PNP THEME

 "Best the maze or become part of it"

For my battle maze game I chose to incorporate a MEDIEVAL THEME which means there will be knights clad in armor, mages with sacred scriptures, and berserkers with their insatiable blood lust.

The maze shall be an ancient battle ground, warriors are summoned by great spirits to do battle to the death to bring honor to their respected lords, clans, or tribes. The spirits grant the champion's clan great riches and powers.

The maze itself is said to be magical and grants the competitors great abilities while they do battle. Having the maze be magical can justify the use of power ups and gaining levels as the player traverses the "power up" stage of the game.

Since the "power up" stage of the board is left up to chance I want the rolls to be considered as the  favor of the maze spirits. So action cards could possibly be called "Favor cards" or something around those lines.

I have always been infatuated with the medieval knight archetype, their tales of chivalry and bravery when faced against terrible foes and defending their people and land. Which is the main reason why I'm choosing to do a medieval theme instead of a more exotic futuristic cyber maze or a catacomb death pit.

I think I can make a decent tiling system of old worn stones and vines around the board and have the player pieces be an avatar style icon for the class they choose to play.  As far as the special tiles in the "power up" stage, they can be symbols of the "favor cards", which will be a rune type symbols. Which will better associate the maze with ancient power. Just as the teleporting tiles located at various dead ends in the maze will take on a portal type quality to suggest magical forces.

 REFERENCES

 I want to do a fairly realistic style for the actual board, and have avatar pieces be symbols for the class or a small portrait of the class.

COLOR PALETTE

 

I want to have a relatively cool color for the majority of the board with complementary accents for special tile pieces and portal tiles.

Progress In GA

It has just officially been a month since sophomore year started. Progress seems to be happening slowly but now when I look back I've learned quite a bit. Also I've had to use almost all of the skills I learned last year for my first assignments this year.

Used a ton of drawing skills already for my pitches and presentations, recently just analyzed a game trailer to the bone using cinematic language, and I don't think my brain has stopped for more than a couple hours this semester. More on that later since all-nighters might happen again.

The latest assignment is Game Design had us reverse edit an Assassin's Creed trailer and make a beat sheet. The film language might as well be included for psychology majors because all the editing tricks that are used connect to people on intuitive levels. The trailer was only about three minutes long but your brain picks up on all the editing cues, even if only subconsciously. Directors and cinematographers are visual wizards. After watching the trailer at half speed and actually trying to analyze it did I fully realized how meaningful every cut and angle are. I am now grateful that I took Film and Narrative last year, film language is like a Rosetta stone for understanding how techniques make the viewer feel and react to your film or video.

Favorite Game Trailer

Gear of War 2 Game Trailer

The main reason why I picked this trailer was because I simply loved  Gears of War 2 when it came out and GOW is still one of my favorite game trilogies. Plus this game trailer is short and beautiful, the music is wonderful. The song and animation are timed perfectly and sets the mood for the game.

alt link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL_ZjJgbDmc

PNP/ Board Game Brainstorming

*a game resembling chess but within a maze
(could have power ups in locations in the maze, each tile has a description like in the game of life)\

*pnp version cannot move maze around, on the board game the player can move the maze around how they wish.

*the goal is to capture the other players piece (three pieces each)?

*Roll one 6 sided die to determine the number of tiles you can move

*player can move in any direction except diagonal

*maze will be set up with players on opposite sides of the maze

*the maze will have a section of maze then a small clearing where the players will ultimately meet

*the section of maze before the clearing will have  the tiles with action cards and power ups

*after the players go through the power up section they can choose to go anywhere on the maze, during the first pass of the

*power up tiles give the player's tile more health points or more damage, that is up to the player to decide.

*each other tile would have an Action card attribute (if the player lands on the card you draw an action card)

*player can decide to set traps by sacrificing one of their power ups?

*if player lands on a trap they skip their turn so they cannot run away or move at all

*traps will take up two linear tiles on the board and can be placed anywhere

*what if there are different classes the players can choose? each with a special ability (berserker, mage, knight)

*the classes can be powered up to use abilities

*game pieces can be leveled up instead of just having three pieces?

*secrete tunnels in dead ends in the maze that if the player lands on it they can use them, but they have to land on that tile, if player is three tiles away and rolls a four they will have to turn around after hitting the maze wall.

*Three different classes to counter each other so they aren't too over powered. Knights can have shields that protect them against one attack from any other piece. Mages can use a projectile attack from two linear spaces away, Berserker can dodge any attack. All of these abilities must be unlocked by leveling up your piece.

*Special ability can be used once after using it, you can try to land on a replenish tile in the clearing area to regain your special ability. Special abilities take up one entire turn if the player manages to land with in attacking range they can use their special ability.

*Maybe the classes can have two different leveling branches, one attack and one defense. For the knight you can get the shield power up or a horse that allows you to move three additional spaces after your roll.
Mage could cast a magic bubble shield that protects them from any attack. Berserker can jump over walls to get closer to his opponent. 

*the players are allowed to attack the opponent when they are in the space directly adjacent to their opponent. ( unless you have a mage piece and the attack special ability ) player MUST land next to opponent to attack, they are allowed to jump over them if fleeing.

* after a players piece takes 4 damage they lose the game. no health refills or potions are allowed in print and play version. For the board game version potions can be crafted by drawing an action card that allows you to gain a potion.

*action cards when drawn can give you a level up( maximum of three level ups), or one extra health point.

* for pnp the level up stage will be much shorter, in the board game it will be much larger and will have tiles that grant you potions or traps that can be used without having to sacrifice a level up card.

*maybe have a tile that automatically gives you your special ability if the player hasn't leveled up to level three by the time they reach the clearing( player must land on the tile for their ability to be usable)

*each level up adds a health point to your piece, pieces start with 1 heath point. max health points of 4 in pnp version. 

Small sketch of possible game space.