Revisions to the Core Concept

I missed last class because of an illness. I was now disadvantaged because I was unaware of the progress our group had made with the game. My group was kind enough to fill me in on the game and explain what I had missed during the game. When Peter was explaining the game it seemed to me like there was too much complication. I could tell by the reaction on Hardi and Pinal's face also that they seemed to feel the same way.

It was after Professor Parks came by to discuss the game did it really seem like our game had too many loopholes and complications. He pointed out that the adding and subtracting on our playing cards was tedious and a bit of an over complication. We also then as a group worked to address the fact that the "Major card", the way it currently was, made no sense. At the time, the "Major card" instead of adding value to related major buildings, actually subtracted value from the player. This was originally done to aid the player in achieving the goal of wasting the most money, and hence fulfilling the title that is "R U serious?"

On realizing this problem and a few others in the game we decided to change the game a fair amount. I felt bad proposing the idea to Peter because I could tell that he felt passionately about his initial plans for the game, but if we were to move forward there would be too much complication. I did not want people to not understand our game, or my grade to be sacrificed as a result of this. We decided as a group, that it would be best to change our initiatives as the players in the game. Instead of trying to be as wasteful as possible we now aimed to be the outlier at Rutgers and aim to create as much value as possible (with buildings/major card combinations). We also decided to add in RU Express as a mock currency in the game that would help make the game player feel more in the setting of our college while also allowing them to have something tangible to keep for value.

We also spent time discussing how it would be a good idea for people to be able to pick majors as opposed to having their major randomly selected. Professor Parks said it was a good idea because it gave the players something to strive and plan for. It seemed as though the group agreed. I personally was pushing for this change because it would allow players to have a strategy or goal from the beginning of the game as opposed to forcing them to engage in random building until they were given a major card.

In conclusion the game seems to be going well. We aimed to discuss possible flaws of the game, but after being able to find none we decided to wait till play testing. We also have to decide the amount of rounds involved in each "year" of the game, but again that is an aspect best left for when we play the physical game. Finally, we decided the game would keep it's name of "R U Serious" and just have a secondary title of "Trying to find value in a university of bad decision making".

Core Concept

(Week two of our game)

We had a slight disadvantage because Nick was sick and was not able to attend class. It was tough developing our game and trying to figure out the core notion of our game. Thus, Nick’s presence would have made a difference because an idea of one person can branch into many more ideas and we needed that especially for this class.

Initially, the main purpose of the game was to show the bad things and unnecessary buildings at Rutgers. However, it seemed as if we were just rushing and focusing on getting the game done now. We were losing the main purpose of it, which was to mock Rutgers. Therefore, we kept thinking of ways to keep the game entertaining and strategic. As we played San Juan, we developed ideas for our own game.

We have decided to have three decks of cards involving initial, action, and campus cards. For the scoring, our method was complicated at first so we decided to make it simple. The cards will have two numbers: one with the cost of the buildings and the other one will represent the value.  The numbers will be in the range of 1-5 to 1-10 so that the scoring is easier. At the conclusion of the game, the players will add up their costs and subtract the values. Whoever has the best score will win.

This week was definitely stressful because we have started forming our game. We have realized it is not as simple as it sounds to create a game. Aside from coming up with an idea of the game, we need creativity, strategy, and a way to exemplify our game in a different manner for it to stand out from the rest. Nonetheless, we are trying our best!!

~Hardi Shah

The Game

Today was day one of our project. We all presented our games and then chose from two games. The choices were Nikki's frankenstien building game and my RU based card game. I think I did a good job selling my game to Pinal and she eventually chose my game, the Rutgers based game.

The other games involved a great deal of chance, so we avoided this. I think that my game involves some chance, but the action cards will allow players to be involved in the outcome of the game. I think that Hardi's critical thinking game involves very little chance but we did not go with that game for other reasons. I think all games involve some chance, but it is what you can do with those chances in my RU Serious game that count. We will have to keep the numbers of very powerful or weak cards low that way no players feel that they drew their way to a loss through chance.

My game is now at the mercy of the group's will. I stressed that the game should always be poking fun at Rutgers. The building cards will have to include some backhanded comments about the buildings on them and the action cards will be made to exemplify the various bad things that can happen to you while at RU. I think that with these core concepts we will make a game that is fun and easy to play, but also involves stratagey to make sure you knock down other players while they take shots at you.

Working together seemed like a pretty good give and take as we became more comfortable with each other. It is important that we can take things lightly and keep a fun work environment to avoid conflict. I hope that we can continue and all be able to take a joke while still getting the task at hand done.

-Peter