WEEK 1

Overview

Week 1 started on Thursday, and most of the session was spent giving a presentation about our games and voting on which ones to take forward, so there was only a little time to discuss what to do with the game we are working on.

The game I'm overseeing is Kryat, Jake's game. As a team we have decided to try and avoid making a video game, as there would be a lot of programming to do that none of us are really qualified for or ready to undertake. As a result, we brainstormed what direction we could take Kryat in. We came up with a variety of ideas, such as creating a board game RPG, like DnD, complete with a rulebook and bestiary that players can use and look through. However, we struggled with how the game might play, and what the player might do. So we took a step back, and asked ourselves how the player would interact with their creatures, as that is the main experience behind Kryat. Players could take care of them, like a Tamagotchi, or they could gain abilities from these creatures, or they could breed them together. Using their creatures, player could interact with the world. They could destroy environmental obstacles, attack or befriend other creatures, or collect resources and craft items for an adventure. Plot points arose from these mechanics, such as stopping people who seek to harm creatures, as Kryat is about friendship with the creatures you find, or maybe even rebellion, freeing those that have been captured. There could even be a balance between the human and natural world that needs to be restored.

Potential Idea

I created a topographical map which the player could explore. This isn't really practical for playing purposes, just something I thought would look cool. Based off of discussions on Thursday, we could have players traversing a board, and different areas on the board could have a different deck of creatures up for capture. Each creature would have a symbol on their card, and a player would roll a dice with these different symbols, and if it landed on the corresponding symbol to the creature, it would be captured and belong to the player. We haven't decided what the win conditions would be, but maybe it's like Pokemon where players need to collect one of each creature to complete a bestiary, or maybe it's as simple as catching as many creatures as you can. I've also had other ideas, such as creating an external mobile app where players could scan QR codes on the creature's cards to see them in action. This would be simpler to create than a full on video game, whilst still providing a sense of the creature's scale and magnitude in person.

Expanding on the Idea

I sketched a simpler board for the players, made out of hexagonal spaces. These are easier to understand rather than the complicated nature of the topographical map. There would be environmental barriers which would prevent full free movement through the board, but it would largely be up to the player where they'd go. Movement would be determined by a simple dice roll, and players would choose where they want to land. Certain segments would have some kind of creature icon, where when landed upon, the player would draw a card from a deck and roll to try and capture a creature; a creature encounter. There could also be spaces to gather materials, but these are all ideas that need to be prototyped first. Other things like player stats could be like DnD, just not as extensive. I've thought about various stats, like:

Health/Vitality: the player's health
Companion Points (CP): Points to use a companion's abilities
Strength: Perform tasks based on strength
Agility: Perform tasks based on speed and agility
Technique: The effectiveness of the player's abilities

As for the bestiary, there could be a slot for a card of each creature on each page, with supporting information written besides. The app could also be used for this external information.

Another Idea?

Players could use a board similar to the one I've designed above, and take turns placing units on the field. Players can use item cards to set up traps and defences, and it's up to the player to discern the danger of traversing the field. There would obviously be a limit to the number of these cards the players could place. If units come into contact with each other, they would engage in combat, with the victor claiming the loser's cards. The game would end when one party has exhausted all their cards.

Summary of Ideas

Idea Generation
- RPG
- Plot?
- Stop people who seek to harm creatures
- Free captured creatures
- Restore environments
- Calm/Tame creatures
- Balance the natural world with the human world - Create a bond with a creature and gain their abilities
- Players can choose their abilities at the start of a campaign like in the Star Wars RPG
- Forego capturing, instead just focus purely on befriending (can have trials the player needs to complete)
- Hybrid scientist recollecting broken creatures
- Breed creatures and keep track of new combinations they make
- Consider how far back they'd be able to breed
- Take care of creatures
- Provide players the means to either befriend or kill creatures
- Solve environmental problems
- Players can create factions (creates competition)
- Some kind of ecology boardgame - Can make a Rulebook/Bestiary to accompany the game
- QR codes linking to models for players to have something to focus on- Move around a map (board) collecting creatures
- Areas can have certain creatures (presented as decks of cards)
- Cards can have a symbol on them
- Players will roll a die with these symbols on them and need to roll the corresponding symbol in order to capture the creature
- Can create a physical board and maybe pieces for more tactile-ness- Cards will need to be dynamic and show off personality
- Consider:
- Posing
- Scale
- Colour
- Composition