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How I would refine my game + How I would visually represent my game

If I had the time to take my project further, I would definitely design a deck of cards so that each category had a set with one of each item in that category. It would look something like this:

I would also add more options, which would mean either having multiple dice or having a larger amount of numbers on the dice. Maybe not so much as a D20 but yeah.

Currently I am using a D6, but adding more options would mean upping the amount of dice.

If I were to visually represent it, I'd use cards and a sheet to give to a dungeon master to be used at the start of D&D campaigns.

I could also make a system that takes each of the categories and options and then outputs them based on a random number generator and lists them in an easier way to understand.

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Feedback from Playtesters

100% of players enjoyed the dice rolling mechanic. People also enjoyed the randomness that came from the rolling of the dice and the way it makes it replayable because you won't get the same answers every time.

The results are mixed for this one. Most players enjoyed the creativity of the options, however some believe that most of them would end up not being useful. If I were to take this game further I would add more useful options, making sure that there would be an even mix of both funny and useful.

I do not understand entirely what the first one meant as it didn't really answer my question. For the others, two of them gave wonderful options and the use of allies as potential choices would be incredibly funny. Egg mayonnaise is like my chicken nugget that only you are allergic to option and I like that. I would consider adding these two if I took this game further.

There were mixed answers for this one as well. Most voted for it better played blind so that you couldn't hope for answers where as others enjoyed the emotions they experienced when playing and not getting what they had wanted. In future I think I'll keep it blind as most liked the sense of mystery.

Most found the game funny, which was what I had intended.

The overall game vote was mostly good, which I am happy about. It means people would enjoy it if I were to take it further.

The fact that people would recommend this game to a friend is insane (in the good way) I didn't expect them to enjoy it as much as they did. It's good to know that if I were to take this game further, other people would recommend their friends to play, giving me the opportunity for a wider range of feedback.

I'm going to ignore the third one, as it doesn't provide much help to the feedback. However, the fact that people want more of a game or more information with it is good. It means it would be received well if I were to expand on it.

The feedback I have collected is incredibly helpful and would definitely be useful for expanding on this prototype.

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Undertaking playtesters

This is the sheet of which I created to note down the options and the outcomes of each dice roll.

I undertook playtesting with a selection of different people, recording their outcomes as they played and asked for feedback at the end.

[Add photo of the final outcome section of the completed sheet]

Playtester One:

Sleeping Stuff: Hammock with no rope

Basic Food: Kit kat without the chocolate

Weapon: Fish

Tool: Compass that's stuck on South West

Trade Items: Gold coins

Playtester Two:

Sleeping Stuff: Incredibly oversized flat rock

Basic Food: Someone's mum's perfect sandwiches

Weapon: Baseball bat

Tool: Hand powered whisk

Trade Items: Three keycaps (ctrl, shift and s)

Playtester Three:

Sleeping Stuff: Incredibly oversized flat rock

Basic Food: Someone's mum's perfect sandwiches

Weapon: Baseball bat

Tool: The Map (Dora)

Trade Items: Chicken nugget that only you are allergic to

Playtester Four:

Sleeping Stuff: Dog bed

Basic Food: Kit kat without the chocolate

Weapon: Yo-yo

Tool: Tin opener

Trade Items: A water energy Pokémon card

Playtester Five:

Sleeping Stuff: Bird's nest

Basic Food: Raw pasta

Weapon: Baguette

Tool: Tin opener

Trade Items: A plastic bottle

Playtester Six:

Sleeping Stuff: Incredibly oversized flat rock

Basic Food: Raw pasta

Weapon: Yo-yo

Tool: Hand powered whisk

Trade Items: A singular Minecraft emerald on a USB stick

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Developing outcomes for the prototype

First thing I needed to do was determine the categories that the items would fall under. They were loosely based on Dungeons & Dragons style adventure packs, using the basic necessities for those.

The categories were:

Sleeping stuff

Basic food

Weapon

Tool

Trade item

With these categories established, I had to then decide 6 different items for each category. I had to decide on 6 because I was using a 6 sided die to determine what the selection was.

These were the items:

Coming up with the items was an incredibly fun experience because I wanted the game to have a comedy element and wanted to have the items reflect that. Obviously there were some serious ones so you weren't completely screwed over from the get go, but most of the answers made me laugh to think about.

