Week 7

Overview

I revisited the scope I had planned at the beginning of the project, and edited it to fit our new plan. We also had a big discussion surrounding the Grand Beast and how it should look, as well as playtested the game multiple times and introduced Dylan to it properly. I also created the final pieces of art for the creature cards.

Card Layouts

I've created various layout designs for our cards. The first three I've tried different methods of presenting the capture requirement information, using boxes with greyed out text in the back to denote gain or loss of dice, and the dice you need to roll to capture a creature, as well as putting everything into a simple box. I think the box format is the best way to present the information, although it doesn't look as interesting. I've also considered border colours, but I don't think the flat colour border suits the card. I can try and add more texture to it, but that might not change much. Because of this, I also have tried the card without a border, and I think this version looks a lot better than the others.

Journey/Item Cards?

I've used Dylan's examples from a few weeks ago, and created some additional scenarios that can be used as Journey cards. Along the same lines, I have created some Item cards, too. We're currently having some difficult implementing their use though. Dylan thinks they should be used as an answer to some players not being able to capture creatures on their turn, but this has been quickly fixed by giving players a minimum amount of dice they have. We'll playtest what we've created in different ways to see what works.

Journey:

Poacher Camp
- You find poachers and ambush them. Gain back 1 lost creature.
Fork in the Road
- Roll a d6:
  - Even: Draw a creature card. Shuffle the deck
  - Odd: Lose 1 creature
Herd of Mushroom Cows
- Skip your turn
Trading Post
- Trade a creature with a player of your choosing
- Note: this could also work as an item
Lush Woodlands
- Draw 2 creature cards. Choose 1 to keep, return the other and shuffle the deck.

Items:

Sun Dial
- Gain an extra turn
Heart of the Forest
- Temporarily gain 3 dice of your choosing
Frostbitten Hand
- Force a player to lose their turn
Early Start
- Force start your turn
- Note: can only be used after the person after you has had their turn. Then continue in the agreed order
Ancient Shield
- Guard against an attack/effect
Thief
- Steal an item from a player
Cage
- Steal a creature from a player

Team Changes

In light of today's team meeting, there are going to be a few changes to how the team will operate. As we're in such a good position right now, I'll be lending my team members to the other teams. Kat will be creating some art for Tim's team, however, she's confirmed with me that they don't need her to do much, so she's happy to also create art with me for the Journey/Item cards once we've confirmed what we are doing. Dylan will be joining Alex/Steff's team to help with their game for the future, as he doesn't feel like he can offer much with the current direction our game is in, which is understandable, too. Max may also be helping Alex/Steff's team with miniatures if he has the time.

Playtest 9

People like the minimum amount of dice; stops people from falling behind
- Re: no it doesn't
Scenarios are interesting
Still difficult to come back from losing
- Check probability of cards
  - Drawing a scenario/item is 2/50 (4%)
  - Make cards that can benefit players in lower positions more common?
    - Other people can still claim those
  - Introduce higher rarity cards later in the game somehow?
    - Once a round (each player having a turn has passed) introduce the next tier of creatures
- Make more that benefit those who are in lower places
- Give lower places some kind of benefit
Abilities start to become obsolete once you've got loads of dice
Make rolling a random dice 6 = d20
Limit on the amount of dice you have
- That would give those who already have the maximum amount of dice less incentive to play the game
Make incentive to attack Grand Beast
- People are still waiting till they have loads of dice

Players can be allowed to cooperate with each other if they agree on it?
- People can't just use abilities randomly, they need the cards for it
- Trade cards with other people for favours?
End every turn, players choose a dice to lose
"" player in last place can choose random card from discard pile to add to hand
Alien diplomacy game

Card Back Designs

I've thought about the back of the cards and created some potential designs for these. I'll be recreating them digitally to get a better feel for how they look, but currently I have a standard woodland landscape, a tree stump, trees viewed from below, trees viewed from above, and a mushroom growing on a tree.

Card Back Designs

I've asked Kat if she's able to do work on the card back designs, as I'm not as confident in my landscape drawing skills, and I've seen what Kat is capable of when it comes to backgrounds, and am confident in her ability to deliver a quality image. I know she's been busy with travelling this weekend, and she's confirmed that she'll be ready to continue working at the beginning of the week.

Max has also shown progress with his modelling skills, and has taken well to using polymer clay. He's created a model of the Hunter, which he has then painted in the images below. He will be continuing with the other 3 characters, and will most definitely be ready for our deadline.

Next Week

Our top priority next week is to playtest the different solutions we've created to make the game fairer, mainly for those who have fallen behind. We'll need to playtest about 3 times to make sure that we've tested each possible solution. Me and Max will also be attending another 3D printing workshop on Monday morning, so we can most likely playtest that afternoon whilst we're on campus. I will also finalise card layouts, and create flavour text for each of the creatures.