Tech 10 Birthday Game Project: Elisavet
Board Game
· Title of game: Star struck
· Audience (who the game is about/made for, number of players, age/competence of players): The game is for ages 12 and up (you must have adequate or average amount of knowledge based upon music, both modern and old). The number of players ranges from 2 to 6. The game targets audience members that have an interest or love for theatrical productions, movies, and acting. One must be equipped with enough knowledge about current movies (the focus will be on modern day film, 20th century and 21st century). The game can be played against two players, but it is recommended that two pairs go against each other (this intensifies the competition and fun).
Type of game: It is a board game.
Audience (who the game is about/made for, number of players, age/competence of players): The game is for ages 12 and up (you must have adequate or average amount of knowledge based upon music, both modern and old). The number of players ranges from 2 to 6. The game targets audience members that have an interest or love for theatrical productions, movies, and acting. One must be equipped with enough knowledge about current movies (the focus will be on modern day film, 20th century and 21st century). The game can be played against two players, but it is recommended that two pairs go against each other (this intensifies the competition and fun).
· Type of game: It is a board game.
· Tools and materials used to create the game: The materials that will be used are the following: A rectangular board in which the center is covered by a large sketch or image of a director's cut (the object), a camera, film etc. There is going to be a set of cards, categorized according to the various genres of film: romance, action, thriller (horror), comedy, science fiction and fantasy. There are twenty five cards for each genre and each card challenges the players to play a scene from the given movie in order to convey the correct field of movie genre. There will be key information about the movie, and a summary for each movie. In case the player does not recognize the movie genre, he/she has the option of reselecting a different card. There will be squares (boxes) drawn on the board in the shape of a roll of film, and each time the opposing group guesses the correct movie or states a correct idea about the card that team gets to win a point, if they do not guess the correct movie then the other team gets a point and moves two squares forward each time. The players will be using small rectangular pieces available within the game (used to move from square to square); the pieces are in the form of a director's movie cut.
· Description of the game space (design of game board, or characteristics of electronic space): The board will be in the shape of a rectangle, upon it will be drawn a director's cut as well as movie related objects; there will be a row of squares (in the shape of "movie film") and there will be two designated places within the middle of the board (center), reserved for the placement of the cards.
· Description of components (game pieces/ avatars and other sprites, cards, dice etc): The game includes the following game pieces: 6 categorized sets of cards, that are separated into twenty five cards for each set (however the cards are mixed up; the genres are not known or defined); the moveable parts of the game will be paper drawn squares, drawn to look like representations of a director's cut.
· Description of the goal (subgoals): The main goal of the game is to gain the highest amount of points, and to reach the end of the "film" trail (squares) before the opposing team doe; in order to do so one must be able to recognize the movie or gnere being displayed, by the opposite team in order to win a point and gain the ability to move two squares forward.
· Description of core mechanics (be as abstract as possible): The game consists of moving two squares each time a point is gained (upon the "film trail"); the game entails that a group must also select a card from the center set of cards' A group has to read the card carefully and play a scene from the movie list provided on the card, based on the genre or (if the movie is not known) the player or group has the ability to create a scene from a related movie.
· Description of the rules (limitations on player action): The rules are the following:
1. Two teams must be made before the game begins; the set of cards must be placed in the center of the board
2. One team goes first; they elect a card, and read it carefully. The card will have enough information that will allow the team to portray the correct genre.
3. If the scene is effectively shown, the opposing team will have no trouble understanding what the movie genre is going to be.
4.If the group does not understand, then the point is given to the performing team and they move two spaces upon the board; if the other group gets it right, they gain a point and move two spaces on the board.
5. The group that reaches the end of the board first will win the game.
· An explanation on how the game elements (game space, components, goal, core mechanics, and rules) aim to satisfy the design specification.
The game space aims to convey the theme of movie and theater production well (director's cut, film etc); the overall aspect of the game enables and challenges its gamers to think about the type of genre being displayed, from a certain scene, which tests the person's knowledge of movies and their ability to understand which genre fits perfectly into the category.
Comments
Elisavet, you did not post
Elisavet, you did not post an update for the work you did on Friday.
