Game Design Doc

Author: Group 4

Game Overview

Game Concept

The group set out to make a board game that included physical interaction from the players instead of just letting them roll dice and move pieces on a board. We wanted to make it fast-paced and exciting while still retaining tension and skill.

What we came up with is a reaction-based game where the players are set up with duels and are required to compete in shooting each other with toy pistols before they get shot themselves.
The game also includes some aiming skills.

Feature Set

A unique and western theme deck of cards containing the following:

• 6 Color indicator cards, Pink, Brown, Yellow, Green, Marine blue, Light Blue
• 30 Split color cards, 2 Brown/Pink, 2 Light Blue/Pink, 2 Yellow/Pink, 2 Green/Pink, 2 Maine blue/Pink, 2 Green/Yellow,2 Marine Blue/Yellow, 2 Brown/Yellow, 2 Light Blue/Yellow, 2 Light Blue/Green, 2 Marine blue/Green, 2 Brown/Green, 2 Marine Blue/Brown,2 Light Blue/Brown and 2 Light Blue/Marine Blue.
• 2 Protection cards
• 2 Switch hand Cards
• 2 Tequila Cards
• 2 Out of bullets Card
• 2 Switch Cards
• 2 Dead Man walking Cards
• 1 Free for all Card

2 Toy revolvers with plastic bullets.

Western themed health indicators.

Target Audience

Our game caters to people who like fast paced skill based games. It works well as a party game or social game because of it’s short play time and action based gameplay. It is not focused towards hardcore board game enthusiasts who like long games deep mechanics.

Because of the small risk of minor injuries the players should probably be at least 12 years old.

Game flow

The game shall make the players to always be on the edge and ready to react to what is happening in the game. At first the game will go fast and players will be eliminated if they don’t react quick enough. However in the mid to late game the game will slow down in order to create tension as the players will be low on health and want to stay alive.

The end of the game shall go quick and feel impactful so that the players will want to play a second round of the game.

Aesthetic goals

Our aesthetic goal for the project was to incorporate tension and suspense for the players.

We a wanted to give them a real adrenaline kick and let there be a lot of room for spectacular failure, because of this the group agreed on that the main gameplay should be reaction and skill based.
Thematically we wanted the players to feel like they were sitting at a old western poker table just waiting for an opportunity to shoot one of the other players away with their revolvers.

Gameplay

Mechanics

• Flipping cards on the deck in order to duel other players
• Reacting to the card by either doing as the card tells or grabbing the toy gun and shooting people

Toy Revolvers

The toy guns are used to shoot the other players to remove one of their three lives. They can be loaded with one plastic bullet at a time and they are “armed” by pulling a plastic bar which stretches the spring. The spring is then locked in a stretched position until a player presses the trigger.

Cards

Flat colour cards

These cards lies in front of each player and represents their current color.

The Deck

The cards below are shuffled into a single deck and the players take turns to flip up cards.

Split colour cards

Example of split colour card

 

These cards are what induces the duels. Each of the cards have two colors on them that corresponds to the players colors. As soon as one of these cards are flipped up a duel is started between the two players who has their colors on the card.

They are then supposed to grab one of the guns and try to shoot each other, the player manages to hit the other player with a shot first wins the duel and the loser loses a life. If both players misses their shots the duel ends in a draw.

Tequila card

This card regenerates a life for the player who flips it up to a maximum of three lives (the amount that all players start with). If the player already has three lives nothing happens.

We added this to give players who has been damaged a chance to get back into the game.

Body armour card

This card is placed in front of the player who flips it up. He/she can now survive one extra shot regardless of how many lives he has i.e. someone who has three lives and gets the body armour can survive four shots.

After a player who has body armour gets shot the card is discarded.

We felt that we wanted this card to give an extra edge over the tequila card.

Free-for-all card

When this card is flipped up all of the players can reach for a revolver and shoot a player of their choice anyone who gets shot loses a life, if someone gets shot twice (by different players) they lose two lives. This card was added so that players could not just wait for their color to come up but needed to keep up their focus for this as well.

Dead man Free-for-all card

This card works like the free-for-all card except that players who has already been eliminated can grab a revolver as well and shoot a player of their choice. If someone who is already eliminated gets shot again nothing happens.
This card gives eliminated players a possibility for revenge and also gives them a reason to stay at the table and be active in the game even if they can not win the game.

