27th September 2010
We have jut found out our first project, the board game. I have been placed into one of the smallest groups with Sam, Josh, Elbet, Richard and Linden.
We started off by playing a few games to learn what many games had in common. We played Citadel to begin with but we stopped playing it as it had far too many rules and was far too complicated to learn even though it said it's age was for 10years plus.
Next was Blokus Trigo's, this is a shape based game that was very simple to look at and play. We really enjoyed playing it as there were few rules as the game wasn't very complex and the idea of it being highly competitive against 3 other players was hugely satisfying for the victor.
We then decided to split up the jobs of different research this was given to myself and Sam so we began doing research on Board games using the internet and by looking at other existing games, this was so we could also look at flaws in other games and what makes them so popular with the public.
That weekend I went home and remembered playing a tile based game Indiana Jones. This was a minimum 2 player game and a max of 4, the idea of the game was to place random tiles down that connected up to the hidden chambers that contained each of the 3 relics known in the films, however the game has a twist as after you have collected all 3 of the relics the temple that you are in collapses and you must escape. This game also includes a DVD that interacts with the different symbols on the tiles, I really enjoyed playing this game because the board will always be different making it more challenging.
Game History
A board game is a game in which counters or pieces are placed, removed or moved on a pre-marked surface or "board" according to a set of rules.
Games maybe based on strategy, chance or both and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve. Early board games represented a battle between two armies and most current board games are still based on beating opposing players, in terms of counters, winning position or point.
Types of board games
Representation of a real life situation can range from having no inherent theme, such as checkers to then having a specific theme and narrative like Cluedo.
Rules can range from the very simple Tic-Tac-Toe, to games which describe a game universe in great detail e.g. Dungeons and Dragons, however these are Role Playing Games and this means the board is secondary to the actual game, serving to visualize the scenario. The length of time it takes to learn and play the game can vary greatly from game to game. The learning time does not necessarily correlate with the complexity of the rules as some games have simple rules e.g. Chess, but can then lead onto complex scenarios.
History of board games
Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history, some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artefacts and documents exit which shed light on early board games.
-Jiroft - Persian 3rd millennium BC
-Senet - Egypt 3500BC
-Mehen - Egypt 3100BC
-GO - China 3rd century BC
-Patolli - Aztec
-Buddha games
Psychology of board games
While there has been a fair amount of specific research on the psychology of older board games e.g. Chess, GO etc less has been done on contemporary board games such as monopoly and Risk. Much research has been carried out on chess due to tornament players are publicly ranked and international lists to compare levels of expertise.
Luck, Strategy and Dipolmacy
One way to categorize board games is to distinguish those based primarily upon luck from those that involve significant strategy some games, such as Chess, are almost entirely deterministic (the first person to make a move having a slight advantage) , relying on he strategy element for their interest.
Children’s games however tend to be very luck based, with games such as Candy land and Snakes and ladders having no decisions to be made. Most games involve both as a player may be hampered by a few bad rolls of the dice in Risk or Monopoly, but over many games a player with a superior strategy will win more often.
While some purists consider luck to not be a desirable component of a game, others counter that elements of luck can make for far more diverse and multi-faceted strategies as concepts such as expected value and risk management must be considered.
Another important factor is diplomacy, or players making deals with each other. A game of solitae has no player interaction. Two player games usually do not have diplomacy (co-op games being the exception) Thus this generally applies only to games played with three or more people. Examples; Risk, when two or more players team up against others.
Easy diplomacy consists of convincing other players that someone else is winning and should therefore be teamed up against. Difficult diplomacy consits of making elaborate plans together, with possibility of betrayal.
Common Terms
Game Board - surface on which one plays a board game.
Game Piece/Counter/Token/Pawn - players representation on the game board and each player may control more than one.
Jump - to bypass one or more game pieces or spaces. Depending on context jumping may also involve capturing or conquering an opponent’s game piece.
Space/Square - a physical unit of progress on a game board delimited by a distinct boarder.
Hex - used in hexagon board games. Term for a standard space on the board.
Card - piece of cardboard with instructions
Deck - stack of cards
Capture - a method which removes another players game piece.
