Category: Game Design Studio 1

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Week 4 Game Ideas – free theme

Mercy is a card conversation game where one person is the king and the other players are peasants affected by various afflictions (based on the cards they draw). The peasants must appeal to the king for mercy and aid in their plights. The king awards mercy to one person (the winner of the round), everything is rotated so there is a new king, and the next round starts. The person with the most mercy points at the end wins.

What a Drag is a card conversation game where the players must create a drag stage name for a drag queen/king based on the word cards in their hand, and then debate who has the best stage name of the round. Whoever has the most ‘best stage names’ at the end wins.

Married in a Hurricane is a card conversation game where players must create an absurd situation for two people to get married in based on the word cards in their hands. The person with the most absurd idea wins the round, and the person who wins the most rounds wins the game.

Phone Numbers is a card conversation game where players must use the letter cards to spell out the end of a phone number (ie. 1-800-96-TWINS) and explain what that phone number would be for. The best phone number/explanation wins.

Toppings is a card conversation game where the judge pulls a card that has something that can have toppings on it. The players must decide what toppings will go on the item based on the word cards in their hands, and the judge picks the most (or least) appealing.

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Brainstorming Games for Collaborations (w3 by Benjamin Zou)

Treasure Co-Climber — Precious Items For Climbing Collectors

Treasure Co-climber is categories of adventure and treasure hunting game in which the players (the rock climber and the rope adjuster) collaborate to ensure the climber’s collections have successfully arrived at the summit where the roper is positioned by using the tools like jumping, sliding, collecting for climbers & collections and defense tools by a roper.

Co-Aids Divers — Underwater Swimmer & Lifeguard Detecting Survivalists

Co-aids Divers is an adventurous and strategic game in which the players collect different items that may be emergency kits by utilizing the tools that can detour the hazardous circumstances and also lifesaving collections.

Elevated Co-voyagers — Collecting the Treasures from Pirates

Elevated Co-voyagers is an adventurous and strategic game in which the players collect the boxes that may contain the artificial chemicals items for reconstruction and cleaning to achieve the renaissance of refreshing the “City of the Bridges” by using tools to jump against front barriers like sedimented rocks; avoiding cross through Pirates boats; sinking underwater for smoky fogs as well as collecting key structures for reconstructions.

Rhythmic Co-Thunder-Clapper — Destructible Musical Bombers and Their Explosive Projectiles

Rhythmic Co-thunder-clapper is a rhythm game in which the players shoot the air enemies and destroy blasts (as streaming song beating) respectively to successfully pass for certification test of defensive attack by using lengths and directions of each enemy aircraft and gunshots.

Spray Skateboarding — Co-Skateboarder’s Ballhall Impressions

Spray Skateboarding is a rhythmic and strategic game in which one of the players becomes a controller to ensure the best strategies to cross over the musical obstacles as the song streaming to spray the colors out and another hue gunner to target the best destinations to spray the color into the board by using tools like crossing barriers and spray spots as instructions noticing respectively.

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Five Epic Group Games

The Way of the Dragon is a board game in which the players protect and build their villages by establishing stable and compassionate trade routes with other villages.

Cardisaur is a card game in which the players complete a “dinosaur skeleton” by drawing cards from a large pool.

Boiling! is a mobile phone game in which the players must figure out who in their group is the odd man out by moving one step each turn, and their phone telling them if they are ”hotter” or “colder”.

Late for Work is a board game in which the players have to find the quickest route across the city using their unique municipal functions, all while navigating obstacles placed by the lone antagonist.

Invention Convention is a drawing game in which the players create the most useful and/or marketable invention by using the prompts and features the game provides.

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Week 3 Discussion and Game Ideas

Game Reflection:

Tokaido: Tokaido had an interesting premise of going on a journey and seeing and doing as much as your can before the end. While the game was not overly competitive, each of us playing still ended up slightly competing against one another as we started to reach the end of the game. Each of us also developed our own strategies on how to gain the most points, I ended up going for as many complete panoramas as I could get, this however did not lead to me having the most points. Overall the game was a relaxing and fun game that we still ended up bringing a competitive attitude towards.