Out of bullets card

When this card is flipped up the “bullets” are removed from the revolvers and placed next to them on the table. On the next duel the players need to pick up both the revolvers and the shots and load their revolvers before they can shoot. After one duel (or free-for-all card) the duels return to normal. The thought behind this card was that we wanted to add extra challenge and break some monotony in the game.

Switch hand card

When the switch hand card is flipped up all players need switch what hand they use to flip cards and draw the revolvers with. This card is in effect until after one duel, after that the game goes back to normal again. The reason for this card is basically the same as for the out of bullets card, to mix it up and add some extra challenge.

Switch color cards

If this card is flipped up all players switch their color i.e. they send their color card clockwise. This adds a lot of confusion to the game and forces the players to really think about what they are doing when a duell card comes up.

Rules

Playing the game

Made for 3-6 players.

Object of the game

The object of the game is to become the last player standing. In order to eliminate each player, a player has to react and snatch up one of two pistols and shoot the other player who is part of the “duel”, see under “Playing the game”.

Preparation

1. Each player that participates in the game chooses a color indicator. Put back all cards that has a color that is not part of the game in the box.
2. Take the remaining cards and shuffle them and place them in a deck in the middle of all players.
3. Load the toy revolvers with the plastic bullets.
4. Place the toy revolvers in front of the first player next to the deck, one placed over the deck to the right with the handle up and the other placed under the deck at the left with the handle down. The deck and guns should be placed in equal distance to all the players.
5. Each player receives 3 Health indicators and place those in so all the players can see.
6. The player who most resemble a cowboy will be the starting player.

Playing the game

• One player at a time, in clockwise order, flips quickly the top card face up of the deck placed in the middle, with the NON DOMINANT HAND, so that all the players can see. Move the revolvers, so the player who flips the card has them as in the same position as the last player.
• If a card with two colors is flipped up, the owner of those colors with duel.
• Each player who duels will have to quickly snatch a toy revolver with their DOMINANT HAND, lift the gun from the table, and shoot the other player. The first player who is hit by the bullet loses the duel and loses one Health indicator. Reload the revolvers and place them in the same way as before.
• If a player that is not part of the duel interferes by taking one of the guns or prevents the dueling players in another way, then that player removes one of their Health indicators and the rest of the duel doesn’t matter and it becomes the next player turn.

End of the game

• When only two players remain, remove all but one health indicator each from the remaining players.
• Place the pistols in front of each player.
• One of the eliminated players flips card. If a color of any of the remaining players is flipped or any card that would invoke a duel, a Duel happens.
• The last player standing is declared the fastest and greatest bandito in the west and the game ends.

Special Case

• If both bullets hits each other at the same time or if it is impossible to determine who hit first, those two players place the gun in front of them with the bullet beside it.
• Another player counts down from 3. On one both players has to grab the gun, load it and shoot the other player. The player that is not hit is determined the victor and the player that was hit loses 1 health indicator.

Week 44-45 Report Frida Svensson

This is coming up a bit late since I was gone for most part of last week.

After the previous weeks playtesting we decided to remove the “silence” cards. Since we had added the special cards the silence cards only slowed the pace of the game down.

Adam tried out our game and said he liked it. He didn’t have anything to say about things we needed to change, which felt good. Though one of the guns broke during the meeting.

From Wednesday and four days forward, me and Robert was away showing our previous games at Game Ex in Stockholm.

The other team members worked together on the Design document.

At this point it felt like we were finished with the game, we just had to do the final design for the cards but other than that, we couldn’t think of anything we wanted to change.

After we got back from Stockholm, me and Robert sat together and finished the cards and printed them out in preparation for the “presentations” the next day.

Reflective report Week 44-45 – Kristoffer Johansson

So for week 44 we have been testing the game with our teacher and with another group. We have also written the basics of the game design document. In the beginning of week 45 we have had the final presentation of our game where every group played each other’s games. Finally today on the 6th of November we have gathered to write the weekly reports as well as the group’s post-mortem.

The play testing with the teacher went well. He enjoyed the game and came to the conclusion that the card drawing was almost the same as dice rolling. But he thought it worked since we had a decent skill element, the pistols, in the game. So overall the game was well met and our teacher did not have so much to say about it. Personally I’m really satisfied.

The final play testing did not give any new feedback but it was fun showing the game to new players. It’s really satisfying to see people enjoy playing a game you helped to create.

