PnP Progress

Possible Title: Witches get Stitches

Comments and To-Do List:

• Fine tune collecting mechanism
• Relocate special tiles
• Place attack and defense closer to item tile
• Make chance a deck rather than slips in a cup (cup was too tall and disturbed the board)
• Draw item tiles and tokens
• Rewrite rules to be more specific about little details 
• moving before attacking
• Respawn mechanism
• What cards are in chance
• Landing on items to collect
• Story and goal objective
• Label and illustrate special map areas
• Set up board for minimal paper usage
• Play Test, Play Test, Play Test!!!

Character Design Progress

Cover Illustration Composition WIP

Game Mash-Up: Cards Against House on the Hill

In class we had the task of combining board games students brought in. I brought Cards Against Humanity and Brianna brought Betrayal at House on the Hill and with the help of Erisa and Rushton we created a completely different game.

If I had to explain it in the simplest way I'd have to say it was R18 Dungeons and Dragons meets Whose Line is it Anyways

Everything was made up and the points didn't matter

Goal of the game:
Once all tokens are off the board, the player with the most tokens, wins. Players with same amount of tokens duel each other with remaining cards until last one standing.

Set Up:
Place room tiles from BHH randomly around entrance center-piece while still matching entrances. Pick pieces that hold narrative (ie: "Bloody Room" over "Patio"). Place dead ends around perimeters and place a token in each space.

• Pick a character figurine from BHH
• Everyone starts at entrance hall
• Randomly place spider and dog in any room
• Spiders - cannot pass unless able to kill 
• Dog - appease with a treat from your inventory. Roll die to determine if you're allowed to pass. 1 = No 2 = Yes 

• Each player rolls a die to determine which CAH card to draw. 1 = Black 2 = White 
• Pick a card from the ITEMS or OMEN pile, and a card from the EVENT pile 
• The three cards can be combined to either: 
• Move to a relevant room (ie: Draw Grave Dirt - Move to Graveyard) 
• Perform an action (ie: Draw Chainsaw - Eliminate players in your room)

• To add an item (any of the three cards) to your inventory, you must collect it by moving to the relevant room on the board 
• ie: Draw Mecha Hitler, must move to Furnace Room to fuel him 

• Roll two die to determine number of spaces to move. If both turn up blank, re-roll 
• When 2 players land on the same space you may 'steal' tokens from the other by utilizing your inventory. Winner is decided by vote from other players

PnP Concept Work - WIP

Map Layout:

     I'm currently planning to stick to my first layout which involve a "+" shaped map. For my PnP and eventual game board I've expanded the map in order to allow the Chance Cauldron to sit in the middle and for a more randomly laid out map from the players.

     I've switched from using rectangular paths to circular as they contrast the sharp edges of the tiles and provide a cuter style for the board. They also provide more space to place illustrative objects on the tile (ex. Trees, Bushes, etc.)

     So far my concept includes a woodland/field scene but I'd like to further experiment in making different scene tiles to make the overall game seem more like a patched quilt. Some areas I'm planning to experiment with are an ocean, a candy land, and a spooky forest.

Game Mechanics:

• "Chance" tiles which require you picking out a random events from a cup (later to be a Cauldron in Game Board) 
• Some of these will be Healing, Harming, or Teleportation tiles
• Potentially more variety to be added

• "Potion Shops" or Healing Tiles - Heal based off a Dice Roll
• Attack Tiles - Double the damage an enemy takes
• Defense Tiles - Player takes half the damage of an attack (Round up for odds)
• Game Start - Where the players start the game from 
• May add an extra mechanic if the players land on them again later in the game

     For my less elaborate PnP I'm planning to use normal dice to move and attack although I'm considering using 10, 12, and possibly a 20 sided die for my Game Board.

Characters:

     So far I'd like to include 4 playable characters each with different balanced stats. My current class types are Healer, Rogue, Tank, and Jester.

     First, I have a cupcake inspired character who wields a Cherry Mace. I have yet to name her or decide her class. I'm current redesigning her dress but here are my color explorations so far, I'd like to keep her in pastel colors with maximum 3 colors.

Dayla Meringue

     For character 2 I wanted to bring back my grunt design seeing as the color scheme I used for it seems like something I could use in this game. Chester makes a comeback in my PnP as a the Jester class in my game. He will have a high luck status which will may allow him to heal higher in healing tiles or draw a second chance token if the first one isn't preferred.

