Project 1- Solitaire Modification

CAGD 170- Intro to Video Game Design 

WYRM

Group 6

Summary

The game is similar and not similar to the popular one-player game Solitaire.  In WYRM, you want to stack all of the cards in descending order on the King Cards.  In order to do so, you have to pull out specific cards that can either help or ruin your stacks.  Due to the simplicity of the game and the engaging theme, the game is meant for fantasy world lovers of any age who do not have to show excessive amounts of concentration.

The basic structure of WYRM.  As you can see, 

the Kings are placed first with the Queens 

coming up and so forth.  

The Powers of Preparing and Playtesting!

      I, along with my partner, was relieved and absolutely nervous at the same time as students came to playtest the little game.  Needless to say, after our first game-creating experience, I can state that all first-time experiences start out rough.

      There were countless problems in the game.  As our game was tested, I have noticed that some students had a very difficult time with the placement and the role of the cards.  In the game, the jack cards (Knight Cards) are the only cards that do not follow their suit and color- they must be placed on the stack with the highest amount of cards and they are able to prevent further advancement with that said stack.  This has created big confusion with the players, as they didn't know where to place the cards.  The Queen Cards and the ace cards (Princess Cards) also created confusion.  In the game, both cards must follow their suits and color, but are able to eliminate the negative effect that the Knight Card has on the highest stack, that is, if they were drawn out before the Knight Card.  The players would often become extremely confused with what to do with the Knight Cards when either the Queen or the Princess Cards were pulled out first.

One of the players finishing the game!  

      Another big issue was the simplicity of the game.  As they came to terms with the rules and objectives, they realized that the point of the game was to fish out a card, place it back in the stack if it is too low of a number, and place it on one of the four Kings if the card is high enough (For example, if you pull out a 3 first, you must place it in the bottom of the pile and continue pulling out cards until a Queen Card is ultimately fished out).  That, as they have told me, severely decreased the interaction between the player and the game, and it was incredibly evident.

Planout of WYRM (Don't worry-

it looks better over time!) 

      Eliminating the Knight Card was by far too easy, and all of the players had difficulty finding the right challenge.  In fact, they knew they won the game as soon as they pulled out the Queen Card!  Meanwhile that could work when the game is timed and the objective would be to stack the King Cards as quickly as possible, that would not work for an untimed game.  The fact that multiple bottom decks were not present also severly decreased the interaction between the player and the game.  At that point, they had no control of the game- they relied on pure chance.

All the players gave us important 

criticism to help us to further

improve WYRM!! 

       This was all due to the unfortunate reason that we did not plan as well as we thought we did.  Our communication was good, yes, and we conversed our ideas and expressed whatever concerns we had with some, but our meet-ups were ultimately last-minute, which definitely hurt our game.  Due to the fact that none of us knew how to play Solitaire at first, we did not give ourselves enough time to learn the basics, so we created the game with the knowledge that we had of the moment.  Because of this, our game lacked very important elements that Solitaire had, and our modifications were not accurate.  We focused too much on the value and the theme of the cards rather than the important formal elements, and we did not look at the game as players.

Any Solutions??? 

Despite the game having a rough start, I was thankful for the experience!  The playtesting allowed me to see the game as a player rather than a game designer, which is definitely the most important element of game making.  By far, our biggest task is to add a true challenge, whether the game will be timed for more competition or adding a deck to allow choice making and interaction in the game, and the role of each card.  I am eager to further work on this game and, someday, it will come out looking more like a fun game to enjoy. 

Always room for more improvement!