Final Blog Post

This week, we played our classmates’ games and provided feedback. This experience allowed our group to see how our game’s progress came along in comparison to those of other groups. We also gained compliments and criticisms which helped further develop the game.  Because we shared a similar concept to the actual game of Donkey Kong, many players found our game enjoyable and easy to play. The comments we received helped us improvise on the rules and structure of the game. We decided that each player will begin the game with three tiles. For every round, each person takes a tile from the pile. Players roll the die and their turn from this point is determined by the die roll. The die used is a Korean die consisting of four pieces, each with two sides. When the side with words faces up, players can build; when the blank side faces up, players can move. One of the four die has a symbol on the blank side. When this side shows up, players earn coins. A three of a kind roll allows the player to roll again for an event character. It may also allow players to take away an event character.

Each character has different powers
Bullet Bill - Everyone loses their top row except for the player
Shy guy - Inhibits building of angled pieces while in play 
Koopa - Inhibits building of flat pieces while in play 
Bomb-Omb - After three turns, destroys three pieces of row of board if not removed
Para-Goomba - Cannot acquire coins while in play 
Lakitu - Player may roll coin die again if roll is unsuccessful.  

The basic goal for the game did not change. The first player to build to the top row of the board and also move his/her character to that piece is the winner. This week was crucial for our group in the sense that we were able to finalize many parts of our game. By reinforcing the faulty factors of DK's Reprisal, our group had a successful turnout.

Week 3

This week we tried to iron out some of our games core mechanics.  We tested out Korean dice in our game which we found to be an effective way to move our game forward.  We also decided that our board game would stray from the norm by allowing players to build their own game boards and try to get to the finish before the other players.  We struggled to come up with a way for the players to build their own way to the finish, but I think that after some work we came up with a solution. Each player will have their own game board and there will be slots for where you can build up to the top of the board.  The player that gets to the top of the board and fights DK first is the player that wins the game.  There are mechanisms that we have put in that allow players to interact with other players by destroying levels they have built or by slowing down their movement around the board.  These mechanisms are mainly in the form of items that are sold in an item shop that we created.  The item shop allows players to purchase items that are found in popular Mario video games that can hinder the movement of the other players.  We are certainly coming together as a group as our game develops and gets closer to completion.  We have used the internet to connect and share ideas and will continue to meet online and in person in order to complete our game and make it as playable and enjoyable as possible.

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.