Fundamentals of game design chapter 1 exercise 2: Use a chessboard and chesspieces and the ways they move to create a cooperative game where two players work together to achieve a victory condition.
My first idea on this is to have the colors represent each player. This makes it easier for the players to consider themselves important and also guides them in what they can move. I want the enemy to start on the other side of the board and have a system which moves their pieces. The system is taken care of by the players moving according to rules. It's turn based and the players have their turn together with both of them moving and then the enemy moves.
The still needs to be something which separates the players pieces from the enemies, since the colors are the players own. The pawns are pretty boring, so they can be given to the enemy. Also, if the players begin on one side of the board then there is only eight spaces where they can start (if we consider only using the back row).
If the players only gets the tower, horse, knight and queen the starting point can look like this: THKQQKHT with the player colors split in the middle.
The pawns should be boss like to create an enemy. If you have four pawns in a square that looks pretty threatening. The pawns can move like pawns move regularly, except they are one big pawn. But let's have two big pawns because otherwise it would be too easy. If the pawns could move to multiple targets, then the players get to choose the direction.
This looks like a good starting ground. Now, off to playtest this and then report back the result.
Sep 20, 2014
Sep 19, 2014
Mechanics are hard
What do you get when your assignment and course material contradicts each others and the presentation that should have been uploaded isn't there. At least a confused as fuck student.
Maybe it's just me, but the game workshop where I took the role as the mechanics designer was really weird. The paper was full of fill in the blanks of gameplay modes. The description says I should design core mechanics. The course material says there are lots of types of mechanics. The assignment paper only mentions one. I have no idea if it even helps my team if I only write the game modes, because we kinda did that already together. So I wrote some mechanics I guess?
Maybe I'm just overthinking things.
My mood didn't improve when I found out that another assignment everyone in the class though to have been pushed forward is actually due tomorrow. Nice. At least I worked on it for a bit yesterday so I could finish up in an hour, but it seems a lot of people in my class just said fuck it and hopes for the best.
Takeaway
Uuh. Student lives are hard? I dunno it's a little stressful but still nothing big. I'm more upset about myself for not understanding the workshop assignment. It feels like it is a learning potential gone missing. Time to read my course material some more. It's good stuff!
Sep 17, 2014
Creeping doom and scary games
What is horror games? Does it make you feel afraid or does it just scream in you face?
Horror games has the last years had a really dull view of fear. The game industry thinks that simply a monster in a closet will get us happy and content with the scare factor. And while monsters can be scary, just having them chase us is not enough to make a good horror game. Dead Space wants to call itself a horror game, bah. Now, Dead Space is a good action game, the horror sucks. Jumpscares will not carry a game, the atmosphere will. Amnesia went in the right direction, but ultimately failed because of AI failures and the last area being a quest.
The reason why the subject today is horror is because it relates to my homework for Friday. We're supposed to write an essay on how we would design a game of creeping doom. The restrictions are:
Approaching this design challenge, I thought about what the game is about. Fear is the thing we're working with, but what different kinds of fears are there. I found a link with a professor talking about the shared fears we all have (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-5-fears-we-all-share)
I also took into consideration the story my teacher told us about the shaving game. Last years a couple of students made a shaving game where you have to shave before you go to work, and that broadened my view of the assignment. I started thinking about bullying, since we've been working a lot with Sissyfight recently.
I'm not completely finished with the essay yet since I got sidetracked with the fear line of thinking (which I cannot use in the essay since I lack the sources and it's kinda off-topic) but once I finish I will put up the idea here and discuss the forks in the road to completing the design of the game.
Takeaway
Horror games can be much more than just super scary. Creating a frightening environment can be enough if you put the right characters and situations in place. The goal of this assignment was to get us to think outside the box, since movement is not an option, how are you going to feel scared? To finish this assignment we need to look within ourselves and see what we think is really scary, instead of guessing what other people think is scary. So maybe it's more inside the box than we thought.
