Week 6 - Mise en scene

Design Challenge
The workshop activity design challenge involved creating a defining list of objects and items for an appropriate mise-en-scene (staging, scenery, props) of the historical figure Adolf Hitler.

List Created

1. Austrian Alps
2. David's Star
3. Black Forest
4. Beer Mug
5. Albert Eienstein
6. Monocle
7. Colours Red, Black and Yellow
8. Burning Books
9. Pocket Watch
10. Mercedes Benz, BMW and Porche
11. Great Sword
12. Eagle
13. Salute
14. Moustache
15. Swastika

Team Testing
We then tested these objects in order on other teams.
Teams guessed Adolf Hitler at object 6, 8, 12, 14 and 15.
The average being 11 was considered to be a good result.

Week 5 - Jack and the Beanstalk

Concept and Storyline
A race to the end acquisition based game based on the English folk tale of "Jack and the Beanstalk".   Jack and his family are poor and Jack's mother tells Jack they must sell their cow because it stops giving milk. Jack gets fooled into trading his cow for some magic beans. Jack's mother is furious when she find out and throws out the beans which magically sprout into a giant beanstalk to the heavens overnight.  Jack just wants to be able to have food for himself and his mother so he climbs the beanstalk and discovers a magical castle in the clouds full of riches guarded by a evil giant. Jack befriends the giant's wife and learns that the giant killed his father and stole the family's valuables. In three separate escapades Jack steals a bag of gold, the hen that lays golden eggs and finally a magic harp. In his last escapade the giant purses Jack down the beanstalk. Jack cuts down the beanstalk with an axe and the giant falls to the ground and is killed. Jack and his mother live happily ever after with their recovered valuables.

Story Grammar
Analysis of the folk tale reveals Jack as the hero and the giant as the villain. Jack just wants to provide for himself and his mother. He gets some magical beans which eventually leads him the evil giant. He learns of the giant's misdeeds and then starts to recover his family possessions. Eventually he kills the giant and lives happily ever after with his mother.

It was decided that the game would be based on a 2D falling platform genre game with the action taking place on the beanstalk as Jack climbs upwards to the castle with all the riches.  The giant also throws down articles such as cows and furniture which cause damage to the player's health.

Rules

1. 1 or 2 players.
2. Platforms keep falling down into a spikey brier patch.
3. The player can either ascend through climbing or jumping to different platforms.
4. The player can collect objects and destroy hazards with the their axe.
5. The more objects collected and hazards destroyed the more points scored.
6. Game ends when you get to the castle and defeat the giant in a boss battle.
7. Golden harp temporarily puts the giant to sleep.
8. Golden egg increases player's score by a large amount.
9. Bag of gold increases player's score by a small amount.
10. Plate of food restores player's health.
11. Red beans give you a temporary axe chopping power up.
12. Green beans given you a temporary jump power up.
13. Blue beans give you a full health power up.
14. Purple beans causes player to temporarily become ill and slows movement speed.
15. Beanstalk spikes causes small amount of damage to player.
16. Falling objects causes large amount of damage to player .
17. Rain cloud causes platforms to become slippery.
18. Storm cloud with random lightning bolts that may damage player or enemies.
19. Hail cloud causes small amount of damage to player and slows movement speed.
20. Fog obscures portion of screen.

Goal
Ascend the beanstalk to the castle, kill the giant and collect as many points as possible.

Core Game Mechanic

The core game mechanic is climbing the beanstalk while dodging hazards or destroying with axe.

Challenge
Unpredictable hazards spawning and spikes on the beanstalk. Magic beans with a 75% chance of being beneficial. Periodic cow and furniture obstacle thrown from above by the the giant. Weather conditions also affect movement on platforms and hide hazards.

Overall Impression
Early prototype game concept was fun to discuss and would seem like fun to play.

My Rating
8 out of 10 stars.

Week 4 - Space Station Escape

Final Prototype - Week 5

Early Prototype - Week 4

Concept and Storyline
An escape game based on science fiction theme. You awake from stasis in a space station and discover that it is severely damaged and in a collapsing orbit. You must get to the damaged escape pods before the space station crashes into the planet.  Unfortunately its not that simple because the escape pod is also damaged so you must first collect the necessary components to escape.

Rules

1. Requires 2 or more players.
2. Start in stasis room at centre of space station.
3. Initial roll to determine which player starts first and then take turns in a clockwise manner.
4. Collect components represented by cards by landing on particular board positions on each space station level.
5. If you land on a board position already occupied then players roll the dice to determine who gets all the components.
6. Game ends when one player gets to the escape pod with all the necessary components.

Goal
Player must get to the escape pod with all the necessary components to repair it and then escape.

Core Game Mechanic

Roll dice and move to various space ship levels in order to pickup necessary components. Attack players who have the components you need.

Challenge

Based on dice roll use strategy to move to unoccupied board positions or challenge players for components by landing on their board position.

Overall Impression

Early prototype game is simple and fun. Game is unpredictable due to dice roll. Given more development this could be a very interesting game. For example create more strategy by introducing cards which enable "power ups" and teleport jumps.  Co-operative team play would also add a different game play experience.

My Rating

6 out of 10 stars.