How do we remix a simple game and add complexity while keeping it easy to understand?
At the time of this writing, my team is considering drawing heavy inspiration from Duck Duck Goose. This is a classic game with a very simple core game mechanic, so we want to incorporate enough novel game mechanics and variation to differentiate it but not so much complexity that we deviate from the heart of the original game. In our prototype, we were thinking of experimenting with different win conditions (musical chairs type elimination), adding more roles other than “duck” and “goose,” and some type of trigger-based action or event—like cards that have different effects on the game and its players. We predict that some combinations of these mechanics should make the game more silly and replayable.
How do we make the game fun when player counts are low?
Duck Duck Goose is a game that is fast-paced, incorporates physicality, and is more fun when there are more players. However, we still need to make sure that the game can still work and last long enough when there’s a smaller number of players. I was thinking we could incorporate a best out of 3/5/7 rounds system and have a mechanic that causes some aspect of the results from previous rounds carry over to subsequent rounds. I believe that this will keep things interesting enough to keep playing the game even when we’re at the minimum player count and force the game to continue past one or two rounds.
Should we give more agency to players that have been eliminated?
Since we are considering having a game mechanic that eliminates players from the game, I was thinking about whether we should still allow eliminated players to contribute instead of just waiting around for a round to end. One idea that we could prototype is including some “revenge” or “parting gift” mechanic where eliminated players can draw a card to impose conditions on the remaining players. My goal is to prevent the eliminated players from getting too bored, especially if the player count is high and they were knocked out early. As a bonus, these effects could make the game even sillier and fun!
