Prototyping

 ''' Prototyping of Game Board and Movement. '''

First prototype test 10/10-11
 Test 1 

 For our first test we used hexagon tiles with the following events; 3 types of resource nodes, roads and obstacles. We also used 1 avatar and 1 base tile for each player and 4 static resource nodes on the board to let the players aim for something if they didn’t get any resource tiles on their hand.

 We divided the tiles among the players and rolled a die to decide starting player. The players then picked a tile from their hand and placed it on the board to build the map. We quickly realized that it would be more exiting if all tiles were drawn face down and at each players turn he draws a tile and decide to where to place it.

 The aim is to build roads between the player’s home base and resources to symbolize an income but without rules for placement it ended up with the players placing their resource nodes bordering to their bases. Furthermore the roads aren’t working as we wanted them to when placed on hexagon tiles (they do not tile in meaningful ways) so we decide to change them for next test, however we feel that the hexagon tile system is working well and is in line with our aesthetics.

 Test 2 

 For our second test we changed the tiles so that we now had 1 type of resource, blank tiles for roads and obstacle tiles. We still used 1 base and 1 avatar for each player. We also changed the board so that players aren’t allowed to place resource nodes in the close vicinity of their home base. To symbolize roads we used colored markers to claim the blank ground tiles.

 We belive that it will ruin the flow in the future game if the players are to first build the board and then play for resources so we tried a system where the player first draw a tile and place it, then roll a die to move his avatar and finally perform one avatar action. Avatar actions are to claim a tile using a colored marker or to blow up a tile that’s bordering to your avatar. We found that by using this system we get the feeling that we are building the game as we play it and we also get a dynamic world that changes as the game is played, which is exactly the feeling we were aiming for.

 We came to the conclusion that hexagon tiles works very well, the ground tiles that the players can claim to represent roads works a lot better than the drawn roads but we would like some variation on the blank tiles where different tiles have different number of sides blocked (and the obstacle tile simply is a ground tile with all sides blocked) so that the board will be more varied, there will be more strategic moves in how you place your tiles and more benefits in using the destroy tile-action.

Also the static resources weren’t needed but we felt it was a good idea to make resource nodes generate more income if they are further away from the player's base to add more risk/reward to the system and make more use of the movement system as the players will have to travel further to gain more resources.

Second prototype test 13/10-11
The coders had done a good job testing the board size and ratio of different tiles and the artist board pieces prototypes worked nice, in fact we didn’t have to change the ratio of the tiles once today, it worked perfectly.

Test 3

When the game starts there’s a possibility that the first tile(s) a player draw will be illegal to place in the base area or an obstacle the player can’t use to move on. If that happens he can’t perform his next two actions and that feels like a flaw in the system. We decided to change the rules for next test so that players will at the start of the game draw 5 tiles each, they will then place them one by one in clockwise order and once they are placed the game will start. The players aren’t allowed to place tiles in another player’s base area. Another problem that we faced was that people placed resource nodes in clusters and then started to debate how to move around and collect income from these clusters.

We decided to change the rules so that resource nodes aren’t allowed to be placed bordering each other. Again we talked about that how we want to add some mechanic where you have to use your resources to gain advantages in the game so there will be a greater risk-reward system in the game but we need to find a way to avoid deadlocks, negative loops or that the player simply avoid spend their resources because they don’t see any benefits in it. We decided to try a system where each player starts the game with X action markers and once those were spent he have to pay to get more. Another thing that didn’t work so well was the claiming of roads to generate income since a player has to stand on a tile to claim it. Should he get bad die rolls he would have to walk back and forth several times just to claim the road so we decided instead that players claim the resource node and if there is a road unbroken of any obstacles between the resource and the players base he will gain income from that resource. Finally the board shape needs tweaking and testing so that it’s equally balanced and also can be played by different numbers of players.

Test 4

The system where players place 5 tiles each before the turns start works good. They can use this both to start their own roads and also to try blocking opponents and with this rule everyone could start moving as soon as the game started. To have to pay for actions adds more risk-reward and make the resource seem valuable but as expected one player had bad luck with draws and didn’t get any income so he couldn’t perform any actions once his free action was spent.

We discussed ideas and came up with the idea that a player can always claim a resource node. If it’s neutral it’s a single action and cost the player nothing but if someone else have claimed it the player can pass one turn completely to steal it. This action cannot be performed if the owner is standing on the resource. We also changed the rules so that players can stand on the same tile since we felt it was necessary with all the new obstacles on the board. We also added a rule that said that if a player couldn’t move he can pass his turn to teleport to his home. We realized that square markers in different colors aren’t the best choice for accessibility and clarity so we decided to give each color a shape as well.

