Pride, Prejudice and some Pirates

The original Pride and Prejudice was written in 1813 by Jane Austen. It follows a web of marriages  attractions, crushes and family benefactors within multiple families. To help me understand it I used a character map I found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Pride_and_Prejudice_Character_Map.png

In our board game players choose one of the main female characters based on a colour, Elizabeth Bennet (Blue), Lydia Bennet (Green), Jane Bennet (Yellow) and Charlotte Lucas (Red). Each of these women have their male counterpart that they will marry, according to the novel.

On the board there are 40 Random Tiles. They are:

• 5 "Affection Points +2" Tiles (Player keeps this tile and adds 2 affection points to their total)
• 27 "Affection Points +1" Tiles (Player keeps this tile and adds 1 affection point to their total)
• 4 "Male Counterpart" Tiles (Darcy, Bingly, Wickham and Collins)
• 1 "Mother Bennet" Tile (Player loses a turn)
• And 3 "Pirate Tiles" (All Random Tiles are removed to be shuffled and replaced. The player that activated the Pirate Tile takes 3 of their +1 Affection Tiles from their collection to be shuffled and put back onto the board)

Once a player has amassed 10 points their goal is to find their male counterpart. They can keep any other points they come across to throw off other players. Once a player has earned enough points to attain their counterpart they win the Bennet Dowry either themselves or, in Charlotte's case, through her husband.

Each player moves along with the roll of the dice and follow the rules of the random tiles they come across.

The reason we have Pirate Tiles is a hint at Keira Knightley (pretty obvious considering we used her picture as the pirate symbol). Knightley played Elizabeth Bennet in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice  and Elizabeth Swan in the Pirates of the Caribbean. 

These tiles also give other players a chance to take back some points. Otherwise, because we only have 37 points available (10 for one player and 9 for the other three), the game would only last until the first person achieved 10 points.

During the creation of this game we faced 2 issues. 

The first issue was a general issue with our idea. We had originally thought that the game should be based around the men earning the attraction points to get the women. While creating the game (after watching the movie), we realized that because the Bennet family was not terribly wealthy, the girls would have to accept any proposal they were faced with. This would counteract the game dynamic of earning they girls affection. So we quickly changed the game so that the players played the girls seeking the attraction and proposal of the men.

The second issue we faced was a physical issue when we started making the "Affection +1" Tiles. We used permanent marker and it started to bleed through. This was an issue because as soon as someone saw which tiles had green writing they would know which tiles to head for. We quickly solved this problem by gluing a second piece of construction paper to each tile. This not only hid and permanent marker that had bled through the first piece, it also gave the tiles a thicker, more comfortable feel.

I am looking forward to hear what people think of Pride, Prejudice and Pirates!

As for all the picture we used in our game:

Mrs.Bennet: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/content/images/2007/03/19/mrs_bennet_396_396x222.jpg

Mr.Darcy: http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16100000/Colin-Firth-Pride-and-Prejudice-Darcy-colin-firth-16177740-1600-1200.jpg

Mr.Bingly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/content/images/2007/03/19/mr_bingley396_396x222.jpg

Mr.Wickham: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/content/images/2007/03/22/lydia_wickham_1600x1200.jpg

Mr.Collins: http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb57524/humanscience/images/b/bd/13_collins_Pride_and_Prejudice.jpg

and Keira Knightley (Pirate): http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mLcHEKw2qw0/Tnjc40RhqxI/AAAAAAAABrc/Bf3HhqDvZwA/s400/Swann+Pirate.jpg

And They're Off!

Race to the Finish

In the first tutorial I met up with Jordon Mattison, Alex Golenischev and Sidd Panchal to play each of our Race to the Finish games.

First up was my game, University Life.

My game was University Life. A mix of Snakes and Ladders and The Game of Life. Players roll and collect or lose "Study points" as they land on spaces. They can also be fast tracked to spots further on the board. Players must earn enough Study points to complete and Tests they come across. They also must stop when they reach the midterm and final and add their study points to a roll. If they haven't collected enough Study points they are sent back to earn more.

