Week 3 - Formation: Beldum

This week was our first week together as a team. None of us had ideas for a team name until we were told to pick a Pokemon. And Aiman (being a big ol' nerd) picked a "Beldum".

Game Brainstorming Time

Idea 1

Aiman was the first to propose an idea for the game we'd be working on for the semester: a fast-paced party game based on the wild west using cards & a pair of dice. We came up with a handful of cards & used Uno cards to simulate a game.

The core concept was using Action & Reaction cards to attack other players.

Every turn, a player could:

- Play 1 Action card

- "Duel" 1 player of choice

In a duel:

 - Both players roll a die

 - The lower roller takes damage by drawing cards equal to the difference between the dice results

If a player had 10 cards in their hand, they were eliminated from the game.

Though rough around the edges, we found it promising.

Thinking we had a solid idea, we proposed it. However, we were met with the criticism that while it seemed alright in terms of gameplay, the theme was very surface-level & cliche.

None of the criticism was uncalled for of course, so we put our heads back together to come up with changes or even a whole new idea. That's when our latest addition to the team, Alyssa, chimed in with:

Idea 2

This idea centered around the theme of being trapped in a dream, navigating a nonsensical world of imagination to escape to the waking world of reality, facing subconscious fears & phobias along the way that attempt to trap you in a nightmare.

Players of the game would have to collect Dream Fragments by overcoming obstacles or solving puzzles to stabilize the dreamscape, allowing the players to escape & win the game. Failing certain challenges may cause players to lose these fragments, ultimately losing the game & being trapped in a nightmare.

1. Super cool & fleshed-out idea, no clue how Alyssa just came up with that on her own

2. All of us found the idea unique & enticing

3. No one else could come up with anything at the time that solved our lack of in-depth themes

With those points in mind, we proposed this new theme & it was approved!

So what did we learn in this week?

Games aren't all just about the mechanics & gameplay. The goal of this module is to make a game that's not just fun to play, but has meaning & a goal/theme that the game addresses.

Our newfound idea tackles the theme of confronting & conquering fears in the subconscious mind, a more generally relatable theme compared to the western culture of cowboys.

Stay tuned for the coming weeks as we figure out how to combine the profound themes of idea 2 with the gameplay mechanics of idea 1!