Now the next step was to find out if playtesters enjoyed the rolling for their choice aspect and the options themselves.

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Specialist Practitioners

Koji Kakae:

Koji Kakae works with Capcom on the Resident Evil games, such as Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil 5 (2009) and both Resident Evil 4s (Original - 2005, remake - 2023), as well as Devil May Cry 5. There is very little information about how he does the work that he does, it is mostly just what games he has worked on.

This source is in English when opened, I don't know why it has Japanese stuff in the link itself.

A quote from this source shows how he does level design and overcomes the problems he faces. "I spend my days exchanging opinions flexibly with each member on a daily basis, repeating verification necessary for the game as needed, and thinking about how to make the game more interesting for the users."

John Edwards:

John Edwards is a Game Designer who was the lead designer on Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11. In the interview below he talks about new characters going to be in Mortal Kombat X (it was made before MKX came out), the style Mortal Kombat X would have and the new technology that they're going to use.

Here is the interview:

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Dream Role in the Game Industry:

My dream role in the Game Industry is Game Designer. This role is centered around the design of characters, the story and the ideas for games on different platforms like console, PC, phones and VR.

The thing that excites me most about this role is the story generation. I have always had an overactive imagination and really enjoy coming up with stories.

The skills required for this line of work would most probably be a good imagination and ability to be competitive as games designers have to give their ideas and then they'll be voted on by the company. There could be several game designers at once. Another skill required for the job would probably be an understanding of what would appeal to the consumers of the games as that will sort of determine how many sales the company gets.

Software that may be needed to master in order to help with your job would be a website called Trello, basically a digital to-do list that can have different sections and checklists that can be edited and moved around like this:

You also may need to master things like photoshop, Maya/Blender, Microsoft Word (to note down ideas and changes) as well as email systems.

This is what you may sometimes be working on as a games designer:

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Narrative idea itself:

The idea would be to use random narrative generation to create a "fill it in yourself" in the style of madlibs, like this:

The idea will be packing a bag for a fantasy adventure. (Sleeping stuff, basic food, weapon, tool, trade items.) This is inspired by basic Dungeons & Dragons backpacks.

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Chosen Idea:

Randomized narrative game but focusing on paper prototyping and only having the dice to select the path.

Benefits of paper prototyping:

"Easy to test and evaluate:

If you look at your paper prototype once it’s done, you will immediately have feedbacks about it. Evaluate basic game mechanics and aesthetics will be incredibly easy and fast.

Easy to change

If you notice that something is wrong in your paper prototype, making some changes will be extremely easy and fast."

By focusing on the paper prototype I can very quickly test run the narrative content and see if it's being accepted well by playtesters.

Branching narrative example flow chart:

This will help me to effectively plan out how I want the narrative to go with different options and outcomes. This example is excessive and would take a long time to produce, therefore I am going to end up making it in a way that each option leads to every other option like this:

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Square Based Grid Video Games

Felix The Reaper - One look at this game and I already love it. You complete tasks that are given to you by moving in the shadows and moving things with you. There is a sundial which you use to change time so the shadows move and you can go into other places. And the entire time you're in the levels Felix dances. Felix is my new favourite game character.

Friday the 13th killer puzzle - This is a game much like Felix the Reaper in the way Jason slides around instead of going one square at a time but it is still square based. I tried to record my own gameplay video but I forgot my hard drive wasn't plugged in to my computer. Anyway, it's a reasonably easy game other than the quick time events to kill the campers. I believe it kills theme regardless if you succeed or fail but I'm not entirely sure.

[accessibleprojectcontrollers]

Accessibility Research

The first website, Game Accessibility Guidelines, provides a list of categories that vary depending on how easy they are to account for. It gives different options for what you can do to do with different disabilities so hearing, seeing, speaking, movement and also general brain things. It is a very informative website.

The second website, Accessibly, has a wonderful explanation of things you could do to gain secondary opinions in how to make your games more accessible. A direct quote from the website states "Features such as full captioning, customizable controls, and adaptable difficulty settings are essential. By implementing these options, developers enable disabled gamers to experience games in ways suited to their specific needs, thus promoting inclusivity." It really shows that making a game accessible has a lasting impact on the players that end up playing the game and how others will view it too.

