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class one questions and assignments

Getting over it

i have seen many people play getting over it and have gotten the feeling of second hand annoyance and anger with the narrator and finicky game mechanics. Its a fun way to frame and test peoples patience. i personally don’t think i will ever play this game.

Game ideas

  1. you have an egg and you just sit and rub it so it stays warm. once you hit a randomized amount of rubes or time of rubbing you can get a random chicken or a dinosaur, or any animal that hatches out of eggs then you can feed the animals.
  2. flipping a coin and then you get a coin after every flip.
  3. use augmented reality so you can collect the objects and people and other things around you and you get points for getting things.
  4. just having a drop of water on a table and you can move it around and also add water with rain or other things and take it away as well.
  5. the indominable human spirit – have an AI come up with ways to to end the human race or just kill the player and you the player have to come up with ways to survive as the AI keeps trying to kill you.

Questions

  1. Ian brought a lot of the time wasting and reframing of skill to mindless play to even having more of an incentive to pay money to get out of having to play the game. in cow clicker you aren’t really playing in the way most people think about playing a game. it takes no skill at all to click on the screen or a mouse to make things happen its like sitting and refreshing your email in hopes to see something new.
  2. making games like Farmville rely on friends speed up process and progress makes friends less of fiends and more of a resource. when you have more friends you can get things from them and the game awards you to have as many “friends” as you can.
  3. compulsion is the biggest reason why social gams can erode your time away from the game. the time it takes in between things can get in your head and cause you to focused more on when the next time you need to click or collect or feed something you cant think of other things. you will sit and get on an off the game hoping to the thing the timer is counting down to is done.
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Endless Game Ideas- Colin Kenny

Group: Gideon, Kelsey, Colin

  1. A computer game where you play as a drop of water on a table. You move around trying to gain mass and spread out.
  2. An AI powered game where you type in a scenario of your version of “the best day ever”, and it is the AI’s job to respond every time with a way to ruin it.
  3. A digital game where you play as an annoyed landlord who must keep fixing the stupid tenants’ problems.
  4. A phone game similar to Pokemon Go where you use a LiDAR Scanner to “collect” objects in the real world which can range from rocks to chairs to devices to locations and statues. Every item is worth a point value for a competitive league, or you can play on your own and just have a personal collection.
  5. An idle game similar to Cookie Clicker where you rub an egg with your computer mouse or on your touchscreen to hatch a bird. Alternatively, you spin a coin to gain money and upgrade it to more valuable coins such as a penny, then a nickel, then a dime, then a quarter, then a silver dollar, then a gold coin, etc.
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Game Design 2

Week 1 – Motivation

Group: Connor and Rees

5 Never-ending game ideas:

  • Conveyors grab n bag – Grab items that move along a conveyor…You have a list to follow, and you have to pick the right items to choose to bag from the conveyor. You can pick rare items, earning extra points. Patience is a virtue, and your points are based on how long you choose to play.
  • Grass Grower – You are a grass farmer, growing different types of grass. you watch the grass grow, and when it gets too long you cut it. You can continue to upgrade the grass while planting different grass types. Your grass will always grow, even when you are AFK.
  • 7-Impossi-roll – You are given a 6-sided dice, and your objective is to roll a 7. The game never ends, but you can upgrade your dice the more you roll (different colors and details, endlessly hoping to roll a 7. The number of times you roll is tracked to show dedication.
  • Ant Antics – You are a part of a colony of ants, and you must maintain the food supply and grow your colony. If you run out of food, you move to the next tree. Each tree will always have a start amount of food supply, but you need to make it last before moving onto the next tree.
  • College Builder – You build and customize a college campus. This is a sandbox game, in which you can always expand upon the campus while building food courts, stadiums, classrooms, etc.

