Wednesday 31 October 2012

Tic-Tac-Toe Re-Re-Reeeeeemix!

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As Hurricane Sandy approached us here in Oshawa, we were given a break from creating another one of our exciting board games.  This week, we were responsible for making a modification to the classic game Tic-Tac-Toe!  This proved to be a more difficult task then I thought, as the classic game works so well, that many of my rule changes messed with the core mechanics of the game.  After a lengthy thought process however, I was able to implement a new rule into Tic-Tac-Toe that adds an element of luck that has not been present in the game.

Before I get into my rule change, let me outline the original rule set for Tic-Tac-Toe:
-  The object of the game is to get three in a row.
-  One player uses the letter X as their pieces, the other uses O
-  Players alternate placing X's and O's on the board until one player has three pieces lined up in a row (Horizontal, Vertical, or Diagonal)
-  If the board becomes filled before a player has won, the game board is cleared and the players start again.
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The rule I decided to implement that adds a sense of luck to the game is adding the role of a dice to the game.  If the player chooses to do so, they may role a die at the end of their turn to "Test their Luck".  If the player roles a Five or a Six, they have beat the odds and are allowed to add another X or O to the game board.  If however they take the chance and they fail the role (Four or lower), they will have to remove the X or O that they placed at the beginning of their turn.  This adds a certain challenge to the gameplay because players who feel as though they are going to lose are willing to risk their pieces for a chance at gaining the lead!  
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For the second part of this assignment, we were to take an old game designed in the Game Production class, and re-design it so that it was played with either pure luck, or pure skill.  The game I decided to remix was Battle for Asgolonia,  which was the second prototype created by Bobby Muir and myself.  The original rules for Battle for Asgolonia are as follows:

Battle of Asgolonia is an action packed game where four players must fight to become the rulers of all Asgolonia and claim the mythical treasure.  To begin, each player must roll a die. The player with the highest number will be the first to take their turn.  If there is a tie, then the two players will roll again until the tie is broken. Once the first player has been selected, the order will go clockwise from that player.  To eliminate a player, an opposing player must destroy their home tower.  These home towers are automatically fortifications until they are destroyed.  To begin the game, the starting player will roll a single 6 sided die to see how many tiles will be placed on the game board.  For example, if the player rolls a five, they may place five tiles adjacent to each other.  Once a tile has been placed, all the remaining tiles to be placed must start from the first tile.  If a player places a tile in a spot that is not adjacent to one of their own tiles, the move is deemed illegal and they must re-place the tile.  Combat is a very crucial part of Battle of Asgolonia.  When a player wishes to take over an opposing tile, they must roll the dice.  The player must have one or more moves left to initiate an attack.  Multiple attack sequences may be initiated as long as the player has moves remaining.  If the tile is unfortified, the player must roll a 4 or higher to invade the square with one of their tiles. However, if the tile is fortified, the player must roll a six or higher to successfully invade. If a tile with either a fortification or a siege engine is captured, the fortification/siege engine is destroyed.

To make a fortification you must give up any of the moves you gained from rolling the die. For instance if you rolled a 4 you may move 3 times and make one fortification on any of your tiles or move twice and build 2 fortifications.  If a fortification is being attacked multiple times in one set of moves (Example: The player rolled three and is attacking the fortification all three times), then for each failed attack, the amount of hits needed is reduced by one each time (Ex: If the first two attacks fail, the player only needs to roll a four instead of a six to destroy the fortification).  At the end of the attacking players turn, if all the attacks failed, the fortification returns to normal strength.
To make a siege engine you must give up your roll. A siege engine can only be built before you roll. When you move in your following turns you may move the siege engine along with them.  Siege engines allow the player to roll two dice during their attack.  The highest die will be used in the attack. Only one siege engine may be built per player.  

