Week One – Autobiographical and Slice of Life Games
The first week involved researching both autobiographical games and slice of life games.
Autobiographical games – ‘Autobiographical games are playable narratives based on the authors’ or designers’ lived experiences.’ (Matthew Farber & Karen Schrier)
Link: http://gamestudies.org/2104/articles/farber_schrier
Autobiographical games are typically inspired by the designers life. They can be very personal such as exploring very personal aspects of life, different traumas, mental or physical pain. By making these games, designer can communicate their stories, emotions and messages to the player. An example of this is a game called Escort Yourself Out which discusses some of the creators experiences with mental illness. The game has you play as your older self guiding your younger self through a stressful environment.
Link: https://bignastytruck.itch.io/escort-yourself-out
The game includes sections of text in which the creator directly communicates to the player their thoughts allowing the game to feel very personal and powerful in its messaging. The illustration style feels hand drawn adding to the personal touch the game expresses.
Some autobiographical games however can and do focus on more light-hearted moments that are personal to the designer. For example a funny moment from their life, a good but personal conversation, or any number of personal experiences. For example Morning Makeup Madness is a fun, short, very repayable game inspired by the creators experiences of waking up late and having to rush their makeup.
Link: https://q_dork.itch.io/morning-makeup-madness
However, a problem that can occur with autobiographical games is that the intended experience may not be what the player experiences. Meaning the message is lost. However, when it does work, sharing stories via the form of a video game can get a ‘tremendous level of empathy […] forcing the player to participate in the frustration’ (Anna Anthropy).
Slice of Life games – ‘Slice-of-life games aren’t about world-shattering events and impossible feats. They’re about taking boring tasks and turning them into something addictive.’ (Mandi Odoerfer)
Link: https://halfglassgaming.com/2021/10/10-cute-slice-of-life-games-to-relax-with/
Slice of life games are intended to be relatable, they are designed to reflect the everyday experience of many people, whereas autobiographical games tend to focus on the personal experiences of one individual.
Morning Makeup Madness, therefore can arguably be equally described as a slice of life game as it can be an autobiographical one. The experience the game presents, waking late with little time to get ready, is likely one most people can relate too in some way.
Slice of life games usually present everyday tasks/life in a fun or unique and sometimes frustrating way. Their aim is to reflect everyday life in a playful manner, sometimes in a very real and honest way too. For example the game Unpacking is about placing possessions into a new home while slowly getting to know the characters of the game.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135690/Unpacking/
However, the slice of life genre can be expanded further to include Visual novels, simulators and social sims. A particular example is Animal Crossing: New Horizons by Nintendo. It is listed as a Iyashikei game which is a genre specific to Japanese titles and is a sub-genre of slice of life.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyashikei
Some slice of life games also fall into the Zen genre of gaming. The earlier example of the game Unpacking is described in its own description as such – ‘Unpacking is a zen game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions out of boxes’. From previous research in the Collaborative Unit I explored further into the Zen gaming genre and found that repetitive gameplay is something that is often present in Zen games. It appears to me that this repetitive nature sometimes overlaps with slice of life games, especially simulators. Examples of this are Stardew Valley – which involves completing the same or similar tasks each game day, The Sims – Sims in the game need to repetitively complete tasks such as cleaning, learning skills, sleeping, eating and working. This is interesting to think about and perhaps there is more to explore with regards to the link of Zen gaming and the slice of life genre. Just on intuition, the reason there could be a link here is that most peoples lives are repetitive and so reflecting everyday life into a game would create a repetitive gameplay experience.
House Flipper is a game that allows you to buy and renovate houses later selling them to earn your money back to repeat the process. The game is not only a simulator but also a slice of life game as renovation, designing rooms and placing furniture is something that many people can relate too.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/613100/House_Flipper/
Autobiographical Game Prototype
Aims
- Create a game that shares a small part of my experience traveling.
- Create a game that could be played among a group of people casually.
For my prototype I wanted to make a game that was personal to me but I didn’t want to make it something too personal. I wanted some distance between myself and the player.
I decided to use personal photos. These photos are personal to me as I took them, and kept them, as I find them important and significant. I didn’t use any family photos or ones of myself as these are crossing the ‘too personal’ line.
The photos I decided to use are mostly of my travels, in doing so I intend to place the player somewhat in the position of myself when I took the photo, as if they are holding a part of my trip in their hand and thus able to experience a small part of my journey that I wish to share with them.
