CS 108 Blogs

Play-Testing Report Moiz Ahmad I am the programmer and producer for our game.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most players responded positively to the concept of our game. The role reversal of a dragon protagonist defending the princess from unsavory knights appealed to everyone who play-tested with me. My roommate disparaged my lack of feature implementation, but decided he still enjoyed the aesthetic of the application. My classmate was much more benign in his commentary and was pretty enthusiastic about the upcoming beta version.  Both players enjoyed controlling the dragon instead of the knight. Both understood the intended rules and game-play mechanics, though one play-tester insisted I make the princess vulnerable to accidental damage from the dragon. The art and design of the game was unanimously praised (due to my partner's excellent artistic abilities), but one suggested we update the look of the dragon and make it more visible. Finally, we were a...

In last week's video game lab, my partner and I played a variety of games online. Three games stood out to me due to their clever design or simplicity in design and mechanics. Below are the three games that I've chosen to write about. This Is The Only Level The first game we played was mandated by our professor. Even though I was forced into it, I can't deny having enjoyed it. It was more akin to a puzzle game, rather than a platformer. I liked the minimalism with its assets and the creativity required to make it a compelling game. This game was noteworthy due to it's extremely varied gameplay even though the level design was the same throughout the game. Each phase of the level had differing mechanics, allowing you to play tens of phases without getting bored of the same level. You Have To Burn The Rope This is a single-level platformer which doubles as a tutorial for it's own short-lived campaign. You're facing a seemingly invulnerable enemy...

Title: Heartstrings 2-3 players Ages 6+ Expected play time: 30 minutes Heartstrings is a random encounter simulator in which the objective of the game is to deplete your opponents health by way of dice-simulated combat. The randomized element and uncertainty of combat will keep players on their toes and manipulation of pieces placed onto the game board allows for various strategies to maximize health and minimize damage taken. Players will take turns randomly occupying the various rooms on the board. As players invade rooms already inhabited by an opponent, a battle for the room will occur. The objective of the game is NOT to control any specific rooms or to control a majority of rooms, but rather to defeat your opponent by chipping away at their health. The game board consists of 12 numbered rooms. The rooms are independent of one another. Size, positioning, and order are irrelevant. Rooms 4 and 8 have Defender Buffs of +1 and +2 respec...

Introduction The board game I designed with a partner in class was initially going to be an area-control game due to recent inspiration from playing Risk. However, I decided to nix that idea after the example in class was an area-control game and I felt it would be unoriginal to pursue that same genre.  However, I did take an element of the area-control to build upon and tried to make something new from it.  The game my partner (Alani) and I very haphazardly pieced together with our mismatched assortment of game pieces and craft supplies was initially called Lifeline. Upon further introspection and re-examination of the game, I decided to name it Heartstrings.  Basics of the Game Heartstrings is a simple game--players take turns to roll a 12-sided die to occupy "rooms" with their tokens and slowly fill the board. Whenever a player rolls into a room already occupied by the opponent (the "attacker" invades the "defender"), combat by way of dic...