Key Apects (revised) - The
Key Apects (revised) - The movie board, will still have the movie cut portrayed upon the center of the board. There will be film (drawn squares) that wraps around the board, evenly distributing the roll around the board game. - The cards will be divided up in two sets of categorizations (broad impression): music and movie themes. The cards that fall under the label of movies and theater will have questions asking the players to recite lines from any scene of the optional movies within the list (of four on all cards); each movie will be based upon an individual movie genre ranging from the following: romance, action, thriller (horror), comedy, science fiction and fantasy. The opposing team must be able to tell which movie the other person is re-enacting in order to win a certain number of points; the number of points will be won accordingly, for every set of movies (of individual genres) there will be a designated number that comes along with the movie title. For example. you could have won 5 points for answering the correct way, which is based upon the opposing group's choice for the actual reenactment of the movie chosen from the list on the card that they have selected randomly from a set of cards (located in the middle of the board). After having seen the list of the options, the group that is left to guess for the correct movie being acted out by the opposing team, must cooperate with each other to discuss about the right choice. If the opposing group does not answer correctly they have to donate the number of points, designated for the other team's movie choice and move that many spaces upon the board. The number of points will actually inform the groups about the number of squares that must be moved upon the "film" spaces. Whoever reaches the end of the squares will ultimately win the entire game.
The form of the game will still maintain its previous shape (board game); there will still be a fluidity in regards to the selected theme of the overall project, in connection to the "birthday" girl that I have chosen.
Update #2 (June 10th
Update #2 (June 10th 2010)
I have worked on finishing up my project all day today and it has been a time consuming task; After changing my design proposal three times, I finally decided upon one revised and final version. I took the feedback I got from my teacher into consideration and made the game portray the gender that is intended upon playing this game a bit more, so I used Valasia's interest and love for romantic films as a way to make the game more feminine. I had to research a lot about the various movies I was to put into the game itself, and I have come up with 50 well known, best selling films of both the late 1990's until present day (2010). I have also created a packet of background information about all of the movies and have provided images for many of them, so that there is a clearer understanding about the themes and scenes of each. It took me a while to think about the moveable parts for the board game (objects used to move from square to square), but then I looked around my room and found two small hearts from my broken necklace and decided that they fit into the love theme perfectly.
REVISED AND FINAL DESIGN
REVISED AND FINAL DESIGN PROPOSAL
Title of game: Starstruck
Audience: The game is for ages 12 and up (you must have adequate or average amount of knowledge based upon music, both modern and old). The number of players ranges from 2 to 6. The game targets audience members that have an interest or love for theatrical productions, movies, and acting. One must be equipped with enough knowledge about current movies (the focus will be on modern day film, 20th century and 21st century). The game can be played against two players, but it is recommended that two pairs go against each other (this intensifies the competition and fun). The targeted gender is the female gender, although males are encouraged to participate if they wish to do so.
Type of game: It is a board game.
Description of Materials/ Description of components: A rectangular board in which the center is covered by a large sketch or image of a director's cut (the object), a camera, film etc. The film roll that scrolls across the board will be the same, and it will be symbolic for the squares that the players will move according to the number of points added. The movie board, will still have the movie cut portrayed upon the center of the board. There will be film (drawn squares) that wraps around the board, evenly distributing the roll around the board game. The cards will be 17 in total, and will have three optional movie titles upon them; the team has to select a movie and must act out a scene from the movie in order for the opposing team to understand what the movie is. Each movie has an individual number next to the title, which indicates the number of squares one must move his or her object across the rows of squares on the board. The opposing team must be able to tell which movie the other person is re-enacting in order to win a certain number of points; the number of points will be won accordingly, for every set of movies (of individual genres) there will be a designated number that comes along with the movie title. For example. you could have won 5 points for answering the correct way, which is based upon the opposing group's choice for the actual reenactment of the movie chosen from the list on the card that they have selected randomly from a set of cards (located in the middle of the board). After having seen the list of the options, the group that is left to guess for the correct movie being acted out by the opposing team, must cooperate with each other to discuss about the right choice. If the opposing group does not answer correctly they have to donate the number of points, designated for the other team's movie choice and move that many spaces upon the board. The number of points will actually inform the groups about the number of squares that must be moved upon the "film" spaces. Whoever reaches the end of the squares will ultimately win the entire game. As for the board itself, it will be made out of colorful construction paper taped together, with a white surface made of white paper on top; there will be a series of film strips (found on flickr) that will act as the leading path of individual game squares, guiding the players to the end of the board game; in the center there will be an image of a differentiating film roll (square shaped); the cards will be index cards and the movable pieces are two individual hearts (for romance theme).
