- I had an idea for a game that blended the rules of blackjack and spoons. Players take turns collecting and passing cards in order to get a hand of cards with a value equal to 21. Players must pass cards that they do not need to another player until a player reaches 21. When a player does reach 21, they can hit the table and remain safe. The last player to hit the table loses.
- I thought of a card-based game where players are given a random card from a standard deck, and tasked with sorting themselves in numerical order. Players can not state their number, or show their card, and must find unique ways of communicating their position in the order. Points are distributed to the players that can correctly identify their position.
- I had an idea for a card game called “Market Rush” where players own grocery stalls and draw cards with items to generate income. Each round is separated by two periods, the “open” time and the “buying” time. During the “open” time, players draw status or chance cards from a deck that influence the current or next day. After the markets close, players can draw cards from a separate deck to redesign their strategy. A player can draw a “lettuce” card, which generates 2 “coins” per day, but overnight a player can draw a “drought” card which halves the revenue of all crops. This would require players to evaluate their strategy.
- I’d like to make a card game that requires players to know a bit of information to make interesting plays. In my game “”, your goal is to unlock all locked elements and molecules using real chemistry methods. You start with a couple of element cards, some molecule cards, and some “machine” cards. Using this start, you can begin the puzzle of unlocking all elements. For example, a player can start with 1 “Water Molecule” card, “Yttrium Element” card, “Electrolyte Machine” card, and a “Chemical Reactor Machine Card”. A player can research the materials and learn that electrolytic water allows you to collect oxygen, which can be reacted with Yttrium to make Yttrium-oxide.
- I have an idea for a game called “Wager”, where players need to bluff their way to victory. Players have chips, which represent value that they must wager to make the plays needed to get rid of the cards that they need. The first to get down to 0 cards will win the game, but you lose if you run out of money.
Munchkin Play test Review – Bryce Mathews
I believe that Munchkin is a fun game if all the pieces fall into place. It is a nice take on the turn-based card-drawing model. Unlike a game like FLUX, Munchkin encourages you to act out of turn, make informal deals, and make strategies on the flyby helping or hindering others.
There were many great interactions our group had while playing. After we overcame the learning curve, we opted to help each other if needed and build strength individually. This came crashing down when one person decided to curse another, which started pitting players against each other.
We were learning all of the time while playing. There were so many intricate conditions and terms to understand to play the game the way it was intended, which was a bit overwhelming. We had to take a while to understand how each turn worked.
The most frustrating moment was being targeted because I was getting close to winning.
My favorite part of playing was winning because I negotiated a deal to help fight a monster.
I wanted to carry more cards I believe that the hand limit, while nice in encouraging players to sell and donate, really hurt our ability to strategize for the long term.
I would tweak the rule book and simplify certain systems. It was quite the read.
I would play Munchkin again. While it is difficult to understand when starting, the liberties that Munchkin allows you to take makes the game much more dynamic.
While there was no set story in Munchkin, there was definitely an early-game, mid-game, and end-game. In the early-game, every player did not work together much, and it took a while to understand the mechanics. In the mid-game, there were more interactions between players, like team-ups and trades, with the inevitable betrayal. The end-game became a close race to the level 10, with players throwing anything they could to make another player lose their fight.
Game Design: Question Set 1 – Bryce Mathews
- Using Kobold’s guide as inspiration, every game should have an identity. James Ernest’s segment on the distinction between rules, mechanics, and the key to “good” games explains that games are not the sum of their parts. Each game has an identity that justifies its mechanics. If a game’s mechanics are not in tune with the game’s identity, then players may not find it interesting. To support this, James claims that mechanics are identifiable, yet are not entirely transferable. All games have mechanics, but great mechanics work in tandem with the game’s identity. You cannot create a great game from analyzing the exact mechanics of another. I like my favorite games because every aspect of the game is made with identity in mind, mechanics are thoughtfully implemented to create a specific experience.
