Game Studies Final Project

Samer Muhamed Usef / 0357036 / Bachelors of Computer Science (Hons)
Game Studies

Project ; Final Project 

(Week 6  - Week 14)

MODULE INFORMATION

WEEKLY PROJECT BRIEF AND TRACKER

Week 6

Fig 6.1 Rework from Pre-Alpha 

This week, everyone was to test their games and rework on their game based on the proposal everyone had submitted. When playing through our game a total of 2 times, we found out that some of the rules and power cards needed to be reworked on and the gameplay time was almost around an 1hr for the first game which we thought was long and decided to change and address the issues which is complied from the feedbacks everyone had to given.

Week 7

After finishing up our playtest with the changes made to improve our board game, we had alpha playtest this week where other players were to test others boards games and give thoughts and suggestions towards the game from a new players perspective. 

Group 4: Resort Theft 

Fig 7.1 Alpha Test Gameplay Recording

When Observing the players playing the game, we noticed a major mistake in not including a rule book on how the game was played and the mechanics behind it which all had to be explained verbally by myself and the group members for rules and mechanics the players didn't understand. 

The complied observations we made when analyzing the gameplay:

1. Maybe a lot of rules - pretty complicated.

2. The rules are hard to understand, maybe because we don’t have instruction manual.

3. Hard to control - 6 people,they can also become disinterested.

4. It’s complicated to show the rounds.

5. Make more power cards and coin tokens.

6. People tend to not use the power card.

7. Board can be bigger, if players are all in 1 area, it can be cluttered.

8. The tiles can be less? 

9. Reducing the rounds 

10. The power cards should not be distributed in the beginning, it can be achieved.

11. Sabotage cards confusement - 3 turns might be too much

12. How do the players suspect the lost card?

13. Can we suspect ourselves?

14. A lot of people also mean that it is hard for them to move around the table.

15. Feedback, the detective notebook sheet can be differentiated for each players through the tables.

16. Feedback, he always gets yank bank and is not able to go to the place that he wants (skill issue tho) (Also forgot to mention Trap Door system to prevent that)

17. Feedback, Tool cards too big making the rooms have less space (obviously we change that)

18. Feedback, Make A Rule Book manual for new players to understand (Easy Manual to understand)

Changes made:

1. The freeze card is intended for the next player, the token prize will be 2.
2. The lost card should be shuffled along with the location card.
3. The imposter card from each player is based on categories, the players won’t get any additional coin token.
4. The reveal card, reveal to everyone according to the card (specific), the players won’t get any additional coin token.
5. Every power cards will be distributed in the beginning, and were only able to be used in the 3rd round, some special ones with the * symbol will be on the 5th round.
6. Keep the shuffle card for now.
7. Make a lock symbol for the sabotage card to apply in the rooms.
8. The accusation can only be made when it is the players’ turn.

Week 8

This week was independent learning week therefore we didn't have class but, during this week we discussed on:

 

1. Game development based on the feedback and observation

2. Finalize the game mechanics (rules, etc)

3. Discuss the design ideas for the board and visuals (prepare moodboards in the Miro board, such as pictures or color scheme, you can also use Pinterest to find some design ideas).

4. Potential materials to make the board, tokens and etc, which ones should be ordered online / buy (try to find something cheap). 

Week 9

 During week 9, we were supposed to have class by due to unforeseen circumstance, Miss Anis had an injury and had to limit movement so to compensate, we had a online consultation which each group occupying a time slot in the increments of 20 minutes and talked on our initial phase of our Beta preparation which compromised of a ideas given by everyone but mainly the Design students by the usage of reference that were:

1. Board Design 

2.  Cards Design

3. Assets Design (Cards, Player Token, Tool Tokens, Envelope)

4. Color Scheme (Consistency of color in all designs)

With the feedback given on this opinion that was, add a red color with the mix in the color scheme and change the Chinese chess tokens into small caps instead.

