Tag: game design

Alana Tush

Game rules

• Photos of:
  • the game when setup 
  • details of the pieces
  • glass beads (blue and white) and cards
  • Cards

any design iterations – changes to the board, cards or pieces

• There were many versions of the cards, which I only have the final because I was working on the same illustrator document. I got blue glass beads for the food, and later bought white glass beads to switch out when the animal is fully fed. So i added that after play test An overview of changes made
• I changed that the players can look at their cards before they put them down, instead of putting them down like a game of war where it is a mystery.
• Your thoughts and lessons learned from play testing 
• The game makes a lot more sense to me because I’ve been thinking about it and making the rules than it does to someone that has never seen the game before. It takes more time to learn.

We have not made any changes after this original prototype.

If I were to make further iterations of this, I would make minor mechanics tweaks and then enhance the design. First, I would add the ability to trade in useless resources for one players want at a 4:1 ratio. I would also add the ability to collect your teammates lives for them (but if they are dead they stay dead). Next, I would specify that a player does not need to roll the exact number to land in their teams home and place resources. Other than that, all changes would be cosmetic. I would flip “The Birds” and “nest” so it would be facing the birds team. I would make the board out of a thicker material and all of the spaces would be indented for the resource pieces to fit in like a puzzle. The resource pieces would be hexagonal. Perhaps the Player Icons could be little birds and beavers.

The game worked very well. Mechanics worked and the game was cute. With these minor tweaks, it would be a great game! I would be interested in taking it further.

Alana Tush 

Game- To feed or not to feed

Players- Boyfriends Family

What questions did your players have?

• In this play test the players wanted to learn as we went instead of reviewing the rules, so they had many questions about who one the hand, when rounds were over, and how the feeding worked.

How quickly did they learn to play?

• After a few hands, they got the hang of how to play.

What kinds of interactions did the players have?

• My boyfriend and his mom are very competitive and they both try to accuse each other of cheating all the time, so there was a lot of conversation.

What confused players?

• At first, all the different numbers and sections on the cards was confusing to them, but they learned. 

What made players excited?

• There were many rounds where one player didn’t win an animal, so they were frustrated but got excited when they finally won an animal.

What did your players enjoy doing?

• We enjoyed taking the food for the animals and placing it on the cards, and once they were fully fed, switching the blue beads out for one white one.  

Did any aspect of the game frustrate players?

• When there were many hands where one person didn’t win.

Alana Tush

Game- To feed or not to feed

Players- Parents

What questions did your players have?

• After they reviewed the rules and we started playing, they had questions about which spot on the cards were the strength meter and which part of the card was rewarding and feeding food. I directed them back to the rules where there is a diagram of the card with labels.

How quickly did they learn to play?

• After a few minutes, everyone got the hang of it. It went pretty quickly.

What kinds of interactions did the players have?

• my dad was really into the competitiveness of winning the strongest animal and was smack talking me and my mom.

What confused players?

• At first, all the different numbers and sections on the cards was confusing to them, but they learned.

What made players excited?

• We all got excited when we won the strongest animal and when it was fully fed.

What did your players enjoy doing?

• We enjoyed counting up the fully fed animals at the end to see how many points we got

Did any aspect of the game frustrate players?

• When someone kept an animal and could not discard it when they couldn’t feed it.

The changes I made included adding a timer and a way of tracking points.

If I were to move forward with this prototype, I would add a new way of tracking points, a solution for ties, and another randomizing factor. I would probably make a “viral meter” where players could track their points and the first to get to the end goes viral and wins. The total amount of points needed to win would need to be tested but I would start with 100 points. For ties, I need to specify in the rules what happens. I would begin by saying that both players keep their cards. If that doesn’t seem fair after play testing, then the higher valued hashtag card wins. Finally, another randomizing factor may help differentiate this game from other similar party card games. I was thinking of having a “trend” spinner. On this spinner could be topics that match the hashtags. This spinner would be spun each round. If you play a hashtag that matches the trend, the points could be doubled.

Overall, the game mechanics worked and the post cards were funny. The format of the caption cards makes it incredibly versatile for a wide spectrum of age groups and provides a replayable experience. While I think it could be a fun game with these changes made, I am more interested in moving forward with other prototypes.

we cooked

Players create a group chat through text messages or any application they want. The player who spends the most time on their phone is the first prompter. The draw a prompt card from the deck and copy it exactly into the group chat. As soon as the message is sent, all other players race to type and send the exact message back to the group chat. The first to do so end gets the card as a point. If there is an issue, the first message to pop up on the promoters end wins the point. They then become the next prompter. Each player may only send one message per prompt. If they are incorrect, they are disqualified from the round. If no one is correct, the prompter draws another card and repeats the process. The first player to get 4 points wins.

I played this game I believe two weeks ago and the executions where done right but I feel like if you wanted to you could add the actual pictures of the sharks with the typed out fun facts(and yes I understand that this was a first draft of the game) or possibly adding a diverse selection of sharks that are more obscure species for those who know more about the marine life so they can also test themselves and see what they know about that specific species of shark. I would love to see an updated version of this!!!

BEAN GAME

I played this game (I forget how to spell it but it was the bean game)

Was it fun?

It was 100% fun after we learned how to play it haha

What were the player interactions?

the trading aspect was the main one and we all added accents and made it even more fun to play.

How long did it take to learn?

the initial game more than likely took us about 10 min to fully understand

Would you play it again?

Yes now that I have the knowledge to play it effectively I feel I can truly embrace the full effect of the game.

(I believe the game was dominion)

1. Was it fun?
   • at first it was hard to understand the game but after we all figured it out it was a blast
2. What were the player interactions?
   • The main interactions that I remember us having where just “negotiating” where to put tile pieces to help eachother out.
3. How long did it take to learn?
   • This game probably took us about 20/25 minutes to get the general consept of the game down.
4. Would you play it again?
   • I would 100% play this game again
5. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
   • The three act structure of this game that I would say is in play is the drawing phase, the placing phase and finally the point gain phase I believe (more than likely wrong with that one haha)
6. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
   • one of the collaborative aspects is the fact that we would negotiate with eachother where we should put some of our tiles so that we can help eachother out in the long run. one of the competitive ascpects of this game is in all honesty the same as the collaborative aspect due to you having to choose to help people or help yourself which I found really fun.
7. What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
   • In all honesty I don’t know what this games metaphore is but one of the mechanics that sticks out to me the most is the gardening aspect and how you can gain a multitude of points by placing just one piece on the board.