My Board Game Design

Name - Stepping Stones.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Stepping_stones,_Hebden,_bench.jpg

The Player has to jump onto a series of stepping stones to reach the finish. Each player can only move once per turn and only onto one stepping stone at a time. The player that reaches the finish first wins.
Each stone has a number, the player must roll the dice on there turn if they get the same number or higher that's on the stepping stone they may jump onto it then the next person has there turn. If you go for a short cut and find it difficult to progress you CANT go backwards if you get a lower number, you have to get the number that's on the rock in front of you.

Design Document For:

Stepping Stones 

"Dont Loose Your Step"

Written by Will Roberts

Tuesday,  November 19, 2013

Table of Contents

Design History

For this project I'm trying to make a board game based on what we have been learning and researching about game theory and mechanics. 

Game Overview

The game consists of  2 - 4 players racing against each other to get across a river to safety. The players make there way over by jumping onto stepping stones, but the players may only jump onto the stones if they have the required number or higher to do so. The player may also take short cuts onto smaller stones, however this is more risky as you need a higher number.

Feature Set

General Features

Tense player races,

bright colours making the game very clear,

easy to understand the rules but allowing for fun gameplay

Gameplay

Turn based,

Jumping to stones,

Dice,

Race,
Walk across logs for a shortcut,
Whirlpools that send you back 2 spaces if landed on,


Initial Ideas

This is the first few sketches I made of my idea. I wanted it to be on A4 so its not massive and can be taken around easily. I also didn't want to make something too challenging with lots of features as it can get confusing and could be hard to grasp if there is a lo of rules to read through.

The main idea for the game actually came from  the short story 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' and how the grass is greener on the other side and this is why I set my game on a river where you have to get to the other side.

The mechanics of the game consisted of having to jump to stepping stones in order to get to the finish. Each stepping stone has a number and the only way you could jump onto a stepping stone was by rolling a dice then achieving the same same number that's on the stone or higher. There is also short cuts but these require a higher number to roll and once your on the harder stone you cant go back if you find it takes to long to get the desired roll.

My initial layout was relatively straight forward to make. On a separate layer I Just made a rectangular selection down one side with the selection tool and filled it green, then copied it to the other side making the grass. The layer below this I just filled blue with the paint bucket and then using my tablet started painting ripples and highlights to show it actually is water. Later on I actually painted in some reflections of clouds just give it some realism. 

The Rock was probably the thing that actually the asset that took the longest to make but was just as straight forward as making my template. I just had to use several layers for the different elements of the rock like the moss, shadow colours, and highlights. Everything had its own layer to make it easier to make then once it was finished I merged all the layers together to lower the file size.

Here is the refined version of the game made in Photoshop. I wanted to colour scheme to be bright so it pops out and be pleasing to the eye, also a little cartoony. I think this refined version shows my original idea very clearly, my only doubts would be that it might be a lot on the paper like its crammed together, also there is no real way of knowing which direction the players have to travel in which may confuse them.

Beta Testing

I went through some beta testing with members of my family to see if any problems popped up and for there general opinion on the game. The game started off quite fun but did start to get a little repetitive towards finishing. They didn't really like how the game was just down to chance and that you could only win this way, there was no real technique to actually winning apart from rolling the dice and hoping for the right number and this made the game drag on.

Afterwards we sat down and they suggested things I could change to make the game better. This included things like making a way to send the player backward some steps, maybe changing some of the stones to lily pads which make you sink. Having little fish or frogs guiding the player to the direction there supposed to move which was one of the biggest concerns because some people may think you just cut right across instead of starting in the corner. One of the possible ideas for fixing this was to make rapids in-between the stepping stones to show you cant cut across them. Another big thing they mentioned was getting rid of the whole number thing and making the amount you roll the number of places you can jump.

Taking the feedback from my beta testing into effect I made several changes to my game. I think one of the biggest changes was removing the numbers as that was one of the core gameplay mechanics, but I figured that in order to send the player back steps I would have to remove the numbers because there wasn't a way I could make the player go back as they needed to roll the right number to actually progress through the game. But removing them actually made the game better as I can now change the gameplay to have penalties which take you further away from your goal  and allow other players to penitentially get in front of you. I decided to replace some of the stones with whirlpools which would be the things that make you back, I think this is a nice addition and playing through the game again made me realise that I really did need something like this.  Also by removing the numbers it allowed me to place directional markers on the stones to help guide players. I made the short cuts more visible by placing them actually on the stone you land on instead of being an optional choice to take a short cut or not. Its also more related to the river by making them drift wood.



