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Review 1 – Lego

After reading Chapter 1 of “Don’t Make Me Think”, I learned a lot about the strategies eCommerce sites use. I explored these this weekend when I visited Lego.com.

I was looking for the Rapunzel tower build from Tangled. When I was first brought to this page, I was greeted by a Lego City Stuntz set. This took up about the top third of the page, and it had a “shop now” button that would take me directly to all Lego City sets. Underneath of this was a featured set of products labeled “Recommended for You”, but I think they were just the most recent products to be released. However, the first one in the lineup was a Lego Star Wars advent calendar, which is something I could potentially be interested in purchasing.

Scrolling down the page, underneath of the recommended sets were Bestseller, Fun Family Builds, Offers and Promotions, and Featured Sets. All of these were great and eye catching, but I was ready to look for the tower I came here to find.  Above the Lego City Stuntz set, there was a yellow bar with the Lego logo in the top left corner. Over to the right I found the search bar. I pressed it and all I typed in was “tangled”. The very first search result was exactly what I was looking for. I gathered that since it is the only Tangled set, it was followed by other Disney sets, most likely some the website would tink I could potentially be interested in. It made me laugh because the set immediately following it was a Minnie and Mickey camping set, which I got as a gift for my birthday this weekend. It must know me scarily well or something.

I could have pressed on my Tangled set to look at it more closely, but since I knew I wanted it, I simply hovered over the product and was able to select Add to Bag (or Add to Wishlist). I clicked “Add to Bag”, which prompted another screen. Here, I could select “Continue Shopping” or “View my Bag”. Since this was all I came to buy, I selected “View my Bag”. I thought it was very helpful that it gave me that option, so that I could go directly to checkout. If I did not want to select either of those options, I also could have closed out of that pop up with an “X” in the top right corner. But now, I was at checkout. It was time to whip out the credit card and give my money away to Disney Lego for a birthday present from me to me, just what any twenty-one year old would want, right?

I could see the contents of my online shopping cart on the left side, and on the right side I found the checkout options. There was a spot where I could add any promotional codes I may have, but unfortunately, I did not have any, so I clicked on “Checkout Securely”. I do have an account but in the spirit of simplicity, I chose an option to checkout as a guest. I added in my shipping information. I then proceeded to add in my contact information, along with my payment information. It was all very straightforward and I could see all the steps at the same time, which I appreciated.

I was able to checkout securely and purchase my Tangled tower with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. What else could a girl ask for? It was all very simple and I loved the website, it was so bright and colorful and featured so many things on the home screen but when it was time to find what I wanted, it was very simple and even gave me suggestions of products after the one I was looking for, without taking anything away or seeming too excessive. All in all, I would totally recommend this website to shoppers and will continue visiting in the future.

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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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Review 1-Rightstuffanime.com

The website I chose to do is rightstuffanime.com. I’m a huge manga collector and sometimes, Barnes and Noble doesn’t have the book I’m looking for, so I head to right stuff anime to buy manga. Although I use it mainly for manga it offers multiple other products like CDs, figures, games, and apparel.

When you first open the site it usually always has a pop-up that offers 10% off your order if you give them your email. The homepage of the site shows the search bar promptly placed in the top middle of the site and under it has the different categories of items you can shop for. It’s nice that when you hover your cursor over each category, it underlines that subject so you as the user know for sure that you can click on it. Under the categories, it has a small slide show that shows the deals for the week or weekend and then offers new items coming. As you scroll down you can see other featured and popular items. If you scroll to the bottom they have a plethora of different links that are categorized with “Let us help you”, “Get to know us”, “Just the FAQs”, and “The fun stuff”. I feel this is important to a website because if customers have questions on returns or other items they can easily scroll down and find where to go. 

The color scheme of this website is red, white, and blue, although blue is less predominant than red and white. While clicking on the manga category it has a drop-down menu that allows you to choose whether you want to shop by genre or book categories. This is a good thing to add because shopping online for books can be difficult and overwhelming, having it already broken down can help the user ask fewer questions and be easy to follow. I then chose the manga and it loaded up a page where you can look at all the different options they offer. It states how many products there are and on the left side, it allows the user to narrow down their search. For example, it shows different authors, themes, what’s in stock, and other deals they are having. Above the books it also allows the user to choose how many books are shown on each page and how you would like it organized to allow the experience to be easier.