Week 1 questions:

  1. What are the issues Ian Bogost raises about social games with Cow Clicker?
    • Ian gives a list of issues that social games inhibit, such as enframing, compulsion, optionalism, and destroyed time. These factors, Ian believes, pose as a negative influence on the future of games. Along with these factors, Ian believes that the outward obsession social games inflict are tricks to disguise themselves as fruitfulness.
  2. How do social games like FarmVille enframe friends?
    • In social games, friends aren’t really friends. People are considered to be resources, not for the player but for the game developer. Ian touches upon the point that social networks in general serve as “enframing apparatuses,” in the sense that people are things that will do what you want when you need them.
  3. How do social games destroy time outside of the game?
    • The destruction of time revolves around the demand of “grinding” in order to reach new heights. Tens or even hundreds of hours in order to complete something can be enticing, giving the player the initiative to be the best. However, social games destroy the time we spend away from them. This includes obligation, worry, and dread over the missed opportunities of grinding.

Thoughts on what we played in class (Townscaper)

I think that Townscaper is a generally relaxing game, promoting creative expression with a calming atmosphere. The concept is simple, and so are the controls. Only by clicking, you can transform a vast wasteland of water into a thriving village. One thing I will criticize that Professor Ames’ daughter mentioned was the fact that there are no people walking around. It would be interesting to see how people interact with the transforming environment around them. I wonder if this game could inspire architectural projects. Very farfetched, but maybe this game could layout an idea for an inspiring architect. I like the diversity in creativity the game projects, including color, building types and even tiny gardens. I’d say Townscaper is a nice time-killer.

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Townscaper Review

  • Was it fun? Yes, this game is fun and relaxing. I enjoy being able to freely design my own town even with the limited mechanics. The best part is the noises that it makes when you add a section to your town. 
  • What were the player interactions? This game doesn’t really have any player interactions. 
  • How long did it take to learn? Like a minute MAX. This game is very simple, it is just clicking to place something and holding to remove something. You also have the choice to change the colors of the sections you add,. There are a few features that you are able to change that I didn’t notice at first—including changing the angle of the light source and adding a grid to better visualize where you place buildings. 
  • Would you play it again? Yes, I would. This isn’t the kind of game where I would spend hours upon hours captivated by it, but it is something I will definitely revisit when I’m having difficulty sleeping or am stressed. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The 3 act structure of the game is difficult to determine as this is a game that is very much play at your own pace and quit at anytime you decide. However, I would say that the first act begins as you load up the first world and begin placing and taking away buildings and “blocks”. The second act would often include when you start developing a “plan” to create the city that you want and you get ideas of how you can use the different combinations of building heights and colors to create something unique. The third act would be when you decide that your build is worthy of being “completed” or want to restart and begin a new town. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game doesn’t really have specific collaborative or competitive aspects since it is a single player game. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is that you are the “builder” and designer of a town in the middle of the ocean. The standout mechanic to me is the ability to change the way that your town looks by changing the color or light source angle. I also like how when you put certain buildings next to each other, they automatically combine and make unique shaped buildings. I particularly like making balconies. 
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Week 1

Getting Over It review: This game was incredibly frustrating to me. I might have missed it, but is there a backstory to why he is in a pot? Why isn’t he using the sledgehammer to smash the pot he is in? Does he even want to be out of the pot? IDK. I was annoyed that the narrator was rambling, but when he stopped, I missed having something to listen to other than the hitting of a rock. My body was very tense watching the game being played.

Pain station thoughts: I can see what draws people to play this game, but it’s weird at the same time. Is kind of a form of punishment when you do something wrong, but also it’s fun. It’s like touching your tongue to a 9V battery; you know it’s going to send a shock, but you’re anticipating it. (Am I the only one who did this?)

Townscaper review: I can see why this is entertaining, creating stories of who might reside at the houses you are building, but at a certain point I think I’d get bored. I guess that’s what the game is all about: close it and restart another day when you remember the game exists. The sound effects are amazing.

Fair Food Maker review: OMG! I thought this was the best game ever when I was a kid. Tori mentioned playing this game, and I got flashes of memories of this game that I could sort of remember, but I wasn’t positive. You basically select a machine you would see at a fair and make the food. Ex.: lemonade, funnel cake, snow cone, corn dog, etc. This game has no end state; you make the foods and eat them, and you can start over with another food or be done.