I decided that the game should include a variation of cards to be used as a gameplay element. Above are the three initial categories, Environment, Landscape, Animal.
Initially I wanted the players to first move around a board, taking one space at a time on a set path. The players would pick up two cards each turn and then pick which one to keep. The player would then place the card they decided to keep into their photo album. Once all players had collected four cards the round would end.
The cards then would be assigned a worth based on the number present of each type in all players photo albums. The card type collected most by players would be awarded 10pts the second 5pts and the last 0pts. For example, if there are 8 cards present and five were Animal cards, Animal cards would be awarded 10pts. These points would remain and be counted on subsequent rounds.
If there was ever a matching number of cards, then the award would be given to the category closes to the left hand side of the points sheet.
The players would add up their points as they turn in their cards by recording them in a notebook. Ideally some kind of tokens would be an easier way for player to record their score.
I later realised that a board was unnecessary and so decided to remove this element for now. And with advice from tutors decided to make it so the player would collect cards by choosing them from rows laid out on a table.
The rules of the game can be found below:
Playtest
Feedback:
- Players liked the personal aspect of the game and enjoyed collecting the photos to see what they were.
- Some players felt the game was lacking in mechanics. It was too simple and repetitive. (Something was missing).
- Players liked the tension of collecting the cards, not knowing what card they may get or if they turned one over they want, not knowing if another player might take it.
I liked that players appreciated the photos and enjoyed the idea of collecting them. I felt it nice to be able to share the moments I captured with the players.
In order to make the game more engaging however, it might be worth making the game more themed around travel. I think if I were to take the game further I would want to expand the concept into a board game in which players make their way around areas collecting certain cards as they went. This could add a bit more engagement and excitement making replaying the game more enjoyable. Another addition would be to add additional card types. Currently the game has three card types but could stand to benefit from more to add some variety, and this has the potential to encourage the players to spend more time to seek out the card types they are missing.
Week Two – Political and Historical Games
Week two involved researching games with explicit political messaging and games that explore or represent history.
Political Games – All games are political, intentionally or not, it is impossible to avoid. However some games are very deliberate in their feature of politics, often having something specific to communicate to players.
‘Political games may aim to inform, motivate, or challenge people
about politics and let them to engage with different levels of political sphere through gameplay.’ (Diğdem Sezen)
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324138029_Political_Game_Design
Some games engage with politics via their perspective on social issues such as the game if Found… The game is a visual novel that has you play through the experience of a young transgender woman named Kasio living in 1990’s county Mayo Ireland. The game explores her relationship with her friends and family using a journal to communicate her thoughts, feelings and journey. This allows the player a very intimate connection with Kasio.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1041920/If_Found/
The game acts as a method of representing a trans story, inviting players to empathise and thus allowing for a better understanding of what a trans identity is. It is a way of humanising others and informing the player of people who are different to them. And if the player happens to identify with the character in game, it helps the player feel seen and represented. The happy ending helps to solidify the message that trans rights are human rights. (It avoids having an unhappy ending or playing into the ‘kill your gays’ trope which was so often seen in media as a way of presenting queer life as ultimately an unhappy one, which is obviously not true).
In this way the game communicates its political message about trans rights via the narrative it sets forth. While the game does not explicitly call for any kind of policy change or call to action the game does present a character in which the player can empathise with, thus allowing for wider acceptance leading to greater change.
Another game that engages with politics but from a perspective of government and policy is Democratic Socialism Simulator. A game in which you play as the first socialist president of the United States. You need to balance the budget, while redistributing power to the people and addressing climate change. All while trying to get re-elected by addressing voter issues.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1261760/Democratic_Socialism_Simulator/
The game is framed from a socialist point of view and thus often makes fun of policies that the republicans put forward. The game encourages the player to make good decisions for the country by increasing public spending on programmes that help the population, putting power in the hands of the people and reducing the impact on climate change. The game uses the deficit and voters to influence the players decisions in order to prevent the player from committing to some policies.
The game is an interesting and fun way of putting the player in a position of power.
Historical Games – Historical games are games that present a time in history. For example, they may present wars, protests, historical figures, time periods, or more modern history such as Covid-19.
