Author: LukeConte

Though I couldn’t be in class to play these games, I did do some research and played them on my own. I like the idea that these games exist as both a form of entertainment and also as a way to educate people on important topics. For example, Fake it to Make It and Cast your vote both create an entertaining game experience by teaching players why it is important to recognize fake news, as well as the importance of voting. Providing players with an educational experience that is fun will greatly increase their likelihood of taking action later, like actually voting and actually monitoring the information they are being given by the media.

Dumb ways to Die takes a more entertainment-based approach by cartoonizing death and other serious injury as a form of PSA against taking part in those activities. I don’t know if I would personally call Dumb Ways to Die educational, but it’s not not educational, I guess. Overall, This lineup of games is a fun contrast to purely entertainment-focused games and can provide a real transformative and fun educational experience that likely makes people way more excited to learn about otherwise incredibly boring topics.

PLAYTEST 4

Play test 4 went really well, and we even got to see what a speed-learning play through of the game would look like since Anne Marie had to leave for a meeting. Even though she was asking a bunch of questions, it was easy to answer them as they came up, so the game is quite teachable but does require some extra assistance from the rules so the player can see the rules about spawn distances, arrest distances, and moving distances.

Some of the notes taken from this playthrough

• Setup went well, clear instructions there.
• Add note into rules: vegetation tiles can be placed in the animal spawn

Then we had some issues with an end of game stalemate that needed to be fixed, so we implemented a “toss” mechanic that could be used to break the stalemate created by both teams using all of their abilities. The tossing mechanic allows for a player to toss their opponent away when the attacking player has both of their team tiles within a 1-tile radius of their opponent. The attacker can then toss their opponent 5 tiles in any direction, either up, down, left, or right.

PLAYTEST 5

Play test 5 occurred outside of class. This was the best play test to date with the addition of the new tossing mechanic. Tossing an opponent really makes things fun and actually has you looking forward to the end-game where players are fighting over the last animal. It’s also really fun to see how the game changes based on each player’s choice of where to put their vegetation tiles. I think someone smarter than me should play the game and tell me how to place my tiles so I can win every time, lol.

Summary – Playtest 5 is where I will leave the game for the final. I’ll update some rules, reprint and go from there. Also the experience of the new rule design matching the board and other pieces makes getting into the game way batter. Much more immersion.

I wasn’t in class the day that we played Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes but I have over 15 hours on it from the past few years playing it with my friends at school.

I really like the idea of the game being 2-players but not within the actual game. Having 2 specific roles, one of the defuser, and one as the instructor adds a fun dynamic and not knowing what the other person is seeing makes things really exciting.

I find myself always wanting to be the defuser for the earlier rounds because it’s easier, and then switching to the instructor because when it comes to the memory puzzles, I do a very poor job.

I recently updated the rules based on the second play test of Jungle Justice based on the notes below, which is wayyyyy less notes than I had even through the first 15 play tests of Blast Radius, so I think it’s really cool being able to now anticipate issues ahead of time, before players even encounter them. Check my post with the rules for the updated rules.