[accessibleprojectcontrollers]

Home Console Controllers

VR - The VR is a console which you place on your head that lets you see the game you're playing as if you are a part of it. It works with a series of sensors that track your movement (either external or internal, meta quest three has internal) and two controllers you use as hands. The controllers are like ones from Xbox or PlayStation just missing 4 buttons.

The grips are effectively the bumpers and there's two triggers at the back of the controllers, as shown here:

A game that uses VR and uses it incredibly well would be Waltz Of The Wizard, which uses your voice and actions to make things respond to you like Skully who you can effectively torture just for fun. The goal of the actual game is to make potions and it seems that, at least on the meta quest, it uses hand tracking instead of controllers.

Xbox 360 Kinect - One of my all time favourite pieces of hardware, it basically allows for games to track your movement and use it for core functions. Normally for selecting things with your hand or playing Kinect Sports. One of the most random games on the planet, with absolutely no description of what you have to do, is Kinect Party. I used to play this game with my sister when I was quite small and it was rather fun. I have no idea how to explain the mini games but this is a video of that.

Wii Controllers - The Wii controllers are an important piece of a lot of people's lives. They allow for basically the same thing as the Kinect only you use the controller to track it instead of your hands. There are games like Wii Sports and Just Dance which use a singular controller in one hand to play the games.

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Board Games

Cluedo - A game where you have to guess three cards in the middle by process of elimination. In this game, anyone could be the murderer without knowing as the cards are random. To win the game you have to make a final accusation, look at the cards in the confidential envelope and if you're right the game ends and if you're wrong you're out of the game and if you're right you win. The game is quite simple to play as you just have to roll the dice and move a piece on a board, occasionally marking off on your list what other people have said and could be played by those with limited mobility. The game creates a sense of tension as it's basically a race to figure out the killer, weapon and room the quickest. The game uses a square based grid in order to move which works perfectly as it is, I don't think any other type of grid would work.

Frustration - Frustration is a modern version of the game Ludo, you roll a dice and move pieces around a board, sending other people's pieces back to their starting place if you land on them. The goal is to get all of your pieces into the home for your colour. It creates a sense of anticipation as you're almost constantly running away and you could get so close to getting your character home just to be sent back to the beginning. It does not require much mobility as most versions of the game have a sphere that you press to roll the dice. It's great for smaller children as it only involves simple counting. I don't entirely know if Frustration counts as a grid game, but the grid allows the game to be quite orderly and I don't think it would work without it.

Monopoly -

Monopoly is a game where you go around a board and try to get as much money as possible by buying properties and making others pay rent when they land on your owned space. The goal is to have the most money by the end of the game and avoid going bankrupt. There is a game which is effectively the opposite, Go For Broke. This game sabotages friendships and families just by being so incredibly aggravating. The game requires die to be rolled and cards to be shifted around, as well as counting money and reading said cards. It isn't too difficult for those with mobility issues however it mat prove difficult for those who are visually impaired or dyslexic as there are small words on the cards to read and it may be difficult. The grid is pretty simple, a square of broken up squares around the edges of the board. The game probably wouldn't function without the grid because it is essential to the movement.

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Arcade Games

Coin Tower Stack - A game where you press a button to let a token fall, the token goes through a small obstacle course (think the gameshow Pointless) and falls through a small spot which will then trigger something depending on where it falls. The goal is to get as many tickets as possible (at least in the British one I watched my dad play). You pay with £1 and get around 16 tokens to drop before you have to pay again. You can get bonuses which give you more chances. The reason I have added this game is because it works using one singular massive button, like in my game ideas. The button adds to the game environment because it makes the game more of a game of chance than strategy. You have no control over where the tokens fall. It doesn't take much mobility to play and you always end up with at least a few tickets.

Flappy Bird(Arcade one) - You press a button strategically to keep the bird in the air and avoid obstacles for as long as possible to get a high score. It's incredibly simple to play and gets slightly more difficult as you go. It can be played by those with lower mobility due to the massive button like in the previous game. This game wouldn't really work with any other hardware other than the button and touch screen, due to there being only one input necessary. It makes the player feel excitement as they go along and get a bigger score. The bigger the score, the more tickets you get.

