Boards:
Player Board:
Cards:
Tokens:
Victory Points:
Prototype 3 – “Sustainable City Builder”
Around the World in 80 Days – Prototype 2 Playtest
Changes from GameTest 1 to 2
- Group vote for mispronunciation
- harder phrases to learn
- shorter timer to memorize timer
- Incentive to read culture cards? People aren’t reading
- Changed the end of the game from reaching 10 culture cards to returning back to home.
- Added 3x more phrases, trivia, and group cards.
- Added multi choice
Playtest 2 notes: 9 people played
Changes I will make for the next prototype:
I need to LABEL CULTURE CARDS
Change trivia card format – Put answer on the back of the card.
Tweak the group game mechanics. People can drop out of remembering a country. If players pass, pass until the next player knows them. If you pass, you are out. Also, if players challenge a country stated in this mini game, the player who landed on the space can google it.
North Korea is not on the Group Cards for “n”
Greenland is technically not a country… but everybody thinks its a country. Perhaps add a loophole that if majority thinks a “territory” is considered a country, it can count. This is only relevant if players challenge a country within the Group Game
Add back an alternative ending – now, to win, it’s the first player to 7 culture cards or when a player gets back to start.
Maybe add trivia cards for how to say a country’s name in their native language
I will add a player cap of 8
Game Rules for “Sustainable City Builder”
Review on Evelyn’s Game
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Trying to think of countries that started with a particular letter when I was first to go.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I loved listing to other players trying to pronouce phrases in other languages.
- Was there anything you wnated to do that you couldn’t? No not at all, this game is perfect.
- 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 mention something about reading the culture cards because I feel like some people would’ve missed that.
- What should be improved with the next version? Nothing
- Describe the game in 3 words. Fun, challenging, educational
Review on Gideon’s Online Learning Game
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? This game wasn’t frustrating at all. I mean there was answers I didn’t know but I expected that lol.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I loved how the game had explainations as to why the answer was correct or incorrect right after you answered the question. I feel that this game would be very good in an educational setting with the incorporation of different categories for different subjects.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I would like to be able to chose a category of questions.
- 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 add something in the background rather than just having a plain background, but nothing to fancy to draw to much attention to it.
- What should be improved with the next version? As mentioned about add more variety in the questions and and something else to the background.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Fun, Engaging, instructional
Rules for Barrel of Truth (Version 1)- Colin Kenny
Each player is given a Sharpie or any type of pen, but all of them must be identical. Each round, the host (me) hands each player a slip of paper and asks them to respond to a question or prompt pertaining to the other players. It can be in the form of an assumption, and opinion, a secret, etc. No direction is given whether the responses SHOULD be positive or negative. Some rounds will require players to write their own names on their slips along with their answers, other round they must be completely anonymous. After every player has answered, they will put their slip in the barrel, the barrel is closed and mixed, and each answer is read aloud by the host. The players are suggested to share thoughts and feelings of the responses. Once everyone is ready, the next round begins. The game ends whenever the players either hate each other or get bored.
Play Test Notes for Barrel of Truth- Colin Kenny
Review of Sara and Amber’s Game, Cry Me A Pond- Colin Kenny
Cry Me a Pond – Art and Process
To develop this game, Sara and I really just wanted to make a game that kind of mimicked how we felt about life at the moment (probably more so myself, though). Somedays you really just need to talk it out when you’re having a bad day, but there are also good days along the way (hence the happy cards). However, on top of all of these overwhelming emotions doing schoolwork can also become a lot, which is where the frustration of the game design questions comes. This game is definitely not made out of hate of game design, but more of the disappoint that we can’t put effort into the class because we are already so drained from other stuff.
A big part of the process for this game was the brainstorming we did on the whiteboard (what we wrote is a secret though). We originally thought of having Ames having laser eyes or flames that dry up your pond and then you have to “cry” (or really just talk about your emotions) in order to fill it back up and hop along the lily pad spaces. We elected for something that fit with the pond theme a little bit better, but having spaces disappear and reappear may be something we revisit for future prototypes.
For the design, I did the basic card templates and the pond design. Sara did the fabulous drawing of Ames as the Vengeful Water Spirit.
Game Maker’s Play Test Notes – Cry Me a Pond
- What questions did your players have? Players started asking questions about the movement of the duck, especially when we started to modify the rules a bit to make the game go slower. They were also not entirely sure about the path of movement and what lily pad to go to next.
- How quickly did they learn to play? The players learned pretty quickly because a lot of it was simple discussion-based cards
- What kinds of interactions did the players have? Players engaged in really good discussions with each other, as was intended.
- What confused players? What space to move to next,
- What made players excited? The idea of the Ames water spirit card
- What did your players enjoy doing? Players seemed to enjoy answering the questions and listening to other players’ stories and answers.
Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? I think the movement more than anything, but also players didn’t like the game design-related questions as much (kind of reinforcing the concept of the game though).
