If you’re reading this from one of my cross-posts, let me first say “thank you for checking me out,” and second “but your princess is in another castle.” Meaning:Thanks for coming this far, but this is just a carbon copy of the material that I post on my website, DaveMatney.com, where you can also find my portfolio. You can keep reading my stuff on this site, but things like images, audio samples, and updates may not work correctly.
This entry is built in reverse, telling you what I learned first, then what I should have done, finished with what I did. In Game Design Concepts Level 4, we were challenged to build a non-digital adaptation of a video game. I chose Chakan: The Forever Man, a Sega Genesis platformer. As you can probably tell by when I was assigned that task, and now (when I am posting it), it’s pretty obvious I bit off more than I could chew. I tried to develop a completely playable game, which was the objective, but I kept adding and adding and adding, and I’m STILL not finished. So, What Did I Learn?
- First, keep it small, keep it simple. This early in the design process there’s no reason to add more features than I could handle, and even though I was basing my rules off HeroQuest rules, I was adding too many rules to effectively playtest.
- Second, though it’s just an extension of the first, don’t stress the details. I spent too much time trying to cram an entire game into a ruleset without actually capturing the elements of the game. To be honest, I was actually trying to one-up the game, making my non-digital version something that’s more fun, and actually completable. (Chakan holds a certain notoriety for it’s difficulty; sure, you can’t die, but you can’t save, either, and you can probably count on one hand how many people beat it legitly.)
- Finally, Focus on a single mechanic, make it work, THEN move on. I know GDCU has hit that point many, MANY, times, but it’s not until you let feature-creep drown you that it really hits home.
So, what SHOULD I have built? Chakan’s difficulty lies in ONE area: jumping. Many jumps are pixel-perfect pits where, if you miss them, you fall to you “death” and have to start the level over. (This video represents that frustration well. Take into consideration that he’s using a utility to save his game, which wasn’t possible in the actual game; every time he dies in this video, he’d have to return to the beginning of the level) So, the game I SHOULD have built would have been like this:
Goals:
- Reflect difficulty of, and dependence on, jumping as a game mechanic
Game pieces:
- 40 glass markers, separated into 10 of each of the following colors: red, green, blue, clear.
- 16 plastic skulls
- A mini-fig to represent Chakan
- Mini-figs to represent the different enemies
- 20 1”x1” wooden tiles
- A dry-erase square-grid board
- Dry-erase markers
Overview:
- A game for 2 players
Order of Play:
- Play begins with Chakan. After Chakan has completed his turn, it is the Game Master’s turn. On their turn, the Game Master may move all monsters currently on the gameboard. This sequence continues until the Quest Level is completed, or until Chakan returns to the Hub.
- Any Player’s Turn
- Whether playing Chakan or the Game Master, a player does one of the following on his turn.
- Moves his figure(s) and performs an action
- Performs an action and moves his figure(s)
Movement: To determine how many square spaces to move, you must roll 2d6. Then, move carefully across the board square-by-square. You do NOT have to move the entire distance indicated by the dice roll. When moveing, however, you cannot pass over monsters, move through walls, or onto areas you must jump to. You may move diagonally. You may only enter rooms through doors. Jumping: Jumping is an action. To determine how many spaces you can jump, you must roll 2d6. Then, moove Chakan across the pit to be jumped. You do NOT have to jump the entire distance indicated by the dice roll. When jumping, you can only move in a straight line. You may only jump up one “level” at a time.
Levels are indicated by stacking the wooden pieces. One wooden piece is 1 level up, two is two levels, ect.
Admittedly, that game wasn’t very good, and it’s only about half finished at that state, but it’s playable if the players are creative. What I made, instead, was a complete waste of time. Read the rest of this entry »