1st October 2010
Went to Student Union Bar and discussed several ideas of a grid like game that had simple shapes making the game simple but also challenging, the game would also consist of 4 players and possibly an A.I character known as a “freak” who was placed in the centre whose job was to chase the other 4 players from reaching the centre.
4th October 2010
Went to the media lab to continue the game concept idea of Pathfinder that we decided on the following Friday and we made a prototype game, we also discussed the idea to Nigel who helped us look at different themes of reaching the centre and using competition into the mix and a “risk & reward” system.
5th October 2010
Went to the Student Union Bar to discuss current Idea on Board game. Rick had handed out our prototype to some of his house mates and we discovered many flaws in the game. An example was that one of our shapes did not actually fit correctly onto the board, another flaw was that our “freak” character easily picked off every player before they reached the centre.
This then lead us into designing a brand new game about each player being a Virus in a Computer.
We now have started to design the board and characters since we now have a theme to go by.
8th October 2010
Started designing the board as we now had a theme to go with. Elbert, Josh, Sam and myself began designing some of the virus concepts giving us something to work with. I then began designing the Anti-Virus and coming up with a evil looking superman type shield. I felt this was important as the player you were the virus meaning that in the players eyes you are good compared to the anti-virus which was designed to kill you and prevent you from spreading making him evil.
10th October 2010
Came into uni today and Elbert had finished his final designs for the virus tiles by adding binary code to make them look more tech like and if they actually belonged into a CPU.
We also decided to add safe zones to reduce the chance of over conflict.
11th October 2010
Today we had a presentation which if im honest caught us slightly of gaurd as we were not prepared for it,but thankfully we came in early for to finish of the test board an all of the components such as the peices and we were still preparing for it during other peoples presentations which were very in depth but this was because they had a far larger team.
I can happily say that our presentation went very well and ran for a good duration of time. We all spoke about something different and how all contributed towards the game.
15th October 2010
Me and Sam went to the library to get our hands on some coloured card for our final pieces and also some spray mount for the cover. The tiles were then glued onto the correct colour that they belonged to and the cover was mounted onto the box that Josh had made.
18th October 2010
The board was near enough completed all that was left was to find some packages for the tiles so that they didn't get lost or misplaced.
22nd October 2010
Board completed
We have jut found out our first project, the board game. I have been placed into one of the smallest groups with Sam, Josh, Elbet, Richard and Linden.
We started off by playing a few games to learn what many games had in common. We played Citadel to begin with but we stopped playing it as it had far too many rules and was far too complicated to learn even though it said it's age was for 10years plus.
Next was Blokus Trigo's, this is a shape based game that was very simple to look at and play. We really enjoyed playing it as there were few rules as the game wasn't very complex and the idea of it being highly competitive against 3 other players was hugely satisfying for the victor.
We then decided to split up the jobs of different research this was given to myself and Sam so we began doing research on Board games using the internet and by looking at other existing games, this was so we could also look at flaws in other games and what makes them so popular with the public.
That weekend I went home and remembered playing a tile based game Indiana Jones. This was a minimum 2 player game and a max of 4, the idea of the game was to place random tiles down that connected up to the hidden chambers that contained each of the 3 relics known in the films, however the game has a twist as after you have collected all 3 of the relics the temple that you are in collapses and you must escape. This game also includes a DVD that interacts with the different symbols on the tiles, I really enjoyed playing this game because the board will always be different making it more challenging.
Game History
A board game is a game in which counters or pieces are placed, removed or moved on a pre-marked surface or "board" according to a set of rules.
Games maybe based on strategy, chance or both and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve. Early board games represented a battle between two armies and most current board games are still based on beating opposing players, in terms of counters, winning position or point.
Types of board games
Representation of a real life situation can range from having no inherent theme, such as checkers to then having a specific theme and narrative like Cluedo.
Rules can range from the very simple Tic-Tac-Toe, to games which describe a game universe in great detail e.g. Dungeons and Dragons, however these are Role Playing Games and this means the board is secondary to the actual game, serving to visualize the scenario. The length of time it takes to learn and play the game can vary greatly from game to game. The learning time does not necessarily correlate with the complexity of the rules as some games have simple rules e.g. Chess, but can then lead onto complex scenarios.
History of board games
Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history, some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artefacts and documents exit which shed light on early board games.
