Category: Game Design Studio 1

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Week 2 – Magic Circle and Pacing

The Magic Circle as we discussed in class is more of a frame of mind. It is not necessarily a physical space or circle, but it is the area in which the rules of the game apply.

Pacing is important in game design obviously, but specifically it plays a big role in how likeable the game itself is. If a game is too slow paced, it can bore people or disinterest them. If a game is too fast, the game has no real incentive to play and can be found pointless, not entertaining. There has to be a balance in the pacing to allow for some strategy but also some gratification that allows the users or players to feel like they’re winning in some sense or at least have the chance to win.

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Week 1 Discussion – better late then never

The syllabus I am very familiar with for the most part. However, the one new thing that Ames has added this year is the different grading system. Although its kind of an experiment, I think it provides the student with this unspoken rule system of a game which is the whole point of the class. The game is how to get points towards your grade. You can take different routes to get the points, whether it be discussion posts, comments on others’ ideas, or even posting your own ideas periodically. This freedom has its pros and cons obviously, but I think it offers a unique experience as a student.

As far as good games, after thinking about the games I enjoy playing I have come to the conclusion that the games all have a couple things in common. They are all simple, easy to learn, use strategy, and gives everyone a fair chance to win. Examples of this are games like War, Uno, Five Crowns, Solitaire, or even a game we played recently called Carcossone (i think thats how you spell it).

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Slasher Rules

Slasher is a card game where each player is thrown into the role of a horror film protagonist with multiple killers coming after them. Players are dealt a hand of cards that will act as the key to their survival and help them attack the slashers. The goal of the game is to play until all the slashers have been killed and earn as many points as you can.  

Materials:

            – Slasher Cards (includes five different killers)

           –  Player Cards (include weapons, items, and scenarios)

            –  Dice

– Point Tokens 

                        – death (red), escape (white), and kill (blue)

Cards: 

Slasher Cards

Slashers:

Point Value:

Dice rolls

To kill Slasher:

To die:

Ghostface

Value = 1

9 or higher

6 or lower

Chucky

Value = 2

10 or higher

6 or lower

Michael

Value = 2

10 or higher

6 or lower

Jason

Value = 1

9 or higher

6 or lower

Freddy

Value = 3

11 or higher

7 or lower

To Escape:                                         Roll anything in between the two numbers above

  Weapon Cards

– Weapon cards are what allow the players to attack against the Slashers. 

                     Generic Weapons – A generic weapon card does not increase or decrease chances against killing a slasher, simply allows the players to attack. 

                             Handgun – Increases chances at killing Chucky

                            Knife – Increases chances at killing Ghostface

                            Claws – Increases chances at killing Freddy

                            Lighter – Increases chances at killing Michael

                            Axe – Increases chances at killing Jason 

Item Cards

– Item cards protect players from certain Slashers, and keep them alive even if they roll and dir during an attack

                                 Michael’s Jumpsuit – voids an attack card against Michael

                                 Freddy’s Hat – voids an attack card against Freddy

                                 Ghostface’s Phone – voids an attack card against Ghostface

                                 Chucky’s Overalls – voids an attack card against Chucky

                                 Jason’s Glove – voids an attack card against Jason

Scenario Cards:

– Scenario cards are what change/disruot the flow of the game

                       Individual Cards – Require Individual players to do what is said on card (Can be held in hand         unless they say to play immediately then they should be played first on a players next turn after drawing them.)

                       Group Cards – Require the group to do what is said on the card (Can be held in hand unless          they say to play immediately then they should be played first on a players next turn after drawing them.)

                       Attack cards – If an attack card is drawn, it requires a player to attack a slasher regardless of        weapon cards at the beginning of their turn.

Setup – 

 Each player is dealt 3 of the “player” cards, the remaining of which are sat face down in the middle of the table.

                 The Slasher Cards are sat in the middle of the table face down. 

                 The point tokens are set in the middle of the table, in three different piles (organized by color) 

To start the game, deal each player three player cards. Then pull the top slasher card and place it face up on the table. 

Now you are ready to play. 

The player to the left of the dealer starts. 

Each player should be starting with a hand of three “player cards.” Player cards consist of weapons, items, and scenarios that can help or hinder a player’s chance at killing the Slashers. 

A turn can consist of as many moves as a player wishes but ends when they draw a card from the remaining deck. (Unless players draw a “play immediately” card in which case, they will end their turn playing said card)

In a turn, players can…

A. play/equip a scenario card by placing it face up in front of them

B. Attempt to kill the slasher on the table by playing a weapon card and rolling dice. (The outcome of which depends on the listed numbers on the slasher cards)    

C – Do nothing and end their turn by drawing from the deck. 

