Introduction: About CRAZY 8 and AMIGO
Crazy 8 is a digital card game on iMessage where players try to be the first to get rid of all their cards by matching the top card’s number or suit and eights are wild and can change the suit. The game was created by GamePigeon and is available on iOS devices through the iMessage app. It’s designed for friends and family who want an easily accessible, quick, and fun game to play on their iphones.
Amigo is a card game where players have to answer personal questions and try to get rid all of their cards. The game prototype was created by me, Emilio, Cecelia, and Aimen. It’s designed for strangers and friends who are older (18+) and want to get to know each other more.
Roadmap: Comparing CRAZY 8 to AMIGO
CRAZY 8 is similar to AMIGO because the objective of the game is get rid of all your cards first, both have a power card mechanic, and both have some sort of communication mechanic. However, these two games differ because CRAZY 8 is more fast paced while, AMIGO focuses more on getting to know other players. In this blog, we will take a closer look at what design mechanics are strong and could improve for each game. I will finish with a small overview.
CRAZY 8 Strength
A strong design mechanic of CRAZY 8 is the way it highlights how many wins you have. This is a great mechanic because people like having a sense of mastery as described in lecture. Further, the mechanic is designed to give people a feeling of competence. The little ribbon as seen in the image below gives the players a reward for being a “good” player. This means you can brag to your friends and in a similar way it gives the player a sense of dominance among their friends. Together, this idea of competence and dominance make this small design feature very powerful.
CRAZY 8 Weakness
A weak design mechanic of CRAZY 8 is the chat mechanic because it does not foster community well. One of the most fundamental parts of games is fostering fellowship. For CRAZY 8, the chat feature was designed to foster fellowship within the game, but if you want to write something, it pulls you away from the game and then you can type. Further, the feature was difficult to find. Together, these design flaws make it difficult to be social on CRAZY 8, limiting the possibility to create a fellowship type of fun. In the image below, you can see how the message would appear when playing, and how it doesn’t foster a sense of connection to the other players. A way to improve this could be having a FaceTime call button on the interface, so the players could speak with other players while playing.
AMIGO Strength
A strong mechanic of AMIGO is the answering questions mechanic. This is a strong design mechanic because it fosters fellowship fun and community well. These questions are designed to make the players grow closer and get to know each other. In principal, talking is a great way to get to know other people and people have the opportunity to skip questions they do not want to answer. This design mechanic adds a twist to trying to get rid of all your cards. Although the types of questions need to be refined, the design mechanic’s idea is headed in the right direction for fostering a fellowship type of fun. Below are some example questions.
AMIGO Weakness
A weakness of AMIGO is the lack of time pressure. As I mentioned before, the questions of AMIGO need to be refined. The idea is nice, but the deep questions slow down the game when compared to a game like CRAZY 8. One way to improve AMIGO would be to make the questions not introspective and make them more light hearted. Another alternative could be to introduce a timer which could result in the player drawing cards if they don’t answer in time. An example of player thinking about their response can be seen below. In the image, the player on the left is thinking about her answer, ultimately slowing down the game. The question read was “Have you ever faked feelings for someone?” The questions need to be more light hearted and drama related, I believe to be make the game more fast paced and foster fellowship with strangers.
Conclusion: Connecting it all together
In summary, CRAZY 8 and AMIGO are similar games with similar mechanics, but differ in their priorities. For example, CRAZY 8 prioritizes access and swiftness, while AMIGO prioritizes fellowship and community. Both however use a similar foundation of getting rid of all your cards and power cards to foster fun.
