D’DEE and The Mathamagician
Original book cover sketch based on plot of “D’DEE and the Mathamagician”
“D’DEE and The Mathamagician” is a board game about the creative process of making that I created as an exercise to explore the relationship between gameplay, game mechanics, narrative, and 2-D design as well as a project for discovering the integral place of rapid prototyping into game making.
The game is based directly on the book I wrote of the same name “D’DEE and the Mathamagician” and is also loosely based on the popular slide pursuit game “Sorry !” and by extension the board game “Parchisi”.
2-Design
The process of creating the game was heavily informed by my previous experience of creating 2-D works of art. My intention with designing the game board was to use previously created illustrations to tell the story of “D’DEE and The Mathamagician” via a visual narrative of images.
The first step in designing the game board was to identify story elements that would be used on the board.
D’DEE and the Mathamagician story elements identified as essential to telling story.
The next step was placing story elements in chronological order according to the plot and world map of the book within a generic narrative based game board.
Original game design sketch based on plot of “D’DEE and the Mathamagician” as well as on the forms of the popular board games, “Life” and “Candy Land”.
Once this was complete, an initial design mock-up was made using the slide pursuit game “Sorry !” as a template for size, packaging and game pieces.
Story board Mock-up incorporating Visual Story elements placed on gessoed “Sorry !” game board.
Theme and Board game Design
The theme of the board game and the game board is the creative process of making as play.
To reinforce this Theme in the game visually, images informed by the subject of rational and irrational such as numbers as well as rational and irrational thoughts and writings were chosen from both the game makers illustrations and journals from the writing of the novel as well as from other artists.
To further reinforce the exploration of a dualistic process view of creativity both physical “analog” as well as digital “Photoshop” techniques were used to incorporate source images.
Preliminary version of Game board with source images
Characters
Taking a dualistic worldview of making, the “Duality” of making is presented as the creative vs the analytical with D’DEE representing the creative or experimental and Z@O representing a purely rational or analytical approach to problem solving.
Both characters are intended to be the Mathamagician as they duel within the domination of making via play.
Game play, Theme and Narrative
In addition to theme and design, the relationship between game play, theme, and narrative were explored consistently from initial concept through final game board design.
Game play
As the design of the game board was developed, the mechanics of the game were developed within the constraits of the board. Because the initial concept for the game derived from a story narrative which already included many “Game like” subjects such as cards, puzzle solving, and game boards – game play was determined initially by narrative and then adjusted through the results of game play testing.
Testing
Testing consisted of three phases. In the first phase, various Game play mechanics such as what kinds of pieces, number of pieces, and rules were tested on a preliminary version of the game board.
Initial game play was determined within the framework of the board design.
Most game play mechanics were determined on the fly during game testing phase one.
The initial rules of the game also reflected the narrative of the story pitting the Stories two protagonist against each other in a race to their palaces.
Phase one testing learnings were incorporated into the final design of the board
In both game play testing Phases I and II, the rules of the game “Sorry!” provided some insight into Gameplay elements including rules for pawns and the criteria for winning.
One of the key insights gained from initial Gameplay testing was that the fun of the game was in the contemplation and interaction arising from the interaction of players as they decided which pawns to move as a result of dice rolling and considered the trade-offs of “bumping” opponent pawns versus advancing their own.
Three important game play changes were made as a result of Phase 1 testing: the ability of pawns to “bump” other pawns needed to be severely limited as it was preventing players from completing the game. The use of rolling for advancement in the form of ‘chance” rolls needed to be increased. The number of dice rolled during each turn needed to be reduced from 5 to 2.
Changes to Game play rules from Phase II testing included additional rules for pawns when placed on Tunnels and other “chance” areas.
Packaging:
Packaging was initially modeled from one of the game board design elements: The Cards. The presentation and writing of Game play instructions were modeled on the game “Sorry !” as was the design of the back of the box. The copy included with the packaging for pawns and the copy on the back of the box were adapted and inspired by the novel “D’DEE and the Mathamagician”.
Packaging based on art and excerpts from “D’DEE and the Mathamagician” as well as on the forms of the popular board games“Sorry!”. Copy inspired by book and finished board game.
Packaging based on art and excerpts from “D’DEE and the Mathamagician” as well as on the forms of the popular board games“Sorry!”.
Packaging, instructions, and game pieces based on art and excerpts from “D’DEE and the Mathamagician” as well as on the forms of the popular board games“Sorry!”.Pewter game pieces purchased on ebay.
Instructions based on art and excerpts from “D’DEE and the Mathamagician” as well as on the forms of the popular board games“Sorry!”