Players will go clockwise around the group.  

If a player escapes a slasher, they are given a white token.

If a player kills a slasher, they are given a blue token. 

If a player fails to escape/kill a slasher, they “die” and receive a red token. 

If a player kills a slasher, they collect that card and the value of it will be added to their points. 

If a player draws a “Sequel” card then any slashers that they have killed, are placed back on the table (not in the deck) and players have to face against multiple slashers at once. 

If player cards run out, reshuffle the discarded cards, and place them back into the drawing deck. 

To determine who wins players must count up their points and the player with the highest score wins.

Scoring:

Red tokens = – 2

Blue tokens = 2

Yellow tokens =1

Slasher cards = their value (1,2, or 3) 

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DISASTERS Game Progression – Week 6-7

I started creating the Disasters game based on a set of rules written for week 6’s class. Initially, the plan was to have players move around a world and use their items in imaginary environments, similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Managing the scope of the game was difficult as the game needed to maintain a story line and immerse the players while being simple enough to be created and played in class. Disasters went from a team-based collaborative game to a competitive game where players compete against each other to complete their objectives. Below are some images of the progression of the game so far.

Game cards – Week 6
Game cards – Week 7
Notes from a friend’s play test
More notes from a friend’s play test
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DISASTERS – Ruleset as of 10/11/22

DISASTERS

SETUP ————————

DISASTERS is a card-matching game in which players compete to find loot to complete objectives! This game is ideal for 2-4 players and plays clockwise starting with the shortest person playing.

Place a  chosen DISASTER card in a visible location on the table. This is the disaster players are dealing with for the duration of the game.

Each player begins with 1 OBJECTIVE card and 1 ITEM card. Players are working to complete 2 OBJECTIVE cards throughout the duration of the game. Players can have a maximum of 4 ITEM cards in hand at any time.

ALL cards can be visible to other players

ITEM cards can be traded between players (“value” does not mean currency, it just gives players an idea of the rarity). Trades are entirely decided by the players. 

A 6-sided-die is rolled at the beginning of each player’s turn. If the die lands 1-4, an ITEM card can be drawn. If the die lands 5-6, discard 1 ITEM card. 

TURN RULES ————————

When it is your turn, you have the choice to do 1 of 3 things;  TRADE with another player, ROLL, or PLAY an ACTION card.

When a player decides to draw, they can choose to choose from the top of the (face up) discard pile or the (face down) ITEM card deck

OBJECTIVE CARDS ————————

OBJECTIVE cards are the cards that determine what the player’s current objective is.

OBJECTIVE cards can be discarded by any player at any time. However, when an OBJECTIVE card is discarded for a new one, the player must discard their entire hand and all ITEM cards on the table are shuffled back together, including the discard pile. This recycles used cards.

ITEM CARDS ————————

ITEM cards are drawn when a die is rolled 1-4 at the beginning of each player’s turn. 

Every player begins with 1 ITEM card dealt before the beginning of the game. ITEM cards can sometimes be harmful. For items like water and food, when “consumed” the card is placed on the discard pile.

When the players reach the end of the deck, reshuffle all ITEM cards except for ones currently in hand.

Some ITEM cards have instructions, others don’t.

ACTION CARDS ————————

ACTION cards are indicated with a    symbol, which means that they can be played and have an effect.

Some action cards must be played immediately upon drawing them. These cards are marked the same as regular ACTION cards, but with an added “*”

DISASTER CARDS ————————

The disaster cards determine what disaster the players will be dealing with. Only 1 is drawn per game. 

(For the purpose of the playtest there is only 1)

OBJECTIVE CARDS ————————

Objective cards are the cards that determine what the player’s current objective is.

SICK CARDS ————————

A player receives a SICK card when they consume tainted water, food, medicine depending on their roll number.

When a player has a sick card in play, the player must roll once every other turn to determine SURVIVAL. 

If a 6 is rolled, the player dies(loses). There may be some items that can revive you!

Objectives can only be complete when players are HEALTHY.

WIN STATE ————————

The first player to complete 2 objectives in a game wins.

LOSE STATE ————————

Player is  not the first to complete 2 objectives.

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Roley Poley Rule Set

Objective: earn the most points

Required Materials: Regular deck of playing cards (two decks if more than 3 players)

Setup: shuffled deck in middle of playing area

Turns: Players take turns rolling a dice. Whatever number they roll corresponds with how many cards they can draw. 

