Game Designs
La Gravano Escape (2022)
LARPG board game.
Designers:
- Erin Chen - Maps
- Ngoc an Vy Nguyen - Gameplay flowchat
- Anusti Shah - Story synopsis
- Rhya Wang - Presentation scheme
- Miner Zhu - Character designs
BEEHIVE (2022)
One-paged board game.
Overlord (2020)
Chess game.
The Spine
‘The abyss is where dark creatures live. In the Abyss, there is a strong hierarchy, so power and status are especially important. Only the most powerful demon lord can become the overlord.’
Game Genre
Fantasy.
Game Form
Boardgame.
Discription
Overlord is a fantasy board game that requires two players to use their cards wisely.
Players play as two different sides, fighting to become the overlord. Line up, grab each other and occupy the ground. By choosing which monsters to send out in which places, the player can take down more enemies and turn the land into his own territory.
Each player doesn't have exactly the same cards, and different monsters on the cards can also result in different levels of cards, with higher-level monsters being able to defeat lower-level monsters and take over the land. Of course, this is not just a game of comparing the cards, the occupation of land can trigger the chain reaction, ‘linking’. Reasonably using ‘linking’ while preventing the opponent's attack, will have a great impact on the outcome of the battle. When the board is filled with monster cards, the battle is over and the person with more territory becomes overlord.
Rules
Previous:
- The game board is a large square shape, build up by 9 squares.
- Players have the same 10 cards in their hands
- When the cards meet the condition of ‘linking’, no matter who the card belongs to, the ‘linking’ will go all the way to the end. Which means there’s a risk of flipping your own card while doing ‘linking’.
Revised:
- The game board’s shape is changed. It gets rid of the square in the middle, and adds 4 more squares on each sides. The total number of squares becomes 12.
- Player only have 7 cards randomly from the deck in their hands.
- While ‘linking’, only your rival’s cards will be flipped, and woun’t affect your own cards.
Digital Prototype
My game is a 2-player chess game. Each player has a deck of cards, the cards has numbers from 1 to 10 on both sides, and one side is black and the other side is white. One player’s side is black and the other’s is white. Before starting the game, each player shuffles their deck and pulls out 3 of them, using only the left 7 cards for gaming. On a 12-square game board, 2 players place their cards onto the squares from the board turn by turn. If the player place a card, and the card’s number is bigger than the rival’s card which is next to it, he can flip the rival’s card. This mechanic is called ‘linking’, and ‘linking’ can be triggered multiple times, as long as the rival’s card next to the previous card is smaller. After the board is all filled up, the player with more cards in his colour on the board wins the game.
I chose to prototype ‘linking’, the mechanic of flipping the player’s card. I decided to prototype this part of the game because it is the core mechanic.
I used Scratch to make my digital prototype. Scratch is working better with 2D games, and it allows me to create the visuals quickly. It is well organized so it’s easy to understand. Its coding system is very simple and logical, it directly tells you which code does what, so I can handle it since I’ve learned to code before. I think AI could be applicable to this game, because it is a 2-player chess game. Having an AI player playing with you could let you enjoy this game by yourself. The whole game is about logic and mathematics, so it’s appropriate for AI to learn.