While looking at the books it first shows the front cover of the book and has the title right below it. This is useful since many people like to skim over a page and it’s easier for them to look at pictures than read the title. Below that it shows the rating of the book, then shows a retail price and what the site’s price is. This is a good decision because it makes the user think/know they are getting a good deal and they are saving money by buying off this site instead of competitors. However, with the rating, it seems most books don’t have a rating and it might be more beneficial to remove the stars to create more space. Below the price it allows you to select the quantity and add it to the cart, right below that shows whether the item is in stock, some items are out of stock and expecting more, and pre-orders with the date it will ship out. Once you click add to cart, it has a pop-up of what you added with all the item’s information and then provides two separate options of whether you would like to view your cart and check out or continue shopping. The view your cart is a red button which matches the color scheme and the continue shopping is a white button with a black outline and has its letters the color blue which also matches. If you hover over the red button it deepens its color to show you on top of it and for the white button, it flips the colors making the button blue and the text white. 

If you decided to keep looking and chose to continue shopping, it takes you right back to where you were while browsing. In the right-hand corner of the site, it shows a picture of a shopping cart and the number of items you have. This is a good design because it saves on space as well as is easy to see. Also, it would take more time for a user to read out the shopping cart whereas having a picture clearly states what it is. Also what works is if you hover over the shopping cart it has a small drop-down menu of what’s inside. This also saves time for the user instead of clicking on it. When you get to the checkout menu it gives the description of each book you selected on the left and on the right it gives you your subtotal and allows you to enter any promo codes. I appreciate how this website allows you to put in the promo code before you move to your payment to see the total before entering your card information. Afterward,  you would enter all your personal and shipping information. 

Furthermore, rightstuffanime.com proves to be user-friendly. Although it has a ton of products, it makes browsing its website easy to understand for all ages. The navigation element is made with the options of different categories and labeled icons. Most sites like this can be overwhelming and this site tackles that with clearly labeled icons and a clean crisp look. It doesn’t have any weird or super bright colors and doesn’t have any distracting pictures plastered everywhere. 

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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.
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Week 2- Thoughts on gloom munchkin and love letter

I wasn’t a fan of gloom munchkin, mostly because I thought the game rules were too complicated and a lot was going on before starting the game. However, I enjoyed the love letter. I feel this game was straight to the point and was easy to follow. It also seemed to get more competitive when other players started to collect the tokens of affection. I also enjoyed how each round of this game could either go fast or slow. As well as determining how fast you can be out of a round, there were some times I was out on my first turn and then there were others when I made It to just me and another player.

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Week 3- Game Ideas

  1. Farmland is a lifestyle game in which the farmers have to have the best farm by selling crops and upgrading their tools throughout the game.
  2. Peepers is a mystery game in which a group of teens tries to solve a mystery about a student who went missing, by collecting evidence through the game while being watched by a killer. 
  3. Choices is an action-adventure game in which cave explorers have to work together to try to get out of the cave by strategizing ways on picking certain paths.
  4. Sunken is a puzzle game in which the crew members work together to try and escape a sunken ship by solving puzzles quickly enough.
  5. The island is a survival game in which crash survivors work together to survive and create a way to call for help by using anything that is provided from the island and plane crash. 
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Week 3- Thoughts on pandemic

I actually quite enjoyed this game and want to buy it for myself. The metaphor it used was fighting off infections and trying to stop the spread as well as find a cure. I liked how this game made you work together and try to strategies the best way to clear the diseases. At first, my group almost completely failed since we only cured one disease but the second time we played we got the hang of how the game worked and we started to read more about the characters we were playing and chose which ones would be best to try to beat the game. We still ended up losing but we ended up curing three diseases which were further than the first time.

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Card Game Ideas

  1. drinking game – win by 5 alcohol shots, each number card has questions attached in rules, and associated alcoholic, water or disgusting beverage.
  2. bocce ball throwing cards – win by being first to get three closest to joker card, each card has unique ability (retrieve card, draw another card, move card back two feet, forward two feet, etc.
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Week 2 Reading Questions

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

When being a size of a nanometer, the game would be fun to make everything around you life size, as if you were looking at the world from an ants perspective. Given these circumstances, adding game mechanics such as a point system or levels that revolve around you avoiding larger obstacles could be a fun concept.

  • Who are you making games for?

This answer varies depending on the game concept and objective of the game. You design a game based on mechanics and rules, and the audience you’re designing for follows.

  • Who will be your play testers outside of class?