Points: Aces are worth 1 pt, 2=2pts, 3=3pts, etc. 

Winning/Losing: when the deck runs out, whoever has the most points wins.

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Game Review: Escape From Tarkov

There will be a file attached here as soon as I can get it to upload to my Google drive…….

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cqn06gLa3M5ABrJXq3nrojqCdoNInyAm/view?usp=sharing (I realized the video was 2GB)

The following is the script that I wrote for this presentation. I hit most if not all of the points when filming the video, but in the event that a more in depth look at my thought process is desired, it is pasted below.

Escape From Tarkov, often abbreviated EFT for the purposes of simplicity, is a tactical First Person Shooter set in the fictional sealed off Russian city of Tarkov. It was created around 2014, though open alpha access was not available until 2016, by Nikita Buyanov and has seen semi consistent updates since. In the story, Tarkov was cut off from the rest of the world and largely left to fall into chaos after an event known as the Contract Wars. 

The Contract Wars can be blamed on a conglomeration of different companies called Terragroup that had its base in Tarkov. Terragroup was conducting illegal scientific experimentation and had largely mobilized its own military to enforce their will in the region. 

You Play as a member of one of the two private military factions who fought in the Contract Wars, trapped within the city after the United Nations set up a perimeter. These factions are:

USEC- United Security, is a private military company formed from the merger of two others and used as a corporate military force by Terragroup. 

USECs were deployed to protect sensitive information regarding Terragroup’s illegal operations in the region, as well as establish Terragroup as the De Facto ruling faction of the city, all without raising the alarm. 

BEAR- Battle Encounter Assault Regiment, is a private military company established in secrecy by the Russian government to find evidence of Terragroup’s illegal activity. 

BEARs were deployed directly into Tarkov and the surrounding region to assault Terragroup’s USEC forces and retrieve any and all digital, physical, or other forms of data pertaining to their activities. Unfortunately, the assault was not as successful as hoped, and the two factions began effectively a state-corporate war in the Tarkov region. 

Because of the rapidly increasing level of violence and the steadily increasing geographical scope of the conflict, the United Nations deployed a peacekeeping force to Evacuate the city of civilians and seal it off from the remainder of the world. During this operation, UN peacekeeping forces assisted by the Russian Federation Govt. quickly swept the city and managed to create an impenetrable blockade around it, all while also eliminating a large part of the remaining warring factions and evacuating a large number of civilians. 

This is where you enter the story. Whichever faction you chose, you are one of the lucky ones, or so they tell you, who didn’t fall when the UN had their way with the streets. You have your issued gear, and have established a small hideaway on the outskirts of town after being separated from your friends. 

Your goal is now simply to escape the city of Tarkov, but it is a hostile place, and you are not the only one lurking between empty rusting cars. Scavengers, or Scavs, largely comprised of the homeless population, those who stayed to defend their homes, criminals, or those who simply wanted to watch chaos unfold, wander the streets. They are often drunk and are incredibly violent, having picked up scavenged weapons from the casualties left by the Contract Wars. 

Other PMCs remain alive as well, and these characters are the most dangerous of all, as they are also players that could have any motivation you could dream of to leave you alone or take what they think they deserve. To overcome these odds, you will have to work with what remains of civilization within the walls of Tarkov, and venture into the dark truths about Terragroup’s research. 

Gameplay:

There is one main facet of gameplay. A Raid. 

A raid is a time limited open world environment set somewhere in Tarkov. You succeed by passing successfully from the insertion point to the extraction point and doing whatever it is you wish to do along the way. If you run the clock down, Russian Regulars storm the map to quell th fighting, and your character goes missing in action. If you die in a raid, you are sent back to the main menu. The penalty for both of these outcomes is the loss of all the gear on your character’s person. Potentially Permanently, but we’ll get to that. Raid goals can vary depending on player level, faction, and location. A common goal may be to kill 4 Scavs or find three screwdrivers, which leads to one of the core tenets of EFT that makes it such a compelling game compared to many others out there. 

The mantra of EFT’s development has always been, “As realistic as playable.” Equipment has weight, your character has weight. You need to bring ammo. You need to bring food. You need medicine. Do you know where you are? Is your gun brand new or do you need to worry about a jam? What’s around that corner? WHO is around that corner? 

Each map in Tarkov is designed to instill these kinds of anxieties and practices into the players organically, as they learn over time, whether through success or failure, that there are certain things they need to do before they ever enter the Factory or the Woods maps. Inventory management is manual. You need to restock your ammo and fix your equipment between raids. Your character can get hurt, and if you don’t heal a broken leg, it’s liable to make you an easy target for a scav looking for a quick buck. Even so, if you don’t know your own way around, it may not matter if you aren’t hurt. 

