Week Two

This week our group realized that our game is severely lacking in a meaningful game mechanic. In the original proposal, the game was described as a “race to the finish.” This concept has been troublesome due to the fact that games with this goal generally are very reliant on dice and employ very little skill. Most of our discussion this week was focused around trying to remedy this situation by either changing the mechanic as a whole or by implementing a feature that increases the players input. One proposed idea for a feature that would fulfill this requirement was the addition of an item system that either benefited the user or was detrimental to another player. Still, even with many ideas proposed, we have not completely decided on a proper mechanic and will be working on this the next time we meet.

                Another feature of the game that we discussed this week is the structure of the board. In keeping with the Donkey Kong theme we have decided that the board should reflect the various levels in the Donkey Kong game. The exact structure of our game is not completely decided however, because we want the games mechanics to flow flawlessly with the board. Since we do not have a concrete game mechanic in place, the details of the board design must wait.

                 Finally, this week was important in that we organized various forms of communication within the group. Numbers were distributed and a Facebook page was created that we will use in the future when trying to make changes without the group being gathered.  

First Post

Welcome to "DK's Reprisal"

Our group is now beginning the road to designing our original board game,"DK's Reprisal." Donkey Kong has kidnapped Princess Peach and taken her to the top of the map (as he did 30 years before in the original Donkey Kong), leaving Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Bowser in a race to find her and come away with the 20,000 coin reward for the one who returns Peach to Mushroom Kingdom.

The basis for this game is simple; it is a race to the finish. It will involve rolling a die to move across the three maps stacked horizontally, starting from the bottom and racing to the top. This idea comes from the fact that the original Donkey Kong had multiple levels to climb to get to the top. In order for our game to stray away from being just a game of luck, incorporates item cards. Item cards can either slow down opponents or aid the player who uses them. The item cards will take items from Mario games such as Mario Kart and Mario Party, or various Donkey Kong games.

While this is just the beginning of the long road towards designing a fair and enjoyable board game, our group believes that this is a solid foundation for what can be a very successful game. Whether there should be other elements added to enhance the game or if other big tweaks should be made remains to be seen. The weeks ahead will consist of planning and designing the game and will involve much more detail than what is presented here such as the design of the board, the design of the cards, and the turn-by-turn gameplay mechanics. But for now, this is what we have and we look forward to getting back and getting our game on track as we return from Hurricane Sandy.