Final Board Game Commercial!

Special thanks to Teddy Mundy and Nick Marten.

(Heres a youtube link just in case!)

Finished Board Game: Beast's Cavern

Finally finished my board game!
Wrapping is hard and the 3D printing was a pain to rely on, but i'm pretty satisfied with how it came out.

Beast's Cavern Final Print and Play!

Heres the actual board, pieces and cards!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxwl_SqCAtF_bkdMXzdkVkgzRmM/view?usp=sharing

Here are the rules!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxwl_SqCAtF_NkxPYzVPMmU0ZTg/view?usp=sharing

The goal of the game is to escape from the cavern while avoiding the monster. You must work together with your fellow archeologists to assemble the radio pieces, but beware! Only one of you may leave!

Adventures in board game sketches

some box art sketches!

Adventures in board game thumbnails

SOOOOO we did some thumbnails for our board game.
to be honest, I was surprised about how many ideas i didnt have. towards the end I was really scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
but from these i'm the biggest fan of #2, #11, and #13

Questions for the games

In order to have good feedback for our games, we choose questions that should be asked after every play through. 

How would you describe the directions? Were they understandable?

1. terrible             2. pretty bad             3. so-so              4. Good           5. excellent

Constructive criticism

Did you understand how to play?

Yes       No

Constructive criticism

How was the game set up? Was it easy to understand how to do it?

1. terrible             2. pretty bad             3. so-so              4. Good           5. excellent

Constructive criticism

Was the game fun to play?

Yes        No

Constructive criticism

Is the game fair?

Yes        No

Constructive criticism

Were you ever bored?

Yes      No

Constructive criticism

Were you ever confused?

Yes     No

Constructive criticism

Frustrated?

Yes    No 

Constructive criticism:

Are there any bugs?

Yes      No

Constructive criticism

Was the gameplay too long?

Yes     No

Constructive criticism

What part(s) of the game are the least fun?

What part(s) of the game are the most fun?

Was the game mostly chance or mostly skill? How can it be changed to be more skill based?

Adventures in concepts and stuff

So out of the 20 ideas that was listed a post or two ago i've decided on #8.

The concept I want to work with is the idea of players being forced to work together when they know its not guaranteed to end in their favor. To achieve this, I plan to have four players working towards a goal that, while only one can achieve, all four must participate for it to happen. I want players to have to deal with the conflict of having to work with players while knowing that in the end everyone is working for themselves. The biggest challenge will be choose the right time to turn on the other players; If a player acts too fast, he'll risk the other 3 players turning against him, and if they act too slow then he'll end up losing.

Theme statement: "Teammates are only temporary"

As for the setting, It has to be a environment where:
A. adventurers can be trapped in,
B. adventurers have to be rescued from via some form of transportation (like it couldn't be a forest, because then question of "why doesn't the player just run out of the space?")
C. a place adventurers could logically get stuck in (like a cave or...yeah a cave)

So heres the pitch: A team of 4 archeologists descended into a cave researching the existence of an ancient Mayan (or any other ancient civ) mythical beast. However, on the way down their lift malfunctions and they end up falling down a part of the way, scattering themselves and various equipment around the cave floor. Normally, this wouldn't be too much of an issue, as they could just radio back up to the surface for an extraction, but their radio was broken into 4 pieces and scattered with the rest of their stuff. To make matters worse, the Mayan beast wasn't so mythical at all, and is now trying to kill them. So the archeologists must find the pieces to the radio and assemble it, all while avoiding the beast trying to kill them. To make matters worse, the rescue can only save one of them before flying off, leaving the other two behind for multiple hours, dooming them to the monster. (as the helicopter thats coming to save them only have enough room for two and would have to drop them off and refuel)

As for the art style. I'd like to avoid any high detail work (as its simply not in my skillset) but would also like to give it a dungeon crawler feel to it (think World of Warcraft)

Some examples:

 Heres an already existing board game, Cave Troll, that somewhat captures the look i'd like to go for.

As for a color palette - I feel like my options are somewhat limited to a earthen dungeon. However, this tetrad captures the look i want to go for (maybe i'll add some more yellow, but i doubt it)

Adventures in game design

In class today we were given the task of taking two existing games and, while using pieces from both games, invent a new one.