5 Collaborative Game Ideas:

  • Blind Trust is a collaborative game in which The Navigator, who gives simple directions, and The Saboteur, who gives wrong directions, with the goal of either guiding or misguiding the Blind Player to a destination by giving their directions.
  • Card Flip is a memory/strategy game in which the players throw cards down onto the ground and try to determine what the last card in the deck is by analyzing the face up cards and knowing which could be left.
  • Testers is a guessing game in which players must guess an object or edible item by blindly interacting with it and working together to guess the mystery object.
  • Rock, Paper, Defense is a team game in which players must face the enemy team in games of Rock, Paper, Scissors with the goal of protecting their ‘base’ or destroying the enemy ‘base’ by beating each member of the enemy team three times and reaching their ‘base.’
  • Circle of Letters is a memory game in which players gather in a circle around the main guesser and each of them take turns saying letters of the alphabet, the guesser must then guess what letter is not being said by carefully listening and determining the correct letter.
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Pandemic Game Review

I really enjoyed the game Pandemic. I don’t think I’ve played many board games where players are playing against the actual game rather than each other, so the collaborative element of it really stood out to me, and made it much more interesting and fun. 

The game centers around a group of four different spreading diseases, and our goal as players was to cure the diseases. The first time through, we only managed to cure one disease, and also got caught off guard because we hadn’t realized that the game ends as soon as the cards run out. Realizing this, and having a bit of knowledge about the game now, we went into our second play through with a bit more strategy and managed to cure three of the four diseases.

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Collaborative Game Ideas

1. Art Heist is a board game in which players play as a group of art thieves who are attempting to steal a famous painting by making their way around the board without getting taken out by security cards.

2. Trash to Treasure is a physical game where players are attempting to create a “treasure” using various everyday items that they might typically consider trash. 

3. A New World is a card game where players are playing as a group of survivors who are in charge of rebuilding a society using resource cards. 

4. Treasure Hunters is a board game where players work together to find the hidden treasure using each of their individual map pieces. 

5. Traffic Jam is a puzzle game in which players work together to get their game pieces through the traffic jam by taking turns and solving the puzzle. 

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5 Collaborative Card Game Ideas

  1. Match Maker is a collaborative card game in which the players both compete and collaborate in teams of two in order to determine who can match all the cards in the fastest amount of time.
  2. Murder Reader is a collaborative card game in which the players collaborate in order to try to figure out who the murderer amongst the group is by using the deck of playing cards that each have information or murder weapons. (similar to clue or among us)
  3. Silent Hell is a collaborative card game in which players collaborate in silence in teams of 2 or more in order to help their teammates figure out what cards they have in their hand.
  4. Levels Laboratory is a collaborative card game in which players work all together in order to get cards in order from 1-13 either collectively or individually using playing cards.
  5. Info Idol is a collaborative card game in which players work together in teams of 2 to give their teammates information and earn a total of 21 points total using playing cards.
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Cooperation Game Ideas/ Hanabi and 8 Minute Empire Reviews.

1.Quicksilo is a card game in which players cooperate in teams of two to build a nuclear defense system before time runs out.
2. Appointment is a board game in which players cooperate to make it to an important meeting on time.
3. Sprawl is a card based city building game in which players cooperate to create the largest and most prosperous city possible by managing resources and construction.
4. Man on the Inside is a card game where everyone must work together to determine who among them is the Russian spy using deception, investigation, and espionage.
5. Stack is a dice game where players cooperate to build the tallest tower possible without knocking it over by stacking blocks.

Reviews:
Hanabi
Hanabi is a card game about creating a fireworks display. Everyone is on the same team for this endeavor, but players cannot look at their own hands, meaning teamwork is vital. During a player’s turn, he may play a card or give a single piece of information. He may also discard a card to return a token to the board, which must be paid every time information is shared. The game ends when the draw pile is gone, and points are earned based on the number of fireworks of each color that were placed on the board. The game is pretty quick and easy to learn, but the rules lead to some interesting situations. Managing information and holding important cards is a tough tightrope to walk.

8 Minute Empire
This is a more competitive game where players compete to build the biggest empire possible. Actions taken and bonus resources are based on cards that are drawn from a queue, with higher cards costing money. This means there is an element of uneasy cooperation as players draw cards to try and get the cost of the more valuable ones down while also trying not to give anyone else an advantage. The rules are not written particularly well, though, in my own opinion, so the game was not easy to learn, and it took us more than 8 minutes.