This realism carries over to combat, to a large degree. Characters can lean, jump, sprint vary their stance height or crouch altogether, prone out, vary walking speed to sneak, and even blindly fire over cover and corners. The guns are all 3d quixel megascans of real firearms, and as a result can be modified piece by piece. Wearing a heavy plate vest may stop a round, but it will slow your character down depending on the weight. Bullets are bullets, not a hitscan check. The game actually fires a bullet from the barrel of the weapons with each click of the mouse, and trajectory as well as drop is calculated in real time not only based on distance but also weather conditions and wind of the current environment. On top of this, they have a set mass and ability to penetrate certain types of cover. Wooden doors and drywall are not a great bullet stop, as it turns out. This creates an incredibly dynamic and rich system of combat where no two encounters are ever the same. This is only compounded when it is additionally considered that Nikita and the other developers for EFT design goals and missions on each map, as well as the flow of the very map itself, to drive players into each other. 

Why fight? Remember how if you die, you get booted back to the menu? That gear remains in the live raid, on your character’s body. It can be taken from your corpse by any other player that happens to stumble upon it. Certain local gang leaders and traders offer insurance on your gear, but that only gets it back to you after a hefty wait and only if nobody took it. While in a raid, you can loot items in the environment as well, and these are often needed to help you to progress. With this, we have the stakes, and the driving force behind EFT. 

You can even play as a scav and show up to an in progress raid if you run out of gear in your hideout. Scavs spawn with a random loadout. 

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Game Design: Prototype 2 Rules

Prototype: Diced Up
Diced Up is a game about rolling a pool of dice to get the highest score. The game ends when there are no more dice to roll in the pool.

1. Place 5 dice per player into a pool between everyone.
2. Every Player rolls 1 die. The highest number takes the other dice and puts him into his stash.
3. Repeat. If a player has a die in their stash, he may add half of it to his roll to bolster his chances to win. If a player loses this way, they lose both dice.

If someone beats two dice with one, they get a bonus die from the center pool as well.

In the event of a tie, the parties involved roll one of their dice each head to head until a winner is decided. The game then proceeds as normal.


4. The game ends when there are no more dice to roll in the center. The player with the most dice in their stash wins! In the event of a tie, they roll against each other until someone gets a higher number, and they are named the victor.

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I’m Cookin’ Rule Book

Objective

The objective of I’m Cookin’ is to finish cooking a three course meal before your friends do so that you can host dinner. Do this by gathering all the ingredients you need for your meals and “cooking” the recipes once you have all the ingredients.

Required Materials

  • Recipe Cards
  • Ingredient Cards
  • Pantry Sheet
  • Refrigerator/Freezer Sheet

Setup

Start by shuffling all of the recipe and ingredient cards and placing them face down on the table. Next separate the recipe cards by the course number on the back, shuffle and place each number into it’s own separate pile. Next each player will get a refrigerator and pantry sheet to keep track of the ingredients they would like to keep.

Pantry sheets hold 5 ingredients that do not need refrigerated and refrigerator sheets hold 5 ingredients that either need refrigerated or frozen. Where the ingredient goes is indicated on the card. Sometimes, there are “flex” card that can go either place.

Flip face up the first recipe cards from the top of each course deck and place them in front of their respective decks.

Next deal each player 3 random ingredient cards, and keep these in your hand.

The player who has most recently done dishes goes first.

Playing the Game

On your turn you may perform 3 actions as elaborated below.

Action 1

When starting your turn you may first choose a recipe from the 3 facing up that you would like to try and cook. If none of the recipes appeal to you, you may pass on choosing a recipe. If you choose a recipe, you are the only player allowed to cook that food. If you pick a recipe be sure to replace it with a new recipe card face up from the pile.

If you do not want to pick a recipe you may place food in your pantry/refrigerator from your hand. The order in which you place your food in the pantry doesn’t matter. You also don’t have to place food in your pantry HOWEVER the max hand size is 3, so that also means you can’t draw any new cards before your next action.

Action 2

After deciding which food to keep, draw ingredient cards until you have 3 ingredients in your hand. You may only ever have 3 ingredients in your hand.

You can then ask any players if they would like to trade any ingredients they have for something you have. The ingredient traded must be from your hand and not from your pantry. You may also donate ingredients to players and draw again to have 3 ingredients in your hand.