- Here is a small list of games from my steam library
Furi – Onnamusha
Ready Or Not
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game
Dungeons of Hinterberg
PC Building Simulator
Balatro
Resident Evil 4
Valheim
Noita
ULTRAKILL
GRIS
RESIDENT EVIL 3
RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2 Standard Edition
Resident Evil 0 / biohazard 0 HD Remaster (ROW Launch)
OneShot
Furi
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
Resident Evil / biohazard HD REMASTER
Resident Evil 6 Complete
Kerbal Space Program
Star Birds Demo
3DMark Demo
9 Kings Demo
The Last Stand: Aftermath
Nitro Express
Risk of Rain 2
R.E.P.O.
Haste
Demon Tides Demo
Solarpunk Demo
Am I Nima Demo
Warfare Legacy Collection Demo
Machine Mind Demo Demo
Icaria Demo
Mech Havoc Demo
Heroes of Hammerwatch II Demo
Sky: Children of the Light
Awaria
Stacklands
Inscryption
Slay the Spire
Hades
Rebel Inc: Escalation
Darkest Dungeon
Risk of Rain
Factorio: Space Age
Mullet Mad Jack Demo
Retrowave
Realm of the Mad God
Frostrain
Lethal Company
Hearts of Iron IV
Bitburner
SIGNALIS
Farlanders
Against the Storm
Unsighted
Into the Breach
Frostpunk
OpenTTD
Quasimorph: End of Dream
Steam Engine Simulator
Sonic Generations Collection
Factorio
Stoneshard: Prologue
Hyper Light Drifter
Enter the Gungeon
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
The Complex: Found Footage
Tomb Raider
Space Engineers
Destiny 2
Destiny 2: Legendary Edition
STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™
Apex Legends
Splitgate
Arid
Muck
Dead by Daylight
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – Deluxe Edition
Oxygen Not Included – Spaced Out!
tModLoader
Craftopia
Among Us
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Free Edition
Uno
The Forest
The Colonists
Absolver
Scrap Mechanic
Fallout Shelter
Rust
The Long Dark
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (NA)
Sheltered
Warframe
ASTRONEER
Oxygen Not Included
Don’t Starve Together
Plague Inc: Evolved
Garry’s Mod
Geometry Dash
Terraria
Unturned - While my favorite games often blur the distinction between “acts” or definite moments in the player’s story or progression, my favorite games do one of two things. They either leave the story solely in the players’ hands, or they craft enough of a structure to entice the player to play the game and experience the story. A game like Minecraft has no definite strory, it encourages players to make their own. Progression in the form of better tools, weapons and armor encourages the player to seek better materials all while they shape the world as they see fit, creating a story of surviving and thriving. A more story-driven game like Pokemon entices the players with interesting premises and innovative gamplay to encourage the player to stick around.
- Both approaches are effective ways to create a game, as long as they service each other. I personally like to create ideas starting from it’s purpose. The metaphor can help guide the subsequent mechanics, story, and theme. With this approach you can ask whether an implementation sucessfully highlights the metahpor you are trying to show. But, the opposite approach is valid. Large games evolve from simple mechanics all of the time.
- I think it’d be interesting to collaborate with other classes or campus organization to create official art or garner support for the games we make.
5 Games that can take place on campus – Bryce Mathews
- An interesting campus-wide game can be an assassin-type game. All players are given a mark, whether that be a specific target or a general description of a target. They are tasked with eliminating that player and taking a possession of theirs to prove the deed was done. After a certain number of rounds, or after a large percentage of the players are eliminated, the stakes can be raised. Bounties can be placed on the players with the highest eliminations, challenges to eliminations (you have to eliminate your target in a specific building) can be imposed, and the remaining assassins can fight their way to victory.
- An idea for the entirety of campus could be a series of games similar to Mr Beast’s “Beast Games”. In one game in particular, groups of people are tasked with nominating a leader, who will then be tempted to betray their team for their own benefit. If the leader betrays the team, then they can receive a reward and stay in the game, while their subordinates are eliminated. This concept adds layers to the game being played and adds to the cooperation and “conflict” aspects of the game.
- I personally believe that the floors in the dorm hall need more decoration. So I decided to make a game out of it. All floors are tasked with deciding on a theme for their floor, and are given a budget to make it happen. After a set amount of time, faculty, and a designated student from each floor votes on the winner.