     My third character is going to be an anthropomorphic cat thief which is going to be my Rogue Class. I'm still deciding between silhouettes but I will most likely be using the taller design on the left.

My last character is still a rough work in progress seeing as I don't know if Dayla is going to be tank or healer yet. I'm leaning towards her being a tank. My last character will most likely be a witch to tie together the overall theme of the game.

Game Design - Experimenting

So after play testing several of the print and plays in class I've learned that many past student games focus on very serious or dark themes. Rarely was I even able to see more lighthearted print and play games when presenting our research as well.

One of the few ideas I wanted to explore for either my  print and play or board game was the aesthetic style choice of making a game to look like a quilt or fabric. With this idea in mind I want to go very stylized with simple but cute designs for map graphics.

I considered possibly doing this completely digitally with fabric textures and layers in Photoshop but I found that certain details such as stitching were hard to replicate and still give the objects a small sense of  being 3D.

Determined to somehow put this idea into play I made my way down to the nearest craft store and bought several different colors of felt and embroidery thread. I started off simple by sketching out the layout for a bush and after finishing proceeded to see how it would look scanned.

Concept Sketches

Bush Scanned at 800dpi

After determining that scanning worked and that the design was 100% adorable I proceeded to make more pieces in an effort to explore the medium more. I took the picture of the tree with my phone and my desk lamp for lighting and found that the texture seemed clearer but it was more difficult to light it evenly.

Felt Tree

My conclusion from my findings are as follows:

• Scanning hi-res works but can be time consuming for larger pieces
• Phone camera works well but requires good lighting and taking it directly from above
• Although many colors can be bought its also possible to edit colors on Photoshop

I will be continuing my research in this concept by trying out patterned quilting fabrics and different objects and overall themes for the game I'd like to create

Psychology in Gaming

A few notes to consider relative to Skinner's theory of rewards:

• Positive reinforcement through rewards can feel satisfying although we seem to take more satisfaction in taking rewards from others

• The act of penalizing another person can feel rewarding in the sense of gameplay as you feel like you've gotten the upper hand or delayed another player

• Although neutral, the absence of a reward can be a punishment

• The size or quality of the reward is important to consider when giving them

• Negative reinforcement can be a driving force to improve and seek a positive reward

• Extinguishing rewards an also play a factor in how much one seeks it and for how long, this can bring forth more intense competition for the limited amount of reward

• The ultimate goal is to reinforce the desired behavior from the participants

Game Design - Brainstorming

•  Dice rolling for attack power or space movement

•  Colorful theme = Cute , Neutrals = Darker game

• Maybe Felt or quilt theme (Can you fabric be scanned clearly? test)

• Fantasy theme would pair well with detailed characters

• Hexagonal tiles look cool but can come off as over complicated (Maybe)

• Bluffing and lying mechanics can make the game more interesting depending on the players playing

     ○ Increases paranoia in players
     ○ Can be paired with a penalty system

• Roles can be fun BUT must be correctly balanced

• Lighthearted themes can be fun and are welcomes

       ○ Ex. Animals, Dinos, Cute Stuff

• Card deck or game board with full illustrations are more interesting and appealing

• Make the backing of cards a solid color

     ○ Will not line up perfectly when double sided printing

• Make the Instructions 1 page long No Longer!!

• Could be interesting to make the instruction page easily foldable in order to store flat pieces (Ex. Bomb Squad #9 )

• Consider making stand­up cut out pieces which can be flattened again

• Memorization in a group can be interesting but will require many cards to make game last longer

• Keep instructions organized and simple

• Use bullets and numbers to make things clean and keep the players attention

• Shuffable map which can make every game round different (ex. The Search)

• Random chance based off card deck or dice

• Customizable map idea (Ex. Battleship)

• Attack pieces with roles based on characters (Ex. Chess)

• Acting could be fun to play with but would be determined far too much on the peopleplaying and could be uncomfortable/not easily doable for some

Game Trailer - Journey

Print & Play: Deconstructed

Bomb Squad #9

Print Out Link

The city of Townsville is under attack! 

Anarchists are running rampant and have planted a bomb in an unknown location. Not to worry though for the Police Commissioner has hand picked you and the most expendable officers available to form Precinct #9's first ever Bomb Squad.

