Module One "Final Project Idea"

Oceanus

My final project will be the 15 minute game taken off of two pieces of note book paper and the scraps I used as cards and evolved into a polished playable game. I will look at each of the nine rings, take in consideration the balance of card spaces as well as the flow of the game. Art assets such as the board, cards, movement pieces, to name a few, will need to project a cohesion, a certain "feel" or "flavor" so the game can build in an atmosphere even though it will be played on a board. Loosely based on Greek mythology the feel and look will pull from this genre, the cards both boon and pitfall will reveal snippets of an overall story or theme. As the game is developed and play tested moving toward the final product certain aspects may be implemented or excluded as the flow and feel take on their own life. Wish me luck.


Between the world of the living and the world of the dead there is said to be great rivers that ring the underworld and wind through lands of dread, can you escape the nine rings and cross the river Styx to the realm of the living?

Your Quest start in Oceanus (center of the board) you then make your way through the nine rings to the river Styx, if you have picked up enough coins along the way you can pass back into the world of the living.


The board game has 9 rings radiating out from the starting island "Oceanus" the rings are divided into spaces, certain spaces connect one ring to another, these are called bridge rings. Certain spaces are designated as "pitfalls" or "boons". There are two decks of cards, one for the Pitfall space and the other for the Boon space. The pitfall stack would have cards such as "move back x spaces" or "loose a coin" etc. The Boon stack would hold cards that awarded a coin, protected you against certain pitfall cards or may even allow you to steel coins from other players while occupying their space.


The game is for 2 to 4 players, each player would roll a six-sided die, highest number rolled leaves Oceanus first. To leave Oceanus the player would roll two six-sided dice taking the number rolled and moving that number of space, first moving on to one of the four bridge spaces leading to the first ring, you can then travel forward or backwards in the rings. Each player does this traveling around the board trying to collect and hold onto their coins to reach the Ferryman.


The 9th circle exits to a dock on the river Styx, you must have collect 2 coins to pay the ferryman that resides at the dock.


The first player to enter the dock space with two coins wins the game.


Excerpt from a journal found on Oceanus:


"...what is this unearthly haze that obscures my vision enshrouding me in apprehension?

The dreams of man are reflected here both strange and horrific, the air is poison to the taste and corrupts the sweet essence of the soul, making it black and filled with hatred.

I know not whether I am dead or alive but only that I exist. With each new day lost in the rings of this abyss I can only reflect back to a time of knowledge, an age long since past in a world that was warm and full of life, for the world which surrounds me is cold and barren..."