Right now we’re thinking of making a game similar to Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza but with the players names–sort of like an ice breaker. This is subject to change after our concept doc comes together, but we haven’t gotten there yet.
Question 1: What is necessary in this game?
- Prototyping, especially early, can answer many questions like what the fundamental mechanics of your game are going to be. Whether it’s a computer game or online game, making prototypes off the computer can be a quick way to expose you to sides of your game you didn’t first consider.
- Especially since this is a slapping game in person without computers, we’d definitely start on paper. We would probably just cut up pieces of paper and have each player write their names on 10-15 cards and then shuffle them and start playing.
- I think it’ll be annoying for players to write their names on the cards and to shuffle makeshift, not well manufactured cards each round. I also think that peoples slapping might cause the stacks of paper to be blown away.
Question 2: What rules will make this fun?
- Rules (mechanics) define what players have access to in the game and how they will figure out how to play. I think it’s important to define these rules in the most minimal way possible to make the game fun, while also covering game breaking edge cases.
- I think we’ll make a few note cards and write different rule sets on them. Then, we’ll play a few rounds with each rule set and individually write out notes on how we thought it went before discussing as a group. After note taking and discussion, we will move on to the next rule set and repeat. We can also make more rule sets as we see fit, as our opinions and ideas probably changed from the beginning when we made the first rule sets.
- I think the first rounds will be a little bit boring, but as we hone in on what makes our game unique, it will get more fun as we constrain the game a bit. I also think our ideas for the game as a whole might shift as we play more and think about replay-ability.
Question 3: What are our aesthetics?
- Aesthetics for a game are SUPER important because, before the player has even played or read the rules, aesthetics decide the player’s first impressions and whether the player even wants to play the game. You can have the same exact rules and different aesthetics and the game will feel very different (ex: Love Letter vs. Munchkin Loot Letter).
- We could practice coloring the cards or doing something silly like making the cards awkwardly large. We could also do an activity similar to class where each player has a monster they draw on the card that becomes their signature monster and they have to draw a version of it on each of their cards.
- I think it’ll take more setup time for players but could make the game more fun overall.
