My solo game: Ball is life

when designing my solo game I did come across some problems when making it, near the end when it was coming up to the deadline I have computer problems which stopped me from doing codding. now I've starting working on it again I've starting to think of new ideas I can put into the game which I wasn't gonna have before.

Design document

Design document

Game scenario:

Red vs Blue is a modern-day war game on a 11 by 11 board, two players go head to head as one player plays the attacking team whose aim is to captures their opponents captain and as the other player plays the defending team whose aim is to get the captain to one of the four corners as both players battle it out capturing other pieces along the way.

Board design:

For this design I wanted to have a clear differences between where the attacking and defending teams were arranged for the start of the game. I felt an 11 by 11 board would be a great for this design as by placing the attacking team on the outside it gives enough room for the defending team to move out.

The attacking teams starting square: These squares are designed with a red background and a black cross in the middle of them which I felt displays elements of attack. Five squares are arranged along each side of the board.

The defending teams starting square: these squares are designed with a blue background and a black circle going through it because of the colour background it already looked like a defending square but by adding the circle it was defined. These squares are located in the middle of the board surrounding the captain’s starting square.

The Captain’s starting square: this square has the same design as the defending teams starting squares but with an added black dot in the centre of it to make it different to the squares which it is surround by. This square is located in the centre of the board.

Safe zone: These squares are designed with a gold background and small back crosses and circles in the centre of it. This is to show that the squares do not belong to either team and it is a mutual square. These squares are located in each corner of the board.

Squares: these squares are designed with just a black foreground. These squares are located in areas on the board which have not been placed with any of the squares above. There are a total of 84 of these squares on the board and they are not controlled by any team.

Game Pieces:

The Captain                                                

 

 Attacking team’s Pieces

 Defending team’s pieces

When it came to designing the pieces for my board game, I wanted the captain of the defending team to be different than the other pieces which belong to the defending team. I made the captain a lighter blue and as where the pose is different to the other pieces the captain stands out to the rest. With the main board pieces the poses are the same for both attacking and defending teams, the only difference between the two is the colour; the attacking team has red pieces and the defending team has blue pieces.

Asset list:

-          -Board (11 by 11)

-         - 1 Captain

-          -12 defending pieces

-          -20 attacking pieces

Gameplay:

Games of Red Vs Blue last around seven to ten minutes depending on how the players decide to play the game. When players rushed their moves without thinking what can happen next the games were considerably less long-lasting (between five and seven minutes). When the games where mixed with both a player that rushed and a player who carefully considers their moves the games lasted around eight to ten minutes. The player who rushed their moves were in their favour as it made the passive player think of reasons why the pieces where moved where they were.

With games which were played by both players that rushed their moves did show pantones when the games were taking place. When on different teams the players switched and did the same thing as each other when playing different sides. When the attacking team were making their moves the players seemed to place their pieces as close as they could to the defending teams pieces. This restricted their moves. As this happened more, the board became more cluttered, making this strategy not as good to play by unless the defending teams gets their pieces out of the centre. When the players played as the defending team they focused more on getting their captain out of the middle and having open space to move around. I found that if the defending team achieves this, the attacking team spends the rest of the game chasing the captain around the board.  Therefore, the defending team is forced to only move their captain move after move unless they see they can use another pieces to block the chaser. When both players play without putting much thought into their moves it makes the game respective for both players but more for the defending team, therefore not making the gameplay as entertaining.

When the game is played by players who both think out their moves it starts off similar to how players who rush play. The attacking player tries to keep the defending teams pieces in the centre of the board. They then quickly try to capture any pieces the defending team manages to get out of the centre whilst trying to get as much control as possible from the start of the game. As the defending player they try to position their pieces so that they can move their captain from the centre without putting the piece in danger.

Rules:

There are a total of 33 pieces in the game.

The board is marked to initiate where the pieces have to be placed.

The attacking team (Red) are placed around the outer of the board marked with red squares.

The defending team (Blue) are placed around the centre of the board marked with blue squares.

The captain is placed in the centre of the board marked with a blue square with and a circle in the middle of it.

The attacking team makes the first move to start the game, players can only move straight ahead, backwards and side to side. They cannot move diagonally.

For the defending team to achieve victory the player has to get the captain to one of the four safe zones on the board.

For the attacking team to achieve victory the player has to capture the defending team’s captain before it reaches one of the safe zones.

For a piece to be captured a player must place two of their own pieces either side of the opposing teams piece (creating a sandwich between them).

The attacking team cannot block a safe zone to prevent the captain from reaching it. If this is done it becomes an automatic lose.

A player cannot take any longer than five minutes to make a move.

A player can move more than one square per move.

