Game Studies / Project 1 : Tabletop Game Proposal

06.04.2023 - 04.05.2023 / Week 1 - Week 5 
Yung Siew Weng / 0339847
Game Studies / 
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Project 1 / Tabletop Game Proposal

Project 1 : Tabletop Game Proposal

MODULE INFORMATION


Game Studies - Project 1 : Propose a tabletop game design (create a gameplay framework)

INSTRUCTION
At this stage, students are required to begin synthesising their own gameplay system which will be based on their investigations on digital and analogue games. They are to apply a concept based on their research about games and other existing studies. Students are to also suggest narratives and visual genres which would contribute to the overall unique selling proposition.

#Requirements :
1. Propose a board game/tabletop game system/framework with a visual theme which may be related to a narrative or genre.
2. Identify research problems and questions.
3. Hypothesise possible gameplay solutions/ideas during playtime 

EXPLORATION
During week 1, we had formed a group of 5 with Pei Yun, Ser Yeet, Jia Hsuan, and Wei Jie. In a quick manner, we started concepting our desired tabletop game by using the concepts of game equation (three references from varieties of categories and build an equation from that) + playful experience (what emotions you want the players to experience) + link to everyday life (how the game can relate to the everyday life of your player).

After some discussion during class, we finally came to the decision of creating a tabletop game for Taylorians, which means we aimed to create something for Taylors. Instead of completing a tabletop game, our rationale for creating a Taylor's Edition was due to the fact that we wished to share the fun facts and the lifestyle of Taylorians with others, including the memories of us in university. 

#Our brainstorming idea 💡
1. Taylor's University edition Monopoly [Monopoly + The Malaysian Dream + Louis Vuitton SS23 invite]
2. Taylor's University edition Mafia Game [Mafia Game + The Malaysian Dream + UNO]

And, we decided that dividing out our job scope and responsibilities via Google Sheet could make things more organised and help us keep on track.

Fig 1.1 Task Allocation, Google Sheet (week 1/ 06.04.2023)

According to the task allocation, we had separated into different responsibilities to expand our views of research, whereas I was in charge of the ideation of the Louis Vuitton SS23 invite and the research problem. I finalised and concluded that the major challenges that we might be having while developing this tabletop game project were "the challenges of producing an effective tabletop game," as the current society and the technology had really changed the position of analogue gaming in the society. Also, tabletop games face some challenges in today's society, including space and time demands and some necessary environmental impacts. To create a tabletop game in a very effective way, we might need to do some research and studies to achieve the efficiency.

Fig 1.2 Research, Louis Vuitton SS23 invite _ Individual (week 1 / 06.04.2023)

Apart from that, we are all decided to create a social media poll to collect people's most memorable impressions of Taylor's or even Taylorians. The outcome was shown below :

Fig 1.3 Progression, Social Media Poll _ Individual (week 2 / 10.04.2023)

Fig 1.4 Interpretation & Ideation, Social Media Poll
 _ Individual (week 2 / 10.04.2023)

Fig 1.5 Progression, Draft Proposal Week 1 _ Group (week 2 / 12.04.2023)

After having an idea of what we expected from our project, we decided to visit a board game cafe to explore more about the varieties of tabletop gaming experiences and their concepts. We planned to visit Invictus Forge at Tropicana Garden, Level 2 for a tabletop gaming experience on 12 April 2023, Wednesday. 

Fig 1.6 Game exploration in Invictus Forge, 
Tropicana Garden (week 2/ 12.04.2023)

Throughout the exploration, I gained ideas on how the Mafia games and the Malaysian Dream's concepts and its playing experience work. The most interesting and enjoyable playing experience was the tabletop game at The Malaysian Dream. Overall, we all like its playing concepts, illustrations, as well as how it interprets a Malaysian's personality and identities into a game, which is something that we wish to be perceived as.

Fig 1.7 Exploration, The Malaysian Dream (week 2/ 12.04.2023)

Additionally, we did also gain some ideation from some visual reference from De Figurelab, a blind box store opposite Invictus Forge that we think might work for our desired prototype (if our proposal was accepted).

