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Raft Review

I have recently been playing the game Raft heavily, and at first I believed that it was a story about characters just trying to survive. But if you follow the story line then you can see that you are actually going and saving a whole town from a villain who locked all the people up, and terrorize them. You can personalize your raft so much and it is so much fun when you play it how you’re supposed to. 10/10 I highly recommend this game so much.

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Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

I really like this game. I remember watching this on YouTube a couple years ago when I watched markiplier play games. These collaborative games are really fun. This game is really stressful and requires a lot of clear communication. I played it with my friend today and there are a lot of complicated steps to each module. We played up to 2.2 “Double your money” and we got so much better at it throughout each bomb. The module with the two dots and the maze were the hardest for us because it takes a lot of visualization for the person with the manual, trying to guide the person with the bomb through the maze without hitting any lines. I also love that there is nothing repeated. When you fail and try again, nothing is the same as it was before. 10/10 game. Would highly recommend playing with a friend. Definitely worth the 10 dollar purchase.  

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Overconsumption

Suggestions: Make game start in the middle of the board

  1. The most frustrating thing would probably be that when you start the game and you pull a backwards card, you can’t move anywhere
  2. My favorite moment would be the interesting conversations that came out of the game!
  3. I would love to see a more defined board
  4. I really think it would take a while to reach the end of the game, I would like to see maybe a timer for the coversations maybe?
  5. Putting the start in the middle
  6. To talk about how the world has overconsumption
  7. Unique, conversation starter, fun!
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Maize Runner Game

Rules:

Each player will start in a different quadrant, signified by the openings on the end of the maze.

Players will roll to see who goes first, highest number goes first, second highest goes second, etc.

Players will roll a single dice to determine how many spaces they move.

If a player rolls a 6, they get to place a wall piece to block off another players path.

If a player lands on a green dot space, you get a card to remove a wall that can be used once.

First person to the end of the maze wins the game, game can continue for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

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Week 5 – Notes, Playtests, Ideas

Game Maker’s Play Test Notes – Mindful Memorial Services

  • What questions did your players have? There weren’t a lot of questions, but they would ask each other about the requirements and what would happen with each tile. 
  • How quickly did they learn to play? They learned to play pretty quickly. The only thing that was a little difficult to get used to were the specific requirements and actions that happened with each tile, so a key would probably be helpful. 
  • What kinds of interactions did the players have? Players would influence the next player’s turns by taking up the different tiles. Players could max out the tiles, making the next person have to purchase a brand new tile. Players also would discuss about the people and their wants and needs
  • What confused players? I feel like the players didn’t really have that much confusion. 
  • What made players excited? I think players were excited when they satisfied both the deceased and the loved ones. 
  • What did your players enjoy doing? I think they enjoyed looking at the different character cards and how their needs and wants differed. 
  • Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? I think having to refer to the rules constantly frustrated players, also not being able to obtain more energy very easily so it made them not want to do cremation or human composting. 

Other playtest notes

  • clarify the way tiles are placed 
  • i think the human composting needs more benefits 
  • a way to yet more tokens
  • get more energy 
  • maybe something to mark that the tiles aren’t open when they are maxed out 
  • a key 
  • Maybe add how they died, with effects from that
    • extra card and it could effect if they get buried or cremated 
  • maybe green burial plots need to be separation 
  • maybe the green ones can’t be near a crematorium 
  • pretty easy to learn but there were a few things that they had to keep referring to

Sara’s Game Playtest – Don’t judge a book by its cover 

  • What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? The end of the game became a little bit frustrating because it was essentially just trying every possible combination until we got the whole thing right, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly frustrating to the point where it ruined the game experience. I think maybe there could be a limit on the number of tries? Either way works though. 
  • What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Because I personally had a card in the game, it was really interesting to see what other people thought was my experience and belonged to me. I also knew a few of the other cards but I didn’t reveal it to the other players so it was really interesting to see what they thought too. 
  • Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Not anything that I can think of, but maybe know a little more about the people on the cards? But I’m not sure if adding that would ruin the purpose of the game. 
  • If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I think I would make it so that anytime that anyone plays this game, they always have a connection to at least some of the people in the game (or know who they are). I think that aspect of the game made it more fun on my end. 
  • What should be improved with the next version? I feel like it’s pretty solid already ngl, but you could play around with some different potential things: having the answer on the back of the cards like those memory card games, having it be a game that is commissioned by people (maybe you have a website and you draw and send them all the cards??), maybe explore how the game can be created at a party (maybe players go to a character creator online, build themselves, and print out the cards and they can all submit their own facts/traumas), etc. 
  • Describe the game in 3 words. Thoughtful, personal, well-done!

