Author: haberbergermax

Posted on

Kubold Kuestions Fore

What is the difference between a “working” and a “display” prototype?

A working prototype focuses on the mechanics you hope to have in the game. A display prototype focuses on the game’s appearance and feel.

What is required of a working prototype, and what might cause one to fail?

A working prototype should be most concerned with every aspect of the game working as intended, rather than being visually appealing.

What makes for a good prototype according to Dale Yu?

Consistency, color and organization.

What advice from Richard Levy will help you pitch your game?

Get a good agent and sell yourself before the game, but watch your ego.

Where might you pitch your game?

Pick a game publisher that is currently accepting submissions from the general public.

What do publishers look for in a game?

Something well tested and easy enough to understand

What makes a good set of Rules?

They should include: an overview, components, setup, gameplay, card types, endgame and winning, examples of play, and credits

Describe the best game you’ve made this semester in 250 words? Follow Michelle Nephew’s outline.

I hate games. I hate all games. I would never play any of the games I made this semester outside of testing them for this class. But if you forced me to choose one to call my favorite, I would choose the lego game made with Ronan. I wanted to do something customizable and colorful, and he latched on to the idea of using my LEGOs very early in the idea making process. Originally we made provisions for a card based game where you would pick the pieces the other player or players get to use to build their towers, in the hopes that you could give them particularly unstable or inconvenient pieces. In testing that, though, we found that there really aren’t any substantially unstable or inconvenient LEGO pieces, as they are designed to be infinitely stackable. From there we took the focus away from the offensive aspect of the game, but kept a few cards that allow you to choose what pieces the opponent gets. The game we brought to class has cards that control which pieces you can add to your tower, like how many and in what fashion. The goal had always been to build the tallest tower, and the target height fluctuated a little – even in the final game. In order to discourage just putting every piece you get on top of the one before it, if any part of your power breaks in adding a new piece, you lose the new piece and everything that came off.

Posted on

Review 4

Our most obvious competition is Burgatory. I think their whole “devilish” look is kind of a sham, while we own up to our devious ways.

Burgatory’s site keeps true to their dark-but-not-fully-black and red aesthetic. I’ve never fully understood that, as Purgatory isn’t Hell, but I think they have a pretty good thing going so I can’t really cast any criticisms.

The full-page carousel is kind of striking. Past that page, though, it almost looks like every tab was made by a different designer. They’re all fine. I’d say the Join the Crew page is the strongest. And the buttons on Order Up look a little dated. They’re all a sort of off-white to almost suggest burnt paper. Like it would be in Hell.

I think at the top of the page they throw a lot of destinations at us. You’re a burger joint; how complex can you be? But in terms of navigation, they give us everything there is in that first look.

I think our sites are similar, as we’re similar establishments just at different levels of establishment. I think our site definitely benefits from the homepage burger carousel. And not just because I’m in it.

Posted on

Cardisaur Rules

  • Setup
    • You have a deck (likely 52 just for consistency) of dirt cards. The back is, well, dirt. The other side has a mechanic. Mix them about the table, blank side up. Try to keep it about two cards high, but it’s dirt, so there will be some overlap. The dinosaur “skeleton” can go anywhere that so pleases the players.
  • Objective(s)
    • The goal is to trick families and social groups into spending time with each other and building a fun, informative sculpture. 
  • Actions players take
    • In clockwise order from the oldest player, players select a card of their liking to excavate. Upon picking that card, they can either be greeted by a dinosaur bone, a mechanic, or just more dirt. Each bone gets added to the skeletons, and rewards the player one million dollars. The instruction booklet will show you where to put it, and give you some fun facts about it. Mechanics can prompt other actions (excavate an adjacent dirt, lose a turn, draw again) and dirt does nothing. You’re not going to find something every time. Real archaeologists almost never find something.
  • Ending the game (win, lose states)
    • I don’t think you can lose Cardisaur, I think you can just not be the person who completes the dinosaur. I think everyone wins because now you have a cool dinosaur sculpture. What I could do – in a world where I add a monetary value to the bones – is make players pay to excavate. Maybe everyone starts with 5 million. I just don’t want to turn it into a competition. It’s a fun little silly dinosaur game.
Posted on

Week 5 Games

Bonanza – 8/10

Beans are funny. I have no clue why they didn’t call this one Beananza. Anyway. I think I would go on record as saying that I think games that take a while are fun, and Bonanza was no exception. The idea of assigning rarities to beans is funny, and most of the art was too. Good game. 

King of Tokyo – 6/10

I didn’t get to play much of this game, but I like fighting and I like winning – which I did.  I don’t really see a point for it, as if I wanted to fight monsters I’d just get action figures. And be ten.

Posted on

Kubold Kuestions Three

What is the difference between a game designer and a game developer?

When I think game designer, I think of someone making a board game. Can you call that analog? When I think game developer, I think computers.

What commonly occurs during the game development process?

