Lens 9: The Lens of Unification

-What is my theme? 
My Theme is about what happens to sinners when they pass.

Am I using every means possible to reinforce that theme?  
The monsters, the profiles, hell, the steps of hell, and overall journey reinforce the idea that sinners are punished and haunted by what they did in their past lives. The board’s environment is suppose to be purgatory.

Lens 10: The Lens of Resonance

-What is it about my game that feels powerful and special?
The Fate and Unfortunate Circumstance cards feel the most powerful to me right now. I feel like they will have the most impact on player movement through the board.

-When I describe my game to people, what ideas get them really excited?
The tarot card based ‘Fate’ cards got my roommate excited. A friend of mine was excited about the Riddles.  I would like to say my Professor was excited about killing people and trolling.                                

-If I had no constraints of any kind, what would this game be like?
If I had no restraints at all this game would be 3D. You could put on a little helmet and walk around my board (Which would be an ever changing labyrinth). But since I cannot change that, I think I would want to make as many 3D elements to my game with perfectly sculpted figures. I would want my board to be a maze that changes every time you play or that could change throughout the game. I would want to make it so the payer could not look ahead but could only see the small hallway which his or her character was placed. But limiting a characters view like that is impossible unless my board was in sections that you had to add (possibly determined by dice).

-I have certain instincts about how this game should be. What is driving those instincts? 
I think my love of the paranormal and exploration of environments is the biggest driving instinct for me. I want my game to be adventurous, and a game you would sit down to play for a night instead of a few minutes. Also when I play Monopoly with my family we easily turn into rivals and the game gets heated. I would like to create that sort of tension between my players.

Theme:

·      The theme of the game is the destruction that can be caused when a person is blinded by his or her own sins. All of my characters are too headstrong to realize the bigger picture. Instead of repenting they seek out their revenge and ask the God of Fate, “WHY ME?” Their journey is littered with things to remind them of what they lost when giving into their own sins, yet their stubbornness undoes them.

Motifs:

·      Fate is something no one can escape, but with it, you have the power to make choices.

·      Purgatory- there is a life after death where you will be judged for the sins of your lifetime.

·      Alliances- it’s never to late to offer or accept help.

Symbols:

·      The things that roam purgatory were once like you. They let their sins get the best of them and now linger the boarder between the worlds until they return back to hell for final judgment.

·      Riddles- wisdom, thought, and reflection can bring hope and success though it is not always the easiest path.

·      Death- It is not always a literal death, but can sometime mean a new chapter.

*I at one time was trying to figure out a way to have the players go against their fate and sin by overcoming their negative feelings and challenging the Grim for a second chance at life. I assumed one path would be more difficult (Fighting the Grim) and players would simply choose the easier route since the latter has no game value unless you care about the soul of your fictional character (My grandma would be the only one playing this way).

Similar themes in other Works: My theme about characters being punished for their sins is one that comes up frequently in literature. For example in the play “Ghosts,” by Henrik Ibsen the mother and son are punished for the sins of the father. Resulting in the son’s death.

This theme is also seen in, The Great Gatsby, but as a motif. The green light symbolizes the characters envy, and arguably lust since it marks Daisy’s dock. The Valley of Ashes and use of yellow are symbolic of the results of people’s greed, and decaying of society.

Again as a motif, being punished for your sins can be seen in the game, “Alice Madness Returns,” When she kills the Doctor for his lust and greed.

Possible Concept Statements:                                                                                                 (Excuse the cheesiness)

·      The sins of your past create your present.

·      Judgment

·      Overcoming the labyrinth of fate.

·      In fate there is always a choice to be made.

Possible Color Pallets:

I have specific colors I want to use for my characters:

Lust- Blue or Hot Pink

Envy- Green

Greed- Yellow

Gluttony- Orange

Sloth- Light Blue

Wrath-  Red

Pride- Purple

But these colors can easily be accents on cards.

For my color scheme I was thinking of having something low saturation and most likely cool analogues colors. 

I like these color schemes but I'm not really sure if anyone of them really portrays the mystical and foggy feel I am looking for. 

I was thinking of having my colors be:

Dominants: Blues and Navy

Subordinate: Green/Teal

Accent: Orange

But I like the blues and greens I have in this better than the one above. I will combine the two, and maybe go with a more yellow orange. 

Board Game Brainstorming

My Favorite Games:

• ·      Kingdom Hearts
• ·      Final Fantasy 13
• ·      Left 4 Dead 2
• ·      .hack//G.U.

         These are my favorite games of all time. All except one are third person RPGs. These games draw me in because of the beautiful worlds I have the opportunity to explore, as well as the complex characters that I get to learn about. I like the way fighting is, all have different styles. L4D is a first person shooter, FF is turn taking, and the other two are button mashing (I consider that a skill).

         Naturally for my board game I would want to some how make a way to have these elements.

My Favorite Board Games:

• ·      Clue
• ·      SpongeBob Monopoly
• ·      Life
• ·      Phase 10

        

         These are my favorite games due to the depth of them. When you sit down to play you are committing because they are long games. You have time to develop rivalries with the other players, and get a strategy.

         I love Clue because the game changes every time. You pick a character, navigate the house and gather clues. Each game has a new killer. As a child the board, which looked like a mansion, was my favorite part.