At the beginning of the game, the golden idol is placed in the center of the game board.  The first player to place a tile on the golden area will earn the golden idol, adding +1 to each attack role.   This idol will stay in the player’s possession until the game is completed, or they are defeated.  If the player with the idol is defeated, the idol will be transferred to the player who won the battle.  If a player’s home fortress is destroyed, the player who destroyed the fortress gains all of that players land tiles.

A Game of Battle for Asgolonia

I decided that I would take this game of skill and re-design it so that it is based purely on the luck of a die roll.  To begin, the fortifications and siege engines that added a unique dynamic to the game will be removed from play altogether.  The new rules will also have the golden idol removed, as well as all forms of combat and defence.  The new set of rules only requires that the player roles a die to determine what form of action they will take.  If the player roles a One, Two, or Three, they make no action and their turn ends.  If however, the player roles a Four, Five, or Six, they place the corresponding amount of tiles anywhere on the board.  This continues until all of the tiles on the game board are filled.  Players are not allowed to place their tiles on any space that is filled with another players piece.  The player who has the most tiles filled at the end of the game is the ultimate winner and champion of Asgolonia!    

Friday 26 October 2012

Starry Nightmare!

The Starry Night
The Starry Nightmare by Vincent van Gogh has to be one of the most impressive paintings ever completed by the painter himself.  One of his most famous paintings, Van Gogh painted The Starry Night from the view he saw outside of his sanatorium window from which he was staying at the time.  Unlike many of his other works, Van Gogh painted The Starry Night purely from memory during the daytime instead of painting visually during the night.

Since this such a great piece of art, this week we were tasked with creating a game based on the emotions we felt while viewing this masterpiece.  After much deliberation with my group, we were all able to agree on the fact that this painting had a very different feeling about it.  While most people find this painting relaxing and calming, our group found that it made us feel cold, desolate, slightly fearful, and insignificant in the world.  From this point onward, we decided that since Van Gogh painted this during a time when his sanity was hanging by a thread, we would make a game that will pull at the players emotions and sanity.  This is how we designed our concept for Starry Nightmare.

Starry Nightmare is a new twist on art board games, as it is best played with only one player.  Multiple players can play the game, but it will love some of the deep meaning to the game while playing with others.  The player begins by arranging all of the Memory Tiles face down on the game board.  After this is completed, there will be four empty spots that must be filled on the board.  These tiles are the Key Memory Tiles and these are designed to allow the player to fill them with their own thought or positive memory.  Once the player has filled the board, they can begin moving their character.  The player can be placed on the board anywhere and will begin moving in a clockwise motion once they role the die.  When they land on a tile, they must pick up that tile and read it aloud to themselves.  The messages on the tile are used to inform the player of their decreasing sanity within the world.  To escape this world with their sanity still intact,  the player must attempt to remove all of the Memory Tiles, without landing on their Key Memory Tiles.  If the player lands on their four Key Memory Tiles, their mind has been lost and they descend into the cold, dark, loneliness that is Starry Nightmare.
The Game Board for Starry Nightmare!
   As a second part of the assignment, we needed to come up with a few games that portrayed the theme of the Starry Night.  Since the themes my group and I discovered were sadness, cold, desolate, and insignificance, here are the games I came up with:


Slender:   While walking through the cold dark forest, I personally felt as though the Starry Night atmosphere was portrayed perfectly.  This is because the player feels very alone and insignificant in this large forest.  Barren trees and old run down building portray a very cold fall night and help transport the player to the very forest they are trying to escape.  There is also a feeling that the player’s sanity is at a breaking point, similar to how Van Gogh was feeling when he painted Starry Night. 

I AM ALIVE: In this post-apocalyptic survival game, I felt that the image of Starry Night was portrayed fairly well throughout the entirety of the game.  The player adventures through a cold and desolate wasteland, fighting to find any form of food or water so they can survive for another day.  The player also experiences a deep sadness in the game as you search to find the protagonist’s family whom he lost over a year ago.  The player almost feels hopeless trying to find these people, as it seems as though no one could survive in the harsh landscape.

