Game Iterations (Board game and KeyStage one flash game)

My Board Game

We were asked a few weeks back to create a simple board game in 15-20 mins and see how creative we are and how good we are at designing a simple game. I decided to go down the path of the traditional board game where you move however many you roll on the die.

 I made it a pirate/ninja theme where the players raced towards the centre to get the treasure; I also had many traps and other spots along the way which involved the players such as having cards when you land on a certain square. One other feature to the game I thought of straight away was to allow the players to roll then they can either move forwards lets say 5 steps or move the other players back 5 steps, this would keep the players constantly thinking where everyone is placed and whether they can be sent back to get into trouble or if it is safe to move forwards.

The first time I created the game did not have the cards and other special squares which allows the player to have more fun and adds some twists to the game. These were added when we were told that we had to make some changes/ additions to the game so I thought this would be a good feature to add.

KeyStage One Game

We were asked to think of a game idea in pairs, I teamed up with Artyom and we thought of a game called Missing Arrows. Our game was fairly basic as it had a word appear with one missing letter and the player had to shoot down the correct balloon with the missing letter on it. 

The story was that there was an evil wizard who stole all the letters from the people of the surrounding villages. There was an archer who got caught by the evil wizard and was taken back to the castle where he/she sent out balloons with the letters on them. Whoever the player chose to be at the start (male/female) would be the one they are controlling and the other sex would be the one trapped in the castle.

Once we got into the groups of 5, we rehashed the story along with the overall game design; the first thing that changed was taking the quiz element out of the game. We done this at first by allowing the player to choose a any three letter word at random and shoot down the balloons which spell that letter. One of our group members (Garry Fox) tested this by asking his daughter to spell any three letter word and that didn’t work out too well. An idea that maybe we could provide visual aids to the child playing which could well help them spell the word. This idea developed into what we have at the moment which is simply the player shoots an arrow at a item which should not belong within that particular scene for example a cup in the middle of a forest. There is going to be around 20 items on each scene and the player will only have to get 10 to progress but once they have shoot the item it will glow to tell them it has been selected, once this happens magical bubbles sent from the castle will come across the screen with letters in. The goal is to burst the bubbles that spell the word that they have just chosen.

Once the level has finished it will advance through another level with mini bosses on the way to the final evil wizard. What we have so far come up for the evil wizard is to have some sort of catapult of slingshot and all the items which the player previously spelt in the levels before hand will be the ammunition. The player will have to select an item out of the basket at the bottom of the screen and then spell it in order to destroy part of a bridge that the wizard is standing on, if a word is typed in correctly than part of the bridge you will be standing on disappears. Whoever’s bridge gets destroyed first wins, and the evil wizard will fall into the lava below or the game will end for the player.

Another thing we decided was the style of art which was discworld in according to the playstation one games as we found the covers of the books were a bit dark for children. The sort of thing we found would be suitable is the following type of characters in the foreground.

We are constantly iterating the design and story so the version I described may not be exactly what we have at the end.

Paidea & Ludus

When speaking about Paidea and Ludus in games, it means linear Ludus and non-linear Paidea. These words can be used to describe certain games that allow the player to wander around in a sandbox style way or follow the story directly and not be able to rear off the path the developers have chosen.

Games that have Ludus can either seem to boring and follow the story perfectly or if the story is magnificent and involves the player a lot and makes them feel part of the whole game. The Call of Duty series (Singleplayer modes) do not offer that much freedom to the player as they just strictly follow the story and design of the game without letting the user explore the area or take another route. I would say that these games do not excite the imagination as you are constantly told who to shot and where to go. The actually gameplay may be good however the stories in these type of games have to be rock solid and enjoyable in my opinion as otherwise it may deter people from playing it if they are not allowed some freedom.

 

Most games these days have loads of freedom allowing the player to do whatever he or she chooses such as the Grand Theft Auto and Assassins Creed Series. Both of these games offer a story which can be followed directly but at the same time in Assassins Creed II for example you can complete a mission then spot a guard bellow and want to use a poison dagger and watch him swing his sword around attacking the people near him. This has nothing to do with the story what so ever but it allows the player to mess around and experiment what is fun and the best parts of the game. Many people like GTA and Assassins Creed because of these elements, you can mess around in the new GTA for hours on end without completing a single mission and still have loads of fun. These in my opinion are usually the best type of games as if you are stuck with the story or are getting board completing some missions on GTA you can just grab a car and run over some pedestrians and shoot some cops. 