Some historical games present history in an accurate way in order to inform players of an event or time period, for example, Attentat 1942 which depicts Czech lands under Nazi occupation. Whereas others use a time periods, or aspects of history to create a fictional narrative. For example, the Red Dead Redemption series uses the historical backdrop of late 1800’s to early 1900’s America to create a wild west cowboy fiction.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1174180/Red_Dead_Redemption_2/
Attentat 1942 uses actors to retell true stories from World War II. The game uses a mixture of mediums, found footage, video of actors, graphic novel panels, and mini-games in order to tell its story.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/676630/Attentat_1942/
The game puts you in the position of a family member putting together the pieces of stories of the war to work out what your grandfather did during the war and why the Gestapo arrested him. The game uses real footage and stories in order to communicate a part of history effectively to the player.
Using history can be an effective way to build an interesting fictional narrative by employing a certain time period. Using games to truly reflect history can be an engaging way to get players interested in that history, or learn from it.
Political Game Prototype
Aims:
- Create a casual/party game that involves players creativity.
- Create a game that pokes fun at the current state of politics and politicians.
- Create a game that encourages players to critique each others approach and encourages the players to twist their own scandals during debate.
For my prototype I wanted to make a game that would involve debate in some form and I also wanted to put the players in a position of a politician running for office.
I came up with the game ‘Politically Stupid’. Below is the first draft of the rules of the game. I later simplified the game a small part which helped to allow players the freedom to come up with their own stories which was something that was important to me as it would encourage players to twist their scandals and allow for more interesting debate.
Playtest
Feedback:
- Players found the game fun, particularly enjoying the nature of the scandals. Some players recognised the scandals as real and topical.
- Players liked the freedom to be creative with their approach to presenting themselves as a candidate.
- Players felt more structure was needed for the debate portion of the game. Players were unsure of when to move on to the next player and when it was time to vote.
Something I noticed while watching the players play was that the policies they were presenting were not described much further than what the card described – ‘I have a solid plan to end homelessness’, for example. My hope is that players would question others as to how they will achieve this policy while also having to answer for their scandal. This is something I will look into further in attempt to push the players into further creativity and thought as to how these policies could be achieved. perhaps by making it clear in the rules that this is something that players are able to question.
To address the structure issue with the debate, I will add a timing mechanic so players have 30 seconds to introduce themselves, their policy and address their scandal. Other player then have a chance to ask a question of the player and hear their answer, allowing for some pushback if time, before moving on to another player. Once all players have presented and been questioned, a player will begin a countdown to three and on three each player will point to the player they wish to vote for.
Week Three – Philosophical and Meta Games
Philosophical Games – These games attempt to present a philosophical idea or explore philosophy via the medium of games. Many games include philosophical messages sometimes with intent sometimes unintentionally.
A game that explores the philosophical problem of free will explicitly is The Stanley Parable. The game puts you in the position of Stanley who is being constantly given orders from a narrator. if you follow the narrator’s direction nothing particularly ‘bad’ happens. However if you choose to disobey the narrator you are faced with the consequences. Even though the game presents you with the perception of choice, it forces you to eventually give in and take the path it has laid out.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/221910/The_Stanley_Parable/
The Stanley Parable explicitly deals with issues surrounding free will and determinism. Another game that can be viewed through this lens but less obvious in its intentionality is the game The Ends. This game has you play as a person struggling to cope under a capitalist system. This games explicit message is targeting the barbaric nature of modern capitalistic economies and how the people living within them struggle to make enough money to survive. However, this game is also possibly, unintentionally but necessarily, communicates the lack of free will many living in a capitalist society experience. The player is forced to work long hours, with no respite. They have to work in order to live, there is an implicit coercion associated with the way capitalism works. Thus in this way the game is equally an exploration of free will and determinism.
Link: https://memoryofgod.itch.io/the-ends
When talking about free will and determinism in games, it’s discussion is interesting as in many ways games in themselves limit the players ability to make choices. In a way The Stanley Parable is a good example of how we play games usually. However, most game don’t guide us through them via a narrator but rather by limiting the players path, enticing players towards certain areas through the game design or narrative and even by the set rules of the game. Can games be considered in any way an extension of free will if they are inherently restricting?
Meta Games: Meta games are generally games which are self aware, break the fourth wall, reference themselves or other games. This can be subtle or very explicit.
