Week 4

 
This week for the group board game project we made a lot of progress in terms of cleaning up the rules and settings for the game. We are getting down to the few classes we have left to work on our project so it was vital to meet outside of class and constantly communicate when we were not together. Not only did we work on a lot of the project in the class but we also worked on the projected outside of class where we met three times outside of the classroom. In the classroom we made major steps toward completion of the project when we determined the seven resource cards necessary for the game which are car, money, humor, wit, charm, confidence, and skill. These resource cards are used to pay for the moves which are used to get heart that ultimately win the game. As a group we also figured out that a player needs 15 hearts to win the game, we determined this by considered a good time it would take to acquire 15 hearts because we did not want the game to be too long or too short.  Outside of class we discussed the need to incorporate action cards into the game to make sure their was a catch up mechanism in our game. This is useful to the players that fall behind in the game, it will still give them a chance to win and make sure they do not give up on the game. Some examples of action cards we have are embarrassing, lost wallet, steal a heart, etc. The majority of these action cards include taking a resource card from other players. One of the other major changes we made is to have each date location to have decks of cards to pick from, so when a player goes to one of the date locations they will be able to pick up from the deck at that location. Not only did we finish and clean up the rules of the games but we added in player pieces and got rid of tasks. Now when players move to different date locations they will put their player piece in that location so everyone knows where each player is. We decided to get rid of tasks to make the game simpler and not as complicated for the new players, we wanted to make sure all players we able to understand the game completely during the first time they play the game. 

Week 3

This week we continued to work on the core mechanics of the game and the strategies needed to win the game. Our biggest problem with the game was creating an interesting way of turn taking and moving around on the board. The game originally consisted of using a dice to move around but in class last week we decided to change this simple way of movement to something more interesting and engaging. The new idea consists of  creating a deck of resource cards, about 2-3 specific tasks per each place and about 2-3 actions or "moves" needed to be completed  per each specific task. Each player will start of with 4 resource cards in their hand and then during their turn each player will pick one of the six-seven places to go to. Once they are at their chosen place they may try to make a move using their resource cards. For example, lets say that one of the players chooses to go to a restaurant with their date. So they will move their character to the restaurant block and then try to complete the moves stated on that block by using their resource cards. One of the moves at the restaurant could be to entertain the person. So in order to complete the move the player needs to have the resource cards listed with the move such as a "joke" resource card or "flowers" resource card. Once they complete all the moves corresponding to the place that they are at, they complete the specific tasks and collect hearts. The hearts consist of random point values and the first person to get 12 points wins the game. The specific task could be making the date memorable and in order to fulfill this task the players will need to complete moves corresponding to it, such as entertaining the person, getting them a gift, etc. Once these moves are completed, the specific task is completed and person gets to collect the number if hearts stated with the specific task. In addition, at the start of their turn, each player gets to pick up one resource card from the deck. This way each player will always have at least one resource card in their hand. In class next week, we are going to test these new ideas with our prototype and see what went well and what needs to be changed.

Week 2

This week when we met, we jumped into some of the issues with the game. The major issues were the randomness and how to move in the game. These issues affected the core mechanics of the game and so we began discussing them. Everyone began to throw out ideas. Every time an idea seemed to work, we began to develop it. We immediately decided to change how the board was arranged. Changing it from a path like game to a circle with paths leading up to the middle. While this fixed the randomness, we still had a problem with the movement. We then decided that the outside path was still the problem. People began to suggest different movement methods, hoping that we might be able to design the board game off of how the player would move. We finally figured out that a set number of moves could be the answers to our problems. It would take away the randomness of moving however we still needed the player to make a choice. Somebody then suggested that the board be divided into section or rooms where the dates would take place. Based on his experience from his card game, Justin added that each room have a checklist of events that the player would have to complete in order for the date to be successful. The player would be able to move to one connecting room on his or her turn and complete these required actions. We agreed that this would be a good balance between choice and randomness. How these events are completed could result in either a heart, if completed successfully, or a broken heart, if not completed according to the set events.  These hearts would fill up the players path leading to the center. It is only after they reach the center do they win over their dates heart. We also figured that there had to be some method of working off broken hearts. Satisfied with the new direction the game was going, we divided up the design of the board, and making some of the game pieces. We hope to come up with the ways to earn back broken hearts along with the specific events and how to complete them. 

Week 1

     The name of our board game is "Hot Date". The game is centered around the world of dating and is about making it through the all of the different aspects of dating with as little heartbreak as you possibly can. The objective of the game is to find your soulmate and reach the end having had the best dating experience you possibly could have. You will roll dice to determine your next move in the game. As you move along the spaces, you will be collecting tiles of either full hearts or broken hearts depending on the dating experiences you encounter. The game includes several characters each player must randomly choose from in the beginning and each character comes with their own personality and a list of other characters that are either matches or mismatches. There will be spaces on the board known as "action spaces" that correspond to each character with an action/scenario that the person who lands on must respond to, depending on if the space’s character is a match or mismatch.  
    There will also be “Tricks/Moves” Cards that correspond with spaces on the board as well. These cards contain different dating moves such as buying flowers, opening car doors, winking, and being a salsa king or queen that will earn players hearts. The player who reaches the end of the game with the most full hearts wins the dating game and is consider the "hot date". The player who reaches the end of the game with the most broken hearts wins the title of MVP - "Most Valuable Player". 
     After getting into our new groups, we sat down to discuss the game and decide on what factors needed to be changed or improved. What the members liked most about the game was is lighthearted and fun concept that could be so easily related to. They felt it was a game with "controlled chaos" that could be easily enjoyed. There doesn't seem to be much downtime in game play as each turn has very strict instruction, and was filled with a good amount of player interaction and replay ability. The parameters of the game right now are that a player must reach the end of the game to finish, players may only respond to actions that correspond with their characters and their character's matches and mismatches, and that the player may only proceed the number of spaces indicated on the dice. We discussed how we could possibly change the fact that moves could only be made by rolling the dice. We may take the dice factor out completely and make it so that your moves are based on the cards you draw or the hearts you collect throughout the game. Hopefully we will be able to work out the kinks and find a better way to execute movement through the game this week.