Course Project Info

Congratulations, you’re a game designer! Here is your first work assignment from an actual game publisher who is interested in publishing and marketing your product.

Victory Point Games is a small, desktop publishing outfit specializing in working with new game designers who have created quality game prototypes that have ‘sales potential’ when published and marketed. Specifically, they’re looking for fun games that appeal to either a wide general market or hit a niche market hard. Games that are tried-and-true with a new twist, games that are radically innovative and novel, games with a great story or graphics, brilliant ‘abstract’ or ‘crossover’ games – any game with a great Hook for selling it and player-appeal for enjoyment – they’re are all welcome.

Your final course project will be examined and graded by the developers at Victory Point Games and considered for a real life, honest-to-goodness publishing contract. (I kid you not.) You Course Project Game must fit in the following publishing format:

1) For this class, it must be an original (i.e., not a game based on an already existing idea, license, or franchise) analog (i.e., board, card, or paper) game. (In Advanced Game Prototyping, you will be asked to make an original digital game.)

2) The game board, if it has one, should fit on either one or two 8.5” x 11” sheets or a single 11” x 17” size sheet of paper. It can use a grid (e.g., hex or square) or be divided into areas, or whatever you want.

3) The game pieces can include 1 sheet of counters OR up to 3 sheets of cards; alternately, you can use ½ sheet of the smaller counters (1/2” or 5/8”) and up to 3 sheets of cards. Card and counter templates are available here.

Class Support Material: Assorted blank grid sheets, cards, and counters

This free download is a .zip file with square- and hex-grid paper, blank card templates, and blank counter sheets. Each is presented in MSWord .doc files and is presented in various sizes in an 8.5" x 11" format. You can easily manipulate every file.

4) The game rules should be on the lower-complexity end and fit on either a single (two-sided) 8/5” x 11” sheet or a single (two-sided) 11” x 17” sheet (folded in half vertically to create a 4-page booklet). Typically, game rules have 2- or 3-columns of text on each page, a body font size of 10pt with slightly larger headers, and include color illustrated examples of game components and tricky rules.

5) You may also add one 8.5” x 11” full color cardstock insert (which can be cut down to two 8.5” x 5.5” half-page inserts).

6) You are responsible for creating a full, working game prototype, including solid, separated (i.e., ‘cut apart’) pieces featuring any necessary artwork (‘placeholder’ art is fine). Superior prototype components and artwork are highly recommended (and will be graded), but are not necessary (the rules, playability, and fun are the most important categories being considered).

7) Your game may ask players to provide their own common gaming items that are not included with it (e.g., dice, coins, pencils, etc.). It is not a problem to ask players to provide these common items.

8) Because of these physical limitations, your game should be on the lower end of the complexity scale (not much more complicated than Monopoly, if that can be worked into your design) and generally easy-to-learn.

9) Your game can be suitable for any number of players (even solitaire-play only).

If you want to ‘bounce your idea’ off me to see if it would be worthy of your time to make for a grade, contact me by email this week at alanemrich@sbcglobal.net.

Project Production Schedule

It might help you to visualize what you need to accomplish, and by when, in order to successfully complete your Graded Course Project. Allow me to present this as a project schedule, similar to what you will be learning a great deal about in my Senior Project Planning class. Where you see a gray box, the listed item is taking place at that time. Where you see a star («), something is due for a grade.