Horror games has the last years had a really dull view of fear. The game industry thinks that simply a monster in a closet will get us happy and content with the scare factor. And while monsters can be scary, just having them chase us is not enough to make a good horror game. Dead Space wants to call itself a horror game, bah. Now, Dead Space is a good action game, the horror sucks. Jumpscares will not carry a game, the atmosphere will. Amnesia went in the right direction, but ultimately failed because of AI failures and the last area being a quest.
The reason why the subject today is horror is because it relates to my homework for Friday. We're supposed to write an essay on how we would design a game of creeping doom. The restrictions are:
- Players can't move
- Players cannot win the game
- The players will lose at the end
- There must be a theme of Creeping Doom
Approaching this design challenge, I thought about what the game is about. Fear is the thing we're working with, but what different kinds of fears are there. I found a link with a professor talking about the shared fears we all have (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-5-fears-we-all-share)
I also took into consideration the story my teacher told us about the shaving game. Last years a couple of students made a shaving game where you have to shave before you go to work, and that broadened my view of the assignment. I started thinking about bullying, since we've been working a lot with Sissyfight recently.
I'm not completely finished with the essay yet since I got sidetracked with the fear line of thinking (which I cannot use in the essay since I lack the sources and it's kinda off-topic) but once I finish I will put up the idea here and discuss the forks in the road to completing the design of the game.
Takeaway
Horror games can be much more than just super scary. Creating a frightening environment can be enough if you put the right characters and situations in place. The goal of this assignment was to get us to think outside the box, since movement is not an option, how are you going to feel scared? To finish this assignment we need to look within ourselves and see what we think is really scary, instead of guessing what other people think is scary. So maybe it's more inside the box than we thought.
Analysis of Klondike - From computer to reality
How to use mechanics in a way the player can remembers, use and enjoy.
I'm gonna use the same picture this time around too because I like it and it is an accurate depiction on how a game of Klondike looks when played on a computer.
And this is how Klondike looks on my kitchen table. Both these games have the same mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics. The big difference between these two is that one of them is set up and handled by a machine and the other a human. Yes they are both played by humans, but in the tabletop version the player must take care of the setting up, the stock, revealing cards, checking wrong moves etc.
Simple system mechanics make human happy.
Klondike is designed to be played on a table with a human running through the motions. This can be noticed by how the game is set up and how the stockpile functions. The setup is easy to remember because it follows a easy motion:
Shuffle, One card up, count six more piles face down. One card up, one face down on the rest, One card up, one face down on the rest, repeat until there is a face up card on every pile. It feels good to deal out the cards and the stockpile is left in your hand afterwards. Simple and clean
The stockpile is also handled in a simple way. The player takes the three card on the top of the stockpile and lays them out. The topmost card can be moved which, if moved, the card below it can also be moved. If the player wants three new cards then the old ones are discarded face up to the waste pile which is kept in order and never shuffled. If all three cards are used up, the player can start using the topmost card in the waste pile.
Here comes a big rant though. While the mechanic feels good to use in the beginning, it stops feeling good once you realize that the cards in there gives you important information from the beginning. It now becomes a chore to look through the cards and memorizing them. For a player playing on a table it is much easier to just pick up the cards and look through them. For the computer it also behaves in a weird way which you probably won't bother to look up because you just want to submit to the rules. The sad part is also that this mechanic is crucial to winning the game, and when the player finds that out, submission lowers and challenge rises. Now you have to really think about your moves so that you can find the optimal way out at all times.
Takeaway
When designing card games, especially ones you play with paper, you need to consider simple mechanics which is easy to remember and still feels enjoyable to use while containing a good gameplay.
The setup is a good example of a simple system of actions the player performs to get the game going. The stockpile, while feeling natural to use, fails when the player realize it's importance to finishing the game, which then cannot be ignored when playing in the future.
The stockpile creates the conflict between Submission and Challenge which splits the player in two sides based on how much they know/experienced of the game. It creates a nice front, but it's a game that will ultimately fall flat on its belly for anyone playing it long enough to actually want to learn the tricks of the game.
