lasting bonds with the townsfolk and creating a thriving, self-sustaining community. The game allows for continued play, but the main narrative arc concludes with the restoration of the community center and the defeat of Joja Corp.

When coming up with ideas where do you find your start, with the metaphor or the mechanics?

When drafting ideas, I tend to find my start with a metaphor; a symbolic/imaginative concept. Before I can delve into the inter-workings and mechanics of my idea, I find I first must start with a metaphorical image or theme I want to explore.

Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?

During the course of this semester, I would enjoy the opportunity to collaborate with Evelyn. I enjoy her work and style and would be interested to see how we could collaborate with one another to work toward a common goal.