Altering board
Latest game: Realm Hopping
Rules:
Start with the bored set up with the white side showing. High roller goes first. Players must roll a die to determine each turn. The first player to capture all their opponent’s pieces wins.
Rolls:
If an even number is rolled, the player can move one piece in any direction to the same colored realm.
If an odd number is rolled, the player can chose to either flip a piece of the board that is either free or occupied by their own piece. (I.E a square that has an opponents piece on it cannot be flipped.)
Capturing:
The first capture must take place in the black realm. The piece of the board in which the capture takes place is flipped and the next capture must take place in the white realm. (I.E capture alternates black –> white –> black and so on.)
Even though I didn’t play your game, I think it rocked! I wasn’t listening to the rules but after play started I go interested in it. As play continued, I started to catch on, and it looked really fun! I’m sad I didn’t get a chance to play! The only thing I noticed while watching is that the two players didn’t seem to have a great understanding of the rules. I think this was only because they didn’t read them well enough though… cuz I understand them and I just read it… anywho… good game!!
PS. Poke. I’m reminding you about the awesome fighter!! XD you told me to bug you about so you don’t forget lol. ^_^
I only got to observe the game being played, but I’m sure I can manage a few comments from that.
I myself found it difficult to come up with an idea for a game in which the board is altered DURING game play instead of before, and so I was thoroughly impressed with your game. It’s interesting how such a simple concept can be so fun (and I wasn’t even playing)!
I like how you made it a rule that the first capture had to be made in a specific realm (don’t remember if it was black or white), and the second would be made in the opposite realm, and so on. It makes me wonder how the game would go if this wasn’t a rule–if play would be less compelling, or if it won’t pose much of a change at all. Nice move on your part, though.
Desirae,
I really enjoy the simplicity of your game; flipping the colored tiles is pretty elegant, and I think would look even better if you used actual ceramic tiles. I think your rules might need a bit of clarification (perhaps some images?). My big concern though is that it looked like play towards the end is a bit skewed towards one player or another – that is to say, if both players are rational, then it should be fairly easy to predict who wins (you have to get close to another player to win). This means that there isn’t much motivation to move closer because it puts them at-risk that the other player will roll a desirable number. Perhaps the number of spaces could some how be decreased the fewer pieces are left on the board (i.e., remove a piece after jumping, such that all remaining pieces remain connected).
Devin Monnens
Thanks
I haven’t forgotten about your fighter drawing, I just got really busy with midterms. My goal is to get it to you by this friday. ^_^
Bringing up the last part – where you said if there wasn’t a rule about switching, it might not be as compelling or pose as much of a change was in interesting food for thought.
Thank you for your comment.
I see your point about the end of the game possibly being stalled by players not wanting to risk a last piece. I like the idea of removing tiles, perhaps I can try and test that out sometime. And diagrams with the instructions might help…
Thanks!
I really liked your modifiable board, it was a lot of fun to play, and I felt that it made the player think more on the strategic side.
It definitely fits the criteria too, it would be different every time you played it. It took me a couple of turns to get it ingrained in my head when exactly you can attack, when you switch between white capture/black capture. However, once I got passed it, I felt my game play was more cohesive.
Good job!
[...] The games I have chosen to present in my portfolio were my Digital game Digital game my realm hopping (with an additional, alternative way of playing it where board pieces are extracted from play after [...]
Final games for portfolio, plus pictures :) « Game designs said this on May 13, 2009 at 11:45 pm