After the consultation, we discussed on the initial ideation of our power card concept and delegated our tasks for forming our final Beta test board game physically and came with the distribution: 

Task Delegation:
1. Board (4 sides) - Michelle
2. Character tokens - 4 -  Michelle
3. Tools tokens - 6 - Reenah
4. Cards 
- characters - 6 - Michelle
- Tools - 6  Reenah
- Room - 10 -  Michelle
- Power/special cards - 13 - Reenah
6. Notebook sheets x 16 pieces - Samer and Yusuf 
7. Empty envelope for the case file - Reenah 
8. Coin token- Reenah
9. Rulebook Designing- Samer and Yusuf
10. Pencils - 4 - Everyone
11. Erasers - 4 - Everyone

From this delegation we can see, the tasks were heavily weighed for the designed students Michelle and Reenah which I felt really bad about but from major and expertise wise, they were more experienced than me and Yusuf, therefore we concluded that both of us would work on the rules and mechanics of our board game on how it is played primarily and design and print out the notebook sheets. As for everyone's parts, we decided to split the money everyone had spent by 4 (Total Number of members).

Here are the Power Cards Concepts we have discussed in the meeting as well.

Good cards (Advantage):

-1 Imposter card 🧧 (See a card from each player deck as per the user choice of categories, each player does not get any additional coin token) (Token - 4)

-2 Suspect Twice card (Be able to suspect twice from other players - can be the same person or not, but they don’t get to move, so they get to choose tools and suspects category specifically) (Token - 2)

-3 Switch Card (Switch 1 card at random with another player from the users’ choice, do not reveal to others) (Token - 3)

-4 Reveal Card (Only one item will be shown to everyone; this is additional from anyone, users will have to state the card that they would like to see specifically, each player does not get any additional coin token) (Token - 3)

-5 Reverse Card (Reverse the direction of play, like the uno reverse card) (Token - 3)

- 6 Time Warp: Move into any of the rooms of your choice (Tokens - 4)

Bad cards (Disadvantages):

-1 False Lead: The player must move 10 tiles away from the room in the board (Token - 2)

-2 Sabotage Card (Lock a Room for 2 turns) (Token - 3)

-3 Freeze Card (Skip the next player’s turn after you) (Token - 2)

-4 Origin Card (go back to the starting point) (Tokens - 2)

-5 Self Sabotage: The player is locked in a room for one turn (Token - 3)

-6 Token takeaway: take all players’ tokens (Token - 4)

-7 Bluff card (Lie when asked on a suspected card) (Tokens - 2)

For the next two upcoming weeks, we all worked on our parts and I'll be talking on the design process of the parts me & Yusuf had done and worked on.

Week 10

Week 10 we began to get started on the Rule Book and discussed that the Rules will be accessible via online using the QR Code Scanner which would be printed and pasted on the board.

Myself and Yusuf discussed beforehand how we would want our rule book to be and came up with the idea that, rather than adding just the rules and mechanics, we include additional information for the players so they can understand the story and characters of our table top game and get immersed when playing the game. Therefore, we came up the name of the rule book as "Game Guide" which was fitting for the contents we are putting in.

Fig 10.1: Cover Page

The color schemes and font presented throughout our Game Guide was aligned with the color schemes and fonts put forth for other assets as well to remain consistent and this was the Cover Page we fromed.

 

Fig 10.2: Story Line

For our initial Story Line, we had vaguely written the scenario of what was taken place. So we decided to extend it with 1 page worth of content while aligning the story based on the characters and place which we had finalized as well as, the plot was an opening towards where the board game would start off. 

Fig 10.3: Character Background

After Reading through the Story Line, the players can get a glimpse of the character background for the thoughts each of the suspected characters showcase.

Fig 10.4: How 2 Play

Now this is the one of the main Components of the Game Guide, being the How to Play section which instructs players how to set the board & assets included with it while giving the players an x amount of cards to start off with the objective of the game specified which is all broken down into simple points so the players can follow through. 