We were given Settlers of Catan and pass the pigs and with it we created, the board game of a generation: Pigs of Catan.

Pigs of catan

up to 4 players max

SET UP

set up board: leave board as is, but place the same number of tokens as the danger level in each of the terrain tiles. 

Danger level:

grasslands:  1

forrest: 2

mud lands: 3

mountains: 4(house)

deserts:  5(grey token)

player starts with 4 food cards (wheat or sheep cards)

You can only have 4 or less in your hand at once.

You can buy additional food tokens during your Harvest phase (see below)

each player starts with their pig player piece in the farm land tiles

roll to see who goes first, clockwise after 

move along the edges of the terrain tiles, land on a blue stick to enter that terrain to try and collect the coins. 

You can move less than the amount you roll for if you choose.

In terms of counting moves, moving from 'inside' a tile to the blue entrance edge does NOT count as one of your moves.

game  is over when:

1. a player gets 10 tokens
2. if all the other pigs are eliminated
3. the board is completely wiped of tokens, the player with the most tokens wins. if there is a tie the player with the most food cards wins. 

phase 1: movement phase

roll die to see how many spaces you move. 

the number you roll is the amount you move, in three sections:

If you roll a 1 or a 2, you can move one spot.

If you roll a 3 or a 4, you can move two spots.

If you roll at 5 or a 6, you can move three spots.

You move along the edges of the tiles, and you may enter a tile if you land on the blue entrance piece. Going from inside a tile to the blue entrance piece does not count as movement.

combat phase: this occurs before harvest phase if 2 players are in the same tile. if you are on the same tile as another player you must each roll to see who wins, if you tie then you roll again. if you lose the roll you give the winner one of your food cards and leave the tile.

phase 2: harvest phase 

roll to see if you harvest the tokens on the tile you occupy. If you are not in a tile/the tile you are in has no tokens, you cannot roll for tokens. if you roll lower than or equal to the zone's danger level, then you give up a food card. You can choose to stay in the tile and skip your next movement phase if you want to try again next turn. 

Alternatively, if you want to buy food, you may skip your harvest roll and pay 1 TOKEN and get 1 FOOD. You cannot buy more than one food a turn, and you cannot have more than 4 food in your hand.Surprisingly, the game worked out quite well, and while it ended up being significantly worse than either counterpart, it had some unique cost and effect choices as well. The assignment gave a good example of how versatile a board and pieces can be.
Some pictures.

Adventures in brain storming.

Game design ideas

Board game involving water pipes

1. Stealth Mechanics
1. A game where you dont know whats infront of you
2. Randomized map
1. a game where you’ll never know what comes next
3. Trap setting?
1. being able to set traps for other players to walk on or avoid
4. Each player gets to set up the path/map for the opponent?
1. Players creating the map for the opponent.
5. A game timer?
1. The player must reach the end/objective before something gets them
6. A monster ?
1. The goal is to avoid him while trying to get the other players eaten
7. A game where the goal isn’t to win, but instead not to lose?
8. The goal of the game is to not be the slowest?
1. A game where theres a monster who's movement is controlled by chance, and players must fight to not be the slowest?
1. The monster will have his own turn, moving in the direction of the closest player (via dice roll?)
2. Players will go turn by turn, rolling for movement (hopefully away from the monster)
3. Cards will be pulled by landing on a tile? (or each turn?)
1. cards will have effects like, double dice roll, slowing enemy player movement, laying traps that slow players, items that lure the monster away/towards other players, items that let you swap places with a player?
9. Same idea as before, but the monster is player controlled?
1. Cards that force him away/too another player to keep someone from focusing just one player

10. A game puzzle like game about water pipes/flow? (With a more fun mechanic? Replace water with magic or something?)

1. 
   
   

   The strategy is to control the flow of water via strategic placement of tiles?

2. 
   
   

   Rival plumbers fighting for control of a pipe system.

3. 
   
   

   Winner is whomever can direct the flow to their end pipe first?

4. 
   
   

   Drawing cards and/or tiles for pipe pieces

1. 
   
   

   cards could be items like bombs, hammers, saws (which destroy pipes) , drain clogger, poison, fish[?]

