How We Came Together:

13^th October was our first class for Game Studio, we were introduced to game mechanics and narratives, after which we were sorted into teams of three. I was teamed with Mr. Sai Sidhvi and Ms. Madhura Pathare and we played a paper prototype of a zombie game while our lecturer Jarek Francik explained the rules. This exercise taught us how game mechanics can be created and made workable. After this, we were given two weeks (26^th October) to create our own paper prototype game. We thought that was a lot of time but jokes on us…it wasn’t.

The Quest Begins:

It is safe to say that we were excited and enthusiastic about starting our project therefore we had a brainstorming session the very next day on the 14^th. Even though it was on teams because we live far from each other. After discussing some main steam generic ideas, we realized we didn’t really have much idea about board/card games, so we decided to attend V.A.S.T (Videogames. Anime. Sci-Fi. Table-top Society) at Kingston University.

On 18^th October after our Tuesday class, we went to the v.a.s.t event and saw a huge box full of board/card games. We explained our project to the Head of the society, and he suggested a card game called Exploding Kittens (figure 1), after which we were told that.

                       Figure 2: Secret Hitler                                                    Figure 1: Exploding Kittens                                                                                                                                                        

There was another interesting board game going on that we should try, and that was Secret Hitler (Figure 2). These games did provide us with some ideas, However, there was one game that caught our teammate’s (Mr, Sai Sidhvi) attention. It was a card game box that had a castle and a woman on it with the name AVALON on it. HE picked it up and read the instructions about the game and found that the game had a quest system where players vote on the outcomes. He shared his idea with us that if there is enough time, we can make a proper quest system, without the need for digital help. We went home and had another team meeting the next day and concluded that the game should be easy to play but hard to master.

Trials and Errors:

 It was the end of our first week and we decided it was time to just start pouring out ideas. We came up with multiple options some very basic, some too complex, some that needed a lot of iterations, and then some that we decided were too boring.

Finally, we came up with a board game idea with a story that included an evil wizard, his minions, and a king (Figure 4). We debated over It back and forth, working out its rules and mechanics but it didn’t sit well. At the back of my mind, I knew we could do better than this, so we were back on the drawing board. By then it was already the 23^rd of October and we had just three days left

  
                               Figure 4                                                                               Figure 5

We tried changing the board style but that didn’t help. We then decided to do some online research and stumbled upon a game called Catan (Figure 5) after which we finally got what would be our final game.

The Quest Ends:

After researching games like Catan, Condottiere, Gwent, and Dune, and took the base concept of two armies fighting with each other using cards on a board consisting of 3 grids on each side. We moved on to setting the components, rules, storyline, and visuals. On Tuesday 25^th we sat down created the pieces and then tested them out. Discussed how to resolve issues and how we can simplify the game rules. Thankfully, we got done just in time. On 26^th October we presented a successful paper prototype game to Dr. Jarek Francik and Prof. Hope Caton. It was well received and appreciated by all. Though one feedback that we did receive was that at this stage it is hard to see how the game can be digitalized.