-Jiroft - Persian 3rd millennium BC
-Senet - Egypt 3500BC
-Mehen - Egypt 3100BC
-GO - China 3rd century BC
-Patolli - Aztec
-Buddha games
Psychology of board games
While there has been a fair amount of specific research on the psychology of older board games e.g. Chess, GO etc less has been done on contemporary board games such as monopoly and Risk. Much research has been carried out on chess due to tornament players are publicly ranked and international lists to compare levels of expertise.
Luck, Strategy and Dipolmacy
One way to categorize board games is to distinguish those based primarily upon luck from those that involve significant strategy some games, such as Chess, are almost entirely deterministic (the first person to make a move having a slight advantage) , relying on he strategy element for their interest.
Children’s games however tend to be very luck based, with games such as Candy land and Snakes and ladders having no decisions to be made. Most games involve both as a player may be hampered by a few bad rolls of the dice in Risk or Monopoly, but over many games a player with a superior strategy will win more often.
While some purists consider luck to not be a desirable component of a game, others counter that elements of luck can make for far more diverse and multi-faceted strategies as concepts such as expected value and risk management must be considered.
Another important factor is diplomacy, or players making deals with each other. A game of solitae has no player interaction. Two player games usually do not have diplomacy (co-op games being the exception) Thus this generally applies only to games played with three or more people. Examples; Risk, when two or more players team up against others.
Easy diplomacy consists of convincing other players that someone else is winning and should therefore be teamed up against. Difficult diplomacy consits of making elaborate plans together, with possibility of betrayal.
Common Terms
Game Board - surface on which one plays a board game.
Game Piece/Counter/Token/Pawn - players representation on the game board and each player may control more than one.
Jump - to bypass one or more game pieces or spaces. Depending on context jumping may also involve capturing or conquering an opponent’s game piece.
Space/Square - a physical unit of progress on a game board delimited by a distinct boarder.
Hex - used in hexagon board games. Term for a standard space on the board.
Card - piece of cardboard with instructions
Deck - stack of cards
Capture - a method which removes another players game piece.
1st October 2010
Went to Student Union Bar and discussed several ideas of a grid like game that had simple shapes making the game simple but also challenging, the game would also consist of 4 players and possibly an A.I character known as a “freak” who was placed in the centre whose job was to chase the other 4 players from reaching the centre.
4th October 2010
Went to the media lab to continue the game concept idea of Pathfinder that we decided on the following Friday and we made a prototype game, we also discussed the idea to Nigel who helped us look at different themes of reaching the centre and using competition into the mix and a “risk & reward” system.
5th October 2010
Went to the Student Union Bar to discuss current Idea on Board game. Rick had handed out our prototype to some of his house mates and we discovered many flaws in the game. An example was that one of our shapes did not actually fit correctly onto the board, another flaw was that our “freak” character easily picked off every player before they reached the centre.
This then lead us into designing a brand new game about each player being a Virus in a Computer.
We now have started to design the board and characters since we now have a theme to go by.
8th October 2010
Started designing the board as we now had a theme to go with. Elbert, Josh, Sam and myself began designing some of the virus concepts giving us something to work with. I then began designing the Anti-Virus and coming up with a evil looking superman type shield. I felt this was important as the player you were the virus meaning that in the players eyes you are good compared to the anti-virus which was designed to kill you and prevent you from spreading making him evil.
10th October 2010
Came into uni today and Elbert had finished his final designs for the virus tiles by adding binary code to make them look more tech like and if they actually belonged into a CPU.
We also decided to add safe zones to reduce the chance of over conflict.
11th October 2010
Today we had a presentation which if im honest caught us slightly of gaurd as we were not prepared for it,but thankfully we came in early for to finish of the test board an all of the components such as the peices and we were still preparing for it during other peoples presentations which were very in depth but this was because they had a far larger team.
I can happily say that our presentation went very well and ran for a good duration of time. We all spoke about something different and how all contributed towards the game.
15th October 2010
Me and Sam went to the library to get our hands on some coloured card for our final pieces and also some spray mount for the cover. The tiles were then glued onto the correct colour that they belonged to and the cover was mounted onto the box that Josh had made.
18th October 2010
The board was near enough completed all that was left was to find some packages for the tiles so that they didn't get lost or misplaced.
22nd October 2010
Board completed
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