Slither.io review: This is another example of a game without an explicit end state. I still love this game and play it to occupy my short attention span. You collect food, grow bigger, and eventually die. Then you start again. There is no progress saved other than a past high score. Every time you die, you start new, as small as everyone else when they start.

What are the issues Ian Bogost raises about social games with Cow Clicker?

  • Enframing- friends are resources
  • Compulsion- psychological manipulation, exploiting human psychology in order to make money
  • Optionalism- the game’s meaning comes from the choices a player makes; gameplay is optional
  • Destroyed Time- “Social games so covet our time that they abuse us while we are away from them, through obligation, worry, and dread over missed opportunities.” It’s the disrespect of time that we could be being more productive, other than wasting it on a game.

How do social games like FarmVille enframe friends?

  • Friends are used as perks. “Get 100 coins by inviting 1 friend”

How do social games destroy time outside the game?

  • “Social games so covet our time that they abuse us while we are away from them, through obligation, worry, and dread over missed opportunities.” It’s the disrespect of time that we could be being more productive, other than wasting it on a game.

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Week 1 Questions

  • Questions
    • What are the issues Ian Bogost raises about social games with Cow Clicker?

His issues were Inframing, Compulsion, Optionalism, and Destroyed time.

  • How do social games like FarmVille enframe friends?

They make it so that friends arent really your friends they are just resourses for you to help yourself and the game developer.

  • How do social games destroy time outside of the game?

In the article Bogot says “Social games so covet our time that they abuse us while we are away from them, through obligation, worry, and dread over missed opportunities.”

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Week 1 Questions and Reviews

Week 1 Questions

  • What are the issues Ian Bogost raises about social games with Cow Clicker? In this article, Bogost specifically lists 4 issues that he has with social games—enframing, compulsion, optionalism, and destroyed time. Enframing is basically like turning your friends and family into a resource that can be exploited by both you and the game developer. For compulsion, Bogost claims that social games prey on humanity’s compulsiveness and how we can easily become obsessed with something, such as a game like Cow Clicker or FarmVille. Optionalism is something that Bogost explains is having the option to actually “play” the game. FarmVille is based on waiting on crops, but you can get rid of that part by just spending your real money. You don’t really have to do much to actually advance in the game. Finally, Bogost claims that social games destroy your time as there isn’t really an objective, it is an endless cycle of playing a rather meaningless game that makes you feel bad when you stop playing it. 
  • How do social games like FarmVille enframe friends? Social games like FarmVille enframe friends by getting you to invite friends to the game so that you can get certain perks or more resources in the game to your benefit. In fact, Bogost states in the article, “In social games, friends aren’t really friends; they are mere resources”. This also helps get more people into the game, it helps build a network that can make the game become “viral”. 
  • How do social games destroy time outside of the game? Social games are neverending, and so, essentially, an infinite amount of time could be spent playing them. Bogost says, “Social games so covet our time that they abuse us while we are away from them, through obligation, worry, and dread over missed opportunities.” Anytime spent away from the game is time wasted where you could be increasing your level on the game, and increasing your progress. It doesn’t help if it is on a game such as Facebook, you can also see some of your friends’ levels and achievements, which may make you feel bad for stepping away from the game.