         I want a game that has you navigating a board and exploring it like you would a 3D world in a game. I want characters that can change as you play, and have stories to uncover, and I want your end goal to be different every time.

Dungeons and Dragons, a game I have yet to play, seems to have a lot of the elements I’m looking for.

Ideas

• ·      Dragon Racing Dungeon Crawler
• ·      Game Based on Tarot Cards
• ·      Game Based on a Decent into Hell (Like an epic poem)
• ·      Game Based on Navigating through hell (Hell is a labyrinth and each player is positioned different within) as you try to get back to the world.
• ·      Game Based on the Seven Deadly Sins.
• ·      You are a demon set out to kill the royal family (Like phase 10 you have a series of tasks to complete before winning)
• ·      A game about assassinating other players? (have to foresee your opponents next move)
• ·      Clue like mystery, you have to gather clues and find out why you were murdered.
• ·      Revenge on your murderer?
• ·      You have been murdered and have to find and kill your murderer. You are dead because you are one of the seven deadly sins and fate used all of you to kill each other. Fate affects you on your journey to discover and kill them.

My sketchbooks filled with each idea, all follow a similar theme. I have a love for the paranormal and wanted to put it into this game. I have at the moment meshed the elements I like and now have something like this:

You are a character who has died prematurely because you lead a very sinful life and are the epitome of one of the seven deadly sins. Fate has done this to you, but has used one of the other sinners to take you out. All seven of you feel cheated and make a journey to the Grim, the maker of fate, who is on the other side of the board (a race). The Grim then grants the answer of your killer when you reach him (randomly draw another player) and you kill them. The board is a labyrinth decorated like a ghosted map with forests, lakes, towns, cities, graveyards, ect.

I want players to become connected with each other so I want to enable alliances so players can travel together. They will have to face monsters. I want my game to be hard. 

Ambagibus

            Ambagibus is a two-dimensional, one to two-player puzzle game. The objective is to use all your cards by starting and closing off as many mazes as you can. The game space is continuous because the player can start their labyrinth anywhere on a flat surface, and the labyrinth can expand in any direction depending on the player’s decisions. At the same time the placement of cards (which are new sections of the labyrinth) is discrete since new sections can only be added to the open paths already in the game space that have the lowest numbers.

           

            In a single player game all the cards are shuffled and are your deck. You begin by selecting the top card and placing it in the game space. This card determines the start of the labyrinth.

            The same steps are taken for a multi-player game but the deck is split between players. Each player makes his or her own mazes. The number of mazes determines the winner. In event of a tie the winner is who ever has the lowest points (each open path is numbered 1-4, adding the numbers on each unclosed path gives the player their points)

* Behavioral Rule: I observed when playing multiplayer is that we each waited on each other to have a turn before going even though the rule never said to have individual turns nor does a persons turn effect the other player.

* House Rule: since games could be short, when playing multi-player we played had three rounds and used the 'best two out of three' rule.

          The core mechanic of this game is selecting and placing cards from your deck to alter the path of the labyrinth (you cannot look at your deck). 

          As mentioned before, the open paths are labeled 1-4 on each card and there can be 1-4 open places on each card. You must play on the lowest numbered open paths and connect the lowest numbered path on your new card to it (Figure 1). When doing this you cannot block off other open paths already in the game space with bricks on the cards (Figure 2). If there are no available moves for the card you drew it goes to the bottom of your deck. The same happens to a ‘Cave in’ or ‘Bomb’ card if selected first, there must be other cards in the game space to play them.

             

(Figure 1.)

(Figure 2. The image above depicts an illegal move. The selected card is blocking off a pathway with the brick.)

            The objects in this game are the cards. There are three different card types: Labyrinth segments, Bombs, and Cave ins.

          Labyrinth segments: the attributes of these cards are dynamic. They can have 1-4 open paths. These attributes can have 4 possible states, a number between 1-4 within each open path.

          Bombs: Their attrabutes are static. The card covers an already existing piece of the labyrinth and opens it up for another piece to go there (Figure 3a, 3b, and 3c).

          Cave-in: These cards also have static attributes. These cards are placed onto a piece of the labyrinth with one or more open paths. By placing this card the path is closed.

(Figure 3a. Bomb cards go onto existing segments of the labyrinth.)

(Figure 3b.)

(Figure 3c. The segments that are bombed are open and other cards can be placed on top of them.)

Operative Actions

          The player has selected a labyrinth piece. The resultant actions of this are that the player is able to open new paths, the player is able to steer the labyrinth in a new direction, or the player closes off an existing path.

          The player draws a Bomb card. The resultant action is it opens up a section of the labyrinth.

          The player draws a Cave-in card. The resultant action is that a section of the labyrinth has been closed off.

          The game is largely based off chance and which card you will draw next. But there is mental skill involved. If you have a few different places open the player has to make a decision about which space would be best to play on. Or if you select a Cave in or Bomb card you must decide which path would be worth closing or opening.

Chances of drawing each card:

*Each card is unique in the numbering of paths.

Cave In- 5%

Bombs- 5%

Four open paths- 7.5%

Three open paths- 27.5%

Two open paths (corner)- 30%

Two open paths (straight)- 15%

One open path- 10%