On Tuesday the 5th of November we had our final presentation and it was really fun to see the other groups finished games. We had printed out a new more polished version of our cards for this day and they looked really good.
So overall this was a great day and I had a lot of fun playing the all the games.

At then end of week 45 we are going to write our postmortems and next week we are going to start with the next courses.
So this is the last week of this course. I have really enjoyed this course because I really enjoy working in a group.

Personally I have spent a lot of time thinking on what I want to focus on and I’m pretty sure I want to focus more on Graphics. I still really enjoy game design lectures and assignment but I do not think I will try to work as a game designer.

Week 3 + week 4 Testing Report

The goals for this week were to plan for gameX and test the game with Adam. Also to finish the game design document and get the art for the cards finished and to have the game ready for Tuesday testing.

The planning for gameX went well, and we gave out tasks for the group. We finished the cards and the testing with Adam went well. The game design document is well on its way to completion.

We began the week by printing out one more set of the split-color cards because testing had shown we needed more 1v1 duels. People drew other non-dueling cards a lot, so the pace of the game was slowed drastically. We went to Adam and tested it; he liked how it turned out. We had made the core system of the game dice rolling, which was not the most innovative, but it functioned well and was very fun so it worked. We planned that Tom, Kristoffer and Mark would take care of the game design document while I and Frida were on gameX. When we got back from gameX, I and Frida began finalizing the cards. I made the background of the cards and the icons for the “Protection”, “Out of Bullets” and “Switch Hands” cards. I chose old parchment as a background for the cards to add to the “Wester” theme we had going. Also for the protection card I changed it to a bible with a bullet in it. Simply to make it a kind of parody on all the movies were a man was saved from a bullet because it hit a bible in his pocket.

On the Tuseday testing we mostly got the feedback that it was very fun. One person suggested fake cards, and a punish if you shoot when a fake cards comes up. Also people suggested that each person had their own guns, so you reach to the hip and pull out your gun, that would be fun, problem is we didn’t want to buy five guns. Overall the testing went very well.

Group Report week 44

This week goal

The goal of this week was to have a testable product to show our teacher, polish the deck to perfection and create the game design document for the game.

Results

Before the testing with the teacher, the group decided to remove the single color cards and silence cards. The removal of the single color cards came since all the play-testers have had problems playing with them (Being confused when to duel or not), and the removal of the silence cards came since they did no longer add the tension they were designed to create.

The results of the play testing with the teacher were great. He seemed to like the game a lot. However one thing did not go well. One of the toy guns broke down at the end of the game. It resulted in that it could not be a second round of playing the game.  Thankfully the teacher did experience most of the game before the gun broke down.

Two members of the team were traveling to the Gamex expo, leaving the rest of the team to working on the game design document. By using Google docs the remaining three members started to structure up how the document would look. However due to unexpected obstacles, the game design document could not be finished this week.

Next week goals

Complete the game design document and polish the cards interface one last time for the final product.

//Marc

Weekly report three

This week was somewhat slow to be honest.
Mainly we worked on the design document and did some play testing.
We also showed our game to Adam Mayes who tested it and gave us some feedback.

The play testing didn’t really give us much, mainly we decided  to remove the sunstroke card.
The reason for adding the sunstroke card in the beginning was that we wanted to have cards that just added tension and not have a due every round.
But now it had become obsolete since we had added the special cards which already had this effect and added more dynamic to the game play.

Week 43 Frida Svensson

This weeks goal was to add an inventory system, update the card deck with a more final design, get the rules for the game up on the blog and to continue playtest.

At the start of the week we had a meeting with Markus where we played our game with him. He liked it but thought it needed something more and suggested maybe an inventory system.  We thought that was a good idea and so we sat down and talked about what kind of cards that could be added and make the game more diverse without slowing the game. We came up with several ideas that we immediately tested. Most of them worked really well but some we had to scrap. You can read more about what kind of cards where added here.  During yesterdays playtesting we got confirmed that the new cards work really well and add a lot to the game.

In preparation for the playtesting session yesterday the graphical artists talked about how the cards should look, both the new cards and the old. We divided up the work and decided who should work on what. I got to do the design for the Free for all, the Dead man walking, and the Color swap card. Since the game is bound to change in the next two weeks we said that the new cards don’t have to look amazing, just that they look better than the current ones we had and that they were easy to read and recognize.

Marc did a great job of writing down the rules for the game which I proofread and it was posted on the blog.