My teammates and friends can be play testers. Given their inexperience with art or game design at all, they will be a good, non-biased group to use for testing.

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

Yes, a game like rock, paper, scissors is so simple that you don’t have to refer to the rules. Everyone knows how to play because there is only three options and you can use the game to decide millions of circumstances.

  • How do you define what a game is?

You define a game by the rules, objective and mechanics that provide its structure.

  • What features can make your games more intuitive?

Features such as color or symbols can make a game more intuitive. It provides the user with a visual representation of good and bad or what to do vs what not to do.

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

My gateway game was probably five crowns. It is a card game that uses more then the usual amount of cards in a typical deck, and makes you really think about strategy and dealing with luck. Once you keep playing, you pick it up really quick and want to keep playing.

  • What features do gateway games share?

Gateway games are easy for a beginner to pick up and play, allowing them to lose their game virginity so to speak. These types of games allow someone to be introduced into a complex world with a simplistic approach.

  • What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?

As stated in the reading, the 10 beautiful game mechanics are Kingmaker’s 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, Mississippi Queen’s Paddlewheels, Time’s Up!’s Communication Breakdown, and Dominion’s Constant Shuffling. I think with our own game, there shouldn’t be one specific thing you should aim for, but rather try to implement a little bit of each mechanic into your game. These mechanics are carefully thought out so that the user is constantly thinking and strategizing. This is one key to a good game.

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

For games such as my gateway game, or in games such as Uno, luck can heavily influence the outcome of a game. However, strategy with said luck is maybe even more important. You have no control over what cards you get, but you do have control over the game mechanics, which cards you do have, and the communication or potential influence on players around you.

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Week 2 questions

1-1 the players must get x number of card or an item to return to normal size

1-2 myself, friends, family

1-3 my roommates

2-1 connect 4 and uno

2-2 a game is anything you can play that has rules and is meant to be fun

2-3 can add in a randomization mechanic

3-1 a gate way game is any game that gets people interested in playing more games. The game I use is uno or connect 4

3-2 they share ease of learning, themed, luck, length, replay ability, originality, not complex

4 kingmaker’s 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, Mississippi queens paddlewheels, time’s up’s communication breakdown, dominion’s constant shuffling. For my own games it should be something that dramatically changes the way the game is played.

5 luck and strategy both are important for example in an RTS one strategy is to build a balanced army. The luck comes into play when first contact is made as you do not know what you will be facing. In that moment all of the preplanning you did could be undone.

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Card Game Ideas

Zombie Blitz

The playing of rapid fire Fluxx gave me the idea for a Zombie card game. In a round everyone’s turn would be timed, so you have to prepare as quickly as you can for the zombie blitz. At the end of the round the zombie’s attack, so you better hope you made the right preparation choices.

I’m Cookin’

I envision this a card game where you collect different foods/ingredients to complete the recipe card you picked at the beginning of the game. Whoever collects all their food first wins. I think a fun mechanic would be that food can go bad if you hold onto it for too long. It needs fleshing, but it’s getting there.

Butterfly Effect

A time travel card game. Players pick up historical events and debate on whether or not to take action to change them. Once players make the decision they draw the effect card. They have to be careful because one thing could change their entire world. This idea needs a lot more work.

Tame The Dragon

Based upon our continuous love of dragons we brought from 4D I was thinking about a card game in which players face off against different creatures gaining more animal handling skills until they feel like they are ready to tame a dragon. The player to tame a dragon first is the winner.

Dino Dream

Live as one amongst dinosaurs in the Jurassic era. Form bonds and friendships with different kinds of dinosaurs, and learn about how they used to live and survive.

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Card Game Ideas

  • A speed based card game that’s played by going around the group in a circle, and taking (quick) turns attempting to lay any matching set of three in a row in the middle. The player who lays down the final matching card is the one who get’s the set, so you have to be smart about what cards you lay down and which ones you hold on to. It is also possible to void, block, and swap cards that are laid out on the table depending on what cards you pick up. Whichever player has the most matching sets of three at the end is the winner.

  • A humor based card game similar to Cards Against Humanity, where players are dealt a series of cards with funny phrases, words, and fill in the blanks. Players go around the group and take turns laying down cards to create a story/sentence. The only catch is players aren’t allowed to speak or make noise. If a player does vocally react then they are out of the game, and a new round starts. This goes until there’s only one player standing.  

