CAGD 170 E Portfolio Post 1
Project 1
Group 13
The game we have been working on for the first project is called Solitaire Dice and Deck Edition. This name is based on alliteration and the game's use of a dice and different deck rules defining this version of solitaire in comparison to normal solitaire. The game's name is specifically inspired by Dungeons and Dragons as it also shares the same D&D initials.
The target audience of the game is players who enjoy solitaire and are willing to give up a portion of its iconic challenge for less no win games and a slight drop in difficulty. In terms of player archetypes this game still appeals to puzzle minded people who enjoy normal solitaire as the core game play is similar. The game may alienate some who love the often unfair level of challenge found in normal solitaire. This is a sacrifice that is made in favor of making the game more enjoyable for people who find the normal solitaire level of challenge somewhat daunting and not fun.
This version of solitaire functions much like normal solitaire with the player setting up the seven piles and trying to assemble the suit piles by moving cards and placing them in descending order and alternating color patterns. The differences are that the player uses a dice to determine how many cards to draw and ignores the order of cards drawn. In addition players can play cards that share a suit on one another as if they were of a different color and also may move a card at the bottom of a pile to the bottom of the deck when they empty one of the original seven piles of face down cards (excluding the first pile).
The game has suffered few problems in playtesting as playtesters generally found it fun and relatively easy to learn. Players found the dice an odd choice for the game as it was so far out of the normal solitaire norm. It would have been good to get some more playtesters before the main playtest but there was a variety of reasons this ended up being nonviable. Firstly its hard finding non-biased playtesters so that discourages one from getting playtesters during the development process. In addition I had the dice needed for the game and had the best head for the rules as I developed most of them and have a good memory for rules. In addition I did not have a deck of playing cards myself which made it harder to test the game as I would need to find a new deck of cards. The rule sheet was not quite up to snuff in helping players understand the rules as they often skimmed over certain unique rules as they were embedded alongside the normal rules. Even when players missed a rule this did not break their game experience and their enjoyment of it.
There were similarly minor issues in the development process. I ended up being the brain behind most ideas and my partner mostly just said yes or no to my ideas rather than coming up with new ideas. Though this was due to the vast difference in my board game knowledge and his. Despite not providing many new original ideas (he did provide some) he helped filter out my less fun ideas and was important in the process.
I also shouldered most of the group submission burden though I do not begrudge my partner over this as I did volunteer to do this work. A portion of the reason I did so was due to my being the main creative force in the project. This meant that I was best equipped to do the group work as I knew the reasons behind most of our creative decisions.
Ultimately I would say that we both did adequately in this project and look forward to working together more in the future and perhaps as time goes on we can equalize the creative and task imbalance.
Group balance should be easier with future projects as the avenues for creativity increase which may allow for my partner to contribute more. As the semester ramps up their will likely be more group assignments so the burden of that can be more evenly distributed. Though I would not be particularly bothered if I still was the main person working on group assignments and/or the main creative force. I am currently enjoying working with my project partner and I really value this experience of working on a group game project. This is one thing I have been looking for in college as I need to learn to work with other people for my future as a game designer.
Group 13
The game we have been working on for the first project is called Solitaire Dice and Deck Edition. This name is based on alliteration and the game's use of a dice and different deck rules defining this version of solitaire in comparison to normal solitaire. The game's name is specifically inspired by Dungeons and Dragons as it also shares the same D&D initials.
The target audience of the game is players who enjoy solitaire and are willing to give up a portion of its iconic challenge for less no win games and a slight drop in difficulty. In terms of player archetypes this game still appeals to puzzle minded people who enjoy normal solitaire as the core game play is similar. The game may alienate some who love the often unfair level of challenge found in normal solitaire. This is a sacrifice that is made in favor of making the game more enjoyable for people who find the normal solitaire level of challenge somewhat daunting and not fun.
This version of solitaire functions much like normal solitaire with the player setting up the seven piles and trying to assemble the suit piles by moving cards and placing them in descending order and alternating color patterns. The differences are that the player uses a dice to determine how many cards to draw and ignores the order of cards drawn. In addition players can play cards that share a suit on one another as if they were of a different color and also may move a card at the bottom of a pile to the bottom of the deck when they empty one of the original seven piles of face down cards (excluding the first pile).
The game has suffered few problems in playtesting as playtesters generally found it fun and relatively easy to learn. Players found the dice an odd choice for the game as it was so far out of the normal solitaire norm. It would have been good to get some more playtesters before the main playtest but there was a variety of reasons this ended up being nonviable. Firstly its hard finding non-biased playtesters so that discourages one from getting playtesters during the development process. In addition I had the dice needed for the game and had the best head for the rules as I developed most of them and have a good memory for rules. In addition I did not have a deck of playing cards myself which made it harder to test the game as I would need to find a new deck of cards. The rule sheet was not quite up to snuff in helping players understand the rules as they often skimmed over certain unique rules as they were embedded alongside the normal rules. Even when players missed a rule this did not break their game experience and their enjoyment of it.
There were similarly minor issues in the development process. I ended up being the brain behind most ideas and my partner mostly just said yes or no to my ideas rather than coming up with new ideas. Though this was due to the vast difference in my board game knowledge and his. Despite not providing many new original ideas (he did provide some) he helped filter out my less fun ideas and was important in the process.
I also shouldered most of the group submission burden though I do not begrudge my partner over this as I did volunteer to do this work. A portion of the reason I did so was due to my being the main creative force in the project. This meant that I was best equipped to do the group work as I knew the reasons behind most of our creative decisions.
Ultimately I would say that we both did adequately in this project and look forward to working together more in the future and perhaps as time goes on we can equalize the creative and task imbalance.
Group balance should be easier with future projects as the avenues for creativity increase which may allow for my partner to contribute more. As the semester ramps up their will likely be more group assignments so the burden of that can be more evenly distributed. Though I would not be particularly bothered if I still was the main person working on group assignments and/or the main creative force. I am currently enjoying working with my project partner and I really value this experience of working on a group game project. This is one thing I have been looking for in college as I need to learn to work with other people for my future as a game designer.
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