Category: Game Design Studio 1

Flux: This was my least favorite of the games we played. It was very complex and easily became confusing. What I did enjoy about the game is that there was (almost) constantly a new task to complete or rule to follow.

Hannabi: This game was especially interesting because it required everyone to work together. It was a game of trust. You must trust the instinct of your fellow players in order to win the game.

Love Letter: This was my favorite game of the three. Its very interactive but easy to understand. I like that it has a very laid out story to follow. It makes the game more interesting and easy to connect to.

Game design
Reflection
week 2
1/16/17

Games Played: Munchkin Gloom and Dominion

The main focus for the games played this week focused on the different acts/stages that take place during the game. For the most part, every game is broken up into 3 acts (learning the rules/familiarizing oneself with the goal, 2. getting more comfortable with the rules of the game, and 3. (typically towards the end of the game) when everyone focuses on the goal and is completely comfortable). By playing these two games I was able to loosely pinpoint when these acts were taking place and changing.

Munchkin Gloom, simply put is Gloom under the art and humor of the Munchkin brand-which put a humorous twist on the game itself. This game is card based, and each player is assigned a set of character cards. The overall premises was to kill off all of your characters while lowering their self worth. The person with the lowest score of self worth of dead characters wins. In my limited game experience, this was the first time I’ve seen the concept of losing masked as winning. Although the goal was set in stone, I did appreciate how there can be different approaches to winning the game. In one round of playing alone my group went through tactics of blackmail, throwing each other under the bus, prioritizing negative self worth or prioritizing the killing of characters. Because of this aspect it is anything but a game where you can keep to yourself and bank on luck. It forces you to take notice of your teammates hand and strategize. The most enjoyable aspect of this game was clear to everyone, the transparency of the cards that allowed moves to be played on top of one another by either enhancing or negating a character. This mechanic was very original and intriguing- I’d love to be able to incorporate this type of ingenuity into my own game design in the future.

As far as the acts were concerned in Munchkin Gloom the first act of the initial understanding of the rules and concept was a little slow at first and definitely took the longest. The instructions on the cards were most helpful in this instance and made us communicate and talk out the game with the other players. After the first act transitioned into the second the pace picked up and we very quickly skipped our way to the last act.

Dominion took some getting used to personally. The overall concept was to collect money to buy cards that acted as tools which in turn yielded more money. Then with all that money you buy victory points. In order to win this game you must have the most victory points, however the game ends when certain stacks of cards are depleted. What I liked about dominion is that there are so many possibilities for different strategies and options of games to play, therefore it doesn’t have to be the exact same strategy and routine game after game. The acts during this game make me wonder if they are one continuous transition or if each player has their own variation. I struggled to latch onto a strategy for the majority of the game, therefore I feel that it is the latter. If given the opportunity to play more than once I definitely think I would gain a better sense of what to do and how to benefit but I think the different options and possibilities were slightly overwhelming at first which held me back in the beginning.

Card Game Ideas

1. Mind of a Serial Killer
   A murder-mystery card game that requires deduction and chance. First, you receive a character card in which determines your strategy and goal. Second, a player chooses a crime/story card. Keep your identity to yourself and complete your goal first. 3 or more players are needed.
2. Camp-or-Die
   A game of chance and elimination. Each player is a camper and must complete activities to win. Players have to avoid elimination cards that might that might prevent them from these activities. Cards include activities, badges, accidents, deaths, and actions. 2 or more players are needed.
3. Carnival Recruit
   It’s your first day on the job at the local carnival. As a new recruit, you must perform mediocre tasks to qualify for a better position. Compete with players to advance to a new job/ride, and who knows…maybe you could run the place. Each player starts with 5 cards and 3 tokens. Use tokens to buy tasks. Recieve tokens and a new job when you complete a task. The more difficult the task the better the job and more tokens you receive. Each round you can either buy a task, use an action, or pick up another card. Use action cards to give yourself an advantage over other players. 2 or more players are needed.
4. Stranded
   You’re stranded on an island and can either build a shelter or build a raft. Choose wisely because both have their consequences. Each player starts with 5 cards and collects 1 card each round. The players must collect the numbered/textured card according to their chosen survival strategy and must lay them out in the right order. You must do this before dark. A timer is set for 5 mins. When the timer goes off each player receives a problem. You may lose a card, have to reset, switch seats, etc. Reset the timer and begin a new day.
5. Pioneer
   Build your world and become a successful pioneer. Each player starts with 6 cards. According to the card, you may need to roll between a certain number or a specific number to gain money. Use the money to build structures in town. Each structure you build gives you a higher status. (I’m not sure where I want this one to go…)