11. Game about protecting cows from aliens

12. A game with a rotating map
1. the goal is to get to the center of the map
2. every few turns the maps rotates, forcing players to adapt to the changes
13. 3D Game?
1. players build structures for some purpose?
1. maybe a defend the castle sort of game?
14. Defend the castle board game?
1. one player plays as king, the other as the citizens
15. Game based around colonies of insects, goal would be to keep your colony alive via resource management
1. think settlers of catan with bugs, tile confrontation and environmental effects.

16. Detection game?
        16.1. Goal is to cheat on a test or steal something, avoiding detection of    teacher/guards

17. Explorer game

        17.1 Goal is to reveal/explore the most of a map, certain tiles net more points player with most points at the end wins

18. Pirate game
1. goal is to get to the treasure first while avoiding non player controlled boats
19. Sport game built like portal
1. a repeating map (like pacman warp) where the goal is to navigate a ball to a goal via tiles that change the movement of the ball and a looping map
20. Chaotic card game?
1. a game like “worst game ever” where the fun of it is random tasks and player interaction

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The surprising thing about this was how quickly I abandoned my fog of war tomb raider idea, despite being so sure that it was the game I wanted to make.

Out of the 20 my favorite 3 are 8, 10 and 15.

In regards to 8, i plan to look into the monster being player controlled instead of based on chance and situational rules. The challenge with this is balancing it so the monster can’t just pick player A to hunt for (because he just doesn’t like him as a person) and must adapt to hunting the most available player instead

In regards to 10, as fun as it seems to me, its not a very appealing idea (rivaling plumbers just isn’t hip anymore I guess.) So i plan to look into another theme for it while keeping the mechanics and goal the same.

As for 15, i like the idea of each player being their own colony of insect (like ants/bees/wasps/moths all with their own benefits) But i fear that it’ll be too close to an already existing game. With different starting “races” you also have the task of heavy balancing so ones not overpowered compared to the other.

Yeah fun stuff.

Print and play observation fun time.

A Deconstruction of The Worst Game Ever

Basic Game Rules-

The Worst Game Ever is a turn-based card game, with turns going around the players in a circle until the game is over. Turns start with the player doing their ‘Ante Up’, where they put a token into the center pot, aka ‘kitty’. Then they draw a card, and ‘attack’ other players. Attacking goes in two phases, where the attacking player chooses a player to attack and how many tokens they want. Then, they roll their die, and if the roll is higher than the declared number, the attacker gains the declared amount of tokens.

Also, players draw a card each round and have a hand of 5 at the start. Cards can be played at any time that they apply, (unless stated otherwise.) Some cards, marked ‘Stays in Play’ sits in front of you on the table once played, and remain in play (affecting the gameplay) until something else cancels it.

Goal of the game - Keeley Tober

The goal of the game is to have the most tokens left when any one player is eliminated, also to screw over anyone and everyone you are playing with. If there is a tie the first player to shout “Worst Game Ever!” wins, any player can do this. It only takes one player to lose all of his token for the game to be over, so depending on how people gang up on each other the game can move quickly or go on for a while.

Core Mechanic - Adrian Hutson

The game is driven by turn-based play as this happens most frequently. In a turn players are to ante up one token, draw a card, and attack another player for that person’s tokens with a die roll. The rules of this mechanic may change throughout the game as defined by cards other players may play at any time.

Space of the game - Adrian Hutson

This game takes place mostly in a continuous 2 dimensional space but tends to dip into a zero dimensional space as well. As cards are played they have an affect on other elements of the game in it’s 2 dimensional space. Use of many of these cards depend on taking the game to a more zero dimensional space where continuing play of the game involves the space of the players’ minds and behavior.

Objects, Attributes, States - Melvin Rice
In the game, there are 5 objects active in the space each with their own attributes and states.