Each mission starts by shuffling and laying out the cards face down in a 3x3 square. In this sector there are 4 object cards, the metal detector, the sniffer dog, the wire cutters, and the bomb. The 2 wild cards include the Panic and Anarchist cards and 3 duds which are a rat and cans. Due to budget cuts the department could only afford one pair of wire cutters so you must find them before finding the bomb. The trusty sniffer dog can also interact to find the bomb, unfortunately he has a habit of setting it off immediately. Not to worry though he always manages to get away unharmed unlike your team.

As the new leader of the squad you must be in charge of making sure the timer counts down. Start the dice timer at 6 and count down after each round. When the dice timer hits one the bomb explodes!

The goal of the game is simple. Find the wire cutters and disable the bomb by any means necessary. It's important to consider that a promotion and raise are in store for the hero so you may want to consider lying in order to take the glory. However this is without consequences if you're accused and caught in a lie by a fellow officer.

Core Mechanics:

The main mechanics in this game include memory, bluffing, and deduction.

Memorization of the cards is necessary in in order to remember what cards you've seen and which cards others have seen. Cards such as the Panic and Anarchist will force the players who unveil them to shuffle around cards to rearrange the order. The dog and wire cutters will also make the player reveal the secondary card lifted to all and swap them. From all the lifting and swapping at a certain point you should be able to deduce which cards are which.

Bomb Squad #9 shares a similar play style to the card game "Bullshit/Cheat" where bluffing plays an important role in success. In order to take the glory of finding the bomb players are allowed to lie about the card they've secretly seen. If caught in a lie the liar is penalized for a turn however, if the player accuses someone wrongfully you lose a turn. An example of strategic bluffing would include lying about finding the bomb and saying it was just a can.

Actions:

The main actions taken throughout the game include moving the dice timer, looking at and swapping cards. The timer starts at 6 and is counted down after every player has a turn. Cards can either be looked at in secret or revealed to all the player depending on the card's role in the game. They can also be swapped around based on the card's written actions.

Bluffing is an action that should be taken in order to win the game for yourself but is not required by the games rules.

Notes about the Rules:

The written rules of the game are simple and clear for the most part. Some instructions are left somewhat vague and require some interpretation of the game to make them clear. This mainly revolves around the sniffer dog and wire cutters which took us a few turns to realize that the card lifted by them had to be revealed to all.

My Opinion:

In my experience of playing this game my roommates and I had a lot of fun! The instructions were simple enough and the game pieces weren't overwhelming like in other print and play games. If I had to criticize Bomb Squad #9 my only complaint would be that after a few rounds the game can get really repetitive, however, it's still a game of chance since the cards are always shuffled. I think in order to remedy this adding more cards such as sniffer dogs and even more bombs can make the game more challenging and entertaining for more rounds.

This is definitely a game I plan to play again sometime soon and I would highly recommend checking it out for yourself!

Print n Play Research

Aether Captains: The Search

Print out Link

In my playthrough of The Search with my roommate we found ourselves having an interesting time. The gameplay is a somewhat similar concept to cops and robbers or chess, one person plays as the Criminal and the other the Police Force. The game pieces are minimal, something I personally liked, and included 2 decks of cards, one for each team, and movement pieces. Gameplay for The Search can be very fast pace, our longest game being about 25 minutes, allowing for a quick game or multiple rounds. The goal of the game is different for either role. The Criminal must visit all three crime scenes or harm the 4 officers and the The Police have to capture the Criminal by barricading and trapping them. 

Likes: Not an overwhelming amount of game pieces, simple instructions, nice graphic style

Dislikes: Can be boring if you aren't playing against someone challenging, low res map graphics, system can be unbalanced at times

Level Design Pitch - Modern Forest Village

"Due to overpopulation and unknown disease, humans have become scarce and have reverted to living in small exclusive communities. They choose to live in remote locations such as woodlands where they build their minimalist homes suspended in the trees to avoid conflict with rivaling groups."

Game Roles - Concept Artist Presentation

Our goal this past assignment was to research game industry jobs in order to better understand the expected work in our major.

Here is my research and findings compiled in a presentation

Traditional Animation Character Design - Faolan

Perspective I - Freshman Year

Some fun assignments from Draw I Freshman year

Grunt Sculpture - Chester the Jester