Some problems I faced were when I decided to put in a massive fast track. This was a problem because Jordon is extremely lucky. He landed on the fast track to the final and failed once. Soon after he landed on the identical space and already had enough study points to pass the final. Winning in less than 10 turns.

Other than that, I realized that my game could use more spots where the players can gain Study points and less "Project squares" where players lose a turn. I would also lower the Study points needed to pass the midterm and final and get rid of the massive fast track that Jordon used to win.

Next up was Alex's game, F1 Racing.

Alex's game was a Formula 1 racer where players took turns at a very fast pace, each roll of the six sided dice could land you on an off ramp to a short cut, a square that had you move 5 or 10 on your next turn, an oil spill that made you lose a turn or a set of tools where the player rolls to see how many turns they lose.

This game would've been a lot easier to figure out if the board game board was bigger and had a legend of the icons on the side. Otherwise it was another very fun game that I lost.

Third was Sidd's game, Even or Odd.

Sidd's game one of the more confusing games of the day. But as we went along we began to understand the player switches and chance spaces and it quickly became a very fun game. The player switches would change each player's location with the person to their left so (as it happened a few times) the player in 1st might become 3rd, 2nd might become last, 3rd might become 2nd, and last would move to first.

The only real issue we found (after we recovered from the initial confusion), was when we came to splits in the path with and small "E" and "O" in the corners. (Seeing as this was the main design for the game "Even or Odd" it probably should have been more clearly defined). At these spots, depending on your roll (even or odd) you would follow one path or the other. The issue was, the letters did not match up to the path you were to take. Also because the paths were not clearly defined it was possible to get stuck in almost infinite loops.

We had some fun working out the right way to play this game and I ended up getting 2nd place (Thanks to a Player Swap!).

Finally Jordon's game, Battle Squares.

Battle squares was The kind of game you play once or twice without really understanding what's going on. There are many rules to the battling but it's an decent idea. I think it just needs some design work, maybe a quick guide to battling.

On the board there are 4 different colour squares, red, yellow, blue and the big green squares. Every player starts with 1 equipment card. Red squares give the player an equipment card, blue squares give the player effect cards to be played on their turn, yellow do nothing and green cards are the battle squares, you battle with another player that has landed on or passed the green square.

Players also have the ability to "save" their progress at the beginning of their turn in case they get into a battle and lose they wont have to return to the start.

As for battling itself it initially seemed like a lengthy process, but it gets easier as you play:


To battle, each player selects 1 equipment card, and put the others back down. You show each other the equipment card at the same time. In order to determine who wins:

1. Look at the Special conditions, if they are met as described, that card wins and the battle is over. If not...
2. If the attacker (player who initiated the fight) has a higher attack on their card than the defender has defense, the attacker wins.
3. If the attacker has less attack than the defender has defense, the defender wins.
4. The defender always wins in a tie.

At the end of the battle, the used equipment is discarded and shuffled back into the deck if and when you need more equipment cards.


This game is not hard to understand once you get into it. It just has a lot of rules and procedures to get used to very quickly.

All in all, I enjoyed our games, some need a bit of tweaking but that's what the play-testing is for. I would definitely be willing to play revised versions of these games anytime.

Battle Hexagons

Battle Hexagons

For this territorial acquisition game I joined Jordon Mattison, Alex Golenischev and Sidd Panchal to create a roughly Portal based game.

The object of our game is to gain the most hexagons after 20 rounds. To move, each player rolls two six-sided die on their turn.

Players can acquire hexagons by moving across them. Any hexagon they pass in their roll is claimed and coloured in using their dry-erase marker. (For this prototype we used coloured pencils)

Players cannot re-claim hexagons from other players so there is the chance that a player can be cornered, thus unable to move. So don't get trapped!



These are “wild hexes.”  When you cross them, draw a card from the wild pile.  This hex is now claimed, and you may walk across it 3 times before it becomes spent.

These are “Portal hexes.” Once used, you may travel to any non-claimed portal hex.  Once used, it can only be used to travel back and forth between portals.  Any further portal hexes acquired can be linked into the player’s portal network.

 

These are blank hexes. You claim them by walking over them with your player piece.  Once claimed, no other player except for you may walk over them.

Also included in our game is the deck of Wild cards that are drawn when a player lands on the "Wild Hex". The only wild card a player can keep in their hand to be used later is the "No Chance" card, which can be spent when the player doesn't want to draw a wild card.

Games in class: UNO!

In Friday's class I joined up with a group of 8 to play a game I hadn't played in a very long time, Uno!

http://www.areyougame.com/images/items/MA41001.jpg

Uno is a simple card game for 2 to 10 players. The rules sound slightly complicated with many special cards, penalties, challenges and small rules to remember, but once the game gets going it is all easy to remember.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Uno.jpg/300px-Uno.jpg

Cards:
There are 15 different types of cards that can be played:

• Numbered cards: 0 to 9, these are the basic playing cards found in the four different colours. In order to finish their hand, the player must play one of these cards.
• Skip cards: These are found in the four different colours. These cards skip the next players turn.
• Draw Two: These are found in the four different colours. The next player must draw two cards and cannot place any.
• Reverse: These cards reverse the direction of play.
• Wild: These black cards can be placed on any other card. The person who played this card chooses the new colour. These cards can only be played when the player cannot place any other card.
• Wild, Draw Four: These black cards function like Wild cards with the addition that the next player must draw four cards and cannot place any.  These cards can only be played when the player cannot place any other card.

Rules / How to play:

Along with the special cards that extend the gameplay, there are general rules of play that are easiest to outline while explaining how to play.

• Each player is dealt 5 cards. The dealer then flips the top card of the deck to show the colour and number to start with, this is the discard pile.
• Players can place a card in the discard pile only if the match either the colour or number of the card at the top of the pile (ie the last card placed).
• If a player cannot play any card they draw one from the deck without placing a card.
• Following the rules of any special cards played, play continues until someone runs out of cards.
• Prior to that, any player who has a single card in their hand must say "Uno". If they don't say it and another player catches them the must draw two more cards from the deck.

The group I was in played Uno in a non traditional way according to the official rules. Normally, to make a game last multiple dealings, when one player plays there last card everyone else tallies up the value of their cards (Wild Draw Four is worth 50 points, all other special cards are worth 20 and number cards are worth their face value). Each person's amount is awarded to the player who just played their last card. The game ends when a player reached 500 points. This seems like a good way to extend the gameplay for people who looked up the official rules. But because we only played Uno for 30 minutes, the group I was in competed for first place, then second, and so on.

Things I noticed and what I would change:

I noticed a few interesting thing while playing Uno. One thing I noticed was that personally, I paid more attention to playing the matching colour than the number. I know that the only reason to place a number card is so that you hope that the colour stays so you can get rid of some more cards of that colour. I think this is a good game mechanic in a way. In a way it takes the pressure of strategy off and allows you to have more fun just getting rid of as many cards as you can. It wouldn't make such a fun and easy to play game if you had to carefully think about each card you are placing. 

Something I noticed that I didn't enjoy very much is the fact that at times Uno feels like it is only being played between the few players you have to react to and the few players your move affects. Whatever the players across the group from me played had completely changed by the time my turn came around. Although it was still fun to watch the seemingly endless circles of reverse cards and players repeatedly getting hit with Draw Two or Draw Four cards, at times it felt like the whole point of playing with more than three people was lost. I think that would be the thing I would change in Uno. As a designer I think there would be some way to mix up the gameplay to expand the feeling of a group such as adding Skip Two, or even Skip Three cards. Another card that I think would be interesting is a Wild Next Player card where the one who places chooses the next player (other than themselves), and play continues from there. Also the player who plays the Wild Next Player card loses their next turn (so that they will not just choose the player next to them and get almost two turns in a row.)

Those are only small issues and I think Uno is still a great game none the less. I will definitely be willing to play it much more often in the future, maybe even make my own cards for it!