Fig 10.5: Gameplay Rules

2nd main concept would be the Gameplay rules that would lets players understand how to start off the game when everything is set on the board. Subtopics regarding any of the mechanics is clarified in detail so the players would have a clear understanding and not get confused. 

Fig 10.6: Power Cards Concept

Since we have the power cards mechanic in our game, we added a page to demonstrate the types of cards the players can obtain which consist of good and bad cards and a description on how each of the power cards work, is shown as well. This page is essential for players to know which type of power cards exists so they can identify the possibility of which card the other players may or may not have which is a detective aspect in itself.

Fig 10.7: Assets included with Board Game

Lastly, our Game Guide is concluded with the Assets section which show cases all of the assets presented inside of the box so players can have an idea on assets which should be inside the board game and thus concludes the in-depth analysis on the design process of the Game Guide.

after finishing up the design, we then downloaded it as a pdf and converted into a flipbook which was then, converted into a QR Code by using the flipbooks link.

Fig 10.8: Flip Book

Flip Book: Game Guide: https://online.fliphtml5.com/gqixd/ixew/#p=1

Fig 10.9 : QR Code of Game Guide

Week 11

On this week, after we had finished working on the Game Guide, we worked on making the Notebook sheet as per the process shown below:

Fig 11.1 :

For initial design process of the Notebook sheet, we had to align it in such a way that each of the subsections the players were to identify consisting of characters, tools and rooms had to be equally divided with squares aligned and spaced from one another so they could suspect which were the cards with the players and which were the ones inside the envelope and the color format remained consist according to the color scheme we all decided on.

Fig 11.2 :

Now, after the spacing was completed, we had filled in the names for each of the cards in their respective subsection.

Fig 11.3 :

Finally, we added in the subheading and the Title as well as an instruction under the heading so players know what they should be doing with the detective notebook sheet.

After that, Me and Yusuf had initially tried to print the notepad sheet at Taylors university but at the time, they were closed and the libraries printer would only allow us to print Black and White after testing it, therefore we kept used printed it non colored and used it for the Beta Test Week.

Week 12

Beta test has come up this week which was the final stage of our and everyone else's table top game where each group plays the allotted game by Miss Anis and give feedback on it as everyone was new to one another's games. We had prepared our setup with just the packaging missing but rest present.

Fig 12.1 : Beta Playtest QR Code

Fig 12.2 : Beta Playtest Assets Setup

Fig 12.3 : Beta Test Gameplay Recording

When I analyzed the video by myself, I saw there were many thing wrong when a new player was playing it which was really helpful insight honestly and came up with a list of things we need to resolve:

*Sorry for the Caps Miss, I'm not angry :p*

PLAYER TOKEN IS TOO BIG FOR SQUARES

GAME GUIDE UPDATE

SUBHEADING

ROOM QUESTIONING CONCEPT (ROOM IS ONLY SUPECTED IN WHICH ROOM U ARE IN)

NOTEPAD SUBHEADING (EXPLAIN EACH SUB CATEGORY AND HOW ONE CARD IS IN FILE, HIDE THE NOTEPAD)

JOINED ROOMS CONCEPT (PLAYER IS SUPPOSED TO STAY IN THE TAKEN PASSAGES ROOM, CANNOT MOVE TO OTHER PART OF JOINED ROOM IN THE SAME ROUND AND CAN GO TO OTHER SECTION OF ROOM NEXT TURN EVEN IF THEY SUSPECTED IN THE JOINED ROOM)

AMOUNT OF SUSPECTING CARDS NEED TO BE SHOWN FOR A SINGLE PLAYER WHEN THEY HAVE ONE OR MORE OF THE SUSPECTED CARD IS 1

BAD AND GOOD POWER CARDS UNDERSTANDING

WHEN A PLAYERS ACCUSSES AND SEE THE FILE CARDS AND FAIL, THEY CANNOT SHOW THEIR CARDS TO OTHERS AND MAINTAIN SHOWING THE CARDS DURING ACCUSATIONS MADE IN ROOMS

POWER CARD SELF SABOTAGE AND PERMIT THE USAGE OF SECRET PASSAGE

This would later be used for reference on next weeks meeting.

Week 13

This week we went onto discuss the changes we need to make to make in preparation for the final presentation, we looked at the feedbacks received as well as the Observations done and promptly implemented necessary changes. Based on personal feedback from beta play testers, it was noted that players played the game without the use of power cards. In response, we opted not to discard the power cards, a unique feature distinguishing our game from Cluedo. To address another issue where players frequently forgot to take a coin token after a round of suggestions, we decided to eliminate this system entirely.

Additionally, the red star tiles proved ineffective in the Beta Test, as players could easily avoid them on the empty spaces of the board. To make it so they make use of it, we relocated the stars inside the rooms. Now, when players step on them, they receive a random power card (either good or bad), compelling them to incorporate power cards into their gameplay which ensures a more engaging and strategic experience for players. As well as the rules were needed to be adjusted based on the doubts the players had regarding the game.

So Each of us began preparing for the final iteration of the board where myself and Yusuf had went on to change parts in the how-2-play section and gameplay rules with a strong emphasizes on looking at the Power Cards section to identify which is a bad and good card (*Unfortunately, i had posted the final Game Guide design process in Week 10 as me nor Yusuf hadn't taken any progress photos, sorry about that :(*)

After that, we went onto print the colored Notepad sheets that needed to replace the Black and white we had printed prior and we headed to Sunway Geo Avenue where there was a printing shop called ArchPrint. Talking off topic, we were lost on where the shop was inside the mall since the location specified had multiple blocks and and floor which took us about 30 minutes on looking just for the shop...... But we came to realize they had moved locations from a different block and floor from the one specified within google which is crazy they haven't updated it yet. Anyways, we went on to find the shop and printed the notepad sheets into colored format as well as the QR Code since we needed to make changes and redo the whole process of pdf to QR code again.

Here are the final Results of our Finalized Table Top Game : Resort Theft

Fig 13.1 : Assets 

Fig 13.2 : Assets 

Fig 13.3 : Board Design (Side, Front, Back View)

After putting all of our designs I was really happy with the results that have come out. I must really really thank Michelle and Reenah for the designing process of the Board and its Assets as they have come out looking like a out in the market table top game (*they got a bright future ahead :)*) that could be bought and for agreeing to do these parts themselves since it was highly weighed so me and Yusuf did our best to make the mechanics and design of the Game Guide on par with their design and also the Notepad Sheets themselves.

Fig 13. : Game Demo Recording

Finally after compiling all of our designs we had recorded the Game Demo that will later be presented and shown during the presentation day, that is next week. Out of curiosity from Miss, we kinda exceeded the budget limit of definitely over a 100RM :"( , so miss hope the money we spent is well worth it.

Week 14

Roles Finalized for Presentation:

Game Story & Concept - Reenah

Game Rules - Yusuf

References & Reviews - Samer (me)

Playtest Information & Final Prototype - Michelle 

Game Demo - Together

Fig 14.1 : Final Project Slide

Fig 14.2 :Game Demo

REFLECTION

Over the course of Week 6 to Week 14 leading to our presentation, our team developed the table-top game "Resort Theft." We conducted playtests, received feedback, and iteratively refined the game mechanics. Challenges were faced throughout every week but adjustments were made, such as redistributing power cards and relocating tiles. The Game Guide was designed indepth, incorporating a storyline and detailed rules. The Beta Test revealed areas for improvement, leading to further refinements and in the final weeks, the team focused on design elements, addressing printing challenges, and preparing for the presentation. Each member played a crucial role in showcasing our visually appealing and market-ready game with most of the design elements incorporated by Reenah and Michelle which I'm really thankful for as a person new to designing and thus, this highlighted the growth and collaborative efforts throughout the development process from each and every group member which I'm really thankful for. I had so much fun doing this project and Miss Anis's classes as this topic aligned with what I'm interested in, designing games :).