An example of a game that is aware of the player and discusses the game explicitly is Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. The game features Bennett Foddy narrating his experience making the game, the inspiration behind it and interesting thoughts on failure, all addressed directly to the player. When the player falls a significant distance for instance, Bennett Foddy comments on this, sometimes even apologising.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/240720/Getting_Over_It_with_Bennett_Foddy/
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy explicitly interacts with the player. The game is purposefully explaining why it is so challenging and where its root inspiration came from and a bit of information on things such as B-Games. The game is very self aware in its approach to the player, and makes no effort in disguising its identity as a game meant to frustrate, and in Bennett Foddy’s words; ‘I created this game for a certain kind of person. To hurt them.’
Link: http://www.foddy.net/2017/09/getting-over-it/
Philosophical/Meta Game Prototype
What is a chair? for my philosophical game I wanted to look at the question what is a chair. This is a question I have heard a few times and the point is that it is impossible to come up with a concise meaningful definition that encompasses all objects that we class as chairs as there is so much variation. It is an analogy for understanding definitions as a whole and Plato often contemplated it, hence thinking up the idea of the world of the forms for which he believed all our understanding of objects derived from.
Aims:
- Create a game that discusses the question what is a chair casually and at players pace.
- Challenge players ideas about definitions and encourage them to think about objects from a philosophical viewpoint.
I decided to make the game using Twine. This was to allow players to read and take in information and progress at their own pace as is one of my goals. It also allowed me to take a more casual and almost chatty approach to the question.
I decided that I wanted the dialogue to come across as if the player was having a conversation. The game dialogue would reflect this as if contemplating the question itself, for example some of the first dialogue the player will come across is ‘ This definition feels incomplete. Don’t you think?’. This was to encourage the player to engage with the topic and feel as though they are participating in a conversation.
The Image I chose from online (Link Below) was to add some more context to the game. By including a constant image of a chair it meant that players were always aware of the topic.
Link: https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/297/639/645/white-furniture-minimalism-chair-wallpaper-preview.jpg
The game ultimately ended up being quite short. I found it difficult to approach the topic as I was unsure of how to explain the concepts in ways that would be interesting to play through.
Playtest
Feedback:
- While some players thought there was some interest to the topic it lacked the engagement I hoped for.
- The game was too short and didn’t go into enough depth to really be engaged with.
- Players did like the tone of the game, feeling the conversational approach helped to communicate the messaging.
From the playtest it was clear that the game lacked interest and was underdeveloped. I think this is partially due to my difficulty in communicating the ideas I wished to get across to the player. However I do think the conversational tone was a good choice and if I were to take the game forward this would be an important aspect to preserve.
I would also like to expand further on concepts and ideas such as Plato’s world of the forms. Currently the game is far too focused specifically on the definition of a chair.
If I were to take the game forward I would want to make the player feel more involved but I would also like to emphasise the educational aspects of the game. To engage the player more I think the game could benefit from using images to communicate key ideas and even have an interactive experience that depicts Plato’s Analogy of the Cave.
Developing Politically Stupid
I decided to take my political game ‘Politically Stupid’ forward for development. I felt the game had the most potential and could be a very successful party game.
A reminder of my aims
- Create a casual/party game that involves players creativity.
- Create a game that pokes fun at the current state of politics and politicians.
- Create a game that encourages players to critique each others approach and encourages the players to twist their own scandals during debate.
The first task was to review and address the issues found from the first playtest. the issues found were as follows:
- Players felt more structure was needed for the debate portion of the game. Players were unsure of when to move on to the next player and when it was time to vote.
- Players were not describing how they wish to achieve their policies. focusing more on the scandal.
In order to fix the debate portion of the game I decided to split the game up into sections. First players would need to focus on their policy, then their scandal, then answering questions from other players and followed by the final vote. This meant that players would have to explain their policy before receiving their scandal and so more focus was placed on the policy. This also meant that there would be more opportunities for the other players to find a funny scandal to assign the other player based on what they came up with.
Additionally each player was limited to 30 seconds to describe their policy to keep the game moving and also allowed for more structure. The players would also have 30 seconds to defend themselves from the scandal and afterwards each player is allowed to ask one question to the player defending themselves in order to make them look bad, make a statement or question them to see what the player may say in response.
Another issue was the map size, there were too many districts in its current form meaning the game would last far too long. To address this issue I joined some of the districts together and limited the number of districts down to 7, meaning a total of 7 rounds are played on any one game.
