“The best way to learn games is to play games. The best way to make games is to work.” – Alan Emrich
Your Weekly Homework Game:
This week's homework builds on your Weekly Homework (i.e., “Ship”) Game’s current Concept Document (i.e., its Title, High Concept, Hook, One-Sentence Marketing Description, and a single paragraph description of the game’s setting, Epoch, scope, scale, and who the player represents). You're required to hand in a written document that includes your name plus the Concept Document information from last week’s homework assignment.
After copying and pasting that information from last week, you’re going to extend that Concept Document by adding this week’s homework assignment information at the end in two new sections.
The first new section is entitled, “Week 2 Homework: Ship Matrix” and, specifically, you must write:
A Table / Matrix featuring ship attributes and ship types.
Along one axis of your matrix, there must be no fewer than 3 and no more than 8 numerical ship attributes (or ‘ratings’). These are used to define its abilities compared to other ships in the same game. ‘Speed,’ ‘hull size,’ ‘hits to sink,’ ‘weapon type 1,’ ‘maneuverability,’ or ‘movement’ are examples of typical ship attributes; your game might require others that can be common or unique. Think about how a ship in your game might interact in different ways with other ships having different values and be ready to discuss your ideas in class next week.
Along the other axis of your matrix, there must be at least 4 and no more than 8 ship types (or ‘unit types’) in the game. ‘Battleship,’ ‘Trireme,’ ‘Large Merchant Ship,’ ‘Star Fighter,’ ‘Carrack,’ and ‘Submarine,’ are examples of typical ship types; your game might require others that can be common or unique.
Complete this matrix by including numerical values (or alphabetic ‘ratings’) for each ship type’s attributes in your game. These values and ratings must reflect your vision for your Ship Game! You may also want to add graphics to help me visualize your game’s ships.The second new section is entitled, “Week 2 Homework: Victory Conditions” and, specifically, you must write:
A description of the Victory Conditions for this game. That is, how do you envision it being won? (Some additional questions to consider are: Will there be more than one way to win? Can there be multiple winners?) Specifically, what is the game’s Ultimate Victory Condition(s), Intermediate Victory Conditions and what is it Loss Condition? Please enumerate these for me based on today’s lesson material.
Sample Weekly Homework ('Ship Game') Assignments
are available for your inspection!
Outstanding sample homework files are included inside this .zip file. It contains complete sets of homework assignments for this course from several award-winning ship games including: Alien Colony, Extreme River Rapids Racing, Hive Mind, and Outlaw Star. Peruse these to see what is expected from you each week!
In addition, this week's assignment only can be seen in isolation from this series from the game:
Pirates: The Battle for Booty.
Your Graded Course Project Game:
Conceptualization, Part II: Last week, you should have nailed down what game you’re going to make for your Graded Course Project Game. This week, make sure you give sufficient ‘thinking time’ to conceptualize your game design; roll your game idea around in your head like a single marble in an empty tin can; ask a lot of “wopen” questions and be sure to jot down notes for any good answers or ideas you come up with at this time.
A sample Week 2: Graded Course Project Assignment .JPG file
is available for your inspection by clicking here.This is a game concept I received from a student who remarked in class to another student, "Don't start playing the blame game with me." Well, what an inspiration!
So, I ran with the title The Blame Game and started to conceptualize what sort of things might go in a game with that theme and how such a game might work. This .JPG file is a page of my notes that I created while conceptualizing The Blame Game which I can use to turn these concepts into a working game prototype.
Article: Game Ideas: Generation and Viability by Steve Peek
Steve’s thoughts and my comments about generating viable game design ideas are expressed to help you find the right game design target and start blueprinting the structure to create it.
Article: Tolkien, Beethoven, Vision by Ernest Adams
Ernest argues for the sanctity of quiet time. All artists need vision, including game designers, and sometimes the best way to get it is to sit staring at the wall.
Article: Natural Funitivity by Noah Falstein
What makes a game fun? It's a question that seems central to the process of making good games. But it's an elusive and subjective question. This is a deep, philosophical look at fun.
Extra Credit:
Cold War Naval Battles Card Game: Print out and bring to class next week a copy of Cold War Naval Battles (just the standard game; you don't need any of the expansions for it). Only a complete copy of the of the game, including all of the cards (printed out on cardstock paper of at least 65-pound quality, cut out and ready to use), rules, and six 6-sided dice will earn you the 6 extra credit points. To get this game, go to http://www.relativerange.com/cwnb/ , use the "Get the Game" link at the top of the page and then download the Rules, Action Cards, and Ship Cards for Cold War Naval Battles.
