This game is centered around the idea of the “obnoxious vegan” who is constantly only talking about veganism and trying to push their personal beliefs and practices onto everyone around them. The setting of the game is a party at which the group of people is approached by said vegan and have to engage in conversation. The game works a lot like Cards Against Humanity, in that each round someone is the vegan, in place of the card czar, and their job is to pick a vegan card at random with an annoying phrase that one might hear from an overbearing vegan in a group conversation. The rest of the players then play a card from their hand, all of which are responses to statements that might be made by a vegan and are often very sarcastic or aggressive. The vegan is then tasked with choosing who has the “best” response, which may vary based on their opinion, for example one might pic the rudest while another might pick the most logical, and the player of the card that is inevitably picked wins that round and “gets out of the conversation,” which is the overall goal of the game. The game plays very well and although it is very similar to Cards Against Humanity in function, the situations and responses are catered to a very different and specific topic so it feels much like a new game rather than a copy. My only suggestion is to perhaps make the responses more varied, as they are all somewhat mild and some could be more rude and humorous with others making more logical sense in order to allow for players to cater to what they think each “vegan” will choose, adding more strategy to the gameplay. There is also somewhat of a disconnect with the extra cards added in to allow for a player to sit out for a round, for example “phone call from mom, you are excused for this conversation.” This idea of cards with different purposes could be pushed and made into something more advantageous, as players already have the option to throw away bad cards they might not want to use if they want to sit out a round and these cards primary act as a throw away.
Month: April 2017
Games 101: Red Rover
Red Rover is a game in which the objective is to end the game with the largest of two teams. The core mechanics are running and protecting oneself against he runner. The game begins with at least six people, out of which two even teams are formed that face each other on opposite sides of the playing area. The members of each team hold hands or link arms, forming a chain of players. The first team is then tasked with choosing an opponent who will attempt to break their team’s chain, chanting the phrase, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send -insert chosen player’s name- on over.” The chosen player from the opposite team then runs toward one of the links in the chain in attempt to break it. If the runner succeeds in the breaking of his or her opponents’ chain, he or she is then allowed to choose one of the separated players to bring back to their own team on the other side of the playing area. This action is then repeated by the opposite team, and is repeated back and forth until one team’s chain includes all of the players but the one left alone on the opposite side, in which case the team containing all of the players is the winning team. The core mechanic of running is reflected in my group’s game, in which one team is attempting to run to the opposite side of the playing area without being caught by any stingrays. The end goal itself is very similar, as those caught by stingrays become stingrays, making their group larger, and the goal of the swimmers is to all make it across safely.
Games 101 Paper: Research
Our initial game topic idea was the ocean, a topic that is very broad and served mainly as a stepping off point and setting in which our actual game could take place. After discussing with another group in class we came across the idea of stingrays in the ocean and how coming across one at your feet while wading around is not an ideal situation. Stingrays are able to easily camouflage themselves by burying their bodies underneath the sand around them. While this is helpful to the stingray as a form of protection against any possible predators in the area, it makes them much more easy to accidentally step on while in the shallow waters of the ocean shore. Knowing this can make wading into the water a much more cautious task, and this is the basic premise of the antagonist/ protagonist relationship of our game, in which the protagonist(s) will be the beach-goer attempting to get to the shore after a swim or surf, and the antagonist(s) will be the stingray either buried or swimming about blocking the path of the player. Although stingrays are harmless when they don’t feel threatened, and their stings are not incredibly dangerous unless to the chest, encountering one and possibly getting stung is not something many wish to happen, especially when unexpected. Up to over one thousand non fatal stingray attacks occur every year in just the waters surrounding the United States, giving civilians reason to be cautious around the creatures and while making their way into the ocean. Though the injuries from stingray stings that are to areas other than the chest, typically to the foot or leg as a result of a hidden stingray being stepped on and feeling threatened, are not life threatening or very serious injuries, the experience is still very painful and not one that you would want to encounter.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/67758/10-stunning-facts-about-stingrays
Studio 2: Collection Page
Seminar Research Storyboard