Goal: The way you win is simply to guess the correct movie from the list of movies that are provided upon the selected card (from the opposing team) in order to be the first at the end of the film squares of the board.
The game space is the board itself, the surface or region onto which the board is placed (preferably a table or flat, open location).
Description of Core Mechanics: The main idea that must be grasped is the following: Both groups must be made before the beginning of the game (recommendation made for the game, would be that there should be at least two groups of two people playing against each other). Next, the groups are allowed to look through the movie background list in order to familiarize themselves with the optional movies that could be acted out; the first group to go re-enact selects a card from the deck of 17 cards available, and must choose one of the movies (from the three listed) to act out. The cards is also shown to the opposing group, so that there is a common ground of understanding; as the group acts out the scene, the opposing side tries to find out which one of the three movies the other team is referring to. The team re-enacting out the movie is allowed to use language and gestures as a form of communication and depiction, however they must use their knowledge wisely and be sure not to give out to much information about the movie itself through their acting. If the opposing team (re-enacting group) fails to hide their selection, the other team wins and moves their "heart" piece the number of spaces indicated by the number next to the movie title on the index card itself. If however, the other team fails to find out the correct movie after two tries, then the points are given to the team re-enacting. Whoever moves their movable heart pieces to the last square wins the game entirely.
Description of Rules: The players of a team select a card from the deck of 17, choose to reenact a scene from one of the movie titles available on the card (out of three); if the other team does not get the right movie after two tries, the number of points designated for that movie title is given to the team acting out; if however the other team gets the answer, the points are given to the winning team and they move the heart piece that many squares across the board.
An explanation of how the game elements aim to satisfy the Design Specification:
I really do believe that the board game is a reflection of my birthday girl; firstly, the movie theme is a huge part of who she is as a person, for she loves to act in theatrical productions at public and greek school and has actually taken acting classes this year. She is also connected to the romantic theme, because she her favorite type of movie is one that revolves around romance. I do believe this game is accessible to novice players and it includes the action of acting roles and scenes, which challenges the player to try out some talent and knowledge from within; Also the board will definitely include nice asthetic features (the film, the images, the colors chosen). The game does not contain anything offensive, coarse or obscene; it is constructed out of paper, since it is a board game; images placed in game have all been cited and it is already finished before June 11th, 2010.
BEGINNING OF DESIGN
BEGINNING OF DESIGN PROCESS
After consistent revision of the original technology project, I have finally began the actual process. For the project, I used the feedback given to me on my design proposal (the initial one) and I decided to make an additional alteration to my theme. I am not focusing on a diversity of movie themes, but am concentrating upon a more female related movie theme (in order to make the gender of my birthday individual more evident ), revolving around various aspects of romantic movies, such as romantic comedy as well as romance and action in one. My first move was to begin making a list of al of the movies I was to use; this however, included a lot of additional research, for I needed to decide upon 50 movies that were centralized upon love and romance (a girl theme). As I was making the list however, another concern came into my mind: what if the group does not know much information about the movies? Is there a way I could offer a greater level of clarification, in order to make the game more pleasurable? With this thought, I was encouraged to go ahead and create a "background information" packet that lists each and every movie within the game, as well as a paragraph of useful background information about the general plot, synopsis as well as characters (and the relationships that are present between them). After having done that, I also wanted to contribute a visual representation of the movie, for I understand that a picture is worth one thousand words. I decided to take up the painstaking job of attempting to find individual images for each movie on Flickr.com, and only succeeded in finding a handful out of the fifty; it was very challenging taking the time to go through endless rows and columns of pictures, just to find one that corresponded with what the movie depicted. After all, I was looking for movie posters and images that related directly to the movie; I didn't use indirect images connected to the theme of the movie and I made sure to cite every single picture I used, stating the title, the date it was published as well as the name of the person who had copyrighted it. As time consuming as that task was, I wasn't even close to finishing up with flickr; as I was looking through the images I had another idea, that sparked another alteration. Instead of actually drawing out the squares, one by one, upon the paper I had the idea of finding a nice image of a piece of film, and copy pasting that image on a word document various times, in order to have a large amount of paper film strips available to be cut out and pasted upon the board itself.
