Prototyping: Draw and Move
The game that I designed with a peer is the fusion of a board game with a deck of cards being used to move the player tokens across the board and they win by a race to the finish. Players draw a card on their turn and they move on the board according to the card. The players land on various spots on the board to gain coins and spend those with the face cards for special moves. The board also has a few different action moves that the player has to follow. I changed the rules over various iterations and play sessions.
The Play Log
This was what we came up with during the first session of prototyping and playtesting. We had an even earlier version where players could move up to 10 spaces based on number cards, which we quickly realized to be overkill. So we decided to make all the value cards above 6 to be considered 1 and added the option of spending coins to move that amount.
After playing the first version with my friends, I realized that some of the value cards held too much power. Apart from that, the players could not gather enough points to spend when they had the opportunity. So, I changed the value card rules and made them a little balanced. I also redrew the game room and made it look cleaner compared to the rough earlier version.
After playing the game again with a peer and testing their game with them, I had a few more ideas to add to the game. I realized I could add a spinner to decide which player goes first. During our playtest, both of us drew a jack while being on the same spot, which I did not anticipate and did not have a rule for the same. Their game had a move for the joker card as well, which inspired me to add a joker card that can make a big impact on the game.
The Core Mechanics
- Grid Movement is used to move the player tokens across the board.
- Card Drafting, which is used to draw cards and gain certain advantages.
- Action Points in the form of coins, which allows the player to spend them on a variety of actions.