Next I researched into scandals and policies to build the card decks. a total of 54 cards exist for each deck so far, enough to provide some variety for each play test. Some scandals and policies were made up in order to fill the decks with a bit more variety, however some are based on true events that players would be likely to pick up on.
To distinguish easily between the two card types I chose to make the policy cards primarily white and the scandal cards black. This way the cards are easily definable and white and black are accessible.
Here is an example of some of the articles I found for research on policies to use:
Here is an example of some of the articles I found for research on scandals to use:
Playtest 2
For this playtest I used my phone as a 30 second timer and so was unable to take any video of the experience on this occasion. I also decided to read out the rules rather than allow players to read them themselves, this was so if I did decide to change the way the game worked, I could easily do so while the game was operating. It also allowed me to better elaborate on parts of the rules for the players and so I gain a better understanding of how they should be written.
Below are the rules for this playtest:
Feedback:
- Players appeared to really enjoy the creativity of the game, this is something I value and want to make sure the game retains throughout the development process as it is one of my main aims.
- Players appeared to be a small bit uncomfortable or stressed when it came to describing how they will achieve their policies. I see this as a positive as I want the players to feel a bit on the spot and to challenge their creative thinking as well as testing their political knowledge and skills.
- Players did seem a bit confused between the two card types initially.
- Players did stick to the time they were given but sometimes hesitated for some time before starting, likely trying to think of something to say.
- Some players felt more could be done with the districts, a suggestion was to assign each district a demographic and in doing so this would add more strategy as to what cards the players choose to play.
- Some players received a clap when finishing their policy speech. It could be a fun addition to add clapping, booing and calling each other by certain names into the rules.
- Most of the games with 3 players ended up in a draw, the rules state that the round for that district is played again but this could lead to having very long games.
Changes Made After Playtesting
The main issues I want to tackle from this playtest is the confusion from the card types, adding more strategy to the game using the districts and finally coming up with a solution to the draw issue.
Cards Types
Firstly in order to easily distinguish between the two card types I need to make sure they are clearly labelled. currently the back of the cards are blank, to make the distinction I have decided to clearly label them as scandal and policy. Scandal cards retain the black aesthetic and policy the white aesthetic.
I made sure to have both cards clearly labelled. I also included a logo for the game to rest at the bottom of the card for presentation.
The logo I wanted to keep relatively simple. I quite liked the idea of using a font that resembles newsprint to relate to the topic.
Demographic Cards
To make the districts more interesting and add some strategy I have taken up on the suggestion of adding demographics to the districts. There are two methods of doing this, one way would have each round start with a player turning over a card that will reveal the demographic for the current district. Another would have a player turn over a card at the start of the game that would display a set demographic for each district 1 to 7. I prefer the second method as it removes the need to turn a new card over each round reducing the number of actions the players need to take per round.
In order to do this I have written out ten cards that display the district numbers and their set demographics for the game, this number of cards should be sufficient, allowing for variety each time the game is played reducing the potential for repetitiveness.
Below is an example of three of the District Demographics cards. I began the cards with a note to the players in the form of a letter as if they are being addressed by a fellow politician. The note is intended to remind the players to choose policies that will aid the districts they are fighting for.
Some of the cards have repeating demographics some have unique ones. This should hopefully be sufficient to keep each game fresh and entertaining, allowing for replay.
The back of the card is in the same style as the Policy and Scandal cards however with a blue theme to differentiate the card.
The Draw Issue
Currently there is an issue with players coming to a draw at the end of the game. The way the rules are currently written states that in the event of a draw the round is replayed. From playtesting with 3 people it appeared that coming to a three way draw was a common occurrence.
To fix this I will be adding a mechanic that will essentially invalidate the vote and the election will be called off and so this district will be marked with a red X counter and the fight for the next district will begin. This will only happen if there are no clear winners. If two or more people share a vote, for example if there are four players and two receive two votes each, then they will share the district and both earn a point.
Refining the Map
Currently the map being used is just printed onto a sheet of paper but I wish to create a more practical and long lasting design. Since there appears to be no issues indicated to the size of the map and the appearance I believe that a 3D printed version will work best moving forward. Not only will this be more sustaining over longer periods of use but it will also appear more professional and closer to a finished product.
A New Timer
Additionally I decided to buy a set of sand timers. The 30 second sand timer is intended for players to use during the game. This will allow players to easily control their time by turning the sand timer over when they are ready to begin. It also means that the time is easily visible to all other players, so players are aware of when their time is up.