Bang! Game Review Part 2  

  • Was it fun? Replaying Bang was so much fun, although I played with my family and it took them a little bit to get a hang of the rules and mechanics. It also sucks because I was the first one out, but I still really enjoyed watching them play and rooting for the other outlaws to follow through. 
  • What were the player interactions? Players put other players in jail, shot them, commenced duels, as well as stole cards from each other and forced others to discard cards. My favorite player interaction is when we kept passing around the dynamite to see if anyone would blow up. 
  • How long did it take to learn? Since I was just replaying this game from playing in class the first time, it didn’t take me very long to relearn the rules. Even playing a second time, however, I would say that it was still a little bit of a learning curve to get to know all of the different cards and special rules (like being able to drink beer when you take a fatal hit). For my family, my mom and brother seemed to catch on to the basic rules and mechanics very quickly. My dad, however, found the game kind of confusing, especially with all of the different cards (he would much prefer a game like UNO). 
  • Would you play it again? Yes, I received this game as a Christmas gift because I loved it in class so much. I just need to find enough players!!
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The first act of the game begins during the setup of the game, including receiving a role and character. Players take their first few turns, each drawing 2 cards each turn, taking any number of actions they wish, and discarding cards. The second act commences as the game picks up speed, when players begin to devise and understand who they may want to “go after” and take shots at them. The third act is when the game is dwindling down, either 2 people are essentially standing off to see who will win, or a key player, like the sheriff, is close to taking a critical hit. The game officially ends when the sheriff dies or is the last one left standing. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game has both competitive and collaborative elements. The collaborative element comes from the fact that some players have shared goals, for instance, both outlaws and the renegade want to kill the sheriff, but it’s also competitive because it’s every man for himself and you don’t necessarily know each other’s roles. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? Bang’s metaphor is that you are set in the wild west and you are essentially playing as a character from that world. The sheriff wants to keep law and order, the renegade wants to take the sheriff’s place in the town, and the outlaws want to kill the sheriff. The mechanic that stands out the most to me are the unique character abilities that allow you special advantages throughout the game. 

The Graveyard Game Review  

  • Was it fun? I’m not sure if I would call it fun, but more or less intriguing. I liked the aesthetics of the game because it kind of looked like an old black and white film, but there wasn’t much substance to the game overall. But it was still interesting to see if anything exciting would happen (although I presume if I played anything other than the trial version it would be a little more exciting, because apparently it includes death). 
  • What were the player interactions? You can move the old lady in a straight line through the graveyard (very slowly) and have her sit on a bench.
  • How long did it take to learn? Not very long at all because I just had to move her in a straight line and wait for her to sit on the bench, plus the game had instructions that told me to do just that. 
  • Would you play it again? It depends. I think I would try out the non trial version if someone else bought it for me, but I’m not going to spend my own money to see this lady die. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. (This may differ because I only played the trial version.) The first act starts when you enter the graveyard where you will see the title sequence and you just slowly make your way to the bench that is illuminated at the end of the path. The second act would be once you sit down on the bench you get a close up shot of this old lady presumingly reflecting on the gravestones around her and the concept of death. She points out how some other people there have died and she wishes that the next time she visits the graveyard she will “stay for longer”. You could choose to stay there as long as you like, but the song is only a few minutes long. You can choose to wander around the graveyard if you really want, but there’s not really many places you can move to, the game sort of beckons you to the bench. The third act would be exiting the graveyard and ending the game when you desire. In the non trial version, I presume that this act would also include the lady dying. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game isn’t really competitive or collaborative, it is more of just following a story. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is about an old lady who visits the graveyard and she reflects on death and almost wishes for it herself. Since there really aren’t many mechanics, the most standout mechanic is that when you are positioned with your back to the bench, she will eventually decide to sit down. 
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Thoughts on the games we played in class.

My favorite game by far was Townscrpaer. I love it when a game is really simple, yet you can build or do insanely complex things within it. I was dissapointed when I saw it was 4.99 in the app store 🙁

The first game Getting Over It was cool. there was a similar game that blew up last year that was a similar concept of trying to get to the top without falling. I was not a fan of Getting Over It but i do like the one that blew up this year because I am better at that running mechanic.

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Endless Game Ideas

Game 1: Collect cans on the street and go from homeless to rich and try and see how rich you can get. 

Game 2: Amazing Amazon. Fill boxes and complete orders to get cooler boxes and more complex orders. 

Game 3: Unboxing game where you unbox packages and get new tools to unbox it. 

Game 4: you are given a prompt with materials and you have to go out and find those recourses to build that certain thing

Game 5: Pop it. If you do it before the timer runs out then  you get a cooler pop it.