Fig 1.8 Visual Reference Ideation from Blind Box (week 2/ 12.04.2023)

During the class session, we shared our current ideation and received feedbacks from our module coordinator, Ms. Anis :

Feedback _ week 2 / 13.04.2023
Overall, the game concept was quite interesting. But, you might want to focus on how to interpret it to make it more appealing to your target players. Keep in mind that your target audience might not just consist of returning students; it might also comprise new students who might not be familiar with the Taylor's fun facts that you had created. So you must figure and balance it.
  • May created a bad-character - crowd [Taylor's crowd usually love grabbing people's belongings].
  • Can either illustrate or reuse the visuals created by Taylor's marketing team, but be creative; you have the option of recreating the duckies' illustration.
  • For the play-test, make the design ugly.  The play-test just allows you to identify potential issues with your game; the designed version may be built after the play-test. 
For this particular week, we had been instructed to identify the suitable game principles and reflect this to the framework + playful experience as well as make plans with  group members for next week (week 3) Gameplay Exploration during self-directed class. However, as we had already done for our Gameplay Exploration at Invictus Forge at Tropicana Garden on Week 2.  All of us had decided to summarise our experience towards the boardgames cafe visit to gain a deeper interpretation from the exploration. We documented our journey on experience and our own interpretation towards the tabletop game, "The Malaysian Dream" under the PDF file below :

Fig 1.9 Game experience & Visual Research,
 "The Malaysian Dream" _ Group (week 3/ 18.04.2023)

On the meanwhile, we did a quick amendment on our research proposal and start designing our desired game rules of our edition. During this moment, it can be stated as very tough for us to decide how our tabletop game should "ruled". Hence, we decided to have a physical meet-up at campus to explore the Monopoly and Monopoly Millionaire Deal Card together. [our team member, Jia Hsuan, Pei Yun and Ser Yeet had bring their own monopoly here for us to explore the differ between all the version]

Fig 1.10 Exploration, Monopoly (week 3/ 20.04.2023)

Throughout the exploration, I felt that the Monopoly Millionaire Deal card game can be stated as a fast-paced and exciting game, similar to “The Malaysian Dream”. Players use special cards to steal, swap, or double the value of properties, which can create moments of surprise and excitement. Monopoly, on the other hand, it seems to be more “easier” and “peaceful” in the way that the player would not be able to steal or swap the property but repeating the game by roll the dice, move their piece, and collect rent.

Fig 1.11 Game experience & Visual Research,
 "Monopoly" _ Group (week 3/ 20.04.2023)

After we finished exploring and interpreting our ideas, we moved on to finalising the plans for our tabletop game. This included figuring out the game's objective, how to set it up, how scoring would work, and so on. Overall, we spent the entire week 4 doing research and trying to come up with the best idea possible.

Week 4 / 27.04.2023 @ Ideation
Interesting idea! But, some suggestion you could consider incorporating into your game.
  • create a game that simulates a realistic university student life, where players have to balance their social and academic lives. 
  • To avoid any sensitivity, you might want to consider changing the university name. 
  • use wordplay for the names and scenarios in the card game. For instance, you could substitute Narnia for Alice in Wonderland to make it more interesting and unique. 
  • Implement a point system based on academic and social credits. For example, players could earn points for their CGPA or number of likes on social media. 
  • To make the game more interactive, you can consider on implementing a "give and take" system. This means that if a player decides to sabotage their friend, they will also lose social points themselves. 
After receiving the feedback from Ms. Anis, we came up with a final idea for our tabletop game and decided to finalize the proposal. But before we finalise the proposal, we wanted to do a play test within our group to see if the idea actually works or not as we are having lots of confusion and quests among our little brain. To solve all the confusion, we decided to do the play test on the 1st May (Week 5/ Monday). 

After having a basic concept, we start to produce all the play test material (in roughly). Prior from having a try on the our ideation game concept, we had separate into different task. For this moment, Pei Yun, Ser Yeet and I were in charge of finalising the action cards contents; whereas Jia Hsuan and Wei Jie focus on our character ideations.

