Thoughts and reflections
I had a lot of fun creating this game and I think I put more effort into this game than I have put into any other project this past year. Demon School is a fictional story that I have been writing for 6 years now, Its not finished but I think its the best story I’ve ever written. I have wanted to develop this game for some time now, ever since I started College. I will post the first chapter of the book in My instpiration section, if I can find it ;p
As far as play testing went, I didn’t have the game finished and it took me two weeks to finish the game, and I’m still not finished >.<, though I plan on finisheing it when I get the chance ^_^. As I was working on my game I took the advice of those who play tested my game. I crated the battle rules based on the reactions of the players as they played. They told me it would be easier to defeat another team if they had to battle when they passed the enemy characters, which worked nicely but might be a bit tedious if one rolls a large number at the beginning of the game and is going last, they may end up battling all the players except his/her own team. Also I added character cards and folders to help them distinguish their characters. After I had finished the game mostly I playtested my game with my family. One of them ended up being a level 12 demolitionist and, because the rules for setting traps wasn’t specific about how the player would defend or how many traps were allowed to be set, they won within in 15 minuted of the game start. I haven’t figured out exactly how I’m going to remedy this problem, I’m open for suggestions?!
Also I started each player out with a certian skill so the game would be more exciting.
I hope I am able to bring my game in once again for play testing^_^
Thanks for playing my game, those of you who did^_^
February 20, 2009 at 2:16 am
Elizabeth,
Wow, you put a ton of work into this game! Remember that you have options to revise older games later on in the class (this week’s challenge, for instance…) so you should have time to continue working on it. If you would like to modify the game further instead of another challenge, let me know during or after class!
I noticed your rules with demolition as I was reading through. They are a bit unclear in the wording because it seems to suggest that ONLY a level-2 demolitionist can destroy a level-1 demolition charge while a level-3 would not be able to. ‘Demolitionists can only destroy charges below their level’ might be a good solution to make it easier to read. However, it sounds as if a die roll may need to be used to determine if a demolitionist of equal or lower level can destroy a trap (thus, a level-1 demolitionist might be able to destroy a level-2 trap if he rolls a 6, but would be unable to destroy a trap of level 3).
Lastly, I think it would be very useful if you added a narrative to the beginning of your rules. Because you have characters and specific actions, you’ve effectively created a game world your players live in, so it’s best to let them know more about it! Consider also how the different play elements relate to your story. Can your story be told through gameplay (however abstractly), or do you require words? How might you add gameplay elements that could produce narrative and suggest narrative situations?
Devin Monnens
February 20, 2009 at 3:03 am
Thank you for commenting! I’m going to change the demolition rules quite a bit actually, I just played it with Stephanie a couple days ago and realized that the LV. 12 Demolitionist has way too much power. Because I did not specify the amount of bombs that were allowed to be placed it created a huge disadvantage for the other players, also because I didn’t specify if an enemy character landed on the bomb that they could or could not defend. Being a bomb I said they couln’t defend, but then the game was over in 15 minutes, not my intention at all. I am working on refining the demolition rules and thank you for your suggestions, its a big help^_^! Also I do plan on posting the inspiration story for this game under my “Inspiration” section, I just have to retype it, the last time I typed it up was when I still used a floppy… It’s been a while! I’ll try to post it this weekend, we’ll see^_^!
-Elizabeth Richardson
March 4, 2009 at 12:08 am
Elizabeth,
Floppy disks, eh? Careful! Hopefully the disk hasn’t become unreadable! You’d have to use an external USB floppy drive most likely and make sure you can read the file using something like Open Office, notepad, or Word. Save a copy of it first in case it screws up the file! Remember, I know a lot about digital media preservation! ^_^
March 4, 2009 at 12:08 am
Elizabeth,
Floppy disks, eh? Careful! Hopefully the disk hasn’t become unreadable! You’d have to use an external USB floppy drive most likely and make sure you can read the file using something like Open Office, notepad, or Word. Save a copy of it first in case it screws up the file! Remember, I know a lot about digital media preservation! ^_^
Devin Monnens