CAGD 170

 Group 12

Game Summary

    My partner Anthoney and I developed modified version of Solitaire. The modification allows players to fill the Foundation pile in either the order of kings to aces or aces to kings. The player can also stack Tableau piles in the order of kings to aces to aces to kings. We also added a new pile called the Joker pile where the player can move piles from the Tableau pile to the Joker pile as a way to assist the player with the new play style. 

Iteration Process

We wanted to think of a modification that created a challenge for players that would make them think about future moves. When playing I felt I could place down cards in a stack and I wouldn't think much of it since I would end up getting stacks and once I had one stack going the game got easy. With the cards going in reverse order in the Foundation pile but still following the same order in the Tableau pile it would present a different challenge to players.

Order of the Foundation Pile Reversed

We didn't want to make dramatic changes to original Solitaire because we wanted to players to feel that they were still playing Solitaire, but it had a different challenge. We at first decided to let the players stack cards with the same color to make the game easier, but we added a challenge to keep the player feeling challenged. We gave them a 10 minute time limit to complete the game. 

We felt this wasn't very original and that the game wasn't very challenging. We play tested this modified game and felt like we were dumbing down the game for the player. The game was less rewarding than the normal solitaire and the time limit wasn't hard to beat. 

Issues

When making the rule sheet we would second guess ourselves on what information should be put into the rule category and the procedure category. We knew the difference between the two but didn't want to add the same information twice in both categories. 

With play tests of different rules, we would constantly get stuck. We weren't sure if it was either the game was too hard or we weren't skilled enough in Solitaire. We would get close to completing a game and end up short because we needed one card to move forward and it was either not available or was the value we needed but the wrong color. This caused great stress and frustration among us since we would hit a wall in our game design and with new ideas to fix our problems.

One of the biggest issues my group encountered was the inability to interact and exchange ideas in person. Some ideas were very wordy to explain and without a physical example it became hard to follow what someone else said very quickly. Especially when the idea includes multiple steps. We wrote down ideas we thought would improve the game design but it was hard to portray what you were thinking with only writing and hearing. It would have been a smoother process if we had been able to meet in person and exchange ideas in that fashion. Sometimes we would interpret each other's ideas with our own point of view so it would be difficult to monitor if someone else is playing the game with the rules you had in mind.

Solutions

To solve the rules and procedures dilemma, we decided to write the rules and think about how they would be carried out. With this thought process we felt more confident with what we put into each category.

We kept on play testing until we felt we made a game modification that made the game more challenging. We also agreed on a new facet of the game that would help players achieve their goal with the new challenge.

Our group would meet on Discord and text each other about new ideas and concepts we thought of as well as issues we faced. We were very open with each other and could rely on each other's feedback which made this process easier on each other.

Changes Going Forward

I would definitely spend more time playing the game I modify beforehand so I could get the best perspective of a player that I could. I would also spend more time thoroughly listing all the formal elements of a game and brainstorming ideas that would change certain elements to make a change big enough for players to feel the different challenges they are faced with, but not drifting too far away from the original game.