Assignment 8

For my 15 minute game, I created a board with a track in the shape of an infinity symbol. The mechanics are that all players start on the same "start" space, and roll a 6 sided die in order to move their player piece. On the board, there are spaces worth 5, 10, 15, and 30 points, as well as an immediate win and an immediate lose space, and a space that reverses the direction that players move. Blank spaces were worth 1 point. The first player to 100 points or to land on the win space would win and end the game.

While first playing the game with Rhea and Julien, we discovered that the win/lose spaces threatened to end the game too quickly, so I changed them into +50 points and -50 points respectively. After doing this, the game flowed much better, and I enjoyed playing it. However, with negative point values involved, there was a need for frequent adding of negative and positive numbers, and the inclusion of the single point spaces allowed for random numbers, so after playing it again, I would change the 1 point spaces to 5 points in order to keep the adding / subtracting to multiples of 5, and include in instructions that each player would be required to keep track of their own score. The game is mostly focused around Alea, or chance play, but watching your opponents scores fluctuate up and down does evoke a sense of competition, or Agon, although there is no real skill involved.

notes while play testing game