Ludology Minigame exercise 29/9/2010
I found this weeks minigame exercise very interesting. I came up with a 5 card rummy style game with a dice roll to obtain a score on each round. A very simple game with imperfect information (players did not know the other players hands). The rules were simple and it was easy to play but it was quite dull. Using cards and dice together was interesting but my game added nothing more than a twist on an old variant.
A far more enjoyable game to play was elevens, this was more interesting due to conflict. The ability to snipe a card from another player and possibly obtain their good cards was a welcome twist. This game also used a dice to better effect than a simple score - a meaningful branch in the game with choice based on the dice.
We then play tested another groups game. This was a simple linear path with different coloured squares with some squares causing a player to get a card with a play modifying behavior. Conflict arose again in this with the ability to make a player miss a turn or force the player to retreat back the play surface.
The conflict in both these games made them enjoyable and the tension created between players added to the overall experience.
Do we need to win? One thing I noticed with some of the games was the unendedness of them. We are supposed to finish the game in 8 minutes but some of the games from this week might never reach an ending. Does a game need to end? In some games there is no terminal condition, experience goes up, the character gets more abilities, the world gets more complex - do they ever need to end?
anon
good question..... many games like the sims for example have NO ending. There is no END GAME. Thats why many critics would say that the SIMS's isnt a game, nor is sim city and that simulations by their nature are not games just simulations of life. The BIG difference is that in life there is finality. We will be looking at the structure of a game on monday.... you might find answers there
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