Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Updated Challenge 1: Simple Board Game 
Minotaur 1.02


Introduction: My original inspiration on this game was the desire to create something that's easily playable during a class or another boring activity. I wanted something that two players could play together in silence while anyone who needs to remain oblivious to the activity doesn't notice. 

Supplies needed: 
 1.Writing utensils for each player
     *Players should not use pens in order to prevent permanent errors on the       maps. 
 2.1 D4
 3.One sheet of graph paper or a sheet with a grid on it.
 4.Tokens to dictate player position and wall locations on an indicator (5+ tokens)
 5.A "compass" for demonstrating where walls are.
 6.Players should make a compass with the player indicated in the center for showing the other player what's around them. If there is a wall to the north, a token is placed to the north of the compass and so on. 



Description: 
In this game, players will each design a simple maze on their sheet of paper to be hidden from the opponent, whose job it is to reach the end of the maze and get the “treasure” before the other player does. The map will be slowly given away to the other player as he moves through the maze according to the number of squares that he rolls. A series of obstacles (minotaurs) will be placed throughout the maze to prevent the player from having an effortless time through. 

Instructions:
 1.The piece of paper or playing board must be divided into two equally sized pieces of paper where each player will created two 10 x 10 grids of dots. Of these two grids, one should be easily hidden to act as a key for the maze that the player designed.
     *The grid size to be used for the map may be adjustable in order to alter the play time.
     *One of these grids will be a key for the map that the other player navigates and the other for the        player's exploration of their opponents maze.
     *Make sure that the graph paper you use is of an acceptable size so that players can put tokens on it effectively.
 2.On one of the two grids, each player will design a maze with a start and a finish.
 3.Each maze can have up to 4 minotaur tokens in it that the player must roll a 1 to get by. If they roll any number other than that, the opponent will move them back that number of spaces.
 4.If a player encounters a minotaur during movement, he immediately stops moving and must deal with it before continuing.
 5.Once a player is moved back by a minotaur 10 times, they lose the game.
 6.The two players will roll a D4 to see if the player got a 1, 2, 3 or 4 space move.
 7.When a player moves to a square, all the “walls” adjacent to him must be shown to him as well as all openings shown in that square as well.
 8.The first player to reach the finish of the maze wins.

Rules:
 1.All mazes must have a start and a finish that are not only accessible, but have more than one path through the maze. It must have more than one path and an interactive design. Simply expecting a player to move in a single line and take longer is not acceptable.
 2.Players can play the game in one of two ways: Players can take turns going one at a time, or may tally how many turns it took them to navigate the maze.
 3.Players must draw the beginning of their maze for their opponent so that there is no confusion on how to draw the map. 
     *A compass rose for each map is advised. 
 4.Minotaurs may not be placed within 2 squares of each other. 

-Karl

2 comments:

  1. Karl,

    I am glad to see you made a game like this! It is an interesting application of 'fog of war' or dungeon crawling. How do you think this application of digital rules to an analog game worked? It seemed to me a combination of Battleship and D&D.

    You may want to create a limit to the length of the maze (say '10 spaces to the treasure at its longest point and no more than 3 dead ends'). This would help limit the length of the game and ensure that each maze is more 'fair' and could be adjusted for different play modes.

    Also, consider being a bit more concrete in the rulings of how the map is drawn: 'It must have more than one path and an interactive design' could be interpreted in many ways! I'm also glad you followed Kate's advice about 'solvability'!

    It sounds like this game will require a bit of testing, as I can see several possible strategies (having a 3x3 square room with four exits, for instance).

    I would recommend adding images of game boards and the compass prototype used by your players as documentation.

    Nice job!

    -Devin Monnens

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  2. Has the potential to be a really fun game. One of the big problems I had while playing however was the rules. No one could understand just what it was that we were supposed to be doing. I did however enjoy the gameplay type, once we managed to figure out the rules and start playing.

    -Nick

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