Evaluation

I quite like the overall design of my game it stands out quite nice which makes it easy to navigate around. However looking back I would liked to of detailed the river a little more putting stones in it, some reeds or fish, just filling it up and making it look more like a river. Same apply's to the grass, its looks a little flat and could maybe do with some extra things on it, maybe some shadows of trees hinting that there are trees nearby, or just detailing the grass further to make it stand out more. I like the whirlpools and the logs, I think its a nice addition to making the river more natural but also still have an effect on the gameplay and how the game works. Although it looks like there just placed onto it, relating to making the river look better I think I could of put some rocks or currents in to make it look like the whirlpools are formed from something. But then again, I do like how simple it looks and maybe putting to much detail in it would make it a little confusing to look at since making it easier to navigate was one of the things I had to improve on.

I think if I was to do this again I would make a digital version and a drawn version as both have there benefits and it would of been nice to compare them both. I would of also tried detailing one of the versions more to see what it would look like with more detail. Instead of sticking to A4 I think I would've made it bigger, possibly A3 as it could make the game more interesting and allow for a mix of routes for the stepping stones instead of following an 'S' to the finish. I found using A4 made it a little hard to fit everything in.

I think the colour scheme works with the images used but if I was to do this again I think I would change it up a little as sticking to just 2 main colours it looks a little boring which was something that was suggested in the beta testing. There needed to be another colour in the image, a brighter one or something else in the image, perhaps fishes or frogs in the water, maybe some lily pads. It also looks a little flat, there isn't much shading going on or detail, the only detail is really in the stepping stones and there quite small.

The response I got from beta testing was really good, everyone that tried it said they enjoyed playing it and was fun overall. The feedback I got from them was really helpful and actually made the game better. Some of the suggestions were making it looks more interesting, adding more things into it. They also suggested changes some of the mechanics to make the game more fun to play and that it needed some way to send the players back. I took all of this on board especially about changing the mechanics and I felt it needed a way to give players penalties.

Game Design Document

What is a game design document?

A game design document a highly descriptive document about the game design of a game. It is created and edited by the development team and it is primarily used in the game industry to organise things within the development of the game. The document is created by the development team as result of collaboration between their designers, artists and programmers as a guiding vision that is used through the development process.

Because of the dynamic environment of game development, the document is often changed, revised and expanded as development progresses and changes. This is why a game design document is often reffered to as a 'living document'.

A game design document is made up of text, images, diagrams, concept art, or any other media that illustrates design decisions.

Example game design document:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34994424/Viral-Light-Interactive-GDD



look at 3 games and 2 movies where stereo types are negativly re-enforced.
Individually write 200 word short design doc where all stereo types are positively enoforced. research aspects of the generic, include drawings in the doc.

Examine the game you are working on and objectively explore gender aspects their in.

http://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-stereotypical-gamers-we-hate/
This is a funny link I found where it talks about the different stereotypes of gamers and its quite funny how true some of these really are.

Tomb Raider

This is one of the few games where the main character is a female. The game actually focuses on the main character so much that she is probably the main selling point of the game. The reason for this is because they practically dress her in nothing and give her massive boobs. I think actually in the first game her boobs were bigger than her head...and obviously this may offend a lot of females if one of the biggest female game characters ever is only famous because she wears hardly any clothes. This effects the way men think of women in a few ways because if guys a playing games like this and have been now for several years its going to change the way they expect females to look.


http://www.armchairempire.com/images/previews/multi-platform/lara-croft-tomb-raider-legend/tomb-raider-legend-2.jpg

However the more games that have come out of Tomb Raider have seemed to see her gradually gain more clothes and more sense of realism about the character taking her original back story into effect. The latest tomb raider game released in 2013 was the first to see her fully clothed and slightly toned down to a more realistic scale. The game was a prequel and was about how she became to be known as 'tomb raider' and as with a lot of games these days this took on a more realistic and cinematic effect which I think paid off really well.


http://www.followingthenerd.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Tomb-Raider-2013.jpg


Duke Nukem 

Duke Nukem portrays women as weak creatures he depend entirely on a male hero to save the day. The guys are portrayed as big ass fighters that feel no pain. The main character in this game has a complete disregard for women, he see's women as sexual objects existing only for his amusement. The font cover for this game really says it all...


http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=4375

Tera Online/ MMO's

Most MMO's these days portrays male and females in the same ways as mentioned above however more towards the females that are in the game. They tend to make them slim, tall and really good looking, similar to lara croft and again they wear hardly anything and have a certain sex appeal about them. Guys arent stereotyped as badly but still take the roll of being a strong guy that wants to smash everything.


http://www.f2p.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/TERA-wallpaper-1.jpg


Movies

I don't think movies are as stereotypical games are however they adapt things like this,
Everyone in Africa is either uncivilized or a warlord,
in movies Africa is considered a nasty place to be in, one of the iconic scenes showing this is Independence day where it shows the crashed alien ship in Africa with tribes men cheering then it pans to the crashed ship in america and they seem to have a military base....