Piano Keys - Another game with big buttons, although this has four buttons instead of one. You need to press the four keys in the order you see them on the screen in order to get a higher score and get more tickets. This game gives a sense of thrill to those playing but would be difficult for those with limited mobility due to the speed you have to play in order to get a higher score. This game wouldn't really work on anything but touch screen or the actual keys unless you binded them the way that Fortnite festival is on pc.

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Fairground Games

Hook-A-Duck - A simple game where you use a rod with a loop at the end to pick up hooks on ducks. Impossible to lose, you get a prize every time. The player feels accomplished when playing the game as they win regardless of skill level. It's great for children or people with lower mobility as it's simple to do.

Ring Toss - Trying to toss rings so they land on pegs or bottles. This game requires a small amount of skill as you need aim and also need the ring to travel flat in order to get it on the pegs. It's not particularly easy to win this one and is more difficult for children or people with limited mobility. It makes people feel really good about winning though because it's more difficult.

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Game Ideas

Idea One - Text Adventure Game where you roll a physical dice and then press an incredibly oversized button to select your answer. (Those buttons used to train dogs or make noises for fun sized buttons.) The game itself would be reasonably easy, text explaining what you need to do with text to speech as default so that you can hear what is going on. The die is needed to make the game feel more random and fun, rather than picking your answers with your brain. You could end up with the most hilarious answers to things. There would need to be 11 buttons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 and Enter, just to make sure that if higher numbers like 20 are needed they can be inputted.

Idea Two - Still using large buttons but instead of a text adventure game, you use the buttons to actively move and interact. I think this will probably work best with a grid movement puzzle game, easy to move around and it'll snap to the area so you don't have to worry about getting movement exact. A puzzle game pushing boxes to get out of rooms would probably work well. This time it would only need 5 buttons, one for forward, one for left, one for right, one for backwards and one for jump. Little to no dialogue, if there is it'll be text to speech-ed.

Idea Three - An actual board game that is a murder mystery maybe but with kidnappings instead. It would be like Cluedo/Clue only it'd have three sets of cards that aren't person, weapon and room. One for specific events, one for roles like "bystander" and "kidnapper" and one for alibis. The cards are shuffled at the start and dished out randomly. Everyone gets one Role card and one Alibi card, the alibi cards are used when everyone closes their eyes and the kidnapper will take a card from the event deck and place it in the middle. Once around ten seconds have passed, everyone opens their eyes and looks at the event. The event will have a time on it which will link to the alibis. The kidnapper will use different alibis on their cards that no one else has said but say the time on the event card to throw people off. The kidnapper has to go around kidnapping everyone if they are in the same room at the time when an event card is pulled. They can roll the dice, and if they have enough to get into a room with someone they want to kidnap, they can take their piece but stay in the same place. They then roll the dice again to throw others off their trail. The game is complete when the kidnapper kidnaps all but one person or the others figure out who the kidnapper is. Idea will be expanded on and explained more clearly at a later point as I believe this will be the idea I expand on.

Originally I was going to go with the first or second idea, however for the first time since I started this course I am going with the third one (changing things up lol). I think the board game is a really cool idea and is quite unique in the way you play. I think it's similar to the board game Criminal Minds: Unknown Subject. Here is a link to a website that explains how the game works:

The reason I find them similar is because with the Criminal Minds game you have to figure out who the UnSub (Unknown Subject) is and in my game you have to figure out who the kidnapper is by deduction. The only difference is in the Criminal Minds game you have a profile that the UnSub needs to fit with (I think, I haven't personally played the game yet).

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Cult Of The Lamb accessibility

Me and a friend tried to play Cult of The Lamb with one hand, I was doing it for most of the playthrough.

This is the video of our gameplay, the first part was cut due to my keybinds on OBS I am incredibly sorry for that.

Overall, using only one hand to play wasn't that bad. The way I was using the controller was probably a little weird and that's why it made my finger cramp up but it wasn't difficult at all.

For reference I was using the controller like this:

My pinky finger was the only real downside as it hurt a bit after playing for about 20 minutes.