Design Log: Ideas, Iteration 1 & 2, and next steps

Thinking of ideas:

The first thing we did when trying to think of an idea for this project was look at other party games. One of the most intimidating things about this project is how a lot of published party games have a lot of physical pieces like cards, tokens and things to keep track of especially in social deduction games. It seemed like two weeks was not enough for that kind of party game. Then we began to think about how simple a party game could be so things like 20 questions, psychiatrist, never have I ever, and musical chairs. I liked the idea of starting from a simple premise and adding to it. 

Iteration 1: Rhyme Attack

The simple premise we decided to start from was taking turns rhyming. The rules were very simple. The first player would start the game by saying a line then everyone else would take turns saying lines, if you messed up a rhyme or did not have something to say you were out, the winner was the last one making rhymes. This was a fun activity with some people but it did not really work as a game. There were no constraints or guidance for the player. When you lost, how long to let people think, and also the kind of thing to say were all unclear. The next design step was creating constraints and guidance for the player.

Iteration 2: Words with Birds

Lishan suggested that the player needed some kind of prompt and more guidance about what to do. She mentioned a segment on Wild N' Out called Kick Em' Out the Classroom that had a similar rhyming mechanic. Wild N' Out had rhythm, a theme, and a structure for kicking people out of the game that worked with the theme. Having a theme, setting, or prompt were all ideas for how to add to our game. Instead of picking a single theme, setting, or prompt we started creating mad lib style cards each with a slightly different prompt like In the [setting] or [Name] is lying.This way each card would be different every time you played it and it could help keep the game interesting even if you are replaying the same cards.  We also needed a better way to make the competitive part of the game to work because in Rhyme Attack there were not clear rules about losing. We added phrases to say on each card to knock people out of the game. I do not think the phrases we chose worked well though and interrupted the game more than anything. The game was also trying to be both competitive and cooperative at the same time. There were ways to lose the game but we didn't want everyone getting knocked out all the time so we left it up to the players to decide when to actually knock someone out. All that being said this version was a massive improvement from before. Most people said that it was enjoyable and that the activities were replayable. People enjoyed making rhymes and also doing a word association activity together but were distracted by the rules about knocking someone out of the game. 

Initial thoughts for next iteration:

In redesigning this I want to focus more on cooperative play. I want the group to work together to create something whether that be a series of rhymes, a very loose story where you start a sentence with what someone else said, or something else. I also want the game to have a natural conclusion as people run out of things to say but not have that part of the game be competitive. Getting knocked out of the game should not feel like "losing" it should just feel like the game is moving forwards. I think I would like to have a very light amount of competition but I will leave that for another iteration.