Game Reviews

Star Fluxx had sci-fi themes from popular movies and tv shows. The Fluxx game was very involved and constantly changing. The game began as very difficult and complicated to understand but evolved to eventually become competitive and fast-paced. As my group played we had shifts in strategy, momentum, and rules that added a risk factor.  The challenge was to complete a goal to win as the game is constantly, shifting in rules and actions.

Love Letter plays on strategy and risk as you act as a potential love interest of the princess and compete against other players to win her affection tokens. With only sixteen cards, one must deduct what cards the other players have in order to give their letters. The game seemed fast paced because it was quick to learn and there were few cards.

Hanabi is a group effort card game in which players team together to play a series of cards in a certain order to set off a firework display. This game was rather complicated because each player couldn’t see their own cards but they could see the cards of other players. We had to follow the actions available and try not to light the fuse early. The game was interesting but it did not hold my attention for too long and seemed counterproductive. The game involved memory, deduction, and group cooperation.

1. Backwards go-fish. Everyone else knows your hand. On their turn they either have to tell someone a hint, ask for a hint of their own cards, or if they know they have a match they can put it down. If they tell someone else a hint, their turn is over – do not go fish, do not put down matches. If they ask for a hint saying “do I have any 2’s?” if yes – that is it. If no, go fish. If they try to put a match down and it’s right, they get to pick up 2 more cards from the middle. If they try to put a match down and it’s wrong, they have to give the cards to the next player. Whoever has the most matches down on the table at the end wins.
2. Every player is dealt a country from the “countries” desk. Then someone randomly selects a “time period” card from the Time Period deck. Next everyone gets 3 helper cards to begin with. No one else can know the country besides the owner of that card. Everyone else has to try and figure out what country everyone else has based on the type of helper cards they play for that country during the time period. The winner is whoever played the least amount of helper cards until your country was guessed. Play until everyone’s country is figured out. The player whose country is guess first gets to still play as guessers on their turn but do not get the helper cards anymore.
3. Periodic table cards. To win you have to have all the semimetal cards (6). Everyone gets 6 cards to begin with. There are 118 cards all together, one for each element. This game could be played many ways. Basis of the game is to have all the matching cards of a property. The semimetals are easiest because there are only 6 of them.
4. Good Cop Fake Cop. Everyone receives a card saying if they are a good cop, fake cop, witness, or random bystander who knows nothing. No one knows the rule of each player, but everyone is dealt 7 cards that have statements telling that person what to do when they play the card, either accuse someone for the crime, answer interrogation questions, etc. But with the cards that are played, if it is a ‘cop only’ card, only the real cop can play it. If they are interrogation question cards that have to be answered at the time of play everyone can play it. From the story line you must answer questions honestly. The good cop is trying to pick out the fake cop, and the witnesses and random bystanders are trying not to go to jail. If the Cop takes the wrong person to jail, he is fired and loses the game and everyone else wins. If the good cop takes the fake cop to jail then the good cop wins.
5. Paleontology cards. Team work to build a dinosaur while being timed. Almost like the fireworks game, the dinosaur has to be built from the feet up or else without the body and feet the dinosaurs head will fall and break. This game will come with dinosaur plastic body parts to put together so you have to build from the bottom up. This all has to be done in a 15 minute time period.

Card game ideas: