DevLog1
It’s the first DevLog about the 6 game prototypes.
Until now, three games prototypes have been developed. Two of the models have a high degree of completion and need to be changed based on play-testing. Although there is a model that has been completed, it needs to be changed on a large scale based on the existing play-test feedbacks. The main reason is that the playability is not high.
Prototypes 1, A racing game without dice
It is designed that players pick a card at each round and keep them. Return a pair of the same cards to pick a new card. There are 24 cards in total, involves 3 types of cards:
- Move forward (12)
- 1 step forwards (10).
- 2 step forwards (2).
- Move Backward (6)
- 1 step backwards (4).
- Stay (2).
- Functional cards (6)
- Give on a specific card you have to other players and the player has to follow the card (2).
- Pick one random card from another player and follow it (2).
- Force another player to step 1 backwards (2).
The map has not yet been finalized.
The biggest problem of this game is how to make the two actions of drawing cards and playing cards related to the map design and the player’s strategy.
Also, playtest shows that the numbers of cards are too small especially the move forwards card. The probability that the player can move forward is too low. So at the very beginning of the game, move backwards and functional cards are useless.
Changes after playtesting:
- Change the number of cards to 42 in total: Double the move forwards cards and functional cards. So there are 24 move forwards card, 6 move back forwards card and 12 functional cards. In order to Increases the player’s chance to move forward and interfere with the others.
- Update the maps. Simply, the map consists of a straight line and two shortcuts. These include some bonuses or traps that affect the player. For example, a straight line containing the bonuses that increase the possibility of allowing the player to move faster, while taking a shortcut might make your opponent move faster.
Prototypes 2, a twine game.
This is a linear story game. A friend of mine was attacked in London. I decided to make a twine game based on this story as I thought of the increasing discrimination against Asians and attacks on Asians since the outbreak of the Covid-19.
This project has not been launched yet, it has only been tested locally. I am studying to upload it to the Internet such as the UAL myLog webpage.
Based on the playtests, improve the twine game, add a timer to the text, and print the text slowly according to the estimated reading time, so as not to make the web page too compact due to large sections of text.
The current direction of improvement is mainly literary and effect. The literariness includes more contagious words and more concise narratives. The effect is mainly dynamic text and is considering whether to add sound effects.
Prototype 3, an escape room.
This is a cooperative project, completed by Shijie Song and me.
Players need to search in a designated room (M310, LCC), find an unreleased game, and know about the game designer’s story.
All the clues of this game are built on what is already in the classroom. As the subject of this escape room, most clues are related to board games. A small number of clues are hidden in computers and globes. We hope to arouse students’ interest in board games through this game. Song is mainly responsible for the design of the decryption process, while I am mainly responsible for finishing part of the story or expanding the story. This room escape game tells the story of a designer who made a game for a girl and didn’t want the game to be released, but was coerced by an unscrupulous game publishing company. To enrich the story, I added some clues that have nothing to do with decryption but can enrich the story.
We initially limited players to finish the game in 15 or 20 minutes. However, the playtest results reflect that it may take more time to complete it. All three teams of 3-4 people took about an hour to finish, and all of them asked for our help. Some of these clues are very difficult. For example, there is a clue that I like, a folder called “unlock_10_60_1-6”, which points to a game called “Unlock”. There are many versions of Unlock. 5 of them require players to be over 10 years old, play for about 60 minutes and require 1-6 players. The filename points to the clue. At the same time, Unlock also means that we need to find a password to unlock this folder. However, testing has shown that players may not care about the meaning behind the name, perhaps including their unfamiliarity with board games as a whole.
These test results made me understand that everyone has different opinions on the difficulty of the same game, especially as the designer of the game may think that the game is not challenging. Still, it is not the case for the player. But at the same time, it also reflects the problem of the game’s target group. If the game does not have a specific target group, it should not introduce clues requiring players to know one particular field.