The Final Countdown!

With the preparations for the final presentation underway, the in-class play tests proved very helpful for our group. Some general suggestions for Temple Escape! included an option on a basic turn to wither move a space and pick up one resource, or to stay in place and collect two resources. After deciding on whether to stay or move a space, a player can have the option to trade resources with another player.
Our classmates also suggested that we should balance out the number of each type of resource card so that no one particular resource is too easy to draw.
We've finished our game board, I'm putting the finishing touches on the resource cards. It's officially the final countdown! We're very much looking forward to let our friends at Quixotic Games play Temple Escape!

Finalization

This week, our group made a lot of progress by finalizing the rules of the game as well as physically creating a functioning playable demo. We've had a lot of debate in attempting to determine the options that players have on their turn, but eventually came to the conclusion that players will either have the choice to move a space forward or draw two resource cards from the resource deck. We also came to the conclusion that traps would reset behind a player once they pass through them. This would allow players to back track through a path that they already cleared in order to obtain more rubies. Other players would also be able to enter other sides of the board while not being starved for traps to disarm.

Our group meet up on Monday to physically put the game together and create a functioning playing board and printed out the trap, resource, action and ruby cards. We completely reorganized the way the playing board looked and functioned as well. We decided that there would be only three spaces between each trap, except between the player start and the first trap. This is because each player will be starting out with three resource cards, and because a resource card is drawn by the player on every turn, they will have five cards and will hopefully successfully surpass the first trap. We also established a maximum card limit for a players had as six resource cards which does not include action cards. There is also no longer a trading post space, but rather a public bank in which players can choose to swap cards in and out on their turn. This bank will contain three randomly drawn cards and a player can only draw one of these cards in by trading three of the same card (for example: on his or her turn, the player may trade three "Nail" resource cards for a "Hammer" card which is in the bank).

Board Planning

This week, our group focused on planning out how the board will be for Temple Escape. Since the idol in the middle requires a certain amount of rubies, each player must plan his or her path in order to get at least that many rubies before reaching the treasure room. We decided to make zones or checkpoints that each player must pass through on his or her way to the treasure room. At these checkpoints, you will earn your rubies. The amount of rubies you earn depends on the path you took. A certain path may be shorter, but it will have more difficult traps. A longer path would have easier traps to overcome. The shorter path would earn you more rubies at the checkpoint zone because it would take longer and more effort to get through. We also changed one of the core mechanics of our game. Previously, we had it so that a player can move a single space and receive nothing, or he could stay in his spot, and draw a resource. We changed that mechanic so that moving a space automatically allows you to draw a single resource. A player can choose to stay in his or her spot and draw two resources instead of one.

               

Our group plans to meet before the next class to draw out our board. We were considering having the traps as physical cards so they can be interchangeable on the board, but that would make the game more complex. We also plan to add rubies to the deck of action cards, so that way there is another method of receiving rubies other than just getting past traps. We are still thinking of a way to increase player to player interaction. So far, we have it that each player does his or her own thing because each player is moving on a separate path. We want to create only a single escape path, so that all the players could meet on the way out of the temple. They would all have to fight to get to the exit first; only one could escape, the temple collapses on the rest.  

Progress!

Today we had a lot of success in our group. In the short amount time we accomplished pretty much all the game mechanics. We have an idea for the board piece and which cards will be used for the game. The game will start off with each playing being dealt four placement cards and this will determine where each player will start on the map. From here a player has the choice of either choosing resource cards or moving one space. The objective of the game will be too get too the treasure room and escape the temple first. however, too get too the treasure room the player must be able to disarm the traps placed in specific locations. The map will be designed almost like a maze in which a player must decide which route too take to get too the treasure room. Each trap has a difficulty level from 1-3 and the player will receive a certain amount of rubies for each corresponding trap successfully disarmed. As the player navigates through the maze too the treasure room, they would have too obtained a certain amount of rubies to enter the treasure room. The group flow process seems to be a lot smoother the second time around since this is our second stint at game design. We accomplished a lot in such a short amount of time and we are very confident in our game. We assigned everybody a job for this week, and until then.

Assembly of the Group

My original idea for a board game is called Temple Escape! In this game, each of the players takes on the role of an explorer trying to find a priceless idol that's hidden at the center of a vast jungle temple. To get there they must draw "Tool Cards" to disable the traps that lie in wait for would-be thieves.

My original idea was to have the idol in the center of the board. While the group approves of this idea, they helped me to figure out a better way of organizing the paths that the players must travel to get to the center. Patrick also suggested that there be one path leading out of the "temple," which would prevent any one player from gaining too much of an advantage by getting farther ahead than the other players. This also gives the other "explorers" to steal the idol back!

Further details about the particulars of the game mechanics will be worked out soon! I'm very excited to get to work!