Game ideas

  • protect our national parks – make it like the bob ross board game where there are different cards and pictures of the national parks and you must invest resources like staffing for search and rescues, trail cleanup, etc to preserve that specific national park
  • 2025 plane ride – a board game where you must navigate the treacherous landscape of riding a plane in 2025. you land on spaces and those cards can effect your plane’s ability to deal with certain conditions until you either reach your destination or crash
  • visit the national parks before it’s too late – try to travel to all the national parks or just the ones on your bucket list before the government (another player) gets to them. They will drill for oil, destroy animal habitats and biodiversity, and make the parks a much dangerous place for visitors. this could be like Battleship..
  • Giving credit where credit is due – a party or online game where people can share their accomplishments and things that they are proud of that they might not have been appreciated for or recognized from
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Game making and Testing Notes Sammy Homer

Game Making:

Players had questions on how they draw and play the cards as well as not having a back. The had fun interactions mostly with the interacting cards. People were confused with the setup and when their turn is over. Additionally, people were confused on what every card means and were the discard pile is. They were excited when they got their animal card or stealing another’s animal. They also enjoyed swapping hands with each other. It frustrated players to have a lot of cards in their hand and not being able to play a card if they want to draw.

Play Testing:

Spoons with action

I was frustrated when I could never notice people taking the human making me loss a life. I think a better way is to yell it out if taking it (or faking it). My favorite aspect would be having lives to begin with as well as the action cards.

Chess with cards:

The most frustrating aspect of the game is having to many move away cards while my favorite part is playing chess itself. I think maybe having more cards that deal with playing the game normally would help things up.

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Daria Komarova, Sarah Juristy -Game Idea visualization.

The game is very similar to Candy Land, but the theme is bugs and has different actions! Each person has a statue bug that will play across the board and face challenges. With the dice, you will roll the number you will walk the blocks to get to the end of the board to win. On some blocks, the ant will lose a leg and to return it you’ll have to get to the middle of the board the “picnic”. If you lose all the legs and don’t recover you lose.

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Sara Estus – Playtest Review “Mindful Memorial Services” by Amber Holt

First, I want to say this is a clever and thought-out game. Amber is always very thorough with game rules and mechanics, and tying her abilities into something she is passionate about, like sustainability.

1.) What was most the frustrating moment or aspect?

I kept trying to guess what the deceased and the family wanted incorrectly in terms of burial type and I lost all my hearts mid-game. I did still end up winning the game somehow, but feeling like you have no chance to win is always not a great feeling.

2.) What was your favorite moment or aspect?

I loved the similarities in the game tiles being like Takenoko with the hexagonal tiles, and my favorite aspect was having to try and match with how the deceased and family wanted to be buried. Having a luck factor, along with trying to determine needs based on the few words stated on the cards was very enjoyable.

3.) Was there anything you wanted to do but couldn’t?

In terms of gameplay, I wouldn’t say there was anything in particular, but for organization, I wish there was a way to place the deceased cards into the tiles without having to put them in big piles as only a certain amount can fit in each plot.

4.) If you had a magic wand to wave, and could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?

After the gameplay, we discussed that it would be interesting to have another card pile that included ways people have died, that way it changed the desires of the deceased a bit, like if they passed in a fire, they likely wouldn’t want to be cremated.

5.) What should be improved for the next version?

I’ve always been a big fan of Amber’s art so I’m excited to see what style she decides to take the game. And as I said above, adding new cards like we discussed would be cool!

6.) What is the games message?

“Green Disposition”

7.) Describe the game in three words

Sustainability, Macabre, Desires

Thank you Amber for letting me playtest your game! I’m excited to see where it goes!

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play test for Don’t judge a book by its cover – sara

  1. the most frustrating aspect of this game was not having a lot of information to go off of to categorize people because in todays age it is normal to try and not judge people by how they look by having so little info forces us to make the decisions that society tells us we shouldn’t make.
  2. my favorite moments were the debating between players, hearing the reasons that people put i quote with a person was very entertaining at times, especially when its with the people we know that are in the game.
  3. no it wisent missing anything that i wanted to do.
  4. i wouldn’t add or remove anything to be honest. i feel like it was a fully finished game.
  5. a better way for people to know if they have gotten the correct pairings so sara doesn’t have to sit and be the game master.
  6. empathy, it was illustrating how easy it is to categorize people and make assumptions but it shows us how easy it can be to miss categorize someone based on age gender and looks.
  7. empathy, intriguing, simple.

Ambers game

  1. not knowing if the people you are choosing a method of being put to rest that they want but that is the whole point of the game it is supposed to be a challenge to make these decisions.
  2. having diverse amount of ways to be put to rest and finding out you can be composted.
  3. no, i feel everything was well balanced.
  4. nothing
  5. i feel like it was perfect.
  6. the games message was to inform people about death and processes you can take and to also show how sometimes their is disconnect between loved ones and the deceased.