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Endless Game Ideas – Amber, Sara, Beck

  • Plant growing
    • Never ending cycle with propagation
    • Video game or IRL
  • Mark off the people who die in your yearbook until either you die or everyone else dies
  • Endlessly decorating your room (always buying new things, seasons, etc.)
    • This could be a video game too, keep buying and decorating your room
  • Some kind of merging game 
  • Layering clothing game until it essentially fills up the whole screen
  • Buying a hamster, dies in a weird way, get a new hamster video game
  • Squirrel endless falling game, avoid branches
  • Game where you add tiles, take away, and rearrange tiles
    • Maybe where you make an artwork 
  • Tabletop game where you have a canvas where you just keep taking turns building an artwork
  • Neverending grading simulator 
  • Just mixing paint colors
  • Blowing out birthday candles every year, you just keep gaining more and more 
  • Fill a bowl of rice, constant clicking 
  • Making a sauce, with other sauces and ingredients and keep adding ingredients forever but still trying to get it to taste good
    • Based on Good Mythical Morning 
    • Could be a video game 
    • Mixing potions in the bathtub with a million soaps and perfumes 
  • Couch just keeps accumulating toys
  • Endlessly changing your hair
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5 Games Ideas with no ending.

Game 1: Collect cans on the street and go from homeless to rich and try and see how rich you can get. 

Game 2: Amazing Amazon. Fill boxes and complete orders to get cooler boxes and more complex orders. 

Game 3: Unboxing game where you unbox packages and get new tools to unbox it. 

Game 4: you are given a prompt with materials and you have to go out and find those recourses to build that certain thing

Game 5: Pop it. If you do it before the timer runs out then  you get a cooler pop it

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5 Games without end

Brayden, Carson, Tori, Alana

Nightclub Simulator

Whenever you tap, your character dances to the beat. Doing so long enough will reward you with a drink to continue dancing.

Paper Shredder Simulator

The player taps the screen in order to put paper into the paper shredder. Once the bin is filled you can sell the scrap paper to purchase a bigger bin or fancier paper to shred  

Song Creator

User will tap an instrument of their choice to play to the audience. You gain money by getting tips and use that to buy other instruments that pay out more. You can invite your friends to combine the instruments together to make a band that results in a higher payout.

Happy Cat

You tap to feed the cat lasagna until the cat pops. You get money for each cat popped. New cats can eat more and earns more money per click  

Counting Up

The  player clicks their screen, which starts as a blank white with a black “0”. For each time they click, the number goes up in value by one. The game will save your number if you close it, and will continue to go up one number for each singular click you give it. There is no limit to how many times you can click. 

9-5

You are an assembly line worker at a factory. You must work your shift in real time (from 9-5) doing a single monotonous task. The player can choose what point of the assembly process they want to work that day, but are stuck to the position they choose once selected. 

Water Bucket Simulator

You tap the screen for a drop of water to fall into a bucket. Once you fill the bucket up you get a new one and do it again.

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Trolls Riddle Run

Trolls Riddle Run

Players: 3-5 Players

Game Pieces:

Character piece

6-sided dice

3-sided dice

Chance cards

Chance coin (for sneaking over bridges)

Starting the game:

Youngest player starts the game.

Turns move clockwise.

Moving Through the Board:

Roll the 6 sided dice to determine the number of spaces you move in a turn.

If an even number is rolled on the die, pull a chance card from the pile after you have moved the correct amount of spaces. When pulling a chance card, the card must be completed that turn unless otherwise stated.

Bridges:

Slimy Swamp

Billy Goat Bridge

Thorny Thicket

Fae Forest

When you land directly on a bridge you must answer a riddle and if you get it right you can roll again. If answered incorrectly, pull a chance card then can move forward or backwards after that.

If you come upon a bridge in the middle of a move, you flip the chance coin to determine your ability to sneak across the bridge unnoticed by the troll. Landing on the noisy side means you have to answer a riddle to complete your roll, the muted side means you can sneak across unnoticed and complete your turn. If you answer the riddle incorrectly you are stuck on the bridge until your next turn (no need to answer a riddle on your next turn, just move across the bridge). If the riddle is answered incorrectly pull a chance card from the deck

Riddles:

When answering a riddle, riddle cards should be drawn by a different player than the one answering the riddle. If the riddle is answered incorrectly by the player do not say the answer allowed (in case, it comes back around). Place the riddle card at the bottom of the pile if answered incorrectly, discard if answered correctly. Players get 45 seconds to complete a riddle but they can guess twice during that time limit. The Easy Riddles are for bridge crossings, the Hard Riddles are for the final battle. 

