Final Project

Final - Vesuvius

Gameplay:

Escape the eruption of mount Vesuvius alive while rescuing as many survivors as possible. The more people you save (by getting them to the boats) the more points you get. But if you take too long and die you get zero points.

Players:

2-4 ages 8 and up

Board Description:

The start of the board is close to the mouth of the volcano and the end of the board is the cities. There are 4 paths that each go to a different city.

Rules:

1. Roll the dice to determine how many spaces you can forward.

2. Roll the dice to determine how many spaces the lava moves down the board.

3. There are 4 paths. Each with "pick a card" spots at different points. The cards can be good (green) or bad(red). Bad cards can either slow the player down or kill the player. If its a kill card the player must roll the die to see if they escaped the obstacle.

4. At the green survivor points on the board you had to decide weather to help the survivors. Doing so requires you to stay on that spot for one turn.

5. The player can ignore the survivors but then he doesn't get the points.

6. If the lava is getting too close the player can leave a survivor behind to move ahead 2 spaces on top of there roll, but then they loose points.

7. Players who don't make it to the harbor loose and of the ones that do make it the the one who saves the most people wins.

Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK-9wUboECA

High Concept

High Concept

Vesuvius High Concept:

No one believed you or your friends when you said that the mountain would spew fire and destroy everything. Now you and 3 of your friends must escape the eruption of mount Vesuvius with as many survivors as you can.

Features:

Exciting and educational event cards used at specific places in the board. Got the falling rock card? or the poisons gas flow card? Roll the die to see if you survive.

Roll the die to see how many spaces the volcano has before it erupts! That's your head start. Every round roll the die to see how far the Pyroclastic flow advances.

Spacial survivor cards at specific locations are where you get your points. The longer you stay at that spot, the more people you convince to come with you. But be careful the super heated gas and ash are closing in at any moment.

The players who get to the harbor with the most survivors wins but if you linger too long you could loose everything.

Player Motivation:

The players motivation is to save the most people from the volcano while there's still time. The player to get to the boats with the most survivors wins.

Genre:

Historical Fiction, Edutainment

Target Demographic:

7 - 16 year olds and up can learn about the stages of volcano eruptions and the tragedies that happened in 78 CE.

Competition:

Another game that focuses only on Pompeii might be competition but this game has all 4 cities (Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum, and Oplontis)and is educational.

Unique Selling Points:

Cards danger cards that can slow you down and kill off some of your survivors.

Survivor cards that give you a chance to convince people to come with you.

The ability to learn about the victims while at the same time symbolically saving them from they're fate.

Ability to chose which city you travel through. Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum, and Oplontis. Each with they're own unique obstacles.

Design Goals:

To create a thrilling game where you have to move fast to manage you time and the excitement peaks as you escape just in time. Or don't...

To create a game that allows you to save people instead of illuminating competitors.

To create a game that is also educational.

Characters:

Your a Roman scholar who studied the volcano's before based on the limited records they had 2000 years ago. Buts since no eruptions have been recorded in roman history everyone thinks your crazy. Until now...

Prototype

Prototype:

Game Vesuvius

Your a Roman scholar who studied the volcano's before based on the limited records they had 2000 years ago. Buts since no eruptions have been recorded in roman history everyone thinks your crazy. You and your colleagues realize that what is happening to mount Vesuvius is consistent with ancient Babylonian text of a fire spewing mountain. They then decide to split up so they can spread the word faster. There are 4 paths each leading to a different city, Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum, and Oplontis respectfully. As they get down to the cities they find mass chaos and they must gather as many survivors as they can before the pyroclastic flow reaches them.

I will turn this game into a playable and educational game that shows the stages of a volcanic eruption and details the events of the Eruption of mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Posted by Esplin227 at 1:31 PM 0 comments

Players: 2-4

Objective: Escape the eruption of mount Vesuvius alive while rescuing as many survivors as possible. The more people you save (by getting them to the boats) the more points you get but if you take too long and die (or one of the obstacles kills you) you get zero points.

Board Description: The start of the board is close to the mouth of the volcano and the end of the board is the harbor. There are 4 paths that go down separate districts of the city.

