Category: Game Reviews

Question Set 1

1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer? If I was able to shrink down to the size of a nanometer, I would like to create a device to is able to go into the human body and find the organ/bone. This will be educational and allow people to learn where parts of the body are located. If you can’t find it within a certain amount of time, the next player gets to steal your turn and get double points for finding it.
2. Who are you making games for? Hasbro because they made the board game “Operation”.
3. Who will be your play testers outside of class? Someone who is familiar with using the computer and can easily grasp instructions for a new game.

Question Set 2

1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules? Connect 4 because it is pretty self-explanatory. The directions are in the title of the game.
2. How do you define what a game is? A game is an activity involving rules that may or may not have a definite winner and loser.
3. What features can make your games more intuitive? Having a game that is easy to learn yet enjoyable once you get the hang of it. Something that makes you want to come back and play again.

Question Set 3

1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming? My gateway game is 500. Im not sure if thats the right title, but its just Gin Rummy but you go til get 500 points. I think this game is pretty easy to grasp and I love to play it.
2. What features to gateway games share? Simple instructions that can be understood by all ages.
3. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own? Noblesse Oblige, Heat, Set-Making, Card Tapping, Cow Tipping Rule, Popping, Hand Order Rule, Paddlewheels, Communication Breakdown, and Constant Shuffling. These should be implemented into a game to have a challenge and make it more interesting.
4. How does luck and strategy factor into game play? Luck is something you cant control but helps along the way, while strategy is decision making throughout the game to benefit yourself by trying to win.

5 Game ideas that can be played using cards

1. Manifoldtare – a game of solitare but you play with a group of people. you deal out the rest of the deck after placing the cards down and you compete to finish the game. Whoever finishes first wins.
2. Lucky Loser – a game of crazy 8’s but you dont want to be the person who gets rid of all their cards first.
3. Jokes on You – a game where you delt 7 cards and are trying to make a 7 card run but the joker card is involved. You trade with the other players to get the cards you need to make the run but whoever has the joker card has to find a way to trade off the joker without letting the other players know you have the joker. You cant win if you have the joker in your hand. If someone gets the run while you have the joker, you lose
4. little war – you play war but the smallest card wins instead of the largest card

Bohnanza game review

1. Was it fun? Yes! At first it was a little confusing but once we all got the hang of it we were all very involved and enjoyed playing.
2. What was the interaction? You would trade with other players in order to get a better harvest.
3. How long did it take to play? The game too aproxamently 30-45 minutes.
4. Would you play again? Yes the game is very competitive and makes everyone get involved.
5. Three Act Structure – Act 1 involves reading the rules and setting up the game by dealing out the cards and the field cards. You can also do a practice round to understand the rules. Act 2 is when you trade your cards and try to get better ones to make a better harvest. Act 3 is after the deck has been shuffled 3 times and you run out of cards the game ends. Whoever has the most coins from harvesting your beans is the winner.

Alana Tush

Question Set 1

1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer?
   • I guess some sort of biology game that has little trinkets of protiens, atoms, bacteria, etc.
2. Who are you making games for?
   • I am making games for someone who is interested and curious about how the game works and who can make suggestions for how it can be better.
3. Who will be your play testers outside of class?
   • My friends and boyfriend

Question Set 2

1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?
   • hide n seek, tag, red rover, four square
2. How do you define what a game is?
   • Mechanics and rules, pieces and graphics, theme/ story
3. What features can make your games more intuitive?
   • having a card game, for example uno, that has many different variations. I would assume mostly everyone in our generation knows how to play regular uno, but having a new variation is more exciting and fun, while still having the same premise.

Question Set 3

1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?
   • My gateway game was brick breaker on my moms blackberry phone 😉
2. What features do gateway games share?
   • Gateway games share easy instructions that can be explained to young kids and still be fun for adults to play (family games).
3. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?
   • Kingmakers noblesse oblige, battletech’s heat, set’s set-making, magic’s card tapping, battle cattle’s cow tipping rule, xxxenophile’s popping, bohnanza’s hand order rule, mississipppi queen’s paddle wheels, communication breakdown, constant shuffling. I would say to have 2 or more of these mechanics in a game to make it more interesting.
4. How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?
   • luck is something beyond your control, it might help you or hurt you. Strategy is making plans and decisions during game play that might further your winning status.