The Flags as Counters
I also decided to make some flags for players to use to represent themselves on the map. Each player will have seven flags each, one for each district that they can place on the map when they win a district. Each player will have a group of different colour flags to represent themselves. (Green, Blue, Red and Yellow).
The Rules
And finally I decided to rewrite and print the rules out for the players to examine and discover themselves how to play the game. This will allow me to refine the rules and understand what may be confusing for players to understand and what may need to change to avoid any confusion.
The rules print out is designed to fold up into a leaflet like shape.
Playtest 3
For this playtest I allowed players to use the rules I had written in order to distance myself and watch how the players respond to the game and the written rules. This also allowed me to refine the rules further and look at the design of the rules in order to better communicate the key information players need to know in order to play the game.
Feedback
- The overall game ran very smoothly, there didn’t appear to be any obvious issues with the mechanics of the game.
- Players appeared to enjoy the game experience and the scandals they could play.
- The way the games rules were presented and written were lacking and could be clearer. Some players appeared to be struggling with reading and understanding the rules.
- One player noted the small text on the District Demographics cards.
The main issue to emerge from this playtest is the rules. In order to solve this it was key to think more heavily about how the rules were written and how they should be presented. David my tutor, helped to direct me to some examples and resources as well as giving his own advice as to how the rules should appear.
Rules Version 2
The main advice I wanted to utilise was making sure that the rules appeared clear and separating the rules out into parts as above made it so the steps of the game were much more obvious to the reader and understandable. Also Included in this set of the rules was the main point of the step was highlighted to draw attention and if players needed more information they could read the rest of the step after the colon.
Additionally more context for the game is provided on the cover sheet as no context was provided beforehand meaning new players may not understand what meaning the events of the game have.
However this version of the rules still needed improvement. Many of the steps contained repeating information which was unneeded and just took up space on the page. The steps of the game could be separated further, for example the step which describes winning could be in its own section rather than section 3. And other steps could be placed within the set up part of the rules. As well as adding an explicit goal that the players are aiming to achieve at the beginning of the rules rather than the end to provide context for the rest of the steps.
David also provided some really useful information from Daniel Solis on writing game rules. It really helped in my understanding of how different wording, phrases and, as Daniel puts it, ‘voices’ can be used to communicate rules effectively and cut down on the word count allowing to be as direct as possible.
Link to tips by Daniel Solis: http://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/tips-for-editing-large-rules-paragraph.html?m=1
This led me to reviewing the rules again and really examining the way in which they are written. I wanted to put into practice the advice given by Daniel Solis as I wanted to communicate the rules of Politically Stupid as efficiently as I could.
I also looked into some rule books that come highly praised by players online for their clear and concise explanations. While they are all quite long rule books with many elements, the rules do appear very well presented and communicate themselves well. Below are some examples.
https://formalferretgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/networks_rulebook.pdf
https://www.gmtgames.com/domspecies/DomSpec_Rules_FINAL.pdf
https://gusandco.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2.-Learning-to-Play.pdf
Rules Version 3
on reflection of the feedback from David and reviewing the information provided I returned to the rules and refined the layout, language used, and broke up the steps further into pieces to allow for a better understanding on behalf of the players.
The old rules cover returned, I moved the information ‘Welcome to Politically Stupid’ onto the main page. I removed and edited the steps enough to fit the welcome information nicely at the beginning allowing players to first read the context of the game before the rules.
Most Notably the language has been changed, not only does this cut down on the amount of text, but it also means the rules are easier to read and can be understood much quicker, allowing players to get on with the main experience of the game.
Additionally the steps of the game have been broken down further. This again allows for easier reading. It also means that players can review certain sections easily and also means the individual importance of the sections of the game are emphasised.
Rules Version 4
On another review it was suggested by David that some of the steps for winning should remain in Step 3. And the winning section should exclusively describe how the game is won. Thus the above set of rules has been edited to reflect this feedback.
The Gameplay Video
Reflection
Taking the game further
To take the game further I would like to add some additional actions the players can partake in to give the game a stronger sense of its theme. For example, I would like to add in to the rules that players must clap after each policy is read and the scandals can elicit cheering or boos from the other players. Not only will this add another dimension to the play and feel of the game but it potentially mean players feel more involved and energised by the experience heightening the fun of the game. I would also like to add in ribbons players can wear that match their flags, this could potentially add to the experience by putting the players in the mindset of a politician by wearing the colours of and representing their made up party.