Rules:

1. Roll the dice to determine how many spaces the lava moves down the board.

2. Roll the dice to determine how many spaces you can forward.

3. There are 4 paths. Each with "pick a card" spots at different points. The cards can be good or bad. Bad cards can either slow the player down or kill the player. If its a kill card the player must roll the die to see if they escaped the obstacle.

4. At special survivor points on the board you had to decide weather to help the survivors. Doing so requires you to role the die to see how many turns it will take.

5. The player has to stay on that spot for the amount of turns the die says to get the points but each turn the lava gets closer.

6. The player can ignore the survivors but then he doesn't get the points.

7. If the lava is getting too close the player can leave a survivor behind to move ahead 2 spaces on top of there roll, but then they loose points.

8. Players who don't make it to the harbor loose and of the ones that do make it the the one who saves the most people wins.

This game is supposed to be educational and each card has a short bit of info about the victims and the science of Pompeii, Vesuvius and volcanoes in general.

Cards and Dice

Premise: To make a simple game using cards and dice. This game is similar to Black Jack in that you try to get as close to a number as possible without going bust.

Rules: You have one dealer and 3 players. The dealer roles 3 6-sided dice. You add up the number and that's the target number. each player then roles 1 6-sided dice to see what number they get. The number they get is the maximum amount of cards they can get. The player can say "hit me" and take the next card or they can say "double down" and double whatever the next card is.

Base Mechanics: The player has to try to get as close to the number as possible without surpassing it. The trick is you don't have an unlimited amount of cards so you have to figure out which cards you want to double and which cards you want to play strait. If your points exceed the target number you loose and are "out". The player closest to there number or who achieves their number first wins.

Revisions: We added the ability to half your next card by saying "cut it" and it added a little more strategy.

Chapter Seven Book Work

Question 1.
The 3 games I played were Grand Theft Auto 4, Resident Evil 4, and The Elder Scrolls 4. Each of these games is a different game type so they handle things very differently.
Saves: In term of saving RE4 like most survival horror games has specific save points set throughout the game world. I noticed they a set in places that are just far enough away from each other that you get nervous when its been a while since you saved but not do far away the you get really frustrated and cant proceed or find one to stop playing if you have to take a break. GTA4 handled it differently. Since it was a sand box game and not very linear the save points were place in a place you could always get back too easily. It also saved automatically after every mission making it less likely for the player to loose their progress if they get killed before they get too the save point. TES4 is completely open ended and thus has no reason to restrict saves. Not only does it allow for the player to save anytime they want, it also has auto saves after every quest and when ever the player sleeps or leaves a town. It even allows for quick saves making fast last minute emergency saves or saves that allow for quick updates when dungeon crawling.
Statistics: In terms of statistics RE4 since its a survival horror game they don't want to remind you that your playing a game so instead of a life bar it uses the color of the picture in the corner and the way the character moves as an indicator of about how much life the character has left. It also is vague about how well your doing to avoid loosing the tention in the game and waits till you have beaten it to tell you how you did. GTA4 uses a circular life on the lower left and uses a score system to keep track of the things the player has done. Since the game is designed to be about doing whatever the player likes it keeps track of every thing the player does. TES4 as an RPG and as such is very statistic heavy. It has a bar for health, stamina, and magic and it also uses a level system with skill and abilities that all intertwine in a very complicated way. It has multiple screens or statistics all of which are important for proper enjoyment of the game.
Ramping: In RE4 the difficulty is always ramped to keep the player from getting too comfortable. In GTA4 there is no ramping at all except in the context of the mission difficalty. This is because the game wants you to feel like your the best of the best. TES4 has a dynamic ramping system that raises the level of the enemies to always be a challenge. This keeps the game from becoming boring however it can also make it feel like you are making no progress.
Blockade: RE4 used a "locks and keys" blockade system to keep the player from advancing in the game before they are supposed to. This makes it easier for the game to predict were I'll be and when. Unfortunately on any subsequent play through it becomes a chore. GTA4 barely uses and blockade system expect to make it very hard to survive in places you are not supposed to be by giving the player 6 stars causing the police to attack the player with overwhelming force. TES4 uses absolutely no blockade system and allows the player to go anywhere they want whenever they want. This method of complete freedom is what the game is based on and works very well. The only problem with this is that it can be confusing to player who don't know what to do next.
Navigation: All three games handle navigation basically the same way. With a small mini-map in the lower left corner and the of the screen and a full map visible when the game is paused.