Category: Game Design Studio 1

Posted on

Week 8 Questions

Question Set 1

  1. Game developers usually don’t design the game; they enhance a designer’s game.
  2. Developers will try to push the boundaries of the game’s mechanics to see if they break.
  3. The number of components that need to be balanced, incorporating “costing”, and being okay with imperfect balance are challenges of balancing games.
  4. You can avoid stealing players’ fun by making sure they believe that there is a reasonable chance they can win until the very end.
  5. Use no intermediary terminology, use real words, make no more work than necessary, add flavor (but not too much flavor), make your text no smarter than your reader, discard rules that can’t be written, take a breath, go easy on the eyes, get your final version playtested, and fix it in the FAQ are 10 maxims you should follow when writing rules

Question Set 2

  1. Play-testing changed my games by making it easier to tweak rules based on the experience of the testers.
  2. I am open to anyone testing my next game or another version of one of my existing ones, but I would like Harmony to test my newest version of Headlampers.
  3. The audience for my game (Headlampers) is ages 6 and up.
  4. I think my roommates here at RMU and my friends from work should test my game outside of class.
Posted on

The Jammers! rules

The Jammers!

Madison Hurst

Objective

Make the most valuable jam recipes by combining various fruits and spices before the deck runs out!

Materials Needed

  1. Strawberry cards
  2. Blueberry cards
  3. Peach cards
  4. Vanilla spice cards
  5. Mint cards
  6. Basil cards
  7. Ginger cards
  8. Special action cards 
  9. Paper and pencil (to keep track of points)

Setup

  1. Shuffle all the deck of cards 
  2. Deal 5 cards to each player
  3. Place the remaining deck in the center of the table (this will be the draw pile) 
  4. Right next to the draw pile will be the discard pile
  5. The person who was last to eat a piece of fruit recently will go first! (if you can remember the tallest will go)
  6. The turns will go clockwise 

Play overview

  1. A players turn will consist of three phases (draw phase, action phase, and cleanup phase

Turn Order

Draw Phase:

  • Draw 1 card from the draw pile

 Action Phase:

  • Choose one of the following actions:
  1. Combine 1–3 Fruit Cards plus 1 Spice Card to create a Jam Recipe
  • Place the recipe face-up in front of you
  • Score it immediately (you can make only two recipes per turn)
  1. Trade ingredients
  • Trade up to 2 cards with another player
  • Both players must agree to the trade (cannot trade a full ingredient)
  1. Action card
  • Play an action card then discard it 
  1. Complete recipe
  • If you have a Recipe Card and the required combo in hand (e.g., “Blueberry bliss” needs blueberry  + vanilla), you may play it for bonus points.
  • Recipe Cards stay in front of you for final scoring.

Cleanup phase:

  • Discard down to 7 cards if over.
  • End your turn.
  • Play passes clockwise.

Outside your turn:

  • Counter Trade: Offer a trade before another player finalizes theirs (only once per round)
  • Jam Bonus: When someone makes a jam with your favorite fruit, you may reveal the same fruit card from your hand to gain +1 point

End of game or round:

  • A Round ends when all players have taken one turn.
  • The Game ends immediately when the Draw Deck runs out and every player has had the same number of turns.

Then, each player adds up their points from completed recipes and any bonuses.

Recipe Key:

  • Strawberry jam (strawberry + cinnamon) 3 points
  • Blueberry bliss (blueberry +vanilla) 3 points
  • Peach sunrise (peach + ginger) 4 points
  • Mixed berry (strawberry + blueberry + mint) 6 points
  • Perry jam (strawberry + peach + basil) 6 points
  • Tri preserve (strawberry + peach + blueberry + any spice) 10 points 
  • Berry sweet (two fruits + cinnamon) 5 points 
  • Earthy herb (any fruit + basil) 4 points 

Action Cards:

  • Bunny attack: choose a player and they have to discard one fruit
  • Farmers market: draw two cards next turn instead of 1 
  • Fruit poacher: steal 1 random card from another players hand
  • Another man’s trash, is another man’s treasure: swap one fruit from your hand with one from the discard pile
  • Jam Packed: make two recipes this turn if you have the cards for it

Win/Lose

The player with the most total points wins and becomes the Master Preserver.

Tiebreakers:

  1. Most completed recipes
  2. Most spices used overall
  3. If still tied, both share the victory as co JAMMERS!!

How to get bonus points

  • Add one point to your recipe if it includes blueberry in it!
  • Strawberry counts as +2 more points  if you add cinnamon with it

*AI was used to help organize the instructions

Posted on

Game Testing – Tokinado

Was it fun?

  • The game was pretty fun, and I enjoyed the design of the game. I thought it was super pretty, and fit the vibe of the game. It was super engaging while not difficult to understand. It was easy to talk to other players and still focus on the game.

What were the player interactions?

  • The player interactions was not being able to be on the same space as another player. Players were going against each other by getting as many points as possible, and having to deal with managing the amount of tokens they had.

How long did it take to learn?

  • The game took about 20 or so minutes to learn. At first, it was a little hard to understand and was a lot to digest since there was a lot of card decks and moving pieces. After we starting to get the game, it became more fluid. Players were making better decisions on their turn as we progressed.

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

  • The most frustrating part of Tokinado was not being able to collect tokens or coins as easily. I felt that I didn’t completely understand the coin collection rules, and was giving away my tokens and never gaining any.

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

  • My favorite moment was being able to move my colored circle piece up on the number spaces. Or having the ability to get to the restaurant stage, and picking out your meal. I really loved the theme of the game as well. I enjoyed how you were backpacking across Japan, and thought the concept was extremely cool.

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

  • I really wanted to add my coin collection, and I couldn’t or didn’t know how to. I was trying to figure out the system of the game, but with the limited time we had it was harder to grasp.

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

from the experience, what would it be?

  • I would change how the coin collection would go. Maybe add a feature of coin collection or easier ways to get more coins.

Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why

  • Yes, I would play this game again. I love the style of the game and the adventure it gives the players. I enjoyed playing the game and I liked the style that the last player or player behind everyone went.

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.

  • the first act is reading the instructions and understanding the objective of the game. Each player is figuring out what their character does and how their turns work. The second act of the game is when the instructions are figured out and the rhythm of the game is found. In this act, players are thinking out their next moves and intentionally placing their pieces on spaces they think will be beneficial. The third act is when points are being rounded up and players are coming to the end of the board. We did not get to this stage since class ended.

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

  • The collaborative aspect of the game was picking a meal out of the card deck that another player picked up. The competitive side of was managing your coins and choosing spaces that another player may have wanted or getting their first.

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

  • The games mechanics is game pieces, the board itself, and card decks. The mechanics helped players figure out where to go and what to do. For instance, whatever you landed on had a certain color which decided what deck to choose from. The games’ metaphor was

Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku.

  • Travelers hiking
  • Sea to Sky to feel alive
  • Japan waits ahead