Chance Cards:

1 of each bridge in the chance deck, if pulled, move to the chosen bridge even if it is behind you on the board. There are 8 kinds of beneficial chance cards and 7 kinds of damaging chance cards.

Lucky Charm – Hold onto to skip one chance card in the future

Forest Guide – Roll 3-sided die to move forward extra spaces

Battered Map – Look at the next 3 chance cards and put them back in any order you would like

Mischievous Fairies – Swap places with person closest to troll

Playful Pegasi – Everyone player moves forward 1 space

Troll Call- Hold onto to get past any 1 riddle. (can be used in the final battle against the troll)

Riddle Swap- Hold onto to swap 1 hard riddle for an easy riddle.

Clever Camouflage- Hold onto to bypass a bridge of your choosing without having to flip a coin, or answer a riddle.

Whispering Woods – Roll 3-sided die to move backward.

Goblin Tricksters – Swap spaces with the person furthest from the troll.

Sudden Darkness – On your next roll attempt to move the correct amount of spaces forward with your eyes closed. If you land on an incorrect spot, move backwards to the closest bridge

Trolls Footprints – All players move backwards 1 space

Spooky Fog – Move backwards for your next roll

Echoes of Doubt – Move backwards for your turns until you roll an odd number. (If you roll an odd number on your immediate next turn you can continue to move forward)

Gift of Generosity- If you have any stored beneficial chance cards, give one away to a player of your choice.

Final Battle With the Troll:

When you reach the end space with the troll, you will stay there for 3 rounds and you have to answer a riddle correctly each round to win. If you get 1 riddle wrong your turn ends and your correct riddle tally goes back to 0 for the battle.

First player to answer 3 riddles correctly wins the game.

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Strike Force Presentation

Strike Force: Shooter card game

Strike Force is a turn-based, team card game where players strategize to attack or defend, using a variety of weapons, specials, and items to eliminate the opposing team. Each team has a total of 100 health points, and the goal is to reduce the other team’s health to zero first.

Setup

1.Teams: Divide players into two teams. Each team shares a health pool of 100 HP.

2.Decks: Shuffle the deck of weapon, special, and utility cards and place it in the center.

3.Starting Hand: Each player draws 2 cards.

4.Turn Structure: Each turn has a Buy Phase and an Action Phase.

Phases of Play

1. Buy Phase

  • At the start of each round, players can use the Buy Phase to draw or discard up to 2 card for each player on the team to improve their hand. This allows players to strategize based on their role (offense or defense).

2. Action Phase

  • Teams decide to attack or defend based on the cards in hand.
  • Attack: Players choose weapons and special cards to deal damage to the opposing team.
  • Defense: Players use defensive cards to protect their team’s health pool.

Weapons

  1. Assault Rifles (ARs):
  • Ammo: 10 shots
  • Damage: 1 damage per shot
  • Special Rule: Discard after use 

2. Submachine Guns (SMGs):

  • Ammo: 10 shots
  • Damage: 1 damage per shot
  • Special Rule: Discard after use 

3. Shotguns:

  • Ammo: 1 shot
  • Damage: 10 damage
  • Special Rule: Discard after use 

Specials

  1. Grenades: 1 throw 
  • Damage: 10 each player total of 20 (splash damage) 
  • Special Rule: Single-use, discard after use.

2. Rocket Launcher:

  • Damage: 15
  • Special Rule: Single-use 

3. Riot Shield:

  • Defense: Blocks 5, 10, or 15 damage based on the specific shield card. (note, if you use the 15 strength shield for a 5 or 10 damage attack you dont get to keep it and save the remaining heath on it. you must discard it.) 

4. Smoke Grenades:

  • Special Effects: saves both teammates. 
  • Defense: Avoid all damage for one round.
  • Special Rule: Single-use, discard after use.

