Author: makst299

Posted on

What Makes a Good Game?

Madisyn Kovach

Game Design Final

There are five sections that create a good game. These five sections include mechanics, space, goals, rules, and components. When involving these steps into your design, that is what will make a good game.

When thinking about the mechanics of a game this is when we think of the basics. We need to ask ourselves questions like what interests people, how can I pull in a player, what is a reward that a player can get, and how can I make rules that don’t stop the player from making their own decisions. To start answering all of these questions, we should start by studying other games. We need to be looking a popular games that almost everyone has played in the past and seeing their personal opinions on the game. Doing this will at least make us know that the player will be interested. This is why the first step of creating a good game is studying the mechanics.

The second thing we need to think about when creating a game is the space. The biggest thing that needs to be thought about when thinking about the space of the game is what will the special features of the game be and how will it pull in a player? We want to make sure we are making this feature easy but fun to play. While thinking about the space, we want to see what we would like to play the most.

The third and in my opinion the most important thing that we need to think about when creating a game is the goals. You have to think what goals will work best with your game. Would you want your player to collect, solve, chase, build, ect.? You will most likely need to know your objective of the game before figuring out the goals which is why this is a good third step.

The next thing that we should think about are the rules. When thinking about rules we want to give the players a detailed book but not overwhelm them with too many words. We also do not want to give the players too many options on how to play. Sometimes that can be confusing. Also, when thinking about rules in a game, create a story. Make it something interesting that pulls the players in to read and not to confuse them. Again, we want to try to make this easy but make it the most fun.

The final thing that we should think about is the components of the game. Components are the most fun thing to do when you are coming up with a game. You must ask yourself what will pull in the viewers eye? You want to make sure you are designing like the player is in that game world. This step is last because you want to make sure you are pulling in the rest of the steps to make the game one during the components process. Maybe make a QR code where the player can scan and write a review about your game. You want to make sure you are forming the game to interest others.

After finishing and going through these five important steps of a game, that is when you will have a good game.

Citation:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/will-wrights-tips-for-writing-game-mechanics#will-wrights-5-tips-for-writing-game-mechanics

https://sites.google.com/a/elinemedia.com/gsmlearningguide/lessons-on-game-design/5-game-space

https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/therpgfanatic/blog/10-simple-rules-for-good-game-design/61994/

Posted on

Collecting Ideas: Game Design

Madisyn Kovach

Idea 1: Travel and Collect

The board will be set up like the board game Life. At the beginning of the game, you will start with two $20 bills, three $10 bills, and four $5 bills. That will give you $100 to start your trip. Throughout the trip there are times were you can earn and lose money. You will start at a terminal that will be flying out of Pittsburgh, PA. You will then roll a set of dice. After rolling, you will see how many spaces you will be “flying” to (each spot on the board is different). For example, one space that you could land on might say, you lose a piece of luggage, you must pay $20 to get it back, you could get a spot where it said you helped someone out and they gave you money, or even you could land on a new spot at a different airport. I know when you go to a new airport, you tend to go into the Airport Shop and browse around while waiting for your next flight. I know we have all seen a coffee cup with the state name on the coffee cup. Whenever you land on a different/new terminal, you will then be prized with “coffee coin”. Whoever ends up with the most coffee coins at the end of the game wins.

Idea 2: The Landlord

This is a board game. The board will be set up like Sorry/Monopoly. A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a lessee or renter). There will be four “landlords” that will play this game. You will start with a budget of $200. There will be a deck of cards in the middle of the board, you will need to pick up either an eight or one to get out of home. Each square on the board will have something that happens to their house that they are renting out to others. Either square could be good or bad. The goal by the end of the game is to get your four pieces to the safe zone, collecting the most income, and being ranked the best landlord.

Idea 3: Hoarders

Someone with a tendency to collecting everything, accumulating more and more, is a hoarder. In this card game, you will need 4-6 players. You will be given 10 cards total and must have that amount of cards in your hand at a time (a pile of 100 cards will be given to you in the game. Ten cards of numbers 1-10). When it is your turn, you will either be able to steal a card from a person or pick from the pile that is left over. Once you chose a card, you then must discarded one back into the discard pile. Whoever collects a match of the same number of cards first, wins.

