CAGD 170 Playtest
Hello, my name is Amir and the alternate version of solitaire that my partner Alejandro have created is named "Scorpion Solitaire". Like solitaire, in Scorpion Solitaire you must sort the cards from the highest face value to the smallest value. We altered the rules in such a way that allows the player to draw more cards from the deck using the Three Draw rule, move around decks, and also by changing the value of the Ace card to 1 and/or 14 also known as a Scorpion Ace . As a group we've decided to specifically target the audience that enjoys strategy games. Preferably being "The Achiever" player which is defined as the player who plays for varying levels of achievement.
To begin describing the Play testers experience I will explain the Three Card Rule, along with an image to help better illustrate the rule. The three card rule states that you get to take one card off the field and choose one from the three previously drawn cards. This rule is optional since it is only allowed to be used twice in a game such as a lifeline. Although one play tester read the rules it seemed to have been harder for her to keep track of all the numbers such as card's drawn, as well as card's drawn in a row in order to play under the rules we'd given them. Another rule we stated that seemed to have somewhat helped our play testers when they became stuck was the No Available Moves rule in which the player had the choice of removing a stack from the playing field and reshuffling it back into the deck after placing one card down.
Some of the problems my first play tester had with the game had more to do with confusion than anything else, at first he couldn't see the difference between regular solitaire and scorpion until he understood the rules more towards the end of the game. Although he had the rules, he seemed to have forgotten the value of the Ace Card being 1 or 14(Higher than K). This eventually led to him feeling less challenged and interested by the game. Also partially the fact that he had to continuously draw cards which led him to lose a few times given the 5 card draw rule. This rule states if you draw 5 cards consecutively you automatically lose the game. Although on paper this seems to be quite a lot of cards to be drawing in a row it actually happened much more frequently than we anticipated, regardless the play testers seemed to have ignored that rule after it happened many times.
Even though we added the rule in which the player can reshuffle the stack back into the deck it seemed to only have happened far enough into the game where the player saw it as a last resort and was actually a bit frustrated over it.
In our second play through the play tester was a bit more informative yet also more confused by the three consecutive card rule than the other rules. She mentioned that she found it a bit interesting that we decided to add enough rules in which the player had to keep track of everything(three card rule, and five card rule). It was also mentioned that the game was a bit slower paced than the other versions of solitaire mainly because of the number tracking. She seemed to be much more interested in the game once she drew the card's she wanted in a row after using the No Available Moves rule and shuffling a stack in the deck.
One other piece of information my play tester gave me was that she found the game much more interesting once she was used to the set of rules given, however understanding them fully took the entire play through. I noticed throughout both of the play tests the player seemed to have forgotten the double value of the ace card, and set it aside every time they saw it rather than stacking their decks onto it. Perhaps this was because in the tutorial saying the basic rules of Solitaire apply, therefore leading to the player not looking through the tutorial rule sheet as thoroughly.
In terms of task completing in my group, everything seemed to have been done in a timely matter and done thoroughly. No tasks seemed to have posed a challenge other than seeing how we could possibly change the rule set to resolve the new issues we had found during our play-testing experimentation.
To begin describing the Play testers experience I will explain the Three Card Rule, along with an image to help better illustrate the rule. The three card rule states that you get to take one card off the field and choose one from the three previously drawn cards. This rule is optional since it is only allowed to be used twice in a game such as a lifeline. Although one play tester read the rules it seemed to have been harder for her to keep track of all the numbers such as card's drawn, as well as card's drawn in a row in order to play under the rules we'd given them. Another rule we stated that seemed to have somewhat helped our play testers when they became stuck was the No Available Moves rule in which the player had the choice of removing a stack from the playing field and reshuffling it back into the deck after placing one card down.
Even though we added the rule in which the player can reshuffle the stack back into the deck it seemed to only have happened far enough into the game where the player saw it as a last resort and was actually a bit frustrated over it.
In our second play through the play tester was a bit more informative yet also more confused by the three consecutive card rule than the other rules. She mentioned that she found it a bit interesting that we decided to add enough rules in which the player had to keep track of everything(three card rule, and five card rule). It was also mentioned that the game was a bit slower paced than the other versions of solitaire mainly because of the number tracking. She seemed to be much more interested in the game once she drew the card's she wanted in a row after using the No Available Moves rule and shuffling a stack in the deck.
One other piece of information my play tester gave me was that she found the game much more interesting once she was used to the set of rules given, however understanding them fully took the entire play through. I noticed throughout both of the play tests the player seemed to have forgotten the double value of the ace card, and set it aside every time they saw it rather than stacking their decks onto it. Perhaps this was because in the tutorial saying the basic rules of Solitaire apply, therefore leading to the player not looking through the tutorial rule sheet as thoroughly.
Joe Rogan Jamboree
Hello my name is Amir, my partner's name is Conner, and we have created a game named the "Joe Rogan Jamboree". We are apart of Group 4 and I am the project manager while my colleague is the game designer. A short summary for our game is essentially a mix of two well known games we both enjoyed which are charades and pictionary. The Joe Rogan Jamboree it requires a minimum of 4 players to enjoy and can go all the way up to 10 if there's enough people. Our target audience for this game appeals to the 18-40 year old demographic with the competitive player archetype as well as the achiever.
In order to describe our play testing experience I will explain the rules and procedures for our game. To begin a group of 4-10 people must form, then the deck of cards that come with the game is set on the middle of the playing surface (preferably a circular table). Next, lay down the notepad to sketch on, a drawing utensil, pen or pencil, and a stopwatch timer (60 seconds) from one's phone. Once all these materials are in place then the game begins, starting with the owner of the game to show how it works then moving the materials in a clockwise fashion until it is back in the owners hands and so on. When it is any players turn they will grab a card from the top of the pile in the deck while hiding it from everyone else's sight. Only the player can see the words on the card. Once the player does this they have to choose between miming or acting out the card and drawing it out. When the player begins either activity the time begins and everyone participating in the game must guess what it is the person is trying to portray. The first person to guess correctly wins the card and the turn is passed on. If the card isn't guessed correctly then it must be placed at the bottom of the deck and the game resumes.
The rules of this game are simple the player who is doing either act (drawing or miming) cannot speak while the timer is running yet they are allowed to make gestures.The game can be over when everyone has had a turn or when you decide it is over. Whoever has the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
During our time creating this game we thankfully never ran into any issues in regards to task completion or play testing observation. The only issue we had was not being able to play test our game one class session because there simply wasn't enough play testers; therefore we were volunteering play testing others games. However when the next few classes came along we had compromised and got more play tests done regardless of the amount of play testers.
When it came to how our play tests went and the feedback we had received for our play tests it varied with each session. Our first play test went about as well as we had expected given I hadn't created the most creative of cards and there was a lack of uniqueness in the game. Our rule sheet was clear and easy to understand, and our setup for the game was well organized.
Our second play test went much better than the first in regards to the uniqueness of the game; however we had realized that the new cards we created were a bit too specific and harder to draw for some people especially with only 60 seconds. Thankfully we had received the same feedback about our rule sheet in our second play test therefore we knew no changes had to be made since it was already easily understood. We were told that our game had very fun game play yet others seemed not too fond of the harder subjects and categories. In order to solve this we decided we were going to implement categories into the game so we can make it easier on the people guessing to figure it out.
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