CAGD170 - Mezozoic Conquest

  10/16/2022

ePortfolio Post #2

Martin Vilches, Group 11:


During this section of the semester, we were instructed to come up with a board game from scratch with a partner. This was challenging since we were given a Genre, Theme, and Age Range to make the game. With these restrictions.

During the game's development process, we started throwing ideas into a document and looking at how they could work together. We came up with a Dinosaur Conquest game for people above 40+ called Mesozoic Conquest. Having a partner to come up with ideas was great; listening to a completely different perspective of the topic and implementing these ideas into the game brought it forward.

Once the foundation of the project was solid enough, we started drawing sketches and designing for cards and the boards, so we came up with some basic card designs and what we wanted the board layout to be. This was the most creative and interesting section of the project since it was filled with ideas and experimental features. Some of the things we came up with are represented in the following images:
 

The sketches and concepts of the cards and board gave us a better understanding of which direction we wanted the game to go; after these basics were finished, we started expanding, making more Dino cards, polishing the map, and introducing event cards.

Luckily for us, another group got the chance to playtest our game. and they gave us plenty of feedback to further polish the game and also make it more understandable. Something that caught my attention was the game's fluidity and the perception that people had about the game. This gave me a new perception when creating the game.



We were tasked to playtest multiple games that others did for the class. Some of the games I tested seemed to be very complete, and you could tell that a lot of effort went into them; however, other games needed more polishing; they seemed to be a bit less than the minimum viable product. They just needed more time to make the game more dynamic.

Some of the games I tested included:
  • Group 5's Game
    • Genre: Rythm
    • Theme: Fast Food
    • Age Range: 10 - 15
    • Formal Elements:
      • Rules: There is a point system based on fast food. 
      • Players: This game is only a 2-player game. It heavily relies on both players telling the truth.
      • Procedures: Get a song that you've never heard before, then advance it to a random point in the song, start the timer with 25 seconds on it and count how many errors you make while replicating the song's rhythm
      • Boundaries: Song's that you already know are off limits
      • Conflict: Your only opponent is the other player and their ability to replicate the rhythm of the song.
      • Resources: Your ability to memorize and replicate the song's rhythm. You will also need a timer and a way of playing and searching for music that you've never heard before
      • Objective: Your objective is to get the least number of errors when replicating the song's rhythm
      • Outcome: After the song is finished, both players will reveal how many errors they made while replicating the beat. The player who has the least errors wins the points.
  • Group 4's Game
    • Genre: Racing
    • Theme: Magic
    • Age Range: Elementary

  • Group 7's Game
    • Genre: Educational
    • Theme: Space
    • 6 - 12

  • Group 1's Game (Marshmellow madness)
    • Genre: Fighting
    • Theme: Marshmallows
    • Age Range: 6 - 12
Overall most groups did an amazing job in their games. There only needs to be more polishing, and they could be good board games. Since it's most students' first time making a board game, so all ideas seemed to be original and within the restrictions given. They all were fun to playtest.




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