Amnesia:   Out of all of the games I have played, Amnesia has made me feel the most alone and insignificant in comparison to the huge castle landscape that can be explored in the game.  The feeling of sadness and deteriorating sanity is present throughout the entire game as the player unlocks the deep secrets of their past in the castle.  Amnesia is one of the few games I have played in which the feeling of melancholy stays with me long after I stop playing the game.   
Game Pieces for Starry Nightmare!

This was a very interesting take on a game style, as I have never designed a game that did not have to have some aspect of fun involved.  It is certainly a learning experience that I won't soon forget when I create my next game!


Tuesday 16 October 2012

Liar's Dice: Changing the Rules!

The Tools of Liar's Dice!
For this weeks exciting journey into game development, we were required to take the classic games Liar's Dice and add our own set of rules to change the game.  Liar's Dice is in the dice game family that can be played by two or more people.  It is a fairly easy game to play as it only requires that the players have their own five dice, as well as something to keep them hidden from the other players.  To begin playing, each player will add their five dice to their own cup.  From here, each player will simultaneously flip their cup upside down, keeping their dice hidden from their opponents.  Each player is allowed to look at what is under his cup (I.e. 3 fives, 1 two, 1 one).  From this point, the first player will make a guess as to how many of a certain number are on present on the table.  This will not only include his own dice, but the other players dice as well. An example of this would be 2 fours.  From this point, the next player can do one of three choices:

- Lie:  The player can call their bluff by saying they are lying.  This means that there is less dice of a certain number on the table, than the previous person guessed.  i.e. If the first player says there are 4 twos and there are only 2 on the table, they have bluffed.  If someone calls a player out on a lie, the player who was bluffing will lose one die.

-Correct:  If the player believes that the person before them is correct with their prediction (i.e. There are exactly 4 twos on the table), they are allowed to call them out as being correct.  If the player who made the prediction was right with their guess and someone calls them out, then the predicting player will lose one die.

-Guess:  If the player believes that the person before them was not right with their guess, but they also were too low, they can choose to make a guess of their own.  The player can guess any dice roll they want; however, the next guess must up the amount of dice by at least one.  i.e. Previous Guess is: 2 fours, the next guess must be at least 3 of a certain number of dice.

The game ends when only one player has dice remaining under their cup.


Since our rule change had to affect the positive feedback loop present in the game, I first had to decipher what that positive feedback loop was.  After playing the game, I realized that the player who has the most dice under their cup experiences this loop, as they have the most knowledge of the dice on the table.  To remove this loop, I had to take away that advantage so that when the leader is doing something correct, they are not fully benefiting.  The rule I added to the game was the mystical tokens.  At the beginning of the game, each player is given one mystical token that they can cash in during any of their turns.  This token is used to make the current player with the most dice, lift their cup a reveal their dice to everyone.  If there is multiple leaders, then the person trading in their token is allowed to choose who lifts their cup.  This rule change turned out the make the game more even, as the leading player could lose their advantage at any time because of the mystical tokens.  


Tuesday 9 October 2012

Lunar Landings!: The Lunar Lander Inspired Card Game!

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For this upcoming week of Game Design and Production, we were thrown a curve ball that gave us a new twist to the usual building of board games.  This week, we were required to take a classic Atari title and turn it into an entertaining card game.  I was very excited to hear this as my printer and I were beginning to dislike creating the boards for our board games.  After much debate with my group, we eventually decided that Lunar Lander would make an excellent Atari title to card game conversion.  We really tried to focus on creating an experience that not only resembles Lunar Lander, but one that also brings back memories of playing the game on the Atari system


The main goal of our game, is to create the best Lunar Lander possible and land with the highest amount of excess fuel possible.  This is done through by making the player assemble their own Lunar Lander using parts with different classifications.  Parts are classified from the "A" level, down the "D" level parts.  In our game, "A" level parts provide you with the most amount of fuel, while the "D" level parts provide you with a very small amount of fuel.  