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Week 2 Questions

  • What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer?

There would have to be different ways to move around, depending on the size of the board. If the board is very large in comparison to the character, then some transportation options should be present to allow for movement. Maybe teleporting, plane ride, car, etc. But those could be allowed through the drawing of cards or a rolling of dice.

  • Who are you making games for?

I’m making games that I would like to play. It is slightly selfish but as someone who hasn’t ever been very interested in card games/board games, I would like something that I consider fun to play

  • Who will be your play testers outside of class?

My play testers will be my friend group and roommates. Together there’s a solid group of about 8 of us that could cycle through and play test, which is particularly important so that I can sit out and take notes.

  • Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?

Uno. But Uno always has some variation in the rules depending on who you’re playing with and how they learned how to play. (ex: stacking +2 cards)

  • How do you define what a game is?

A game is a game if it has a set of constraints or rules and a desired outcome to win. There are of course many variations within this definition, however.

  • What features can make your games more intuitive?

Using features that other popular games already have, but adopt them to fit the needs of your game. If people are already comfortable with familiar game systems, it will be easier to learn.

  • What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?

My gateway game was Minecraft. My interest in video games grew exponentially from there and have even built more than 5 computers specifically for the purposes of gaming. I introduce people to the Little Nightmares series when I try to get people to play games because it has a clear left-to-right progression system, allows for structured but free movement, and it’s control system isn’t difficult to learn.

  • What features do gateway games share?

The rules are easy enough for anyone to follow

  • What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?
  1. Kingmaker’s noblesse oblige
  2. BattleTech’s heat
  3. Set’s set-making
  4. Magic’s card tapping
  5. Battle Cattle’s cow tipping rule
  6. xXxenophile’s popping
  7. Bohnanza’s hand order rule
  8. Mississippi Queen’s paddlewheels
  9. Times up! Communication breakdown
  10. Dominions constant shuffling

In our own games we should aim to emulate the success of the above listed mechanics, and use parts of these to develop our own new mechanics that work specifically for our games.

  • How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?

Luck introduces a level playing field to either ensure that all players have an equal chance at winning or at the very least, finishing well. It can also make players feel as though they have had a number of small victories in a game even if they didn’t win. While luck is introduced by the game, it is on the player to utilize their luck and decide how they will strategize. It’s a lot of times entirely possible to win without strategizing, but it of course helps

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group game ideas

1 The court is a card game in which the players collaborate to get all faces card in a standard deck.

2 Strategically Transfer Equipment to Alternative Locations (S.T.E.A.L.) is a physical game in which teams compete to find the largest object and move it to a designated area by using rope and there own strength.

3 Dragon collator is a board game in which players compete to find a dragon by using information cards.

4 Search for gold is a card game in which teams compete to collect lost Nazi gold by using old documents cards.

5 Hide now is a physical game in which players collaborate to avoid the sight of one player by using walkie-talkies.

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8 Minute Empire and Hanabi review

Hanabi

  • the payers are firework makers
  • simple basic rules
  • is corporative play
  • needs at lest 3 players
  • win by creating 1 of each firework type

8 Minute Empire

  • build an empire
  • compete against other players
  • rules are complicated
  • does not tell you if you can get more money
  • mini more complex and shorter version of risk
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Collab Game Ideas

Black Friday Massacre

Black Friday Massacre is a RPG tabletop game in which players collaborate to make it through Black Friday as a retail worker by overcoming WASP moms, Karens, and hordes of capitalist zombies.

Let Them Eat Cake

Let Them Eat Cake is a collaborative card game in which players work as assassins and attempt to behead all of the most iconic historical monarchs without getting caught. Players may also compete with each other for the most assassinations.

Cutthroat Chicken

Cutthroat Chicken is a tabletop game in which players attempt to escape their fate on the chicken farm by arming themselves against the farmers [the game] and making tough sacrifices.

Seedlings

Seedlings is a card game in which players pick a plant they would like to bloom/ripen into and compete to see who can bloom first while also needing to share resources.

Purity

Purity is a board game where players attempt to avoid committing all 7 deadly sins in order to get to heaven by overcoming peer pressure and temptation. The players may also compete to see who commits the least amount of deadly sins (not required).