  • Slasher – a card game where each player is thrown into the role of a horror film protagonist with multiple killers coming after them. Players are dealt a hand of cards that will act as the key to their survival, and help them defeat, escape, or kill the slashers (all worth varying points). There are 4 total sections of this game, acting as different parts of the night. The goal of the game is to survive until the end of the night (all four sections), and earn as many points as you can.  

  • Deception – a trading based card game where each player is aiming to collect four of a kind, while not letting the other players catch on. It’s more or less a version of go fish where you’re allowed and encouraged to lie about which cards are in your hand. As long as you don’t get caught. If another player catches you in a lie you have to forfeit whatever cards you were lying about and then the entire game is down a set of four.

  • Paparazzi – a card game where the goal is to collect as many celebrity picture cards as you can. Except the more pictures you collect, the harder they get to “take”. Players are thrown into wacky scenarios (sometimes at each others hand) and it is up to them and their cards to navigate a way out without losing their opportunity to take a picture card.  
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Week 2 Discussion & Questions

5 Game Ideas that can be played using Cards:

  • Memory Game: For this game players would lay out all cards onto a table face down. Each player would then pick two cards and try to get a match, the player with the most matches by the end win.
  • Building Game: Players would have a certain amount of time to try to construct the biggest house of cards they can. The player with the biggest house of cards by the time limit wins.
  • BattleCards: The game would play similar to Battleship, but players would use King, Queen and Joker cards as their ‘ships’. Players would guess where in the card layout the enemy player placed these cards, the player who guesses all the locations first wins.
  • Guess Who?: Card Edition: Players would get a random card out of a deck and then take turns asking questions about the other players card to try to figure out which they have. The first player to guess correctly wins.
  • 52 Pick Up: The entire deck of cards will be thrown onto the ground, then players will take turns picking up 1-3 cards. The person to pick up the last card loses.

Thoughts on Games Played Last Week:

  • Gloom Munchkin: As a fan of the original Munchkin game, this version was not as enjoyable for me. The game felt too linear the entire time and it felt like the game wrapped up too quickly and suddenly. I also never got invested into the mechanics of the game like I would while playing the original Munchkin.
  • Love Letter: While I wasn’t sold on the game at first, I started to get more into it as I became more familiar with how it worked. The game is rather simple at face value, but as other players started to gain ‘affection’ it started to become a mind game on how to stop those players from winning and finding the chance to get closer to victory for myself.

Kobold Guide to Game Design: Part 2 Questions:

  • 1a. If we were able to play a game where we are all a nanometer tall, I think an interesting mechanic would be to utilize the fact that everything is now bigger than us now. Examples of this could be exploring the area around us in a new way or climbing things that used to be way smaller than us.
  • 1b. When designing games it is best to aim for a target audience, which can be just about any group. The easiest way to find this specific target audience is to design a game that you personally would find fun and make it for the audience that you fit into.
  • 1c. Outside of those in our class, I plan to have my friends and or family play-test any game I create as I know I can trust their opinions.
  • 2a. I might have had to refer to the rules way back, but I never remember a time I had to look at the rules of Uno. Uno has always been a game I feel I just understood how to play and the cards make it fairly clear what each one does.
  • 2b. A game can be defined by these three points: Mechanics and rules, Pieces and graphics, and theme.
  • 2c. You can make your game design more intuitive by adding a variety of aspects: Color, Form, Size, etc.
  • 3a. I would say my gateway game would be Monopoly, this is the game I can remember the most from my childhood and one of the game I remember playing the most. In order to get others into gaming I feel something simple is best so it’s easy for them to get the feel for it. I think a game like Uno can be a good simple way to introduce someone to gaming, it is easy to learn and can show how gaming can be competitive as well.
  • 3b. Gateway games tend to share these qualities: Ease of Learning, Theme, Lack of Complexity, Interactivity, Luck, Duration, Originality, and Replay Value.
  • 4. The 10 Beautiful Mechanics are:
  • Kingmaker’s 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
  • Mississippi Queen’s Paddlewheels
  • Time’s Up!’s Communication Breakdown
  • Dominion’s Constant Shuffling
  • When it comes time for me design my own mechanics I want to aim to have the mechanics be something that leave the players satisfied and overall happy with their experience.
  • 5. Luck in games adds a sense of randomness and always gives a feeling of suspense and excitement for the player. Strategy allows the player to make choices and plan ahead to give them a sense of satisfaction.