Test 5

We decided to scrap all the avatar action markers and instead make action cards that would be hidden for the other players since we felt that if someone buys a bomb and walk towards an opponent it’s too obvious what he is out to do. We made cards with several different actions and tried a system where the player could use these action cards instead of the old action markers. At the end of his turn each player could draw one card if he had less than three on his hand. This added very much to the game and we felt it fitted very well with our aesthetics and eliminated the problem that the opponents knew what everyone else could do but there was a problem that the cards were overpowered. This was mainly because there was too many very strong cards and every player could use one every turn without any cost so we decided to try the pay for card with a resource system instead.

Test 6

Every player starts the game with 1 action card. These cards can be used at any time during a player’s turn, if he chooses he can use more than one in the same turn. At the end of his turn a player can pay 1 resource for 1 card. He cannot gain more than 1 card at each turn. It felt like everything fell in place.

The action cards we used were;

Extra tile: After placing this card you immediately draw and place an extra tile.



Bomb:

Destroys an adjacent tile. If a player is occupying that tile he is moved to an adjacent tile of your choice.

Magic Portal:

Player switches places of two avatars of his choice.



Thief: Take over anyones mine. You have to stand on mine to use





Sprint:

Die roll movement x2



Earthquake:

Rotates a tile of your choice.



Kick: Send player on bordering tile back to his homebase.

The systems worked nice together but some of the action cards seemed very strong so we need to look into and balance them so that they dont become too overpowered. The system where you had to pay for actions worked really nice and with a little tweaking of the board and lot of tweaking and balancing of the action cards we feel our system is ready to be tested by other groups.

Third prototype test 15/10-11


Test 7-8

Before this test session, we have not had a fully functional game plan. But for this game, we created a game plan with 169 squares in a circular form with space for up to six players. At each corner one of the player had their base. Around this base is a "safezon" where other players may not add or change tiles. In the middle of the plan is a 3x box. If a player puts a mine on this site, and then claim the mine, she gets three coins for each round. Two boxes from the middle circulates boxes with 2x. These work the same way as 3x-boxes accept for giving two gold coins.

The playing field was balanced as it was. All players went in to get to the center as soon as possible to claim 2x- and 2x- boxes. If a player got a mine early in the game some player choose to put it on a box near their base to soon be able to get gold. The board was also balanced in its size. Players could in a number of rounds get to the other side of the plan to also claim mines in this area.

When we tested the game a second time, we noticed a detail in the game that we could not adopt any rule about. Two players were at the first round teleported to the opposite base. This meant that they had incredibly long way to build a road that led to their own base. Even if they claim a mine they had no clear path from their own base that led to this mine. So they did not get any money and they could not buy action cards to change the situation. It ended up they hadn´t collect a single goldcoin when the game ended. We thought about some solutions to the problem. One idea would be to pass a round to get an action card. Another suggestion was that players could not teleport a player into a box that could not lead the player to their home base again.

We also tested two new cards during game two. One was "nullify" which meant that the player could neutrilize any card another player played out. What we thought worked really well. The second card "jump" was not tested because none of the players got this card.

Tweaking 25/10-11

Today we sat down and discussed how we could improve the flaws the first groups of testers pointed out in our systems.

The problem where if players got teleported at the start of the game and got everything ruined, we solved by changing the rules so that instead of only be able to teleport home if u cannot move u can always teleport if you skip a turn. This could possibly lead to that the magic portal action feels weaker but it would still cost a player his entire turn and then he would have to walk back to where he was from his base so it would not come cheap and the teleport action is still valid for removing opponents that are in the way.

The problem where people did not buy any cards is crucial to solve. While the cards aren't the core system they are very important in the dynamics of the game. As the testers stated correctly, without the cards the game is just a race to the finish where all you do is run around and trying to claim mines. We discussed this and came to the conclusion that we have to make people see how important the cards are and our solution is that we change the rules so that everyone starts with 1 card and 2 resources. We discussed if it would be better to just give them several cards since our intent with giving them resource is that they will spend it on cards but came to the conclusion that it might make the game to intense in the begining if there is few tiles and many cards. We think that by giving people “free” money it’s more likely that they will spend it and by spending it the chance that the one free card they get is a weak one and they won’t buy any more is less likely to happen. We will also try and make the cards looks esthetically powerful.