Devlog Journal 3

In class, my colleagues and I altered the Up The River game and used 3 out of the 6 play design elements: Action, Rules, and Players. We altered how the waves worked, landing the numbers 3 and 6 on a dice, and tension from the new play style of the dice. Number 3 could let you move up three or swap with another piece while number 6 could make you move up six or move a piece back six. With how we changed the waves is if the wave was just below the end point you could place it in the shore even with the incorrect move numeral.  Because of these new changes it created a sense of competitiveness and urgency to get either past the sand tile or to have enough spaces before someone would move you six tiles back. It also made the flow of the game a lot faster compared to the unmodified version of the game which was a lot slower in style. Our group felt as if the game was improved in a way compared to the original version and was much more enjoyable because of this. "The game mixes strategy, skill, chance, and uncertainty in interesting ways. Before the game starts, the two players construct their deck of cards for play. The players then separately shuffle their decks so that the cards will appear in a random order during the course of play. If the players have constructed their decks well, they will have strategies for playing Agendas (if they are the Corporation), or in the case of Runners, stealing Agendas." - Macklin and Sharp - Chapter 3: The Kinds of Play. We also considered using a 1d8 dice but we didn't get to test out or gather enough data in enough time and or turns. As a collective group we also felt that the original game was too boring and time-consuming. "Many game designers use the concept of flow state to describe an ideal difficulty for level design, increasing the challenge to fit evolving player skill by just the right amount to avoid spiking into the anxiety zone or plummeting toward boredom." - Macklin and Sharp - Chapter 2: Basic Game Design Tools. When I was playing the game I was helping others by pointing out moves they could do to betray each other so I could have an easier time securing the win, It did work but it also backfired on me since I had to play like that because I sacrificed a boat on one of my earlier turns. "The last group in Bartle’s model are the killers—the players who like to impose their will on other players. Sometimes this takes the form of help, but more often, it takes the form of attacking, thwarting, or otherwise disrupting other players’ experiences. These are the players who not only want to win, but dominate the game." - Macklin and Sharp - Chapter 4: The Player Experience.