I also took over the producer job from another group member. It was more logical that I was the producer since it was me who pushed about making the others write the weekly reports and it’s me who maintain the blog.

I love the game we have made and I really like the way our group gets along. We haven’t have any set backs this week and I think we have reached this weeks goal.

/Frida

Robert Graff Week 2 Report

This week’s goal was to draw new cards and have the final design of the cards and also to have implemented an inventory system and test it.

The cards all have their final design, but they are not done yet. Need some more work on them, backgrounds and need some more consistency. We implemented the inventory card system (which we than renamed to “action cards”) and added the needed cards for that and on Thursday we also tested it with the other groups. One of our guns broke, so we’ll have to fix that. This week was overall pretty good; we achieved our goals for the most part.

We started the week by meeting Marcus and play test the game with him. He thought it was fun but maybe needed something more. After some discussion we came up with a kind of inventory system. Which later changed to more of an action card system, we added a bunch of cards that gives you life or changes the dynamics in different ways. For example one cards is “Out of Ammo” so you have to take out the rubber bullet out of the gun, so the next persons who duels need to load the bullet in the gun before shooting. We tested these ourselves on Tuesday and removed and added lots of different cards. We also decided how each card should look and handed out who should paint which cards. I got the “Body Armour”, “Sunstroke” and “Switch Hands” cards. I painted these on Wednesday. They are not done, but we went with some kind of western/cowboy theme. So I painted them accordingly. On Thursday we tested, we got feedback that our game was fun and that the players really felt the aesthetic goal. Overall this week was pretty good. It feels nice to have a design on the cards, so now we can basically just paint them to a finish.

Weekly report Zwei by Tom

This week we have experimented a lot with different special ability cards.
The cards we added were:

*Switch hands (forces the players to use their none-dominant hand to draw the gun until after the next duel)
*Color Swap (The players changes colors to add more confusion)
* A variant of the free for all card where the players who have been killed can go for the guns as well (just to let them still be involved in the game and have a chance for payback)
*Bullets out (a card that forces the players to take out the “bullets” of the revolvers and forces them reload before being able to shoot)

The extra cards broke up the monotony of the game which was what we were going for. After having tweaked it a bit so they don’t screw up the pacing and suspense of the game it will be great. Although i personally think that the dead-players-free-for-all card might be a bit confusing and be annoying for the players still in the game since they might feel cheated getting killed by someone who has already lost.

We still have some issues that needs addressing though. One problem is that needing to re-arrange both guns and the deck between each player (even if no duel has occurred) is kind of a hassle and destroys the pacing and suspense, it’s enough that the guns need to be reloaded. I think that this might be mitigated by just placing the guns on a disc on the table so you just needs to spin that.

Also we have a problem with the guns breaking, they are simply not made for the type of intense using we have and after a while the reloading mechanism breaks so we needs to buy new ones. I think it’s something that we will have to live with unless we find other better guns that aren’t too expensive but it is very annoying.

All and all i think we have a really great game so far though. 🙂

Group report Week 43

This weeks goal was to add an inventory system, update the card deck with a more final design, get the rules for the game up on the blog and to continue playtest.

We have made a lot of changes to the game this week. Mainly we have changed the deck of cards. We decided to remove the single colored dueling cards and we have added a lot of new cards. To add variety to the game without slowing it down we’ve made an inventory system, which is made up of different kinds of special cards.

Body armor – Is placed in front of a player and grants a shield that takes a bullet once. It’s different from the Extra Life card since that card grants an extra life only if the player has lost one or more of their life. The Body armor card shields the player even if they have full health.

Color swap – All players take their color indicator and move them one step to the left, leaving all the players with a new color in front of them.

Switch hands – Until and during the next duel, the players have to switch the hands of which they flip cards and grabs pistol with.

Out of bullets – Take the bullets out of the pistols and place it next to them. The next dueling players have to load the guns before shooting.

Dead man walking – The same as the Free for all card except that the dead players can also reach for the guns and shoot the living. If no player has died the card is used the same way as a Free for all.

After playtesting we have gotten the feedback that the new cards work well and that we really have achieved our aesthetic goal of having a fast-paced, tension-filled game.

The deck have been updated with better graphics. It’s not the final design or version of the cards but they look a lot better and are a lot easier to read and recognize.

The rules have been written and uploaded on the blog and it will be continuously be updated as the game changes.

Next week will be tough since some of the group member will be away at Game Ex.

 

/Frida