Sep 15, 2014
Analysis of Klondike - Effective submission game design
You probably have this game on your computer. It's an all time classic to play when bored and it can be a really addicting pastime. The colors of the cards is the most important lesson!
Klondike is a form of solitaire which means single player card games. I think most people would recognize this game through their computer since it's one of windows most classic "games which comes with the machine". I also think almost everyone has played it at least once, and the design of this game makes it easy to pick up at all times. Here is a link to the rules, let's begin cutting it open!
Core Loop
The core loop of Klondike consists of
Move card(s) --> Reveal card
Mechanics
Moving a card is clicking a card which lies on top of either the tableau, waste pile or foundation and then dragging that card to another card on the tableau which is one number higher and in a different color.
You can move to another card on the foundation with a number which is one lower and in the same suit. Aces can be moved to empty spaces in the foundation.
Revealing a card is done when there is only face down cards in one column on the tableau in which case you flip the topmost card face-up.
The players action is moving of the cards. The reward for moving cards correctly is the revealing of the card beneath. Some cards are allowed to be collected based on previous cards collected. This is the core loop of the game which repeats itself.
The first thing of interest is the how the colors of the cards interact with each other. Since the player always needs to look at what cards they need to move right now, the color of the cards not only makes them easier to search for, but it also shapes an appealing pattern when laying them on top of other cards. Humans love seeing patterns everywhere, and this core loops abuses it.
The revealing of the cards is also interesting. It comes as a reward which feels nice for the player, but it also creates a sense of suspense to find out what new possibilities comes for future needs. Maybe you've been waiting for an 8 to come along for some time now. You will wish for that 8 for every card you reveal, hoping it will give you the miracle you need.
Aesthetics
Challenge: Logic puzzle(Brain teaser?)
Submission: Rules indulgence
As a single player card games with non-narrative cards, submission and challenge is what Klondike is achieving. There are rules which you follow strictly(Submission) and the game is really challenging to complete(Challenge). It's the type of game where the rules are simple while figuring out how to use them well is a bit complex which creates the challenge of wanting to understand the system. Since the game isn't hard to play and can be fun to sit through even without thinking too hard about it I would say challenge is a minor Aesthetic. The rules are everything in this game, and the player only moves according to the rules. Which means we can turn our brains off the let ourselves indulge in the game world.
Takeaways
I'll be doing this also. Because if you are just analyzing, then you're missing the point of analyzing. We're doing this to improve, so what can we learn from Klondike?
The game's Aesthetic wants us to relax and sit back and it does it through it's really good set of rules and especially in the number/color matching which creates patterns every human loves. The takeaway here is that pattern matching makes really good submission games(Oh right candy crush saga makes so much sense now...).
Klondike is a form of solitaire which means single player card games. I think most people would recognize this game through their computer since it's one of windows most classic "games which comes with the machine". I also think almost everyone has played it at least once, and the design of this game makes it easy to pick up at all times. Here is a link to the rules, let's begin cutting it open!
Core Loop
The core loop of Klondike consists of
Move card(s) --> Reveal card
Mechanics
Moving a card is clicking a card which lies on top of either the tableau, waste pile or foundation and then dragging that card to another card on the tableau which is one number higher and in a different color.
You can move to another card on the foundation with a number which is one lower and in the same suit. Aces can be moved to empty spaces in the foundation.
Revealing a card is done when there is only face down cards in one column on the tableau in which case you flip the topmost card face-up.
The players action is moving of the cards. The reward for moving cards correctly is the revealing of the card beneath. Some cards are allowed to be collected based on previous cards collected. This is the core loop of the game which repeats itself.
The first thing of interest is the how the colors of the cards interact with each other. Since the player always needs to look at what cards they need to move right now, the color of the cards not only makes them easier to search for, but it also shapes an appealing pattern when laying them on top of other cards. Humans love seeing patterns everywhere, and this core loops abuses it.
The revealing of the cards is also interesting. It comes as a reward which feels nice for the player, but it also creates a sense of suspense to find out what new possibilities comes for future needs. Maybe you've been waiting for an 8 to come along for some time now. You will wish for that 8 for every card you reveal, hoping it will give you the miracle you need.