DONATION RECEIVER: If you decide to receive a donation, you must place that ingredient directly into your pantry/refrigerator. Players must agree to accept the donation.

If no one is interested in a trade or donation, proceed to the third turn action.

Action 3

At the end of your turn you can cook a recipe. You may only cook a recipe that you have already chosen and with ingredients you have placed in your pantry/refrigerator, NOT FROM YOUR HAND.

If you cook a recipe flip the card face down to reveal the course you have completed on the back (ex. “Buffalo Chicken Dip” card back, “Course 1 Appetizer”) and keep that card. Discard the ingredients you used to cook into the discard pile.

Ending the Game

I’m Cookin’ ends when a player has cooked all 3 courses first.

OTHER RULES

Expired Food

You can not over-fill your pantry and fridge. If you want to cook a recipe, but have no room for the final ingredient in your fridge/pantry you must discard a food from the shelf and replace it with the new ingredient. Choose your foods wisely.

Hand Rules

You can only ever have 3 ingredients in your hand at one time, as well as what you have stored in your pantry/fridge.

You can only get rid of ingredient cards through:

  1. Placing them in your pantry/fridge
  2. Trading with a player
  3. Donating to a player
  4. Freeing space in your pantry/fridge by cooking a recipe

The only waste should come from over-filling your pantry or fridge, or by cooking recipes.

If all ingredient cards get used, reshuffle the discard pile.

Cookin’ A Recipe

Cooking a recipe requires the ingredients listed on the card. You may only cook from your pantry/fridge ingredients. You may add extra ingredients to a recipe (in order to empty more of your pantry/fridge), but the majority of the players must agree that they would still eat your meal with the added ingredient.

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Thoughts on Fluxx

We played this game last year. I didn’t like it any more, but I didn’t like it any less. I would describe Fluxx as a card game that wants to make it painfully clear that it’s a card game.

We played Zombie Fluxx this time. I won. As much as I want to like any game I win. I just can’t see myself – or anyone, for that matter – playing this game outside of an assignment about games. It’s definitely neat, it’s definitely cool that you can change the rules and win in all these crazy ways and lose in even craziers ways. Just not my cup of tea. 6/10.

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Week 4 Games

Dominion – 8/10

I didn’t get to play much of this game. What I did get to play was pretty fun, though. And I can only see it getting funner. That’s rare for this class; a game that gets more fun the longer you play it. I’d love to play through it again with some of the more expensive and destructive cards in play. I think it’s the perfect blend of logic, luck and awesome destructive powers.

Takenoko – 4/10

Not much to like about this game outside of the figurines. I’m not totally sure the guy who made it even tried playing it. Realistically, you could end the game in, like, six turns. I wish I would’ve. I understand games are a product of surplus and leisure and there really isn’t a need for any game ever, but this one definitely doesn’t need to exist.

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Week 3 Games

Tokaido – 8/10

Time. Waster. I’ll say it. But I liked this one. I liked the characters, I liked the art, I liked the board, I liked the pieces. I really did feel like I was on vacation. I think what I especially liked, though, was that this game played into my write-my-own-story-to-make-the-game-mine (and-ultimately-win) strategy. Because it was my vacation, and I got to choose how I spent it. Cute game.

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Card Games

1. Apples to apples scenario-based game, but with you and your pals fill in the scenarios with inside jokes and familiar settings

2. Solitaire-esque game based on one of those hilarious sorting algorithms that makes the funny sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPRA0W1kECg)

It just takes up time, butI like the idea of becoming a logic gate

3. Poker with all 7s and three 8s 

4. A game where you use basic algebra functions to get the closest to another number pulled from the deck

5. Card cut like this:

  ______________

|         |            |         |

|                                |

|______|_______|   

 One hangs from the ceiling and you have to hook them to each other without it collapsing

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Week 2 Games

Munchkin Gloom – 7/10

I thought this game was so cute. And I won. I think the idea of merging the art from one game with the, well, game of another is so epic. I’ve never played Munchkin, and I’ve never played Gloom. But now I feel like I got the best of each of them. I thought it was funny seeing how much we could damage our own players, and deciding when to lock in that damage to make sure they stayed damaged. 

Two Princes – 5/10

I know that’s not what this game is called. But I kept singing that song while we were playing it, if you remember. And I won. Again.

I understand this is a class where we learn about how games work and how to create them. This game is a cool concept. But that’s all it is to me. And for that reason, I will likely never think of it ever again, and if I do it won’t be fondly. I will say, I had an almost supernatural knack for guessing my opponent’s cards. Even so, I think this game is a time-waster.