We are planning to make a card game relevant to cooking, with a card deck of ingredients where people can draw from. People can trade ingredients and cook meals based on given recipes.
Q1: What general style we want the game to have?
It is important because we want to test out how different styles feel in an early stage to make careful decisions, so we don’t face massive changes later. I will create a few looks and feel prototype for this (something like the box with three different versions of the same game, as mentioned in the video). I guess although we are talking about similar ideas in the group, we would have really different styles in mind. We can compare these styles and ask how other people perceive them.
Q2: Do we want to include a certain feature (a recipe deck) in addition to an existing feature (ingredient deck) of the game?
It is important because the new feature could impact the game’s procedure (mechanics), the way players play the game (dynamics), and their feelings and type of fun (aesthetics). I would create two role prototypes (one with recipe deck and one without) and observe how the new feature impacts the way players interact with the game. A recipe deck might limit the way each player “construct their dishes” and intensifies the conflict element, as each player try to gain ingredient for the recipe and prevent other from getting ingredients on that recipe. However, I also anticipate the additional feature to do things we never thought of as designers or invent new ways of accomplishing the game’s goals.
Q3: How do we turn abstract concepts into solid game features?
This question is important because it is central to the construction of the game. Players want to interact with specific mechanics in games rather than vague concepts. In our game, we aim to have “judges” and “judges’ preferences.” Players will need to choose recipes that best meet the judges’ preferences. However, we are unsure how to make this concept into solid game component. I would create a few fast integration prototypes (a “judges deck,” for example), as we want to explore as many ideas as possible at this stage. I anticipate that some ideas will work while others won’t. There might be some concepts that are fun to imagine but challenging to implement, not aligned with the main style of the game (look and feel) or have contradictory functionality with other features (roles). We will need to iterate based on what we learn from these rapid prototyping experiences.