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Week 3 – Collaborative Game Ideas

Much Ado About Nothing is a turn based strategy game in which characters must work together to get Beatrice and Benedick (lead characters, NPCs) to fall in love by ‘cornering’ one of the leads and spreading rumors. If you spread x number of rumors, the lead is in love. Both leads must be in love before the wedding of Hero and Claudio (after x amount of turns), or the game is over.

Three Legged Tag is a physical game in which the players must work together to collect and tie up everyone who is free by running after the free people whilst tied up three-legged-race style. If a free person is tagged, they get tied onto the leg of one of the taggers, who then continue chasing non-tagged people.

Lavastones is a physical game in which a group of scientists must all cross a stream of lava by maneuvering the limited number of ‘stones’ that are safe to walk on into a path for everyone to cross.

Squirrels! is a resource-collecting game in which a colony of squirrels must collect enough nuts for winter hibernation by helping each other hit certain milestones or goals on the board (hitting a milestone or goal gives you x amount of nuts).

Matchsticks is a card game in which each team of two players must get to a certain point total before any other team by playing off what their partner has already played.

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Week 3 game reviews

This week we focused on collaborative games. My group (Mia, Delaney, and myself) first played Pandemic with Professor Ames’ help to set up. We didn’t read the character cards, but rather just picked the colors we wanted and went with the corresponding character cards. I had the contingency planner, Delaney had the medic, and Mia had whatever the dark green character was. In terms of acts, it took us a bit to get a hang of the rules, even with Ames helping us out. We finally got into the swing of things after 4 or 5 rounds, which leads us to act 2. At this point, we had cured but not eradicated two of the viruses and we were really getting into the swing of things. We were working as a team to try and get the other two cured… when we ran out of draw cards. Which Ames gleefully told us meant the game was over and we’d lost.

None of us realized that lose condition for the game and were, understandably, shocked and upset. Ames asked if we would play Hanabi, but the three of us unanimously decided to play again. This time, we read the character cards and talked it over with each other to decide which roles would be the best. Delaney stayed the medic, Mia was the scientist, and I was the dispatcher. We were able to get into it a little better this time, and thankfully those stupid epidemic cards all came up relatively early. It took a round or two to fall into our new character roles, but then we were off. We had cured but not eradicated three of the viruses when we all simultaneously realized there was only two more draws worth. This started act 3, and though we tried valiantly in our last two remaining moves, we did not win.

In the last fifteen minutes or so of class, we picked up Hanabi. This also took us a bit to figure out because a) the board was circular and b) neither Mia or Delaney had ever played chess before, which Hanabi is based on. I think we got a decent way through the game in ten minutes before just packing it up and leaving class as it ended. I am unsure that I would play that game again, unless it was with people I knew had played chess before.

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Kobold Game Questions pt. 2

  • (1.1) If the game revolves around being the size of a nanometer, I would include a mechanic that lets you change your size. This could be done with a dice roll that determines how many powers of ten you can change your size (up or down). This change in size allows you to access things on the new scales that you need to collect in order to win.
  • (1.2) I am making games that I would play with my friends on game night.
  • (1.3) I have several close friends who would play test a game I make, and several acquaintances that invite me to their game nights that I could probably convince to play test as well.
  • (2.1) Does ‘refer to the rules’ mean at any time you have ever played the game? Or does it mean games where you already know the rules or the rules are intuitive enough to not need them? No one needs to know the rules for simple games like tag or Jenga in order to just play them.
  • (3.1) My gateway game was Set. I played this as a kid and loved it (still love it) so much that I remembered it 15-odd years later when I had my own money to buy games. I enjoy introducing my friends to it because they either get it and love it and want to play again, or they hate it and never want to play again but ‘maybe we could try something else?’.
  • (5) Luck and strategy are integral parts of a game that make it interesting. You have to have some degree of luck to create a possibility for everyone to win. This could be rolling the die, drawing a card, or randomly choosing a character card in Pandemic because you liked the colors, not because you read what each character does. Strategy also makes a game fun. This can be choosing which Jenga bricks to pick so you have the best chance of not knocking the tower over/making it extra hard for your friends, or it could be in actually reading the character cards for Pandemic and choosing the characters you think will help you ‘solve’ the game.