For our p1, my group has decided to do a story-based game in which players all contribute words/phrases to complete a story. However, the catch is that there are 2 spies who try to sabotage the story but must abide by certain rules (e.g. the words they use must have 2 syllables).
The questions our prototype might answer are the following:
- Is the gameplay going to be smoother if each player contributes a word, phrase, or sentence?
- This is an important question to answer because it could heavily affect the gameplay. On one hand, only contributing words could make it too easy for the players to guess the spies’ rules. On the other hand, contributing sentences could make it difficult for the spies to sabotage without being caught.
- To answer this question, we will come up with 3 versions of our game, each with different length contributions from the players. After each of the run throughs, we can gather feedback and see which game felt the best and fairest to play.
- I think that it may end up being phrases that works the best because phrases can range from just a couple words to strings that are closer to a sentence. Since this gives players more flexibility, it will give the spies a chance to play while still making it a challenge for the regular players.
- What should the physical layout of our game look like?
- This is an important question because the physical aspect of our game changes how the player interacts with our game. The basic ideas we had regarding this were either only spoken, writing on cards, or passing around a paper.
- To prototype this, one idea we had was players just speaking their word/phrase out loud. This would allow players to play more easily without the hassle of writing but it would make it harder for the players to remember exactly what words or phrases each player used. For writing on cards or paper, it introduces a physical element and also records of what each player wrote.
- I think playing with only speaking aloud would be the most balanced as the spies might be given benefit of the doubt more often.
- What stories should we use for our game?
- Since the main premise of the game revolves around crafting a story, we believe it is important to decide on the theme for the stories that are covered. Some ideas we had were classic folk stories like Jack and Jill or Hansel and Gretel, Greek/Roman mythologies, or real-life history stories.
- To prototype this, we would pick well known stories from each category, then have players try to craft the stories based on these prompts. If players had difficulties with a certain category or specific story, we would take note and adjust for the future.
- I think that there may not be one specific category that works the best and it might work to just pick the most famous or popular stories from each category to play with.