References:

Hnefatafl board. (). Hnefatafl board. [Available online]: http://www.jamesadamshistoricenterprises.com/treasuretrove/images/hnefatafl_boards3.gif.

[Accessed 27th February 2015]

Daniel. (). Toy Soldier. [Available online]:

 http://gadgetsin.com/toy-soldier-book-ends.htm.

[Accessed 27th February 2015]

Michael Dorstewitz. (). Toy Soldier. [Available online]:

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/03/08/school-confiscates-cupcakes-for-toy-soldier-decorations-54327.

[Accessed 27th February 2015]

Expanded bibliography

Full length books:

Jesse, S. (2008). The Art of Game Design: Good Games Are Created Through Playtesting. Morgan Kaufmann: Elsevier . Page 389-390.

Richard, R. III and Steve, O. (2005). Game Design: Theory & Practice, The Function of the Focus. 2320 Los Rios Boulevard Plano, Texas 75074: Wordware. Page 74 - 77.

Articles in books:

Geoff, K. Die hard/try harder: narrative, spectacle and beyond, from hollywood to videogame. Page, 50-64. in King, Geoff. Krzywinska, Tanya. (2002). Screenplay:cinema/videogames/interfaces. London, U.K.:Wallflower Press

Nick, F. The strange case of the casual gamer. Page, 143-163. In Isbister, Katherine. Schafer, Noah. (2008). Game usability. Burlington, USA: Morgan kaufmann

Academic journals;

Brosius HB, Engel D (1996). The causes of third-person effects: Unrealistic optimism, impersonal impact, or generalized negative attitudes toward media influence? Int. J. Public Opin. Res., Page 142-162.

Cho HY, Boster FJ (2008). First and third person perceptions on antidrug ads among adolescents. Commun. Res., Page 169-189.

New games Journalism

Halo The Master Chief Collection challenges the traditional sentiment that value is parallel to age. It is proven that just because the games are older, it does not necessarily mean that they are worth less. So while it's good to see Halo 3 and 4 clutching extra pixels and loaded with map packs, I was really excited when loading up the original Halo. Memory is never stronger than when playing the games you did when you were a kid.

Above all else, it's good to have the original Halo's multiplayer back. Considering the disappointment of 2011's Anniversary edition was its absence, and now it’s playable over Xbox Live for the first time. While some of the maps have lived on in remakes, some of the best have been sealed away like the orbital sniper battles of Boarding Action, Combat Evolved's movement has a heavier feel than any of its sequels - and very particularly, a delay on landing before Chief can jump again which prevents fleet-footed navigation but it's still enjoyable, and playable on merit and not just novelty.

343 Industries. (). Halo The Master Chief Collection. [Available online]: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-gb.

 [Accessed 11th March 2015]

Games design workshop

I missed the section which this happened in but UCS video game design hosted a games workshop by David Parlett. David has won many rewards including a game of the year reward. in the section student where asked to create and design non digital games which involved a racing mechanic without the use of a dice.

EDDIE DUGGAN. (). Non-Digital Games Design Workshop with David Parlett. [Available online]: http://digitalephemera.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/non-digital-games-design-workshop-with.html.

[Accessed 11th March 2015]

Pervasive games/La decima vittima

In a lecture we watched an hour long film called "La decima vittima"  This is an Italian science fiction film made in 1965 and seen around the world. It depicting a society where it is possible to compete in a deadly game of hunter and victim. A person who survives five rounds as a hunter and five rounds as a victim win one million dollars. This is the film that inspired the fembots of Austin Powers, Assassins and other Circle of Death games. I found the film interesting but couldn’t keep focus on the film as where I am not a fast reader to keep up with the subtitles.

 Stenros. (). La decima vittima. [Available online]: https://pervasivegames.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/20/.

 [Accessed 11th March 2015]

Games Britannia: "Joystick Generation"

Joystick Generation is one of the three-part series presented by ‘historian Benjamin Woolley’ about popular games in Britain which ware from the Iron Age to the Information Age, in which he unravels how an apparently trivial pursuit is a rich and entertaining source of cultural and social history.

In this episode of the three part series, Woolley explores the journey games have taken from board games to video game, reflecting the rapidly changing history of modern Britain.

In the 1980s, the power of our imagination was harnessed in early video games, putting the players at the heart of a space adventure they could influence. The British boom years of the 90s introduced characters like ‘Lara Croft’ to a world beyond video games as players started to move into the internet age.

Woolley's investigation leads to the present day, where he finds our morality tested in the world of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and our identity becoming transported to the digital domain with virtual games such as ‘Runescape’ and ‘World of Warcraft’.

I watched the episode here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00phmrs