Fig 1.12 Development, Action card contents 
+ character ideation _ Group (week 4/ 30.04.2023)

Then, May 1st rolled around and it was finally time for our playtest day! We got to work some cutting stuff to create our prototype in order to began our journey of "problem-solving" :

Fig 1.13 Draft Playtest, Material preparation (week 5/ 01.05.2023)

Fig 1.14 Draft Playtest, Game Exploration (week 5/ 01.05.2023)

After done the testing, we discovered that our concept has great potential, but there are some areas that need improvement. Nevertheless, we accomplished our goal for this playtest and managed to finalize the basic concept. As for the amendments, we decided to focus more on them during project 2 since there is still room for us to make the game smoother and more perfect!

So, we continued our development on create our proposal slide for video presentation. Since all of us having the intention to be involved for the video presentation, we divided our task into the different categories based on the proposal pitch given : Brief description, playful experience, gameplay rules and basic instructions, references of existing game, rough sketches of board and assets. 

For this part, I was in charge for the "Rough sketches of board and assets". Since Jia Hsuan and Ember had provided a character sketch, we select a version as our draft ideation. In order top resent a visual ideation for proposal rather than only speech imagination, I take the version as reference and traced on Adobe illustrator (AI) as well as adding some personal characterises for each of the character.

Fig 1.15 Draft Character Development (week 5/ 02.05.2023)

In addition from the character ideation, we are required for the present the rough sketch of board and other assets, I did some quick sketch in AI and compile all the outcome under the PDF below :

Fig 1.16 Compilation, Rough Sketch : 
Board, Assets and Concept (week 5/ 03.05.2023)

Once I had completed the sketching process, I proceeded with the development phase. This involved integrating all the necessary materials into the PowerPoint slides and preparing for the upcoming video presentation. And, our group decided to record the presentation together on campus for a better engagement.

Fig 1.17 Proposal Contents, Compilation (week 5/ 04.05.2023)

Fig 1.18 Video Presentation, Tabletop game proposal (week 5/ 04.05.2023)

Fig 1.19 Presentation Slides, Tabletop game proposal (week 5/ 04.05.2023)


FEEDBACK

Week 2 / 13.04.2023 @ Draft Ideation 
Overall, the game concept was quite interesting. But, you might want to focus on how to interpret it to make it more appealing to your target players. Keep in mind that your target audience might not just consist of returning students; it might also comprise new students who might not be familiar with the Taylor's fun facts that you had created. So you must figure and balance it.
  • May created a bad-character - crowd [Taylor's crowd usually love grabbing people's belongings].
  • Can either illustrate or reuse the visuals created by Taylor's marketing team, but be creative; you have the option of recreating the duckies' illustration.
  • For the play-test, make the design ugly.  The play-test just allows you to identify potential issues with your game; the designed version may be built after the play-test. 
Week 4 / 27.04.2023 @ Ideation
Interesting idea! But, some suggestion you could consider incorporating into your game. 
  • create a game that simulates a realistic university student life, where players have to balance their social and academic lives. 
  • To avoid any sensitivity, you might want to consider changing the university name. 
  • use wordplay for the names and scenarios in the card game. For instance, you could substitute Narnia for Alice in Wonderland to make it more interesting and unique. 
  • Implement a point system based on academic and social credits. For example, players could earn points for their CGPA or number of likes on social media. 
  • To make the game more interactive, you can consider on implementing a "give and take" system. This means that if a player decides to sabotage their friend, they will also lose social points themselves. 

REFLECTION

During this task, I found myself enjoying the process of creating a game with my group members as we had a good time brainstorming and discussing different ideas, which was a lot of fun. Although we eventually achieved the same goal, there were times when we had different ideas and found it challenging to agree on a final game concept. This led to several weeks of going back and forth, arguing over the concept, and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the situation. 

It can be stated that the most significant hurdle for us was finalizing the game concept. We had many ideas, but it was tough to choose one and stick to it. We went back and forth for several weeks, arguing about the best approach. During these moments, I felt stressed, as we seemed to be delaying the overall progress. It was challenging to come to an agreement on certain aspects of the game, and we often had to compromise to ensure that everyone's ideas were incorporated. In hindsight, I realize that this was an essential step in the process. We needed to have these discussions to ensure that we had a solid foundation for our game, and we learned a lot about each other's perspectives in the process.

Overall, I enjoyed working on this task and am proud of what we accomplished as a team. It was challenging at times, but we were able to work together and create something that we were all proud of.

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