Dev.log Silver

My bread and butter when it comes to video games are those in the single player category, mainly because I know what I'm getting and I can play at my own pace. Every now and again, I like to give remotes to my friends and/or family and share the experience. My main multiplayer system is my Nintendo Switch; there was one game that kept popping up in recommended lists for party games for the system, Overcooked 2. I decided I would buy it, so here's my experience.

The game has an easy to learn, hard to master formula. All you have to worry about is movement and several buttons for 3-4 distinct and purposeful actions. It allows for veteran gamers like me and novices like my siblings to play the same game but feel an equal amount of pressure and reward for progression. The game is challenging but fair with scaling difficulty, simple objectives and a vibrant setting. While the game is fun at times, I could never play for more hours at a time when compared to other party games.

This game does have some caveats: single player makes it really hard to beat levels, communicating with other players is a hassle, and drop in and drop out gameplay isn't smooth. Apart from the last point, the first two are subjective and are a result of party games centered around teamwork and teams. I don't think I could come up with a way to combat that because it depends on the players themselves and how good of chemistry they have with one another, not on the parameters of the game. The drop in and drop out feature on the other hand can be annoying when having to go through several menus just to unplug one or two controllers. Other than that, everything else is well done from a design and technological perspective.

Visit (in person or online) your favorite craft store. Using the perspective that everything in the store is a potential element of a board game, brainstorm a few games that could use the elements in the store. Some of these things will be obvious, but others will not. What's the most outlandish element you could use in this store as part of a game? Reflect in your devlog: Could board games be designed around elements in this way? Was this an effective method of generating game ideas for you? What might you use for your final board game?

I decided to visit Michael's for the crafting store. I looked up and down the files, examined some items, and really tried to take in all the elements of the environment. I then went back home and decided to brainstorm this prompt for a good while. I then came up with several ideas that might not even follow the prompt, but it did say ANY element.

So one thing I thought was using the coolers by the registers and making some type of bomb defusing game where pulling out the wrong brand of soda "blows up" the bomb, which is the fridge. It would have some in game manual to navigate the defuser, similar to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. I also thought of a guessing game like Battleship and Guess Who? combined using picture frames. Players will discuss what type of pictures should be in the frames and cover each one with several pieces of paper that make up rows and columns. Each round a player will take off a piece of the cover and guess what element of the picture falls under the discussed subject. For example, what's the name of the actor or who made the picture?

I thought of several other games, but they weren't as outlandish as these ideas; however, they were the most structurally sound. The board games can be designed around these various elements, but a lot of playtesting, balancing, and accessibility limitations will need to be under much iteration. I definitely wouldn't use the coolers or picture frames, but they were funny ideas that if executed, would be good for a joke, but not a game session. Thinking outside the box like this really helps with creativity. This got my brain churning out ideas by the dozen. They may not be applicable in the long run, but good short term brain teasers and exercises.