Multiple steps backwards.

What are the challenges of balancing a game?

Keeping it rewarding, while not handing things away.

What should every player of your game believe? Why?

I think they should believe in your rules. Even if the rules have an error, play until you encounter that, and deal with it accordingly. Nobody’s going to have fun if you’re looking for problems.

How can you avoid stealing players fun?

Stay out of the game, as the game maker.

What 10 maxims should you follow when writing rules?

Use no intermediary terminology

Use real words

Make no more work than necessary

Add flavor (but not too much flavor)

Make your text no smarter than your reader

Discard rules that can’t be written

Take a breath

Go easy on the eyes

Get your final version playtested

Fix it in the FAQ

How has play testing changed your game?

I can think whatever I want about something I make, but there can be a lot of things that I could – and did – miss.

Who from class would you like to play test your next game or version 2 of your first game?

Ronan.

Who is the audience for your game?

People who like to have fun.

Who should play test your game outside of class?

My roommates.

Posted on

Review 2

I picked the site “Grand Leisure”. I remember seeing it and thinking it was corny the first time you mentioned One Page Love. In scrolling back through, I realized that it kind of stands out from the rest, in that it almost looks like an artifact of the past more than something that takes advantage of new wacky web effects. All you have to do is scroll and it takes you through, simply put, displays of grand leisure. I think the ease in understanding comes from that “just scroll” approach. There’s nothing else you could look at if you wanted to. I’d say this site is very well-designed. But, as I find myself saying a lot in these classes, don’t really get the point of it.

Posted on

Thoughts on Fluxx

We played this game last year. I didn’t like it any more, but I didn’t like it any less. I would describe Fluxx as a card game that wants to make it painfully clear that it’s a card game.

We played Zombie Fluxx this time. I won. As much as I want to like any game I win. I just can’t see myself – or anyone, for that matter – playing this game outside of an assignment about games. It’s definitely neat, it’s definitely cool that you can change the rules and win in all these crazy ways and lose in even craziers ways. Just not my cup of tea. 6/10.

Posted on

Week 4 Games

Dominion – 8/10

I didn’t get to play much of this game. What I did get to play was pretty fun, though. And I can only see it getting funner. That’s rare for this class; a game that gets more fun the longer you play it. I’d love to play through it again with some of the more expensive and destructive cards in play. I think it’s the perfect blend of logic, luck and awesome destructive powers.

Takenoko – 4/10

Not much to like about this game outside of the figurines. I’m not totally sure the guy who made it even tried playing it. Realistically, you could end the game in, like, six turns. I wish I would’ve. I understand games are a product of surplus and leisure and there really isn’t a need for any game ever, but this one definitely doesn’t need to exist.

Posted on

Week 3 Games

Tokaido – 8/10

Time. Waster. I’ll say it. But I liked this one. I liked the characters, I liked the art, I liked the board, I liked the pieces. I really did feel like I was on vacation. I think what I especially liked, though, was that this game played into my write-my-own-story-to-make-the-game-mine (and-ultimately-win) strategy. Because it was my vacation, and I got to choose how I spent it. Cute game.

Posted on

Card Games

1. Apples to apples scenario-based game, but with you and your pals fill in the scenarios with inside jokes and familiar settings

2. Solitaire-esque game based on one of those hilarious sorting algorithms that makes the funny sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPRA0W1kECg)

It just takes up time, butI like the idea of becoming a logic gate

3. Poker with all 7s and three 8s 

4. A game where you use basic algebra functions to get the closest to another number pulled from the deck

5. Card cut like this:

  ______________

|         |            |         |

|                                |

|______|_______|   

 One hangs from the ceiling and you have to hook them to each other without it collapsing

Posted on

Week 2 Games

Munchkin Gloom – 7/10

I thought this game was so cute. And I won. I think the idea of merging the art from one game with the, well, game of another is so epic. I’ve never played Munchkin, and I’ve never played Gloom. But now I feel like I got the best of each of them. I thought it was funny seeing how much we could damage our own players, and deciding when to lock in that damage to make sure they stayed damaged. 

Two Princes – 5/10

I know that’s not what this game is called. But I kept singing that song while we were playing it, if you remember. And I won. Again.

I understand this is a class where we learn about how games work and how to create them. This game is a cool concept. But that’s all it is to me. And for that reason, I will likely never think of it ever again, and if I do it won’t be fondly. I will say, I had an almost supernatural knack for guessing my opponent’s cards. Even so, I think this game is a time-waster.

Posted on

Kubold Kuestions Too

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

If I’m a nanometer, then I’d assume I’m in a nation that uses the metric system. Assuming that, I’d want a mechanic that allows me to hop from class to class within that system. Micro- to milli- to centi- to deci- all the way up to peta-.

  • Who are you making games for?

I like making games that I would want to play. I’d consider myself a nice middle ground between the general population and game makers: smart enough to understand a high-level game but cool and chill enough to want to actually enjoy myself.