Game Ideas thats can be played using cards

1. War (card game) with different characters with an emotional status. The card would have a character with a “happy meter” on the side of them. The higher happiness of the two cards down wins.
2. Uno with shapes and letters
3. Cards with random items that can be found in a classroom. The first person who finds the item and brings it back to the table wins a point.
4. Playing darts but you have to flip a card over and try to hit that number
5. The card game spoons, but the items that need to be grabbed are in a different room. Everyone has to run and try to get there before all the items are taken, and you are out.

Bohnanza Review

1. Was it fun? Yes, the game was very entertaining. When you got the right amount of cards to harvest and get coins, it was exciting. It was still exciting though to make trades and barter for better bean cards.
2. Is it interactive? Yes, this game is very interactive. Everyone wants to see the cards you reveal to make a decision whether to offer you a better bean card or to opt out of trading.
3. Was it easy to learn? This game was fairly easy to learn. Once we played through the deck of cards once, we were all understanding of the premise.
4. Would you replay the game? Yes I would replay this game, our group actually played another round instead of starting a new game because it was fun.
5. Applying the three act structure-
   • act 1- reading the rules to the game and setting up the mechanics (dealing 5 bean cards to each person, setting the field cards on the correct side). Playing a practice round to get used to the premise of the game.
   • act 2- the competition begins.. Trading the bean cards is where all the competition takes place. The people who need the certain bean cards offer something the active player needs to further their status in the game to win.
   • Act 3- At the end of the bean game, everyone is looking how many coins each player has, and tries to sabotage the other players by not trading with them. If you make the decision not to trade, that could mean they wouldn’t get anymore coins to potentially beat you in the game. Everyone harvests their beans to get the max amount of coins at the end of the round.

Question Set 1:

1. In your opinion, what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
   • I think that every game should have some sort of reward factor that increases the amount of dopamine one would endure. Dopamine is a highly addicting chemical, so if every game were to include a reward for doing something good, then people would want to keep striving for more rewards. The more rewards, the more dopamine, the more people will want to play. This is mainly why I like my favorite game Smash Brothers Ultimate. The game has a ranking system, so every time I beat someone, I rank higher on the leaderboard. There are also many different characters that allow for different approaches to the gameplay.
2. List the games you’ve played and currently play.
   • Smash Brothers Ultimate, Team Fortress 2, Sea of Thieves, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, CSGO
3. Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is it’s pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
   • Since it is a fighting game, it is difficult to apply the three-act structure to my favorite game. However, it does have a small campaign mode with no true significance, so the pacing is short, and the acts are simply just different fights.
4. When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
   • I always find myself starting with the mechanics rather than the metaphor. I always see the mechanics as the founding structure, so once the mechanics are established, I focus on everything else.
5. Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
   • It’s hard for me to point out someone specifically, since I don’t know too many people personally. However, I’d like to collaborate with someone that is creative and quick thinking. In this case, I can help the person project their ideas onto paper for us to start crafting.

5 Campus Game ideas

1. Campus racing to a specific location
2. Campus flower finding race
3. Manhunt
4. Nerf Gun/Airsoft battles
5. Custom-built sled racing (winter)

Fluxx Questions

1. Was it fun?
   • Not entirely, the game is very long and ends up getting a bit too complicated.
2. What was the interaction?
   • Some cards had direct interactions with other players, such as stealing cards and trading. Overall, every player ends up contributing to the rules, which is practically a group interaction.
3. How long did it take to learn?
   • The concept of the game isn’t too difficult to learn, so it didn’t take me too long to know how to play. It was only probably 10 minutes it took for me to be fully comfortable with the mechanics.
4. Would you play again?
   • Unfortunately, I would not. The game is too stressful, and the rules can be too confusing to keep up with.