The list of the 50 movies I have decided upon are the following: The Last Song, Charlie st. Cloud, The Notebook, A walk to Remember, The Titanic, Pride and Prejudice, He's just not that into you, Valentine's day, Just Like Heaven, Love Actually, Peter Pan, The Holiday, 13 going on 30, Serendipity, Twilight, New Moon, Pretty Woman, PS. I love you, Leap Year, The Wedding Planner, You've Got Mail, The Wedding Singer, Romeo and Juliet, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Sleepless in Seattle, 50 First Dates, How to lose a guy in 10 days, Failure to Launch, The Proposal, Bridget Jones's Diary, Music and Lyrics, When in Rome, Becoming Jane, Dear John, Remember me, Date Night, Letter's to Juliet, 500 Days of Summer, The Time Traveler's wife, Love Happens, 27 Dresses, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Definitely Maybe, Australia, Atonement, Penelope, Step Up, Yes Man, Baby Mama.
My computer unfortunately could not upload any pictures on this post, therefore I will be leaving links on flickr that will enable anyone to see the film strip picture I decided to use for my board:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50935710@N02/4690224696/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncharlton/8200052/ (central image on my board)
I used the beige film strip, with a depiction of a tree and its branches because I believed it was a very symbolic representation of the art of movie making; the idea of capturing an image within these film strips, places reality through a machine and through invention and discovery. Also, my birthday "girl", Valasia, loves pictures that are symbolic, for she loves to interpret abstract ideas, since she herself is artistic and has a connection with drama. In fact the entire theme of movies and romance, all interrelate to her personality; she has always felt a strong sense of magnetism towards acting and showing emotion through her voice and gestures; not only has she participated in numerous theatrical performances, but is also part of the drama club and has attended the John Robert Powers school in Manhattan in order to improve upon her acting. She also loves to watch romantic films and is very sensitive at heart, which is why I decided to choose romance as well. Not only does the romantic theme portray a more feminine side (is an indication about the gender meant to play this game), but it also corresponds perfectly with her personality and interests.
I have finally finished my
I have finally finished my project. I have cut out every single film strip, as well as the central image for my board and have taped and pasted the images on my game; actually organizing and aligning my strips was a challenge, because I had to come up with a maze like, interesting layout that wasn't just a box like representation of a regular board game; of course the fact that it had a beginning and end, made me realize that it was regardless supposed to look asthetically original and more complex. Figuring out where to draw the squares from within the film strips (which were printed on paper) was another challenge; i had to use a ruler and in the end, I decided that the fact that some of them where uneven was just going to have to be part of the game. I cut out the central image and pasted it in the middle, which will be the area for the card deck; the cards were all made and ready, having the following organization: 1. title of card, ex: Movie Card #1 2. directions : "Act out a scene from either"... 3. a list of three possible options for the team to choose from, in order to re-enact a scene from that move. 4. specific numbers that go along with each movie title (indicates number of squares won). Other than the construction of the game, the most challenging part was also making the packet with the additional and valuable background information for each movie in the list, for it took a lot of time and in the end I just learned to cope with it. Also, coming up with the list of movies was another challenge, for there were just so many to choose from and in the end, I decided to go with modern day films (not too old, ex :1989). My next step is to test this game on Valasia (my sister), to see whether she enjoys it or whether it does not satisfy her fully. To do so, I will be playing against her.