  • Who will be your play testers outside of class?

My roommates and adjacent apartments. My sisters always want to try stuff from this class.

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

Soccer. At a pretty high level, as it would be.

  • How do you define what a game is?

Rules. A game without rules is a toy.

  • What features can make your games more intuitive?

More rules. Or rather, rules that are definitive, but allow alternate interpretations.

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

Tile rummy. I still don’t know the rules. But I still win an awful lot. We play it with my grandma. She gets pissed when I win. A lot of times when I’m at parties I like to play a virtual football game, and people like to watch me pick apart a virtual defense. Winning a fictional Super Bowl at a frat party is an ethereal feeling.

  • What features do gateway games share?

Ease. And maybe a definitive ending. I’d like to know I won, and I’d like it to have been easy.

  1. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?
    1. Kingmaker’s Noblesse Oblige
    2. BattleTech’s Heat
    3. Set’s Set-Making
    4. Magic’s Card Tapping
    5. Battle Cattle’s Cow Tipping Rule
    6. xXxenophile’s Popping
    7. Bohnanza’s Hand Order Rule
    8. Mississippi Queen’s Paddlewheels
    9. Time’s Up!’s Communication Breakdown
    10. Dominion’s Constant Shuffling

I’d like a degree of uniqueness, and I’d also like the players to be able to do the action in our real world. I like theatrics. I think you should be able to ham it up in a game.

  1. How does luck and strategy factor into game play?

I’d consider myself a lucky person. But that doesn’t mean I don’t strategize. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I always like assigning my own story to games I play. Sometimes it can be as simple as just changing the name of a character. For example, when I play Super Smash Brothers, I play as Mr. Game and Watch, and I make him green. That makes him Mr. Green and Watch. In doing that, I make the game mine. At least, that’s my rationale. And I’ve won enough things that I’m not going to change that approach.

Posted on

Kubold Kuestions

  1. In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?

I think every game should contain fun. Real life is not always fun. Games should be an escape from a possibly not fun life. The only game I play consistently right now is Madden Mobile. I like it because we lose a lot of football games in real life, and it feels  nice to escape to a digital world where I can throw for one million yards in one game.

  1. List the games you’ve played and currently play.

GTA San Andreas

Fortnite

Madden Mobile

Retro Bowl

Guitar Hero

Motorcycle racing games at arcades (I have a gift)

  1. Can you apply the three act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?

In Madden Mobile’s simulated season mode, you get full management decisions. To apply it to this, I could say that making proper roster substitutions and creating a game plan is the beginning, the football game is the middle and the victory rewards and management decisions following the game are – you guessed it – the end.

  1. When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic? 

I like thinking about the actual mechanic and what it can do. With metaphors and messages and meanings and motifs, you get a little bit of wiggle room. The beautiful thing about being a media arts major is that if you talk long enough about anything, it starts to make sense.

  1. Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?

I want to work with Ronan Stark. He is so passionate about games. I envy him.

Posted on

IMLeagues Site Review

The site I’ve chosen to review is called IMLeagues.com. It’s the site this school and a lot of other colleges use to organize intramural sports.

About half of any given page on this site is advertisements. In most circumstances, one could find this unsightly or inconvenient. I like to imagine that IMLeagues was made by a few college fellas that wanted to give some structure to the hectic world of intramural sports. I wouldn’t be surprised if those fellas weren’t even web majors. Just guys that took advantage of the platform.

After initially logging in, the home page of the site becomes your university’s home page, because why would you care about other schools’ intramural sports? From there you can select what active sport you want to take your talents to. When you do that, you’re taken to a page that offers the league’s rules and important dates.

I like how teams and their records remain a constant within a given sport’s family of pages. They’re off to the left, and each team’s name is a link to their roster. It’s the most universally applicable information, and it gives you a way to access the less universally applicable information at any time.

I like IMLeagues. I don’t use it any other time during the year than the month flag football takes place. But during that month, it’s a very valuable resource. As someone who watches real football film for real football games, watching the guys in this league pore over this site – clicking every link, digging to the bottom of every page – is like looking in a funhouse mirror.

Intramural sports are simple, but they can be as infinitely complex as someone is willing to make them. IMLeagues is the same.

Posted on

Five Epic Group Games

The Way of the Dragon is a board game in which the players protect and build their villages by establishing stable and compassionate trade routes with other villages.

Cardisaur is a card game in which the players complete a “dinosaur skeleton” by drawing cards from a large pool.

Boiling! is a mobile phone game in which the players must figure out who in their group is the odd man out by moving one step each turn, and their phone telling them if they are ”hotter” or “colder”.

Late for Work is a board game in which the players have to find the quickest route across the city using their unique municipal functions, all while navigating obstacles placed by the lone antagonist.

Invention Convention is a drawing game in which the players create the most useful and/or marketable invention by using the prompts and features the game provides.