playtest 2

In the second play test we modified the termination condition of the game and the rule; we implemented a second set of cards, known as the “rat pack”. The famer needs to get to two farms to win, when the player reaches a farm they pick up more cards. The rat cards themselves are like power ups which the farmer can use to gain an advantage over the trainer driver but subsequently they will lose that rat card. The train driver can also gain rat cards. It is now the train driver’s job to see that the farmer never makes it to the farms and gains as many rat cards as he/she can by running over the farmer. We included this because we wanted to have more verity in the game, as opposed to one event card stack. With the rats both players can actively loose and gain cards and tip the balance in there favour.

Ultimately the farmer has to transport the rats to his farm safely while the train driver is hunting him. In addition to these new cards we also modified another rule. In the last play test we had it so that once the farmer had been run over the train driver won and the game was over. We quickly sought to change this, because we found that firstly the games where ending too quickly and secondly there were no allowance for errors. In this we implemented a rule that stated, if the famer had been run over by the train driver then the farmer had to go to the hospital on the board and miss a go. Subsequently once the farmer had been placed in the hospital then the player would lose one of their rat cards to the farmer. Once the player’s term in the hospital has ended the player assumes his original position. If the farmer is caught 3 times then the player is out of the game permanently.  In this new set of rules both players can be more competitive with each other without them knowing that if one of them is caught once then the game is over.

We also changed the map layout to by adding more farms and connection junctions. Just to help balance the map to make it both easier and harder for both players. We also made more connections to make it so that both players have an equal chance of winning as opposed to the unbalanced map that we had previously.

Playtest 1

In our first play test we established that there where many problems with our number of players and game pacing. We found that the amount of players currently (2 players) was making the game too short leading to an unsatisfactory experience.

We also discovered that the amount of dead ends on the board needed to be reduced to aid balancing and game flow as we found that many times players became trapped and unable to move. Fixing this was easy; we just intermittently connected the dead ends together. This allows the game to continue and last longer.

Another problem that we found was that in addition to there not being enough cards(our initial intention was to have one stack of event cards for all players) this lead to the game lacking balance and affected the length of the game. To fix this we have now put in two stacks of cards, one for each player. This way the game balancing is improved and players receive the relevant cards relating to their role in the game. E.g. the tube famer, not receiving cards that he could not use.

Simplification of the cards was also required as a lot of the time, we found that the instructions on the cards lasted for too many turns or were too complex to remember for the duration of the card. For example we reduced the factor such as: "movement reduced by a factor of (said number)" to movement reduced by dice number instead of more mathematical means.

With these improvements we hope that the game will flow more and help to solve problems with card balancing and player balance.

concept

Now that we have settled on a name and an idea, we needed to come up with a rough idea of how the game will function. The game will have a minimum of 2 players, one player will play as the farmer and one player will play as the train driver. The players will take turns to move along the board, the length of the board that they move in is dictated by a dice roll. The objectives for each of the players are different. The farmer must transport his animals to a point on the board, while avoiding the train driver. The Train driver on the other hand, must prevent the farmer to reaching his destination by running him over and taking the animal cards that the farmer has in his possession. In essence we have gone for a hunter Vs hunted type of game. With the introduction of the animal cards that give the farmer certain bonuses and the “event cards” that are given to both players. As they change the rules of the game depending on the stated conditions on them. For instance the Mind the Gap card makes the farmer miss a turn. 

Or the Electrified rail card reduces the amount of movement a player can make on a dice Roll. The terms of the cards can vary from being unique to one player or not. This way both players can be on equal terms. The players have the ability to retain or get rid of cards that are not conducive to their end goal. This way the players can strategize and consider the importance of their cards as well as possibly denying accesses to valuable cards that the opposing player would like to have.

We have chosen a particular style of board that is stylised and partly based on the London underground system. We did this because not only does it allow us to come up with unique ideas about what the event cards can feature. It also allows us to create some unique board patterns that players would be familiar with. Just so that it has a certain familiarity.

Basic Gameplay

Now that we have settled on a name and an idea, we needed to come up with a rough idea of how the game will function. The game will have a minimum of 2 players, one player will play as the farmer and one player will play as the train driver. The players will take turns to move along the board, the length of the board that they move in is dictated by a dice roll. The objectives for each of the players are different. The farmer must transport his animals to a point on the board, while avoiding the train driver. The Train driver on the other hand, must prevent the farmer to reaching his destination by running him over and taking the animal cards that the farmer has in his possession. In essence we have gone for a hunter Vs hunted type of game. With the introduction of the animal cards that give the farmer certain bonuses and the “event cards” that are given to both players. As they change the rules of the game depending on the stated conditions on them. For instance the Mind the Gap card makes the farmer miss a turn.
Or the Electrified rail card reduces the amount of movement a player can make on a dice Roll. The terms of the cards can vary from being unique to one player or not. This way both players can be on equal terms. The players have the ability to retain or get rid of cards that are not conducive to their end goal. This way the players can strategize and consider the importance of their cards as well as possibly denying accesses to valuable cards that the opposing player would like to have.
We have chosen a particular style of board that is stylised and partly based on the London underground system. We did this because not only does it allow us to come up with unique ideas about what the event cards can feature. It also allows us to create some unique board patterns that players would be familiar with. Just so that it has a certain familiarity.