Aesthetics
Challenge: Logic puzzle(Brain teaser?)
Submission: Rules indulgence
As a single player card games with non-narrative cards, submission and challenge is what Klondike is achieving. There are rules which you follow strictly(Submission) and the game is really challenging to complete(Challenge). It's the type of game where the rules are simple while figuring out how to use them well is a bit complex which creates the challenge of wanting to understand the system. Since the game isn't hard to play and can be fun to sit through even without thinking too hard about it I would say challenge is a minor Aesthetic. The rules are everything in this game, and the player only moves according to the rules. Which means we can turn our brains off the let ourselves indulge in the game world.
Takeaways
I'll be doing this also. Because if you are just analyzing, then you're missing the point of analyzing. We're doing this to improve, so what can we learn from Klondike?
The game's Aesthetic wants us to relax and sit back and it does it through it's really good set of rules and especially in the number/color matching which creates patterns every human loves. The takeaway here is that pattern matching makes really good submission games(Oh right candy crush saga makes so much sense now...).
Sep 14, 2014
A deck of cards and unlimited potential
The plan is to get a habit of doing something creative. Let's take a look at the many games that uses playing cards!
"Read everything. Cut them open. Steal their power." -Warren Ellis
Those are words from a comic author about improving your craft. for game designers, this could easily translate into play games ehu! But that doesn't cut it alone, because that's not giving you anything back. The analytic part is what creates improvement, and this is where my new plan comes in.
I bought a deck of cards.
Adam recommends getting a habit of doing something creative at least once a day, to get in the routine. I've always been interested in card games, especially how cards can translate into simple and clean mechanics. So, I'll be looking at card games that uses one deck of regular playing cards. 52 cards and three jokers, what possibilities does it hold? It is time to look at, test and analyse different card games and to find out what makes them tick.
Lots of different games.
There are maaaaany different card games out there. And many of them are really complicated and rules heavy. My initial research (Googling card games) showed me that there are a lot of point grabbing games, often where the main goal is to get pairs of different kinds and then writing down points based on performance. Already, these aren't the games I prefer, but I'll at least take a look at some of them since they are classics. What I'm more interested in is card games with interesting rules and win condition. President and Old Maid is the kinds of game that interest me the most, since they go beyond the simple get points system.
Where do we go from here.
Looking at card games, analyse them and then of course build one myself! That is the goal of this exercise and I hope to learn something that will aid me in my studies.
It's always good to overachieve!
Sep 3, 2014
Starting with a bang
So. What did I expect from studying game development at Gotland University. Alot of my friends who were experienced programmers at KTH back in stockholm warned me and said that I shouldn't go to Gotland and instead do something more programming heavy and keep game design as a hobby. But after getting here and experiencing my first lecture, I'm sure that I didn't make the wrong decision.
Hello, my name is Simon Lundgren. I like games of all kinds. Video games, Tabletop games, Roleplaying games, Card games etc. For a long time I've been really interested in design and especially in the design of games. There always seem to be alot of thoughts behind great game design and I always loved looking at those design choices and thinking about ways which I could make the same good decisions... After the first lesson I got a sense of what I'm in for, and boy is it much more that I ever imagined. And I feel pumped at the chance of getting way farther than I ever could have dreamed of!
If you see something you find interesting or if you'd like to listen to me ramble sometimes then feel free to follow or ask questions. I'll be updating at a steady pace.
Hello, my name is Simon Lundgren. I like games of all kinds. Video games, Tabletop games, Roleplaying games, Card games etc. For a long time I've been really interested in design and especially in the design of games. There always seem to be alot of thoughts behind great game design and I always loved looking at those design choices and thinking about ways which I could make the same good decisions... After the first lesson I got a sense of what I'm in for, and boy is it much more that I ever imagined. And I feel pumped at the chance of getting way farther than I ever could have dreamed of!
If you see something you find interesting or if you'd like to listen to me ramble sometimes then feel free to follow or ask questions. I'll be updating at a steady pace.
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