Skip to Content
 

How many squares?

6 replies [Last post]
Tue, 10/11/2005 - 11:39
Anonymous

Hi again,

Some of you might remember my posts from before, I'm creating a cooperative board game on human rights. At the moment I'm trying to develop the game prototype. The idea is to be able to play the game through at least once. I have three categories of cards that I'm using, which will be represented by three kinds of squares on the board. There will be two categories with 40 cards each, and one with 20 cards. My question is, how many squares should there be on the board? Just general advice on the card/square-relationship would be helpful. Half the amount of squares? (In this case, 50?) Or less?

All comments and ideas are welcome and appreciated!

Thanks,

Petra

Top
Tue, 10/11/2005 - 12:49
#1
jwarrend
Offline
Joined: 08/03/2008
How many squares?

I'm not sure I really understand the question that's being asked. Could you give us a bit more information about how the game is played?

One observation I'll make is in regard to your comment:

Quote:
At the moment I'm trying to develop the game prototype. The idea is to be able to play the game through at least once.

Don't be surprised if you find yourself needing to playtest the game many times to make sure that it works, is balanced, is fun, etc. No game is perfect right out of the gate; invest most of your effort in this stage of your project.

Good luck,

Jeff

Top
Tue, 10/11/2005 - 12:55
#2
Gamebot
Gamebot's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/30/2008
How many squares?

I would say start small. Then after you playtest it a few times, see if more sqaures are needed. I've always found it is easier to add to your game than it is to remove from your game. I can't really give you a more specific answer because I am unfamiliar with how your game is played.

Top
Wed, 10/12/2005 - 05:36
#3
Anonymous
More about the game structure

Hi again,

I am sorry, it seems I was a bit vague about the game. Here is what I wrote here about it earlier:

I posted here quite a while back about creating a co-operative boardgame. I got some good advice, and I have proceeded with an idea that I got while playing Terra, the game where you have to co-operate in order to keep the world from being destroyed by different disasters. Basically, there are disaster cards with a higher number that you have to counter (together with others) with resolution cards that have a smaller number.

Now, my game is a game concentrating on human rights and gender issues. The idea I have now is that the game would consist of a board and three decks of cards. These decks would all be different type of 'task cards', in some you would have to answer quiz type questions, in others you'd have to do drama, or think of ways of solving problems or discuss attitudes. The type of card you would pick would be determined by the square you are on at the board.

Mixed with these different task cards we would have a system of 'disaster cards'. So, sometimes when you think you are getting a drama card, you would have a card saying '10 minus points'. All players have to counter it together by sacrificing the points you get from performing the tasks from the cards. You can leave the card on the table, but when you have 3 disaster cards on the table, everyone has to go back on the board, to the same square. So just playing to win does not pay off.

- I hope this helped to clarify the idea!

Petra

Top
Wed, 10/12/2005 - 06:10
#4
zaiga
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
How many squares?

Hello Petra,

In what way does the length of the track matter? Does the game end when someone reaches the end? In that case the length of the track influences the length of the game.

Also, how do people move along the track? Do they roll a die and move their pawn that many spaces forward? In that case you know that on average a pawn will move 3.5 spaces per turn. A track length of 50 spaces would give each player about 14 turns on average. If there are 5 players, that means an average of 70 turns per game.

Since a turn may consist of a group discussion, doing drama or a quiz, things which may take a few minutes, and the possibility of pawns can getting reset back to the beginning, I have the gut feeling that this may be too long and therefore you may want to cut down the number of spaces.

There's no magic formula for this. In the end, you simply need to playtest the game with real people and see if it matches the experience you intend. If it is too long or too short, you may want to adjust the number of spaces. This in turn may lead to other changes. For example, with a shorter game you might feel that there should be more disaster cards to keep the game exciting, which in turn may lead to other adjustments. This "tweaking of the numbers", as I call it, can take a long time and many playtests and is what seperates a good idea from a good game.

Good luck!

Top
Wed, 10/12/2005 - 06:47
#5
jwarrend
Offline
Joined: 08/03/2008
Re: More about the game structure

Thanks for the reminder; I vaguely remember you mentioning your game a while back, but also keep in mind that we always have lots of new members, so don't ever feel like you're wasting anyone's time with a reminder (you can also link to old threads).

Petra wrote:
These decks would all be different type of 'task cards', in some you would have to answer quiz type questions, in others you'd have to do drama, or think of ways of solving problems or discuss attitudes. The type of card you would pick would be determined by the square you are on at the board.

I have two concerns about the "quiz"-type questions. First, you said that there are only 3 decks, each of which has max 40 cards. A trivia game has to have way more than 40 questions, or it will have very low replay value -- everyone will know all the answers. Also, if I recall, you want the game to be educational. Unfortunately, trivia questions aren't meant to be an educational device, in my opinion. You play Trivial Pursuit to show off how much you know, not to learn. Sure, you learn some stuff in the process, but if no one knows the answers to any of the questions, the game is boring. I fear that this will happen here; that if the quiz questions are a device by which the players are supposed to be learning, then they won't already know the answers, then they won't be able to answer the questions, then the game mechanic will fall flat. I think that the cards that provoke discussions will be far more effective at teaching.

I think you said that this game was to be marketed to school-age children. What age range?

One idea I had, which may or may not be appropriate, would be to replace the "quiz" cards with "statistics" cards, each card giving you some particular piece of information, which you could then string together to form arguments in some way or other. Not sure how it would work, but I think a game that taught logical reasoning would be a real bonus.

Good luck with your game,

Jeff

Top
Thu, 10/13/2005 - 07:52
#6
Anonymous
How many squares?

Hi René, Jeff, others,

You made some really good points about the length of the game and about using trivia questions as an educational tool. It will be a 'roll a dice and move a pawn'-type of game, which ends when someone reaches the goal. I guess I'll try with, say, 40 spaces to begin with and see where that gets me?

Only 40 trivia cards *is* a very small amount. The idea now is to make a prototype for initial playtesting and add more cards as we go along. The idea is that one group will only playtest the game once or twice and to use different playtest groups (some adults, some young people). The final version of the game will have at least 90 trivia cards, plus the cards in other categories. I'd love to have more cards but I have a schedule, I am doing this as a part of my studies, so I have to try to put something together and get it to work, more or less, pretty fast. There are chances for changing and adding things later for the final version of the game.

Jeff wrote:

Unfortunately, trivia questions aren't meant to be an educational device, in my opinion. You play Trivial Pursuit to show off how much you know, not to learn. Sure, you learn some stuff in the process, but if no one knows the answers to any of the questions, the game is boring.

That is a valid point. Hopefully it won't be the case! Many of the questions are more about guessing than knowing. There are always 'a, b, c'-options, you never have to just 'know'. Often they are questions of 'true or false?', 'does this kind of a thing happen often or quite seldom?' or 'did this happen recently or a long time ago?' Do you think this sounds ok?
Lots of years and percentages, exiting, huh?

You also asked about the age of the target group. The primary target group is 12-16 year-olds, but anyone from 12 years upwards should be able to play it.

Jeff also wrote:
One idea I had, which may or may not be appropriate, would be to replace the "quiz" cards with "statistics" cards, each card giving you some particular piece of information, which you could then string together to form arguments in some way or other. Not sure how it would work, but I think a game that taught logical reasoning would be a real bonus.

This idea sound interesting! Could you give an example of how this might work? I think I understood your idea but I'm not 100% sure...

Thanks ever so much for all the advice,

Petra

Top
Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut