WEEK 1
For the first week of class, we were given an introduction to game studies by Dr. Charles. This helped us better understand what is expected throughout the semester by keeping a strict schedule and to ensure our deliverables are as polished as possible.
WEEK 2
We formed our group and learned about the history of games to get an idea of game mechanics and frameworks. This week we established our roles for everyone to understand their responsibilities in the upcoming task. We then brainstormed the possible tabletop games for Project 1. Our initial idea was to incorporate nature, where players form two teams, one team as 'humans' and the other as 'nature' and attempt to eliminate their opposing team.
WEEK 3
We were instructed to bring physical card/board games to test during class. The purpose of this is to analyze these games and adapt the mechanics into our tabletop game design. We played Monopoly Deal, a game about collecting properties and stealing from your opponents. Our plan was to implement this concept with our 'Humans Vs Nature' game. Upon many more discussions, we talked about basing it off a local Malaysian game called 'The Malaysian Dreams', but realised we could not get our hands on the game.
WEEK 4
We continued playing more board/card games and Zara brought a game called 'Organ Attack!', we realized we enjoyed the game's mechanics a lot more and had a lot of fun going against each other. Eventually, we settled on basing our game off 'Organ Attack!'. After pitching this concept to Dr. Charles, he said that the idea of humans and nature can sound boring compared to organs. Our final decision was to incorporate celebrities and the concept of cancel culture, where the main goal is to 'eliminate' celebrities by cancelling them.
WEEK 5
Our submission for Project 1 was due this week. Dr. Charles provided us a guideline for the presentation, it consists of content needed to understand game ideation and development, we then delegated our tasks and continued with our presentation. The outcome of this task gave us a better idea on how to proceed with the game development, this includes our target audience, key features, possible problems and questions, the visual concept, playtesting and our competitors.
WEEK 6
We brainstormed the game mechanics, in terms of how it should be played and if it would work. We felt like the game would be more interesting if it was highly dependent on luck. Like Dungeons & Dragons, players need to roll the dice higher than the 'game master' for the particular their action to work. We decided to use the concept of dice, if a players chooses to attack another players celebrity and the opponent chooses to use their defense card, they would have to roll the dice higher than the other for it to work. We then jot down content for the cards.
WEEK 7
We continued working on the cards to be ready to playtest. For instance:
The number of cards for each type: Celebrities, Attack, Defense
How much damage an attack card does
Descriptions for the Attack and Defense cards (requires further research on chosen celebrities)
Special cards to change the course of the game
WEEK 8
We used paper cutouts to begin playtesting as a group. Our group playtested the game multiple times and for every playtest, we needed to alter the gameplay:
Amount of cards allowed on hand
Number of moves per turn
Dice mechanics
Rarity of Special Attacks
Amount of 'lives' a celebrity has before getting cancelled (affects gameplay time)
WEEK 9
We gathered a few groups to playtest the game for us to observe their gameplay. We kept in mind how long it takes to finish the session, if the cards were balanced, how these players interact and how well they understand the game. After the session, we distributed a survey to gather their personal feedback.
WEEK 10
After gathering their feedback, we made a few alterations to the game mechanics. For instance, the 'Objection' card was taken away from the game entirely because we did not find it necessary to be in the game. We also reduced some number of cards to ensure its rarity. We then delegated the tasks for our game design.
WEEK 11
We continued working on our game design and updated our team on the progress.
WEEK 12
At this point in time, draft illustrations have been completed. We made minor tweaks to ensure the cards were in the right sizes and were consistent throughout. We were then to compile the cards and the manual into a completed card game.
WEEK 13
We continued working on our tasks from last week and updating each other of our progress. Some of us worked on the slides and adding the necessary information.
WEEK 14
After compiling the cards, we focused on polishing our e-portfolio, which includes having the right section for each part of our process, our reflections and our weekly updates.