- Rank "A":  80 Fuel Points

- Rank "B":  70 Fuel Points

- Rank "C":  60 Fuel Points

- Rank "D":  50 Fuel Points

Each player must collect a Hull, Landing Gear, Thruster, and a Docking system to create their Lander.  However, once the player has all the required parts to create a Lunar Lander, they are allowed to attempt a landing!  To attempt the landing a player must add up all of their fuel cards, to determine exactly how many Fuel Points they will have during their landing process.  After this has been established, the player will draw a card from the landing deck and check its multiplier.  The multipliers on these cards range from 1x to 5x.  The higher the multiplier  the more Fuel Points needed and the landing will be harder to complete.

5X:  300

4X:  200

3X:  150

2X:  100

1X:  50

If a Lander lands successfully, they will receive their excess Fuel Points score.  This is done by taking the ships Total Fuel Points, subtracting the amount on the Multiplier, and then multiplying the remaining fuel by the Landing Multiplier.  (Total Fuel - Multiplier Amount) X Multiplier = Remaining Fuel Points.  For example, if a ship with 300 Fuel Points is landing on a 2X multiplier space, the amount remaining would be 400 Fuel Points. (300 - 100) x 2 = 400.  However, if a player draws a Landing Card with a number higher than their ships Fuel Points, their landing was not successful and they will only receive 10% of their Total Fuel Points as a final score!  The player who can reach 2000 Fuel Points after multiple landings, will win the game!
Lunar Landings Cards






Tuesday 2 October 2012

Sons of Noah! The Action filled Collection Game!!


Sons of Noah!


For this weeks exciting board game assignment, we were tasked with creating a Collection style board game.  This was a difficult task to complete, as we had to avoid all of the "Race to the Finish" elements and create a pure collection game.  An example of a pure collection game is Life, where the goal is not to reach the end first, but to have the most money by the time you finish your game.

Our game idea came from Divakar, who after a long day working at an animal shelter, suggested that we do an animal rescue game.  Our original idea was to build an animal shelter style game board, where the player must save stray cats and dogs.  We expanded on this idea by having the player save all types of animals in various Biomes.  Our final thought, was to have the player be part of a secret project called "Project Noah". An organization whose goal is to save the worlds animals before the apocalypse begins.  Since the player is a "Project Noah" recruit, they are given the title of "Son of Noah".  Since these events take place in a futuristic society, the player will only need to collect one species from each Biome.  Only then will they be able to enter their spaceship and leave their crumbling planet behind.    
The Temperate Forest Biome!


Set-up: Players shuffle the animal cards and put each pile into its respective zone. Players then roll for the highest number to see who goes first.  Players may start in the Biome of their choice.  The only restriction is that they must start on the corner of the Biome.

Play: Players take turns going around the board to the different zones while trying to collect matching pairs of animals. Movement is made by rolling the die. There are 5 zones present for the players to explore.  These zones are Desert, Tundra, Temperate Forest, Rain-forest, and Ocean.  Players may move clockwise or counter-clockwise around the zone.  If a player wishes to move to another zone, they must move to where the two zones overlap.  This is the only way to transition from one zone to the next.  Players must collect a pair of animals from each Biome, before they can take off in their ship and escape the end of the world. Players must land on an animal space in order to pick up a card from that zone’s pile.  Players may also land on a space that penalizes their game. These spaces range from missing a turn, to losing an animal of the player’s choice.  If a player lands on an advancement space, they must move in the direction specified on the board.
The Animals of Sons of Noah!


Before a player rolls, they have the option to attempt to trade animals with another player. There is no ratio on trading animals, i.e. a player can attempt to trade 3 animals for only 1 from another player. A player can deny any trade without question. If a player’s trade is successful, that players turn ends. However, if the trade is denied, then the player may roll and continue their turn as normal.