Idea 4: At the Beach

This will be a fun card game that your goal will be to collect the correct seashells pairs and creating a landscape image of the beach by the end of the game. This game will need to only involve two people total. This game was created for little children who would like to work on memory skills. There will be twenty- cards (10 total pairs). Each turn, a player will be able to pick up two cards total. If you do pick up two of the same card, you will be able to set them to side and start building your beach image. Whoever collects their 10 cards and completed the landscape of the beach first wins.

Idea 5: The Albums

Vinyl albums are becoming great collector items. This will be a card game, four deck of cards will have some lyrics on them. These deck of cards will vary from 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s hits. When it is a players turn, the player will pick up one of the song lyrics and try to guess what song it is from. If the player guesses the correct song, they will be able to collect a “vinyl token”. Whoever ends up with 10 vinyl tokens first wins.

Posted on

Review For Persist

Madisyn Kovach

Goal: Trying to reach all of your milestones to win.

I actually really enjoyed playing this game. It was very fun and easy to learn. While playing, it actually reminded me a lot of Cards Against Humanity. The only thing that was different was the scorecard. I liked how you had to choose three of your life values before playing and then having to follow what you wrote down. The only thing that was really confusing was the Roadblock Card, but as the game went on it did get easier. Some of the cards were also really inappropriate so I would be playing this with really close friends. All in all, it was a fun game and I would play it again.

Posted on

Madisyn Kovach Week 4: 5 Game Ideas

Icing on the cake is a card game in which the players are competing to make a cake a full cake before their competitor.

Icing on the Cake comes with a deck of cards and a board that is similar to Trouble. It will also come with an ingredient sheet of different cakes. Each player will have a turn to roll one die. Throughout the board, there will be certain ingredients that each player will need to land on. After landing and picking up each ingredient that they need, they will be able to go and try to make it to the oven. Whoever gets all four of their pieces to the oven first wins.

Shed Light on this Subject is a board game in which the players are competing by trying to create an acronym that matches the topic .

So there will be a board with string lights and the alphabet (inspired by Stranger Things). There will also be a deck of cards with topics on the cards (ex: movies, cars, kitchen utensils.) A player will have to roll 2 dice a total of four times (after your first time rolling and where you land, thats where you will start moving your next piece). Whatever number they get they will move on the alphabet. Make sure you remember the four letters you have landed on. After rolling your fourth time, you will then try and create an acronym out of the four letters that you got that matches the topic. There will be no winner. You will just be playing throughout your night.

Heart of Gold is a card game in which the players are collaborating by trying to match a person with a generous disposition and trying to match them to their alter ego.

This will be a card game (inspired by memory). These cards will list a fictional persons name, their personality type, and something that they have done in their life(this can be good or bad things).There will be two deck of cards (one with the people that are described as angels and the other deck is rebel pile). You and your friends will need to try and match an a person with a generous disposition and trying to match them to their alter ego.

The classroom was a zoo is a board game in which players are competing and trying to capture the most classroom supplies.

This game is inspired by Life. There will be a board with 3D objects all over the board. These objects will be things that you would find in a classroom (pencils, backpacks, paper, toys, etc.) When first starting the game, the board will be a mess. You will want to spin and try to move a certain amount of spaces to pick up the objects that are laying on the board. Whoever ends up with the most objects in the end wins.

The night owl is a fun capturing game in which players are competing and trying to collect the most points throughout the evening.

During this game, players will competing to see who will receive the most cards. (Inspired by Cards Against Humanity) There will be an app that you will need to download on your phone. When on the app, it will ask to type your friends name/ the people who you are playing with. Then on the screen certain things life truth, dares, never have I ever questions, and betting questions will pop up. (It should say something like “I dare Madi to call your local convenience store and ask if they have a jean jacket”) If that player does the dare, answers it correctly, etc, the person on the phone will swipe right. That means it added a point under Madi. If the player does not accomplish that came up on the screen, the person controlling the phone will have to swipe left and they do not earn any points. Whoever wins the most points throughout the evening wins.