Gameplay Example

  1. Turn Start: Each player draws 1 card.
  2. Buy Phase: Players can choose to exchange their card to help their team. (1 card change per player.) 
  3. Action Phase:
  • Team A decides to attack with one player using an Assault Rifle (10 shots for 10 damage each) and one using a grenade (20 damage).
  • Team B decides to defend, with one player using a Riot Shield that blocks 20 damage and another using a Shotgun to deal +10 damage 
  1. Damage Resolution:
  • Team A deals a total of 30 damage (10 + 20), but Team B’s Riot Shield blocks 20, so they only take 10 damage.
  • Team B’s shotgun deals 10 damage, so at the end of the round both teams lose 10 health.
  1. End of Round: The round ends, and the next turn begins with each team adjusting their strategy based on remaining cards.

Winning the Game

  • The game continues until one team’s health reaches 0 HP. The remaining team is declared the winner.

Playtest #1 

My first playtest encountered several challenges that highlighted areas for improvement in the game design and rule set. From the start, players had numerous questions because the rules lacked sufficient clarity . This not only slowed the pace of play but also disrupted the overall experience.

One key issue was the lack of detailed instructions regarding how the ammunition system worked, which created confusion and impacted gameplay mechanics. Additionally, a significant misprint on the shotgun card caused further imbalance. The card stated that the shotgun had 10 shots, each dealing 10 damage. This gave it the potential to deal 100 damage in total, which far exceeded the damage output of any other weapon in the game. This oversight inadvertently created an unfair advantage and disrupted the intended balance of the game.

The feedback from the playtest was crucial  for identifying areas to improve and ensuring a smoother, more engaging experience in future iterations.

Playtest #2 

The second playtest showed significant improvement in the mechanics, as the initial issues were resolved. With those addressed, new feedback emerged regarding the frequency of certain cards appearing during gameplay.

Initially, I included four shield cards, each offering protection against 5, 10, 15, or 20 damage, and gave them equal representation in the deck. During play, however, it became apparent that the abundance of shields made it difficult for players to deal meaningful damage, which disrupted the game’s balance and pacing. So I removed the 5 protection shield completely. and reduced the amount of shield cards that occured. 

Another area of concern was the smoke grenade card, which caused confusion among players. Initially, the card dealt damage when thrown, leading players to interpret it as an offensive item. However, my original intent was for it to be used defensively, allowing players to avoid incoming damage for a single round. To address this, I removed the damage aspect entirely, and during subsequent use, the card functioned as intended, enhancing strategic play.

These adjustments have clarified gameplay mechanics and improved the balance of the card distribution. The playtest provided valuable insights, and these changes have brought the game closer to its intended design. Future iterations will focus on refining the deck composition further to ensure an optimal balance between offense and defense.

Playtest #3

The third playtest marked a significant milestone in the development process, offering a vastly different experience compared to the first two sessions. With the rule set clarified and all prior mechanical issues resolved, gameplay proceeded seamlessly, and no complaints or concerns were raised by the players.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with players fully engaged and enthusiastic about the game. Many offered creative and constructive suggestions for expanding its mechanics, including ideas for introducing new weapons and incorporating features that allow players to influence or control each other’s actions. These suggestions reflect the players’ deep interest and investment in the game.

This successful playtest confirmed that the core mechanics and overall balance are now well-established. It also provided an exciting opportunity to consider future expansions and enhancements. Moving forward, I plan to evaluate these suggestions and explore ways to further develop the game while maintaining its accessibility and appeal.

Whats Next:  

Next, I plan to enhance the depth and strategic complexity of the game by introducing special abilities for players. These abilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Sabotage: Temporarily disable an opponent’s weapon for one round.

• Stealth: Prevent the player from being targeted or attacked for one round.

• Overwatch: Automatically launch a counterattack when the player is attacked.

These abilities will add a new layer of strategy by encouraging players to time their usage carefully. To maintain balance, each special ability will have a cooldown period, becoming available for use once every five rounds. This recharge mechanic ensures thoughtful gameplay and prevents overuse of these powerful abilities.