Super Mario Party Jamboree – Game Review
I played this game with Amber while we were on break!
Most Frustrating Aspect?
I will say only this: The NPCs are way better and harder than they were before. But Amber ended up winning, so I was happy Rosalina LOST.
Favorite Moment or Aspect?
As a fan of the Mario Party Games, it was nice to “come back” to a game that was familiar in the basis of its mechanics, but exciting to see what is new as well. I enjoyed being able to know what I was doing, but also be pleasantly surprised by new features. I think my favorite new feature is the graphics and how Nintendo tries to keep it fresh, but also spice it up a bit. For instance, in the first few games, Bowser was pretty awful and difficult to deal with. Now he rarely shows up for the whole game, and his “Negative Prizes” are never that bad.
Anything I wanted to do that I couldn’t?
In the game, it seemed like it was easy for everyone else to get a lot of coins, and it didn’t feel like it was just luck. (I’m not good with money anyways..)
Magic want to set, control, or change anything?
Now I don’t know if this is controversial, but I believe the price of the game overall is the first step of playing it. (Obviously) but I played this game with Amber, who got it for christmas, and I really wanted the game, but I don’t have a spare $60 to drop on a game, especially now that I know someone with the game.
Improved in the next version?
I want more chaos, and I really want the game to feel super engaging in terms of fighting over things. Yes, we can fight the NPCs, but I want the game to be just as questionable of who really won as it was in the older games.
Games Message?
It’s like monopoly, but less capitalism…maybe..
Describe the game in three words:
Party, Stars, Minigames.
Educational Game Questions
- What are the challenges a team faces when working on an educational game? Each team member might have different priorities within game production. Content experts might want in depth background text, game designers want an interactive and compelling experience, while pedagogy experts believe it must be the ultimate teacher. The challenge is coordinating expertise and perspectives to create a final product that balances them all.
- In the case study team members vetoed each others game ideas, what were the scientist’s, pedagogy expert’s and designer’s issues? The game designer immediately dismissed game ideas proposed by the pedagogy expert and scientist because they did not constitute “a game.” The scientist immediately rejected many of the game designer’s ideas because the science was incorrect. The pedagogy expert didn’t like the idea of levels as it inhibited learning
- What did the team learn from play testing their prototypes?
- The scientist learned that extinct animals are not so intrinsically interesting that players will want to learn more about them naturally (solution: less educational information immediately provided rather than a lot of optional info)
- Levels were needed for motivation and maintained engagement
- A certain card mechanic was not adding to the learning benefit in replayability so it was substituted
- Reduced irrelevant information that distracted and decreased engagement
- When more customized feedback was provide to users, they felt more engaged and like they were learning more.
- How does play testing resolve conflicts among team members? Game testing is an objective way of proving what works and what does not. It actively tests each person’s perspective and proves its value.
Barrel of truth play test
Rees
1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
The fact that there wasn’t a clear enough direction with the game
2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
The fun in this game primarily came from the social aspect of finding out what everyone said about each other
3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
There wasn’t necessarily any game mechanics besides listen and write, which I can get down with but at the same time I am a sucker for something fun that still makes me think.
4. 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 try and give more prompts each round and make it so that players felt like there was more of a structure behind what was being asked, so that it didn’t feel like the moderator was just trying to make us jab at each other’s throats for no end purpose. Again, I’m okay with us jabbing at each others throats as long as there’s still a clear reasoning as to why.
5. What should be improved with the next version
Just more direction really, maybe add some more in depth mechanics. Aesthetic was cool af though.
6. What was the games message
I think the message was to see how “friendly” everyone truly is when we sabotage each other directly for no ulterior motives.
Barrel of truth play tester
1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
I wish there was a list of prompts that were decided before hand.
2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
Giving each other complements and sharing kind words
3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
I wanted to see a set of rules or at least an objective layed out
4. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
It would be cool if each player took turns prompting other players to see how much they know about them. The game we played was more of assuming things about each other other than seeing how much you know about another person and discussing it/ sparking a conversation
5. What should be improved with the next version
rules, prompts, objective
6. What was the games message
not really sure? To see what people would write down if they knew it was anonymous
Cry me a pond playtester
Questions to consider during play and answer after play.
1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
The only thing that was frustrating was when there was another dice added and it confused me. I didn’t really know what was happening then but then we went back to one.
2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
My favorite moment was when we all got to share some of our experiences with one another and relate to each other.
3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
Maybe some sort of time element when sharing experiences?
4. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
Maybe remove on the cards that all players should answer if the whole game is social and no individual card tasks.
5. What should be improved with the next version
Adding a time aspect? Arrows on the game board? I was confused what lily pad to go to next
6. What was the games message
Socializing/ sharing experiences/ relating to each other/ being supportive
7. Describe the game in 3 words.
- cute
- calm
- social