Posted on

Review of Forbidden Island (Madisyn Kovach)

Forbidden Island is a card game in which everyone is on an island and we are trying to capture the treasure as a team by trading, role playing, card dealing, and adding/subtracting.

Overall Review: I enjoyed playing this game but it took a very long time to learn. There were several questions that I had during the game like, if it isn’t your turn, do you still discard immediately if you have more than six cards? Is this supposed to be a team building activity? What is the point of taking the tree actions and drawing two treasure cards? These are just a few of the questions that I had while playing the game.

Posted on

Game Design: Exploring favorite 2 ideas.

Madisyn Kovach

“Hey Alexa” Board Game

Objective: The object of the game is to be the first to get yourself to the finish.

Materials: An Alexa, the playing board, and 4-8 people

Directions:

  1. Your team will plug in the “Hey Alexa” board
  2. The team will go around saying “Hey Alexa move *players name* “. This is so the Alexa can generate how many people are playing and what the names of those players are. While doing this they also need to say “Hey Alexa, *players name* is *the choose a color*. You must pick a color option so you. can tell what dot is yours on the board. The color options are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and grey.
  3. Starting the game, the Alexa will start by picking a number 1-20. Each player will go around a say “*Their name* choses *a number that is 1-20*”. Whoever gets the number/closest number to what Alexa was thinking will go first.
  4. When it is a players turn, the player must tell the Alexa to “flip”. After seeing what digital card pops up, you must say “Hey Alexa, move *players name the certain amount of spaces*”. Keep in mind that there will be skip cards and certain number cards that will make you do certain things.
  5. Whoever makes it to the start to the finish space first wins the game.

Rules:

  1. To be able to make the first move, you need to guess the correct/closest number 1-20 that Alexa is thinking.
  2. You must say “Alexa flip” to flip a card and “Hey Alexa move *players name* a certain amount of spaces.”
  3. If a player gets a number 1 card, the player will be able to go again.
  4. If a player gets a number 12 card, you may either move your player 12 spaces, or you can chose to move another player back 6 spaces.
  5. If one person is on a dot of the Alexa board and another player makes it on that spot, the person that was previously there must move back 4 spaces.
  6. After your turn is complete, you must wait until your next turn to say “Alexa flip”.

“Follow me on Instagram” Card Game

Objective: The object of the game is to be the first to get ten likes.

Materials- The “like” chips (hearts), profile cards, and over 100 of the people (photo cards)

Directions:

  1. Each person will start out with 7 photo cards
  2. You will be going around and one person every round will be titled the “pic person”
  3. The Pic Person will pick up a profile card and lay it down in the middle of the table.
  4. Each player will have 7 options to chose from
  5. The Profile card will have a persons name and a bio about themself, it is your job to now find the funniest photo card that matches it the best.
  6. If the Pic Person choses your card to be the funniest, you will receive a like.
  7. Whoever ends up with ten likes first will win the game.

Rules:

  1. Everyone must start with seven photo cards and remain with that many cards in their hand throughout the game.
  2. The youngest person that is playing with be the first pic person.
  3. When the pic person is picking their favorite card, you are not allowed to give them hints that it was yours.
  4. There will be both male and female photo cards that you are given. You may chose whatever fits the bio card best.
  5. After titling the winner, the game is over.
Posted on

Sushi Go!- Review

Madisyn Kovach

Sushi Go! is a card game in which everyone is playing against each other to see how many points were earned by playing three rounds and whoever gets the most points after the third round wins.

I really enjoyed playing this game. It was easy to learn and very fun to play. The game did not have hard directions so it only took the group about 10 minutes to learn how to play the game. All in all, I would be able to play again.

Posted on

Loss Games- Madisyn Kovach

  1. Help, We’re Lost! (Inspired by Birdbox)

This will be a board game will need to be played by at least six people. The board will be set up as a forrest. In this forest, there will be several things like trees, lakes, and even ditches. Each player will roll two dice. What ever number the player gets is how many spaces they will be allowed to move. Even though this seems fun people might be come into contact with things such as ditches or even coyotes. The spin of this game is only one player will only be able to see what everyone is doing. The other players will need to be guided by the one player that is able to see.