White people are better at being asian than real asians. In the film The Last Samurai Tom Cruise seems to be better being a samurai than the actual Samurai... and this isnt the only film this is done in, its been repeated in various ways in many films.

Game Mechanics Research

Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to produce a game or gameplay. The various interaction of game mechanics determines the complexity and level of player interaction in a game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_mechanics

Its about the connection between the game and player. What happens when the player takes an action?. Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to produce an enjoyable game or gameplay. All game mechanics differ and the game and many different styles that are out there. In general mechanics in games allow people playing a game to have fun and an engaging experience.

Examples of game mechanics: Cover systems

Game dynamics are behaviours that come from a mechanic in the game, It can only usually be triggered by playing the game. An example of a dynamic would be a double jump, where the first jump is the mechanic but the extra jump is the dynamic. Game dynamics are techniques used by the developers to make the game fun to play and addictive.

An Appointment dynamic is a dynamic in which the player must leave the game and come back to in a certain amount of time. If the player doesn't return however they will miss out on something which effects them. A good example of this would be games like farmville.

http://www.rickliebling.com/2012/01/03/understanding-games-gamification-game-mechanics-game-design/



 Game mechanics for 'This is the only level'

This is the only level is a really interesting, fun, and aggravating game. It consists of a square room with platforms to jump on with a button in the centre of the room. The button opens a door which lets you progress onto the next level. Or at least thats what you think. On the first level this is the case but each time you progress the mechanics of the game change and forms a different way to complete the level. For example one level you have to change which buttons to use on the keyboard, or makes your character only jump once, constantly jumping, one level actually makes you refresh the page to unlock the door whereas another level the door isnt even locked you can just walk through it, but the door looks locked.

We were given 2 pieces of paper of which we had to write to random words on them. They were then shuffled and shared round the class. The words we ended up with we then had to design a game based on them and produce a tagline that would sell the game.

my first words were 'Any, Glass'

The game I came up with was similar to bejewled. You would start in square which is filled with different glass cups, you had to match up four in a row to score points, then the row you had will disapear and be filled with more cups. You had to get a certain amount of points to get to the next level. Every level would have a Holy Grail randomly placed in the level, if you included this in your row of 4 your would get double xp.


My second set of words were 'Glass, Helicopter'

This time we had to focus more on the mechanics on the game.
I decided to go with a game similar to Copter, were you had to click and hold to move up and release to move down. My game used the same controls accept you had to climb and the longer you climbed for the quicker you would move. You had to avoid other glass aircraft if you hit them you would smash and die. You get 3 lives and can collect buffs such as, Nuke, Shield, and Extra Life. The game is score based person with the highest score wins.




Group based platform board game

In groups we had to design a fully functioning board game with rules that work which we then had to bring in a play test each others games. My groups was basically a start to finish game where the player had to roll 2 dice, in order to move on you had to score a certain number on the dice. If you did not achieve the right number you couldn't move. There were some short cuts which cut a large per portion of the trail but requite really hard numbers to roll, once you had decided to go for the short cut you couldn't turn back either. 

The feedback we got from the play testing was really great, everyone that played it really enjoyed it and didn't pick any faults out.

Board Games

Games are made of 4 things:

Goals - A point to play the game.
Voluntary Participation
Feedback System - For example, achievements.
Rules! - If a game doesnt have any rules it means it doesnt work, rules can also be broken these can be things like glitches.



Squares

Min 2 players
need a piece of paper and a pen
draw a dotted symmetrical grid
rock paper scissors to determine who goes first
draw a vertical or horizontal line to any adjacent dot
player 2 will follow rule 5 placing a line anywhere
if player completes a 1x1 square repeat rule 5 and gain 1 pt
1x1 square winner writes there name in the box
complete turn based actions until grid is full
winner is determined by the person who has the most points

Change 3 rules 

The rules I would change:

Replace 2 with any surface, any writing tool - chalk, pencil, pastel etc

4 with alphabetically, dice, heads tails, oldest

and change boxes to a triangle