And Finally......

             This week we had other groups from our class playtest our games for the first time. This helped us derive a formula for the three paths of victory and also helped us insert minor adjustments into the game. One of the major adjustments included inserting a surrounding tracker showing each players value of credits. We believed that this would aid everyone to see each other’s progression and use their action cards more wisely. From playtesting we also found out that we should reduce the power of some of the action cards because they were able to completely demolish other players. We decided to change the card that allows players to move back 20 spaces to move back 10 spaces. Also we decided to change the card that made a player lose 20 credits to make them lose only 10 credits.

 At first we weren't sure if the three different ways to victory were equal or not. After numerous amounts of playtesting, it was. What tends to happen is people have a certain strategy in their head but after playing the game for a while it usually changes. To make the option of completing a major to win more appeal able we decided that the players have an option of completing any major they would like and can change the major throughout the game. This will give the player more options and will not make the player feel stuck.

We also scheduled a meeting in the library to make finishing touches. This included typing up the rough draft of the board. This also included finalizing the rulebook and putting color into the different cards. We decided on making the colors correlate for each major and each class on the board to make it easier for the players.

Later in the week we went to Staples and we got all of our cards and board pieces printed in color and on card stock. We also got our list of majors laminated. Then we bought a foam board. After that, we put finishing touches on our 8 game pieces . Finally we were able to make our board for our game and put it all together. 

4th blog

Over the time between the last class we scheduled two meeting in which we organized the structure of the game and made sure all of us were on the same page regarding specified tasks. In the last class we made several changes to the game after play testings within our group. We felt that play testing allowed us to discover problems that we would have never seen previously. One issue we found with the game is that all three ways to win were not evenly distibuted. Meaning that each player will always choose the same path to victory because it's the easiest. In fixing this problem we made adjustments including increasing the number of credits to 120, making classes overlap each other, and using only one number on the die. We also implemented trading throughout the game that would allow others to use a different strategy to get ahead.

Our delegated responsibilities included Joe putting together the class cards and RU screwed cards, Greg putting together game pieces and the majors sheet, Ruchi putting together the game board, and myself creating the major cards and RU screwed cards. We look forward to others playing the game Wednesday and additional ways to continually improve. Our plan for next week is to meet up Friday and have the finished project ready to go to staples and be put together.

Day 3

Today in class we made really good progress with our game. Over the weekend we met up and started getting pieces together and created a rough draft of the board. Just having a couple pieces and a board to look at and visualize a real game made it a lot easier. Even though we still haven’t figured out exactly how we want our board game to look; we came up with a basic layout. Our game board will have four different campuses, Busch, Livingston, College Ave, and Cook Douglass with High Point Solutions Stadium in the middle. There will be a connecting bridge between two campuses, so players have to move around the board and from campus to campus in a clockwise motion. We believed that it was more important to figure out the rules and mechanics of the game above all else and that we could save the esthetic parts of the game for another day.
Coming up with rules for this game was not easy. We were trying to overcome the monotonous, roll a dice and move that many spaces, so we incorporated several choices the player can decide between. In RU Screwed, the way to win the game is be the first one to graduate Rutgers University.  During our group discussion, we figured out that it would make the game more fun if this end result could be achieved several different ways so players could employ different strategies. We settled on three different options, make your way around the map and to the stadium, collect 120 credits or complete your choice of major. This allows players to make a choice and decide which way will help them win the game first. We also made rolling the dice into a strategy. When the player rolls the dice, he/she can decide between moving either forwards or backwards that many spaces, not move at all and take that number roll and at that to your credit total or to not move and cut that number roll in half and subtract that number from a players credit count. Our group wanted to make the game more strategy based and I believe that with these two characteristics added to our game, that we have achieved that goal. Next week we will try to come up with more rules to make RU Screwed even more entertaining and to start working on the final layout of how we want the board to look.

Making the Game From the Ground Up

At our first meeting during class, we had a good amount of time to talk about our game, "RU SCREWED?" We talked about a lot of the game mechanics. 

Our first challenge was how to incorporate dice into our game without having it act as it would normally would in any board game. We talked about using a dice that had shaped and colors on it rather than numbers, but realized that it would not work with our game. After a lot of ideas and collaboration, we decided that the number rolled on the dice would either be for earning that amount of credits or taking the amount rolled away from another player. This way, the player who rolled the dice would be able to make a decision to either go ahead in the game or slow down other players who may be leading. 

Another challenge that we had to overcome was how to have the board game set up, that it wouldn't be a typical going around the board in a counter-clockwise or clockwise manner. At this point, we only added diagonals to the board game but left it that you may go either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

For our next class we divided up all the aspects of the game design between all the members. Joe was assigned to make the cards for the game. Greg was assigned to find some kind counting system for us to record the amount of credits. Pete was assigned to design the cards and board, and Ruchi was assigned to make the board game itself.

So far the game is coming out pretty good, and only a trial run in class with all the materials will show us what progress we need to make a perfect game.

Day One...

           Today was the first day that we started to work on our board games. We each presented our board game proposal to the class and then ranked the order of each game that we were interested in working on. While we were playing Settlers of Catan, Professor Parks split us up into our new board game groups.
           The game my team and I are working on is called RU Screwed. It is a board game based on Rutgers University and the challenges Rutgers students face as they graduate. As a group we did talk about some of the mechanics of the game. The board will consist of 4 squares. Each square will represent a different campus. Then there will a circle in the middle. The circle will represent the Stadium. The goal of this game will be  to go through each campus and finally graduate with 120 credits. But along the way there are cards you draw which either benefit you or hurt you. You will either gain credits or lose credits. Each campus will also represent the year of school you are in. An example would be, Livingston Campus will represent first-year/freshman year because that is typically where freshmen live. A problem that we are trying to overcome is the rolling the dice and movement problem. As of now, the game works only if you roll the dice. Some solutions we thought of were trying to include a spinner instead? We aren't exactly sure yet  but hopefully by next week we will have it figured out.

- Ruchi Shah