2. Wandering

This will be an VR game. When placing the VR headset on, you will get five hints to something you should be looking for. After every hint, you will get a notification to see if you are close to the object or far away from the object. During this game, you will get to experience a new reality while searching for something new. If you do not find what is trying to be found, you will lose a heart (you have a total of 5). If you lose all five hearts, you lose.

3. Lost in the Rules

This is a card game. During this game, a deck of cards will be laid out in front of everyone. On each card will be a new rule. Some involving new things, others discarding previous rules. While playing, you will read the rule out to the audience and then lay in face down in a discard pile. You will have to follow each of the new rules during the whole game. The first person to mess up, loses.

4. The Strays

A card game that involves two sets of decks of cards (10 cards in one deck and only 11 in the other deck). This will only involve 2 people. One deck of cards will involve personality traits and the other deck will involve a photo of a person. You will need to try to match the 10 personalities to the 11 cards offered. When finishing the game, there will be one stray card. You will be playing to try to figure out how the person you are playing the game with would match the cards. The goal is to try to end up with the same amount of matches and the same stray card.

5. Forgotten Hits

This is a card game. This card game will be played with a group of 6 or more people. There will be four decks of cards. Each deck of cards will have several 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s lost slang terms, songs, fashion, tv shows, and hairstyles on them. Each card will have a picture of that certain song lyric, outfit, etc and you will try to work together with your group to try and remember the forgotten hit. If you do forget and would like to know, a cheat sheet will come in the box to help spark you and your friends memory. There will be no winner or loser in this game.

Posted on

Week 3 Card Game Ideas

Madisyn Kovach

Idea 1: Will you say yes to the rose? (Inspired by the bachelor and Apples to Apples)

During this game, everyone will start with 7 black cards that have certain men’s names on them that have been on the bachelor. During every round, one person will be in charge of laying down a “Rose Card”. On the rose card, it will state a personality/trait. (For example: A man with the best hair.) You must lay down a black card on top of the rose. Whoever was in charge of laying down that rose will chose the best option. Whoever wins receives a rose. You must have seven roses to win the game.

Idea 2: Type

Ten cards will be dealt out at the beginning of this game. Each card will consist of a different letter in a different typeface. During this game, You must try to make out as many words possible with the same or most similar typeface. Depending on how many letters your word has matches how many points you will earn. After going around in your circle and picking up a letter, you must throw one of you cards into a trash pile. You can always build off of previous words. Whoever creates enough words that equal thirty points first will win.

Idea 3: Who’s the Artist? (Off Old Maid)

This game involves matching, pairing, and knowing artists. The standard 52-card pack is included with different artists/their works featured. When getting a match of artists, before laying them down, you must say their name and a piece of art that they have created, if you fail, you must discard those two cards into the discard pile and pick up 1 new card. Who ever ends up with the most matches at the end wins.

Idea 4: Follow me on Instagram

You will be given 7 cards with different memes on them. One person will be in charge of laying down a “Profile” card. That profile card will show a persons name and their instagram bio. When you see that profile, you have to pick a card from your seven options that you think will be their first instagram post. The person that laid down the name and bio card will get to chose the funniest card. Whoever gets the most “likes” at the end wins.

Idea 5: And they were roommates?

Max players would be six people. The game will come with 52 questions and 6 white boards, markers, and erasers. During this game, someone will lay down a card with a “Most likely” comment. (Ex: Most likely to dye their hair randomly). Everyone will have to write down who they think would be most likely to do that. On the count of three, everyone must turn their boards around, whoever’s name gets written the most will receive two points and if it’s a tie between 2 people, you will both get one point. At the end of the 52 cards, whoever has the most points wins. This is a test to see how all roommates think about each other.

Posted on

Zombee Fluxx Review (Madisyn Kovach)

When first starting the game, I was already very overwhelmed. Just by looking at the directions that was in about 5 point font, front & back, on several pages was not fun at all. Also, the directions were just a little confusing. After reading the directions and talking them over with the group we understood that there were different cards that meant different things. These cards include a Keeper (you keep it in front of you), Action (you do the action then put the card in the throw away pile), New Rule (a rule that can override the basic rule), and Goals (played by the basic rules/ kind of similar to action). After figuring out the different types of cards and what they meant, I started to understand.