- An outbreak game would be an interesting way of getting students to collaborate, think critically, and explore ways to solve problems. A zombie outbreak infects one student, who has to infect as many other students as possible. Rules would be in place that prevent students from disrupting class, running in buildings, or disturbing others. For example, infections can only take place outside, and zombies must wear a red cloth. As the game continues, events could take place to enhance the experience.
- A game that turns campus into a RTS (real time strategy game) could unite clubs, fraternities, and even the uncommitted together. Students are categorized into groups, with control over a building like Madison hall, or the rec center. The goal of each group is to maintain and expand their territory, eliminating the competition that they face in the process. At the end of the event, the groups with the most territory win.
8/28 Flux Playtest Questions: Bryce Mathews
- The most frustrating moment or aspect of playing was taking the time to understand the game before starting. Rather than simply jumping, we felt the need to understand what each set of cards did, slightly hampering the experience.
- My favorite moment was winning a round after successfully chaining a sequence of card plays together.
- At times, everything could be taken from you if somebody just happens upon a specific action card. Progress can be lost easily. I often wanted to get an action card that let me retain the strategy I had in mind.
- Certain actions felt overcomplicated or underexplained. I would like to clarify the cards with a good intent and remove the rest.
- Yes. Although the ramp-up is slow, understanding what cards you need to play and in which way you need to play them can create an interesting and worthwhile experience/payoff.
Animated Timeline of the Universe (4D Final)
Bryce Mathews
I enjoy education when it is entertaining, whether through visual effects or interactive media. For my project, I wanted to present a narrative to the class while also challenging myself. I decided to give a timeline of the future of the universe, including researched facts, animated sprites, and interactivity via a webpage.
I began by animating my videos in Aseprite, a pixel-art creation tool with built-in animation tools. For the challenge, I asked some friends to provide some relevant obstructions to my work: I was limited to 9 videos to tell a complete story, I couldn’t use orange, green, or violet, and I was limited to a 121 by 121 canvas. On top of learning the application, I feel that these obstructions “gamified” the experience more.
Using Aseprite, I created pixel animations detailing the 9 major events in the universe, ranging from 1-3 second animations running at about 10fps.
I needed a way to present and add more context. I had taken what I had learned from Dreamweaver and created a webpage that integrated the sprites (now GIFs) I had made.
The finished product is a basic website with animated sprites and a scrollable website for reading. Some key areas for improvement are: improved website UI, or more interactive features.
How do these fufill the requirements?
Animated Narrative: The project is a complete narrative of the universe’s future, with sprite animations as visual complements to the educational material.
Game Design/Play: To introduce a challenge, I forced myself to learn Aseprite and had friends choose obstructions that would define the project’s scope. Users must also engage with the text and video to learn or entertain themselves.
Video: Each sprite is its own video that enhances the text-based storytelling.
Link to Google Drive for HTML download:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oxC7-vocP0t2yOEpSg66HCCTeoC2cwnk?usp=sharing
4D Studio: Projection Project
Bryce Mathews
I was heavily inspired by the use of projectors to display text over large surfaces, like building walls, to convey a message. Unlike graffiti or murals, projectors create non-invasive mediums for art. My project was inspired by Guerrilla Projections, projections that spoke calls to action. Instead of a still image, I used my video, “Time Stops for No One”. The video is a timer that ticks down from 24 hours, with the text “Time stops for no one…”. The goal of the video (and the projection) is to remind people of the constant passage of time. The projection bypasses the limitations of a traditional screen by making surrounding surfaces, like the wall and ceiling, canvases. Oftentimes, we get so caught up in our lives that we forget that our time is limited.
I projected the video in the dark areas of my apartment: my closet, bedroom wall, and bedroom ceiling. I also copied the video to other media devices, giving the impression that it is spreading to more people. Below are images of the projections and snippets of video that I took.
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Closet Video: https://youtu.be/n3ru1GIQKq0
Cieling Video: https://youtu.be/Ii37kYdPngI
Multiple Screens Video: https://youtu.be/k7j2TjREZpA
3 Minute Obstruction – Mathews
Bryce, Harmony, Emma – Chance Against Chess
Dadaist Poem – Bryce Mathews
The Cook – Part 2
Bryce Mathews
“The Cook pt. 1” Flipnote animation
Bryce Mathews