Both style of games work very well for different audiences and are very successful still. Its really a matter of how you like to plays games to see which you prefer.

BBC Bitesize Keystage 1 game review (KS1 Maths, Shape Lab)

We were asked to review a simple keystage one maths game which was about shapes. It can be found here!!

Interaction
There was basic interaction that the user would make, which is choosing the correct shape to move on to the next question. However the game does not tell you why you got the answer right or wrong it merely sends you to the next question or simply repeats it again.

Goals
The two goals within the game are to get the answer right to move onwards and to reveal what is behind the curtain to complete the game. This can give the child playing a sense of satisfaction when the robot is made and shown to the user at the end of the game.

Struggle
Struggle within the game is not a huge thing as the game is pretty basic and only allows the user to pick 1 out of a possible 3 shapes, this can however be struggling if the child does not know the correct shape and would have to figure out the correct answer. 

Structure
Again with the structure of the game, it is basic as you choose a shape and that can either advance you through the game or reset the question so you can have another go. 

Endogenous Meaning
There can be an endogenous meaning to the game as there can be knowledge taken from it, such as the amount of the sides to certain shapes or what the line of symmetry for the shape is. Once the game is completed however the robot does not mean anything in reality and has no meaning.

Evaluation 
The game isn't the best in the world but for an educational game its ok but there are some improvements which can be added, such as having a mini game involving the robot which the user creates during the game so they have a sense of achievement. There could also be a point scoring system where the user gets a 3 points for getting the answer correct the first time, 2 for the second and obviously 1 for the third time. These points could add to the sense of competition which could arise if there are a group of children playing in the class room or it could allow a mini game or special video at the end to show they have completed the game with maximum points. Overall its a pretty basic and easy game for a keystage 1 child but as above there are some improvements which would certain teach the child more.
I should have another review coming soon!

Can a board game be as entertaining as the latest video game?

More and more people are becoming involved with games particularly video games with the latest consoles such as PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and the various portable consoles, but can the old school board games be as much fun for example the latest Fifa game or the brand new Call of Duty?
 Well I believe that board games have unique mechanics and perspectives which video games don't have, such as the excitment of buying a whole set of houses on monopoly and watching your family and friends give away all there money, slowly winning you the game. Monopoly is certainly one of the biggest selling board game of all time and all it's made up of is a few people moving around buying houses, which everyone seemed to love years ago before the likes of the Nintendo Wii and various other new gen consoles provided digital entertainment. Ever since video games have become easier to buy and play within the household the market for board games has slowly decreased, most family may only play board games during the odd holiday such as Christmas, Easter etc...  In my opinion video games have become easier to just pick up and play from and 5 year old child to a 65 year old pensioner along with the fact they constantly change and provide more visual entertainment for perhaps a few members of the family.

Board games can also cater for any age not forgetting card games too, a simple game of Pay Day or Monopoly for example can go on for hours on end with everyone gripped into the game and not noticing how long they have been playing. This can happen for some video games but most of the time the whole family cannot sit down and be so deeply involved for a fair few hours playing the same game, maybe the Wii and possible now as Kinect and Playstation Move have been released it could be possible but for the entire family to be so excited about these latest inventions for the console gamer. Well I think not, board games will take a hard beating and for the time being nothing can match a board game, some people may prefer Fifa 11, Sims 3, Football Manager MW2 etc... but i very much everyone likes them and they are not a very family friendly game. In my own personal opinion I would very much prefer to play the latest video game but won't usually say no to a game of Dingbats, Monopoly and such. Some big names have made it on to the famous board game from the video game sector such as the Mario world, this shows board games haven't lost that edge and are still a decent means of entertainment.  Its really a matter of personal opinion of the people playing but I just don't think board games have been beaten just yet. I hope you enjoyed reading my post and i hope to add more in the near future about some games i play as well as some thing i do such as attend performances, review games and many more

Andre Bolton