When starting the game I knew you always had three cards and you would pick one up from the pile and then place one in the throw away pile. Then, I realized how confusing it was getting after laying down several New Rule cards at one time. The amount of rules that can be down at one time is just a little crazy. After talking to my group, I mentioned that I felt like order of operations made the most sense. During this time I also started to learn that when you successfully match two two goals to your keeper cards, you win automatically. So I kept looking at my opponents cards to see how close they were getting.

In the final stages of the game, I finally started to comprehend. We played about three times around total. As you know the first time was for sure the hardest but got much easier each round. I would love to play this game again because it was a brain teaser and really made me think. I guess one thing I wish this game would revise is the rule booklet that they give out. I feel like if the rules were simplified, I would have actually enjoyed the game during the first round.

Posted on

Game Design: Week 1 Homework

Madisyn Kovach

Assignment: 5 game ideas that can utilize social distancing as a mechanic or make it part of the game.

Idea 1: Pop-up Checkers (Over quarantine, my brother and I seemed to always be playing checkers)

Meaning: A 3D virtual board will pop up on your phone and you will still feel like you are with someone playing.

Need: 2 players

Audience: Could go for the younger or older generation

Idea 2: Hey Alexa, Move the Dots (Inspired by Sorry)

Meaning: You will have a normal board with a plug. When you plug in the board, colored digital chips will pop up on the screen. You will need to say things like “Alexa shuffle the cards”, “Alexa pick a card”, or even “Alexa move the blue dot three spaces” (depending on what card you get). The board will be in the shape of an Alexa. Directions will be on the QR code on the back.

Need: 4 players, an Alexa, a phone to download the app

Audience: Younger People/Teens (10-20)

Idea 3: Quarantine (drawing game)

Meaning: While in quarantine, you must draw how you think your friend would redo each room in their house. After a player is done drawing, your drawing will be revealed to you friend. Whatever items are in the same place in both of your drawings will earn you a point.

Need: 2 players, white board/markers, or even could be done on your phone

Audience: 20 and up

Idea 4: Wash Your Hands!

Meaning: Wash your hands is to keep the game fun but not touching anything at the same time. When placing your hand under an electric soap dispenser, it will tell you how many spaces to move. (Maybe the board could plug in so it can show the sink dripping and thats how your spaces will move from point A to point B)

Need: 4-8 players

Audience: 5 and up

Idea 5: One Way

Meaning: Kind of working off of Candyland, you will only be able to move on way on the board. Its a start to finish game.

Need: 4 players and the game

Audience: 5-12 years old

Posted on

Week 1 Game Theory Jackbox Review

I actually have never played any Jackbox games before so playing last class was very enjoyable.  I say the game that stood out to me the most was Split the Room. Again, I have not played Jackbox ever, but I feel like this game was my favorite because of the style. The style of  Split the Room is a set up as sort of a would-you-rather game but made you think a little more. I thought the game was very easy to learn and I quickly picked up that the less that the group votes for one option over the other, the more points you get.  Getting to think who would pick what answer and trying to go with the opposite was fun because it made me try and think hard and fast before time ran out. At first I was a little confused but I feel like it was a very easy to learn game.   

The game that I found least enjoyable was patiently stupid.  I know drawing is not my thing so when I went to play it, I was more anxious about not knowing how to draw rather than enjoying the game.  Maybe if they gave us a little more time to think about what to draw I would like it a little more.  Also, I did not like how all of us could not play it at the same time. Maybe they could fix the game a little more by making the time to draw a little longer and allowing more players to play at a time. 

