Should players write their own questions or should the game provide pre-written questions for the players to answer?
This is an important question to answer because how good/engaging the questions are will determine how fun the game is for the players to answer the questions and gain insight on their friends’ responses. The prototype we made, where we provide some example questions but also allow players to write their own will allow us to answer this question as we can test out whether players prefer playing with the example questions or coming up with their own. We will be able to test whether coming up with the questions is fun and exciting for the players or if it is hard and time-consuming. I think that allowing the players to write their own questions will ensure that the players are interested in hearing the answers to questions that their friends are asked. In addition, it will add a creative aspect to the game and make the game different every time you play it, preventing the game from becoming repetitive after playing with the same questions multiple times.
Do the questions generate discussion or do the players just guess, answer, and move on to the next question?
This question is important to answer because the most important type of fun I think players will get out of this game is Fellowship, and how strongly they experience this will depend on whether the questions generate fun discussions and allow the players to get to know each other better. To answer this question, the prototype including the yes and no cards to answer the question on your turn and guess your friend’s answer on their turn will work as it will allow us to see how the players interact after voting on what they think their friend will answer and after the friend reveals their true choice and sees what their friends thought they would say. I think the questions will generate discussion because they include scenarios that involve hard decisions and gray areas, so they are likely to be some surprising or controversial responses. Discussions are also likely to be generated when a player discovers that their friends don’t know them as well as they thought.
Is our passing system enough to make sure that players are comfortable playing the game?
This is an important question because we want to ensure that everyone has a pleasant experience playing the game and that their boundaries are respected. The prototype we built includes a set of rules for passing or diverting the question to a different person. It also includes questions that have varying levels of difficulty. Therefore, it will allow us to ask players if the passing system was enough to allow them to avoid answering questions that they weren’t comfortable answering and what levels of questions our passing system was sufficient for. I think the players will be comfortable with our passing system as long as the questions they come up with themselves are similar to the examples we provided and not a lot more personal or controversial.
