Module Ten: Paper Simulation

Reverse engineer GALAGA


12 index cards of each enemy

4 Capture Cards
3 index cards of ship

2 6-sided dice




1 roll initiative

1-3 miss
4-6 hit

If a Capture card is flipped then one of the players ship cards is taken and when that boss turns up again and is killed the player gets the ship card.

When the player has two ships in play he always wins initiative.
Miss enemy card goes on bottom of deck.

Hit your ship card out of play another card into play.

Survival is the core game element.

Module Ten: Chapter Five Book Work

Module Ten: Chapter Five Book Work

Grand Theft Auto IV

Sandbox

I have always like the term Sandbox to describe the type of game where you have the feeling of freedom to explore or exploit the gaming environment. To me a non linear "sandbox" is the best way to create a game with RPG elements and a feeling of emersion. Triggers placed in the game will set into play events or actions that will effect the sandbox experience either adding to or taking away from the players enjoyment. In my original game I would have to start with dynamic world, one that lives through actions and cycles even if the player doesn't interact. If the player aids or hinders these actions the play environment would change. This would start with a large play area/areas, to me Sandbox means Non-Linear, this may not mean the same to all but I do not see how a linear Sandbox could work, in my eyes its an oxymoron and a waste of resources and time to try to create this type of mechanic. I can see the need for game "paths" visible or invisible interactions that pushes the player in certain a direction in the form of quests or story. The end result may be some sort of character cap, in level or the end of a main story line, but the replay element would be there as you could play it a different way each time you loaded it up.

Module Nine: Dice Game

Module Nine: Dice Game

Battle Bones

Six, six sided die make up the Battle Bones Set.
(Keep them in a pouch for fun and function)

Undead warriors clash in a battle of Bones!
Teams or a free for all will work rules are the same.

One dice determines initiative

Another keeps track of hit points and is used as a counter.

Set the counter to six.

Roll a die for initiative.

Highest roll starts the battle

Attacker rolls 5 die adds total to the initiative roll
Defender rolls 5 die (excludes initiative roll)

If attackers total is higher then the defenders total an attack gets through

The attacker would then roll one die for damage

A roll of:

1-2 = 1pt
3-4 = 2pt
5-6 = 3pt

The defender would then take the damage from the counter dice

Then the defender if still alive attacks following the same progress over again starting with the initiative roll.


(15 minute Tweak)

Damage was reduced to:
1-3 = 1pt
4-6 = 2pt

* Initiative dice added to winners pool for attack roll.

Module Nine: Design Chemistry

Module Nine: Design Chemistry

Depending on the size and scope of the game a design team should be that, a team. Now this team can be broken into groups of teams, for example if I were making an RTS game I would have the programmers in a group, the artists in a group and the designers in a group, all of these groups would be connected by a lead, and like a Venn Diagram those leads would become a group who made decisions and choose directions that would be taken back to the corresponding groups for completion. The lead group would be instrumental in prototyping the game. The design group for example would give the plans of the levels map to the artists and they would work from them creating assets, those assets would go to the programmers and so on. The overall balance and work flow of the group would be determined by the size and type of project.

Module Nine: Prototyping

Module Nine: Prototyping

Prototyping is a fundamental aspect of creation and testing a design, this allows you to visually see the spatial aspects of the game, the layout and visual quality. Multiple prototypes may be necessary to tweak certain aspects of the game. Prototyping just the map or course of the game to see the flow, be it from dice rolls or cards, the progression through the map or maze is crucial to the over all balance of the game. If it is dice driven then this will need to be tested for the obstacles and bonus spaces the map may have. You may need to add an additional die to the game to balance movement and statistical or tactical achievements or pitfalls. After all you can not play test without some sort of prototype, so get busy with the paper and glue.

Character Development

Meet Juriah


As the son of a blacksmith Juriah grew strong, and at twenty standing at the forge with the reflection of the embers making his blue eyes glow orange, he faced the his biggest challenge to date. Today was the day he was to craft his family sword from the steel and fire that had forged him into the muscle rippled man he had become. Pulling the long black locks of hair that fell in ringlets on his shoulders, into a pony tail, keeping it out of sparks grasp, he hefted the steel blank from the adjacent barrel and using his tall frame he laid it on the bed of smoldering embers. With his other hand he reached to the anvil and grasped a large hammer, his favorite, the one that will start crafting this glowing rod of steel into the weapon that would shape his future in ways he could not imagine.

As a boy he would craft swords from sticks or whittle them down from lumber with an old hunting knife, waiting for this day, the day he would forge his own and take up arms for what ever life had in store.

With his fathers careful direction he began to hammer the glowing rod into the shape of a mighty blade, working it like a sculptor would clay the rigid properties of the steel became pliable and its shape was well defined. When he pulled it from the embers and cast it into the cooling barrel with a hiss of steam he beamed at his father, and his father looked on proudly as his son had created one of the finest blades he had ever seen.

Chapter Four Book Work

After reading chapter four I settled in for a few hours on the couch playing some games and observing the characters in each. In each of the games my character was the hero of the narrative, actions I did along the way impacted the world around me in the form of altered quest lines and difficulty in puzzles and or combat, depending on the game. All of the characters had a similar relationship to the game world and that tied in with them being very much alike but placed in different Genre. The fluid movements created by the animator made the world seem that much more real, the way your character reacted to the elements or even to the movement around the maps on different vehicles or terrain grounded the player to the world that was created. This is crucial to the mechanics that are built on the ability for your character to manipulate the game environment.