Will the game be fun and engaging for players when it is not their turn?
This is an important question because our poker game is a turn based game. Each turn a player will draw an action card so it’s important that our prototype makes this action engaging for all players. These prototype action cards can include actions that involve interacting with other players. For example, an action card can force a player to exchange a card with another player. All players would then have the opportunity to convince the person who is up why they should swap with them. This gives action to all players regardless of whether it’s their turn or not. I think engaging action cards would work really well with player engagement.
What will incentivize and instigate drama/tension within the game?
This is an important question for any party game. One of my qualms with the game Werewolf/Mafia is that there really isn’t a good way to instigate drama. A prototype that would help generating tension among players would be action cards that allow players to sabotage other players. This is a similar game mechanic to Among Us, which in my opinion is a better version of Mafia because of these sabotage opportunities. Some sabotage opportunities in our poker game could be to steal cards from certain players, or have certain players expose their holdings. I think this prototype would turn out really well because it will drive out a lot of awkwardness and force action among players.
How would a round end and when would a player win a game?
Deciding how the game ends will be critical for how players choose to play the game. There could be multiple prototypes that find the best solution to this question. Should the game reset after every round? This would mean our game would have similar mechanics to apple to apples. Or should our game include poker chips? This would incentivize players to collect as many chips as possible from each round, making the strategy of the game more long term. This mechanic could make the game much more complicated which would not be the best for a party game.