1. The cards
1. The most versatile object(s) of the game. The cards are what are picked up and played by the player at any time during the game. The cards have one attribute, its current state of play, and that attribute has a multitude of states: Being in the deck, having been discarded being, in a players hand, being in play, remaining in play revealed, and remaining in play hidden. The possible states for each card varies as some allow certain forms of play and some do not.
2. the dice
1. The simplest object in the game. The dice is used to attack players and be rolled for various other reasons dictated by the cards in play. It has one attribute, its number, with a state of 1-6.
3. the tokens
1. The most important object(s) of the game. These are the main objective of the game, as running out of them means you’re eliminated and having the most of them usually results in your victory. These have one attribute, its location, with 4 states:  a player’s pot, a player’s card, the kitty, or out of the game.
4. the player’s pot
1. A more unknown/unnoticed object but still an important one. This is where the tokens gained by the player go. It has one attribute, its current number, with a state of 0 (which means the player is out from the game) or higher (up to the 1+14 x the number of players in the game, as each player is given 15 tokens to start, and the game ends when one player runs out.)
5. the kitty
1. Another basic object. The kitty is where the player must give one (sometimes more) token(s) to before starting their turn. It has one attribute, its number of tokens with a state of 0 to 1+14 x the number of players in the game.
   

Operative Actions - Teddy Mundy

In the game, there are only 4 Operative Actions that dominate the game.

1. Paying a Token to the ‘Kitty’, aka the center pot.
2. Drawing a Card
3. ‘Attacking’ other players
4. Using Cards

The first two actions are default actions that the player must take, while the second two really define the shape of the game. All of the tactics that you can do in the game stem from these, which lead in to our...

Resultant Actions - Teddy Mundy

There are a lot of different specific resultant actions, but they can be boiled down to:

1. Attacking players to gain tokens for yourself
2. Attacking players to hinder their token amount
3. Using cards to gain more tokens for yourself
4. Using cards to hinder others’ token amount

Now, like I said, there are a lot more sub-resultant actions here. For example, when attacking players, you can declare a low number to make more sure you succeed, or you can bet a higher number for a chance at getting more tokens from the enemy, but with a lower chance of success.

Another example can be when attacking players, or playing cards which work against them, is what player you are choosing to work against. Sometimes, it can be a player with less tokens, working to eliminate them quickly and end the game while you are ahead, or attacking a player with more tokens, to bring them down and yourself up.

Any notes about rules you notice - Catherine

The written rules cover basic mechanics of the game. It lists the contents, how to set up the game, sequence of play, terms and meanings on the cards, and the objective of the game.

Operational Rules:

The deck of cards is shuffled, and each player is dealt 5 cards. The player also receives 15 tokens, which is equivalent to money and points. On turn, a player is allowed to pick someone and “attack” them for their tokens. They call out a number, and if the die roll is higher than the declared number they get that number of tokens. Any player is allowed to play the cards in their hand if the rules on the card allow it.  Whenever a player loses all their tokens, the game is over. The winner is decided with whoever has the most tokens, unless stated otherwise.

Behavioral Rules:

Behavioral rules are implied and often times played with. Rules on the cards tend to play with how people act socially, and often times cards punish those who aren’t paying attention to what’s happening in the game.

Advisory Rules:

Through playing the game, I advise players to pay attention to what cards are being played, how many tokens a player has, and how alliances can be formed.

Another advisory rule is to read the cards in your hand carefully and play them as soon as an opportunity arises. The game moves fairly quickly, so playing them strategically and quickly gives a player a definite advantage.

Skills players learn - Catherine

Players will learn a lot of strategy through playing the game. i.e: When it’s better to use certain cards over another, when one can play a card to overrule another, etc.

Physical:

• There is little physical skill required to play this game, but reaction time will benefit a player.

Mental:

• Players gain observation and strategy skills as the game goes on, because they have to pay attention to all cards that are being played onto the field.

Social:

• Players gain social skills by reading their opponents, whether it is their turn or not, and often aim to form alliances between themselves so that both parties will gain an advantage.

The role of chance in the game.-Keeley

The game is about 70% chance and 30% skill. Rolling the die and drawing cards from the deck makes the game very chance oriented. There are several different types of cards and very few of them are repeated making it unlikely that you will get the same card twice in one game. When rolling the die you have to roll a number higher than the number of tokens you are trying to take from another player. Mental skills and social skills are used to try and win the game. Mental skills are used to observe other players and their tokens and to try and remember all the cards that are in play at the same time. Social skills are used to coordinate with other players to gang up on specific player(s) to win the game. Although the game does not require a ton of skill to play chance makes the game fun by providing uncertainty and the surprises that come along with the uncertainty.

Pictures of the game