Our game concept that we have in mind right now is team-based War (card game) in which teams with limited communication must attempt to play the best combination of the cards they hold to win each round, with rules and mechanics being loosely based on war.
Prototype #1: Simple Rules with Playing Cards
This will just be teaching a set of players (6 players, 2 teams of 3), the intended rules of the game defined in our original concept document and seeing what results happen.
Questions:
- Will people cheat if the rules of the game feature limited information?
- The limited information/no communication aspect is a pretty central part of our concept currently, so it is important to test whether or not it is even a thing players want to engage with
- This prototype will test the simplistic form of the game mechanics so that we can evaluate the social aspects of the game
- How long will it take to understand a set of simplified interactions based off of a known game?
- What player dynamics occur as a result of having limited information?
Prototype #2: Mimicking a card game on an online platform (i.e, Tabletop Simulator)
This will be replicating the game (or pretending to replicate the game) through an online medium and playtesting it.
Questions:
- Are there mediums that are more effective for this particular form of team-based card game?
- We want to explore different potential contexts to see which ones create players that are most receptive towards learning and having fun with the game
- What social player dynamics occur as a result of not being physically present together in a place?
Prototype #3: Complex Rules with Custom Cards
Instead of using a deck of cards, we will test printing out our own cards with much more complex interactions. This
Questions:
- How long might it take to understand a series of complex card interactions and what changes how long it takes/how receptive a player might be?
- If we make our game much more complex, we want to know if that will actually end up detracting from an individual’s willingness to get into the game itself. Therefore, it’s important to explore how fast a complex version of the game can be understood, and what contexts affect that speed
All three of these are generally more towards implementation/look and feel, although we can and do want to certain answer questions about role by placing these prototypes in a range of different contexts to answer our hypotheses on what contexts would work best for our game