Posted on

Ch. 6 Response

Madisyn Kovach

Designing for New Media Ch. 6 Notes

  • The Designer as Persuader 
    • A designer associates and embeds existing words into his design, which then becomes a proxy for the designer himself. This view of design language is the view of designer as persuader.
    • Buchanan argues that designers can not help but persuade, and technology is often used as smoke and mirrors to insert an empty dialogue. 
    • Rhetorical argument implies a sense of purpose: “Indeed, design is an art of communication on two levels: It attempts to persuade audiences not only that a given design is useful, but also that the designer’s premises or attitudes and values regarding practical life or the proper role of technology are important, as well.”
  • Designed Artifacts Identify an Underlying Culture
    • Product form language is the basis for how people generate and interpret their surroundings.
    • This has great implications for the design of mass-produced items 
    • The Interaction Designer shapes culture directly through the creation of new visual form language.
  • The Honesty of Poetic Interactions 
    • Honesty is a difficult word to discuss as applied to product development, as it brings to mind issues of ethics, morality, and the basic axioms of humanity
    • Frequently, business decisions are made with a great deal of thought and consideration, yet the dissemination of these goals is thwarted by tiers of middle management that twist and convolute both the decision and the rationale for that decision.  
    • A designer needs to be present in the boardroom, where these decisions are made.
  • Providing a Vivid and Refined Attention to Sensory Detail
    • In addition to honesty and mindfulness, a vivid and refined attention to sensory detail can be thought of as the last necessary element to encourage a poetic and resonant Interaction Design.

Thoughts on Interaction Design:

I honestly like the thought of interaction design. I like the parts of thinking digital products, environments, systems, and services that could interest the user. I always enjoy thinking about how I could make devices easier for the user when I am using that device. The only thing that I am really not a fan of is the actually coding of the design. I was never a huge fan of coding on dreamweaver so I don’t think I would like actually creating the device. I only like coming up with different ideas and designing the page attractively. This is how I feel about interaction design.

Posted on

Objectified Response

Madisyn Kovach

Designing for New Media

When watching Objectified, I did not really disagree with anyone’s comments.  The person that I agreed with most was Alice Rawsthon. One of the things that she mentioned about design that really stayed in my head was when she stated that “when you wake up, everything has been designed one way or another.”  I feel like I agree with this one the most because just think about what you look at in the morning. Some things that I look at include my phone, clothing, toothbrushes, and coffee. If you think about these objects, they all have a logo or design that people know of.  If you think about design, it is all over the world around us. This is why I felt like her quote really left the biggest impact.  

I feel like Paola Antonelli’s objective made me look at design a little differently than how I used to look at it.  Her objective stated to change the perception of design, making sure that people are aware of the importance of design in everyday life.  Now that I think about it, I feel like people should be looking looking at how important design is. Sometimes when I tell people what my major is, they will give me a funny look and ask what that is and how will I be successful in life.  Design is used in everyday life and I feel like people should be aware of that.  

I would say design is made to attract or detract your eye, to help pull you over to something or ignore it.  Design was created to make you look at something for a long period of time, or quickly catch your eye.  The more natural things appear, the easier they are to read. The most important things in my opinion are the readability and usability.  These are all a part of the purpose-built experience. I used to think that the purpose of design was to make everything beautiful, but it turns out, that’s not really true. The purpose of design is much more closely linked to strategy than aesthetics. Design is the process of intentionally creating something while simultaneously considering its purpose, function, economics, sociocultural factors, and aesthetics.  Design is very important and I feel like people should try and describe their own way of design more often.

Posted on

Different Questions for Users of Amusement Parks

Madisyn Kovach

Designing for New Media

Questions:

  • Tell me a story about your favorite time at an amusement park.
  • What scares you about rollercoasters? – Are there any rides you avoid at amusement parks and why?
  • What is you favorite type of ride? – Which are the rides you ride the most or most willing to wait in a long line for?
  • What made your thoughts on rollercoasters change? Is there a ride you were once afraid of, but now ride?
  • Tell me about your favorite food experience in an amusement park.
  • What is your favorite part about visiting an amusement park?
  • I get the feeling you are excited about rollercoasters. Tell me about your favorite rollercoaster.
  • I imagine you are scared of rollercoasters. Tell me about your scariest experience and what made you scared of them now. – What is it about rollercoasters that you find scary?
  • Tell me about a time you were nervous before riding a rollercoaster.
  • Tell me about the best photo that was taken of you on a ride
  • Tell me about a time that you felt unsafe on a ride.
  • What was your first amusement park experience like?
  • Who are the people that you go to the amusement park with often?