EVALUATION PROCESS I asked
EVALUATION PROCESS
I asked my sister the following evaluation questions:
1. Was acting effectively incorporated into the game? If not, describe why.
2. From a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the level of entertainment this game offers?
3. Would you say that you were mostly:
a. bored and dissatisfied
b. engaging and alert
c. on the verge of being bored
4. What was your favorite aspect of the game overall?
5. From a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the level of clarification and understanding withheld during the game?
* 1 (being the least amount of understanding about what you have to do)
** 5 (being the largest amount of understanding obtained)
6. Did you have any trouble with not knowing a particular movie? If so, how did you cope with it?
7. Did the background information sheet offer any clarification and ease?
8. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the aesthetic part of the game
1 (meaning the ugliest) and 10 (meaning the most appealing)
9. Do you believe that the theme of romantic comedy was fully incorporated into the board game?
The summation of feedback she gave me was the following:
Yes, the art of acting was effectively incorporated into the game.
The level of entertainment offered would be rated a 9.
She said she was engaged and alert. Her favorite part of the game was the idea of watching and analyzing the opposing team's actions; she enjoyed getting the chance to guess the movie that the other team was re-enacting; She would rate the clarification of the game as a 4 out of 5; there were times she didn't know a movie, however she knew most of them and was able to refresh her memory and knowledge of the romantic movies by looking at the packet with background information. She rated the aesthetic part of the project as a 8 out of 10. She believes that the theme was fully incorporated into the entire board game; she liked the heart shaped pieces, the colors, the images, as well as the application of the theme on the list of films.
In conclusion, I have observed that from a player's stand point the game is entertaining and fun to play, although it would be better if played in groups of 4-6 rather than one on one. As for the ignorance of the gamers, I cannot do anything more than offer valuable information about the movies in the board game and hope that they use the packet of background info to help them through the game. I may be able to modify it by reorganizing the layout, so that it appears to be a rigid factual display of all the necessary ideas, such as characters, synopsis and climax, that would be essential components of constructing a good generalization of the movie. I also would like to improve upon the project itself, by adding a timer to make things a bit more challenging (groups would need to guess the right movie, before time runs out).
EVALUATION PROCESS I
EVALUATION PROCESS
I asked my friend Olympia the following questions:
Olympia's Evaluation
1. Was acting effectively incorporated into the game? If not, describe why.
Yes, Acting was effectively incorporated into the game.
2. From a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the level of entertainment this game offers?
I would rate the level of entertainment a 9.
3. Would you say that you were mostly:
a. bored and dissatisfied
b. engaging and alert
c. on the verge of being bored
selection: b. engaging and alert
4. What was your favorite aspect of the game overall?
My favorite aspect of the game was guessing the scene from which the movie was in; while the opposing team was acting out, we all had fun on both sides (the actors were laughing and trying not to give away the scene, while the other team was smiling, trying to truly guess the movie on the first try).
5. From a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the level of clarification and understanding withheld during the game?
* 1 (being the least amount of understanding about what you have to do)
** 5 (being the largest amount of understanding obtained)
I would rate the level of understanding at a 4; people were not lost because the movies were pretty recent and people used the reference sheet to their own convenience.
6. Did you have any trouble with not knowing a particular movie? If so, how did you cope with it?
Not really, because I am myself, a lover of romantic movies. However, if I needed to recap on something, or did not understand I read the paragraph of information about that movie on the reference packet available with the board game.
7. Did the background information sheet offer any clarification and ease?
Yes, it really did.
8. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the aesthetic part of the game
I would rate the aesthetic part a 9 (I really liked the film strip idea).
1 (meaning the ugliest) and 10 (meaning the most appealing)
9. Do you believe that the theme of romantic comedy was fully incorporated into the board game?
Yes, I definitely believe that the theme of romance was incorporated; all of the movies on each movie card, revolved around romance or love.
HERE ARE CERTAIN LINKS
HERE ARE CERTAIN LINKS THAT WILL ALLOW PEOPLE TO VIEW MY IMAGES OF MY BOARD GAME:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50935710@N02/4691256128/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50935710@N02/4691256532/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50935710@N02/4690622523/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50935710@N02/4691254840/
If you cant see the images, log onto flickr.