My team’s P1 idea is a social-deduction capture-the-flag game, where you have a third team that is trying to capture both flags at the same time.
Question 1: Is this specific mechanic [ex: elimination and respawn mechanic] really necessary?
- Why is it important to answer?
- Knowing whether a specific mechanic is overpowered or underpowered is very important because that will dictate whether the game is easily abused by just invoking one specific mechanic over and over. For instance, if it’s much better to just go for eliminations till the entire team is eliminated rather than capturing the flag, then the capture-the-flag premise is ruined.
- What type of prototype will you make to answer this question?
- We can make a player activity prototype that will showcase the different stages of player activity (whether they are active or currently imprisoned), and can gauge to see how overpowering the numbers are.
- What is your guess about how it will turn out?
- My guess is that we will have to revamp this system or have to include a timer system to be “freed,” especially if there is only a small amount of players (like 5 per team).
Question 2: Will a physical, social deduction game evoke the same aesthetics and types of fun as other social dedication games?
- Why is it important to answer?
- We want the players to have fun playing a different spin on capture the flag, and we believe that the social deduction aspect of other games would be fun to combine with the physical sensation of playing the game. We just don’t want the MDA of either physical games or social deduction games to overpower the other MDA (especially aesthetics) because we want players to be able to enjoy both types of games at the same time..
- What type of prototype will you make to answer this question?
- Prototyping various mechanics and dynamics to see how they affect the aesthetics of the game. We want to make it fair and fun for everyone.
- What is your guess about how it will turn out?
- My guess is that it will be very hard for the third imposter team to win, making the fun less enjoyable in most moments. We want to balance it so that the social deduction side of things is just as fun as the physical sensation side of things.
Question 3: How will the players on the third secret team be able to communicate with each other without revealing they are on that team?
- Why is it important to answer?
- We want to know how the dynamics will play out for the third team because this is a completely novel take on a physical sensation + social dedication game. As there are no night rounds where the imposters can communicate with each other, it would be hard to dictate when both teams can pick up the flag at the same time and capture both to win.
- What type of prototype will you make to answer this question?
- We could prototype it with a physical representation of the game. And move the players on the field and see when there is ever an opportunity for the third imposter team to communicate with each other secretively.
- What is your guess about how it will turn out?
- My guess is that perhaps there will be no way for the 3rd team to secretively communicate with each other, so it will have to be constant lookouts on the field as to where their teammates are and if they are both on the different flags at the same time without anyone else around to capture it and win.
