Week 8

This was our last class before the concept presentations next week. Even though the presentation isn't actually assessed as a part of our grade, I think it's very important that we get as much done for the presentation as we can, to as high of a standard as we can. that way we can receive relevant feedback that will actually impact our final assessment.


Today we started refining our concept and really working out what we wanted it to do as well as some of the finer details. We have decided to put together our two concepts (from concept bomb and lifetec excursion). 
The only tutor who was abel to see us was Leo. He was very helpful and put us onto the right track and  got us into thinking about all the things we needed to think about and focus on.
The pain points from Leo were:

- In game play there are always rules. They can be simple or complex but without rules the game does not exist. 
- There must be a progression. When someone plays for the first time, they are not very good and don't know much about the game. However through experience and time, the player can potentially become an expert. 
A bad game is one that is either too hard or too easy for the player at the start. The person may play two or three times, and then never again because it's too easy it's boring, or because it is too hard and they're not getting anywhere. 
- Learning curves are important. Particular incidents which teach the player lessons and impact their playing in the future. 
-Exploring the degree in how well it works. There may be times when the game just doesn't work, and other times when it works great. The middle ground is very worth exploring. 


Taking all of this into consideration we began brainstorming ideas for new games and what has been effective in existing games and how we could possibly integrate these features with technology. 
Main ideas:

- An interactive mat which is made up of numerous squares. The squares light up and move around. The player must hit all of the coloured squares to make them disappear. This concept is more team work based. rather than competing with friend, you work with them to achieve a common goal. The friend is doing the exact same thing on the other end. If the two players tap the same square at the same time, more coloured squares appear. If all if the colours are gone, the players win. They loose if the coloured squares take over and fill up the whole mat. 
I quite like this concept. It's simple but it would be a great way to interact with a friend in a fun and exciting way. It wouldn't be too hard to make up into a working model either. Although i'm not sure it would  necessarily utilise existing human behaviours. 

-Based on the board game "risk". This game is all about "conquering" your friends home. With a certain amount of rooms to use and a designated number of object within that room, players have to gradually take over the space. By having a smaller interactive game which earns a player points, territory is claimed. The small game involves one player entering a sequence of coloured squares into an interactive mat. The player on the other side will be shown the sequence once, and then they are to repeat it. As the game progresses, the sequences get longer and faster. When a colour is pressed on the mat a particular tone sounds. This makes the game more interactive but also includes people with low vision. 
This concept is much more complex and has much more smaller details to figure out. I think this one will be more of a challenge but could also be very rewarding. This one is also creating a fun way for people to interact. 

Board Games that require Interaction