Revisiting Games

I neglected commenting on the game experiences and the thought process during the creation of a lot of the games previously mention in this blog, so I'll be going back and commenting on them here.

Minotaur
This game had some issues with conveying who is where on the map. Design is a bit difficult for the maps because if one person outright makes their maze more frustrating, they win. I don't think that's a good style of determining a victory.

The game had a decent reception, but I think that as a whole, it wasn't fun enough to keep modifying. There wasn't that outrageously enjoyable like I would like to happen. Gameplay just sort of progressed if I recall correctly.

Terra Cube Death Spelunking
I think that this game was ultimately over-ambitious. The board was complicated and hard to follow. I think that since everyone had so many ways to move through the map, it didn't encourage competition. If the game board and map was simplified or maybe if I had a more advanced board where it wasn't such a chore to move from the inside to the outside of the box.

I could stand having a bigger box and larger tiles that are easier to use. Unfortunately, I only had a small square box. The day we played the game, it was warm and uncomfortable and I don't think anyone really had an enthusiasm. I would basically have to rebuild the entire box from scratch. Admittedly, it was a lot of work to make the board and I don't think I could stand rebuilding it to make it more enjoyable, not to mention that I don't have another square box.

I Have a Dream
This game went over pretty well. People had a lot of fun with it and the idea of making more cards to play with worked nicely. It was easily expanded upon and quick fun without having to put too much work into the game. However, it was basically just like Apples to Apples and I'm hardly proud of something that ended up being so derivative. It's important to note, though, that player driven games can be a lot of fun with what's basically very little work.

Business Card game
This one is notably my biggest failure. I didn't build up a good rule base and force gameplay. Also, it was one of those uncomfortably warm days where nobody really had the enthusiasm to play. I struggled a lot with an idea for a game and this one was forced. I think I could have done a better job with this one if I had more time.

Storytelling- The Epic
This game got a pretty good reception with the group. There were some balance issues between the bard vs. the patrons. It's really hard to have something where multiple players are going against a single one. However, this one is absolutely working on.

The theme for this week was storytelling and I admittedly took a really cheap way out of making a sort of "generic" shell to fit the formula since the gameplay is representative of stories. I could probably get away with adding very precise and entertaining bard/patron cards to make the game more interesting.

Gold Rush
This game was a good concept, but I think that it would do better on computer than it would on the semi-game board that I used by making a grid of paper. When playing this game, we revised the rules on just about everything. The tiles are face down and the players don't know where the gold is. It could be anywhere. The rocks all have reactions based on you finding them instead of reacting to you moving near them. Avalanches pile up dirt over the player to give a proper reaction. For example, when trying to dig through the large rocks that collapse, you take damage unless you can spend 2 movement points to get through it and be safe. Otherwise you move through it and take damage.

I think this game had promise and I enjoyed revising it.