Mike Rossmassler

Overview:

Our original vision for the game was a 9 unit by 9 unit pyramid structure with a marble on a pedastal in the middle, built from dice containing channels that would guide a central marble to one of the edges. Five of the six sides of the main die would have grooves cut in them that the marble could follow. The sixth side would indicate that the player received a special piece, which would have a variety of results. We planned several of these special pieces, realizing that they would be best suited to an electronic version of the game, as they featured mechanics that would be technically difficult in the physical world. Ideas like warp spaces and reverse rolling directions are interesting, but not really practical.

As it turns out, those spaces would probably just detract from the overall play experience. The current incarnation of our game is rather akin to a circuit board, or a pipe system. The most basic objective for this iteration is to be the first to create a continuous line from the center to the edge nearest to the player. After some experimentation and more thought, we boiled the gameplay down to fit on the sides of two dice. We retained the five pieces and one special side, and created one special dice that would affect the board or pieces on the board, rather than add additional pieces. Four of the sides feature a number of connection points (one with two points in a straight line, one with two points at a right angle, one with three points, and one with four points). One side is an empty square, which can be connected anywhere, but does not continue the line. The final side tells the player to roll the special die, which has 6 other possible actions.

The special die is intended to facilitate the combatative portion of the game. Its sides allow the player to roll for two pieces, rotate the entire board 90 degrees, rotate a piece on the board 90 degrees, swap two pieces on the board, remove one piece from the board entirely, or to pick one of the five basic pieces.

Piece Overview:
2 Connection (straight) Odds: 1 in 6
2 Connection (elbow) Odds: 1 in 6
3 Connection (T shape) Odds: 1 in 6
4 Connection (X shape) Odds: 1 in 6
Block Odds: 1 in 6
Special Odds: 1 in 6, with 6 possible results
Rotate Board Odds: 1 in 36
Rotate Piece Odds: 1 in 36
Remove Piece Odds: 1 in 36
Roll Twice Odds: 1 in 36
Swap 2 Pieces Odds: 1 in 36
You Pick Odds: 1 in 36

Playtests:

We ran our initial playtests by drawing out a 9 by 9 grid on a piece of graph paper and modifying two dice to have the correct faces. Initally, we were worried that the game might be a simple dash to the edge, but we quickly learned that pvp aspects of the game were as much fun as trying to win. The style encouraged ganging up on a player, as well as revenge, and at the same time, was short enough to be fun even after multiple playthroughs. On our third playtest, we realized that it was possible for the game to be a draw, if blocks were placed at all of the open ends, or the pieces were rotated so as to break all of the connections to the starting point. After some debate, our solution was to allow each of the players to roll the special dice, thereby allowing portions of the board to be cleared up. The game leaned heavily in Al and Diana's favor, but eventually Mike prevailed in a spectacular manner that highlighted another possible problem. Placing a block with 4 connectors in the corner spot would connect two sides of the gameboard to the central point, which under our old rules, would make two players the winner. In the initial scenario, the marble would go one of the two directions, eliminating this problem, but the basic game still needed to alleviate this situation. So, we decided that the player placing the tile in that situation would be the winner.

We also had the chance to play the game with four people, one of whom was completely unfamiliar with the rule system. We quickly realized that we needed a concrete rule set, but found that the game was even more competitive with a full table.

Other things that we realized after repeated play was that there were definite strategies associated with each piece. Obviously, the block piece is best used offensively, to hinder another player's advance. However, we did not forsee the utility of the 3 connection and elbow pieces. Both of these are useful in slowing down an opposing player, by reducing the useable pool of pieces from 4 to 3. Essentially, by turning the direction of the channel 90 degrees, the straight 2 connector loses its advancement possibilities. Another thing we realized was that in the course of the game, there is relatively few useless rolls, with all of these being situations where the player is forced to do something that is counterproductive, rather than useless.

After more playtests, we began to consider the idea that a valid strategy was to force the opponent's channel off with elbows or T pieces. However, this can be easily counteracted by special rolls, and merely diverts the channel one unit parallel to the goal. The response to this situation generally results favorably for the player blocked (and the channel is rotated again by at least 50% of possible rolls), though that player is forced to consider the benefits that will result for the player in the direction that the channel is diverted.

Further Modifications:
The final prototype is a computer printout of the board, as well as tiles that represent the necessary faces and the two dice.

Key Decisions:
We settled on a 9 by 9 space gameboard because that allowed for a central starting point that was equidistant from each of the players' edges; 4 units in each direction. This number allows for a game playtime of between roughly 2 and 5 minutes, intending the random nature of each game to provide the enjoyment rather than the time duration of play.

We chose the four basic pieces because they represented the simplest paths between the connections on the sides of the squares. The fifth piece, the block, arose from our desire to add a competitive aspect to the game.

As for the dice, we chose six sided dice because of their ubiquity, and the fact that they are instantly recognizable as “boardgame-y.” The modification to the faces eliminates the need for confusing tables, as well as provides a space for interesting iconography. Of course, this can be potentially problematic, as there does need to be a central table to translate these icons, but we feel that the actions associated with each of these icons are simple enough that players will remember them after just a few playthroughs.

The icons on the main dice correspond directly to the pieces that are to be placed on the gameboard, so they should need relatively little explanation. As for the special die, even those actions are disparate enough that icons can be made which draw from pre-existing iconography, such as the idea of a circular arrow representing rotation, a circle with a line through it representing stoppage, etc.

We also learned the value of the special die, and realized that it added a much needed layer of strategy to the game. The random nature of the die rolls do make the game somewhat unpredictable, but even so, rolls are not sufficiently uncommon as to remove them from a strategy. The least random element of the game is player's choice piece, but the utility of a given piece is due largely to the situation already on the board, so the most common choice will likely be the block piece. As this forces a re-evaluation of path, the outcome is very acceptable. The swap two pieces special roll does seem similar to this, but it is perfectly feasible that any number of rolls may not have occurred yet, and the ability to simultaneously hinder your opponent while advancing your own path also changes the play situation interestingly. The rotate and remove pieces can act in a similar way, and the rotate board function adds a delicious amount of instability to the game. The roll twice result is admittedly an afterthought, but it does have the possibility to alter the outcome of the game significantly, and therefore fits well on the special die.

Project Direction:
Our goal is to extend the basic play mechanic of the game into a multi-player web-based game centered built using the Google Earth API. The game would pit several players against each other and various elements drawn in real-time from the internet. Players would be given an amount of money each turn which could be saved, or used to pay for various forms of transportation. The amount of money given each turn would be modified by a random, and affected by the player's current locale. The distance the player moved each turn would be affected by the price of various forms of transportation, all of which could be drawn and approximated using Google's search engine. Factors like the price of gas, airline tickets, rental cars or train tickets would all affect the player's movement. Furthermore, real-time events like weather and traffic could be drawn in to further affect the player's movement.