What I would do differently
If I were to repeat the process of developing Politically Stupid I would likely focus on the following:
More playtesting – I feel as though I should have conducted more playtesting. While I do believe the game has reached a good place currently, I feel as though I should have play tested more, by playtesting more I could have added additional elements and refined the game further and perfected the game play.
Focused on the written rules sooner – Additionally I would have liked to have focused on the written rules sooner to allow myself more time to refine and test the rules. I do feel as though while the rules were followed by some players, the rules could have been far better communicated and tested sooner.
What went well
I am happy with the end result of the project. I think the game is functional and I have met my aims (I will expand on this further down). I believe I managed my time well and completed all the tasks I wished to complete to a high standard.
I enjoyed the topic I chose and the research that went into it. I feel as though I implemented the topic well into the game to create an interesting fun theme.
While the messaging is not direct, I do believe the game holds messages surrounding the state of modern politics through its scandal cards, many of which are based on real events that some players recognised to be the case.
Overall I enjoyed the project and felt the process ran smoothly. Writing this blog throughout defiantly helped in keeping my thought organised, and allowed myself easy reflection on playtests better allowing me to amend any issues.
A reminder of my aims
- Create a casual/party game that involves players creativity.
- Create a game that pokes fun at the current state of politics and politicians.
- Create a game that encourages players to critique each others approach and encourages the players to twist their own scandals during debate.
Create a casual party game
A casual party game to me is one that can be picked up quickly and is intended to generate laughter and often a small bit (or a lot) competitive. I believe that Politically Stupid fits this aim perfectly. My evidence for this comes down to the simplicity of the game, the game consists of a small number of steps. The rules fit nicely onto one sheet of paper. This has also been tested during playtests and it appears that players pick up the rules quickly.
From playtests it also appears that players find the game funny and players seem engaged and energetic, especially when it comes to defending themselves from scandals. The game inspires players creativity when explaining their policies and defending themselves which is exactly the type of experience I intended to create.
Create a game critical of current politics
I based many of the scandal cards on real life political scandals, primarily from the UK and USA as those are the two countries I am most familiar with when it comes to politics. While the game I don’t think is explicit in its messaging I do believe that the ridiculous nature of our political situation is communicated to players. Especially when the game places the players in the position of the politicians and actively encourages them to lie, manipulate or deny the negative things they have done. The players are made to become that of which they find so frustrating. I do believe the game succeeds in that way and does critique and ‘poke fun’ at the current state of politics.
This is further evidenced during playtests as some players recognised and vocalised their recognition of some of the scandals they came across.
Encourage players to twist their scandals and debate
As stated in the previous segment, Politically Stupid encourages players to lie, manipulate and twist their scandals. I deliberately wanted this reaction from players as I hoped it would not only create more engagement from the player, encouraging their creativity and quick thinking but also to further the political messaging of the game.
I think that I have achieved this goal of encouraging players to critique each other, debate and allow their creativity to flow. During playtests it was clear that players were coming up with all sorts of reasons, excuses and stories surrounding their scandal. The game also allows players the opportunity to ask a question of the player defending themselves allowing for a short debate to ensue. The only place I felt that perhaps more could be added too is the policy section of the game in which players describe why and how they will achieve their policy goal. While I do think it is an important set up to the scandal I feel as though players are less engaged with this section of the game. This is understandable as players are often attempting to come up with real life solutions which can be less interesting. However this section is important set up and from playtesting it appears to still be enjoyable for players.
Going Forward
Big Potato Games is a UK based game company founded in 2013, specialising in quick to learn, easy to play party games. It is a game studio I have been interested in ever since their visit to the London College of Communication earlier this year. I have since collected quite a few of their games and find them all to be brilliant party game experiences. I especially am enjoying Muffin Time at the moment.
I am also heavily interested in Big Potato Games commitment to more eco friendly production of their games.
I have always intended to submit a game to the studio and at David’s recommendation am going to submit Politically Stupid. I feel the game fits nicely into their portfolio of games especially as I believe the game is easy to play and is understood quickly with minimal rules. I intend to submit this game following submission and am extremely excited to see what happens next.
Thank you to all those who participated in play testing the games, and providing feedback on Politically Stupid.