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It has been a while since I have done a blog, so this is a catch up on several days.

We have been testing various versions of our game, including outside of BCT and getting other AUT students to help us test it. After doing this each time, we would change various things about it such as the number of cultists, the number of runes, the amount of weapons and defenses

We found that either 3 survivors and 1 cultist worked well as a short version of the game, or between 1-3 cultists and the rest survivors (out of 6) was interesting as it left the unknown amount of cultists.

Various numbers of runes were tried, and it was found that the number of players being equal to the number of runes being used was a good way to do it as it allowed for shorter games with less people.

As for weapons and actions, we tried several things such as changing actions and weapons into two different piles, allowing the player to choose which one they want but this lead to the cultists killing off the survivors near instantly as they would always pick a weapon.

In the creation of my poster, I was aiming for simplicity and creativity in order to convey a message of how the creation of the solutions to the problems we face should also be simplistic and yet creative.

 I chose a blue gradient in order to have a calm feeling around my poster. I feel that this adds to the feeling of simplicity as well, because I feel like a Creative Technologist should be calm and collected when creating their solutions to problems.

 I put the four words around the symbol in the middle as I feel like they are the four most important parts of creating a solution in Creative Technology.

Creativity: Creativity is a given. To come up with creative solutions, one must use creativity in order solve the problems that are given to them.

Reflection: After you complete one problem, one must use that experience of completing the problem, and all other that were prior to in order to complete future problems with ease and in a better fashion.

Positivity: A Creative Technologist must remain positive, even in the face of failure. To remain positive is to also have the strength to fail, adapt, overcome, improve and move on.

Prototype: While creating the solution to a problem, it is important to create prototypes in order to see if it is possible or functional as the solution. It is required so that if the prototype fails, you can kill the proverbial baby that was your original idea and then start again.

Today we had a rather relaxed day as a few of us play tested with people from different groups while others developed different parts of the game style and art.

Rules and for my game:

The aim of the game depends on which role you get at the beginning on the game. Survivors are wanting to activate a certain number of Holy runes or kill the Cultists. The Cultists are wanting to activate a certain number of Corrupt runes or kill the Survivors. The number of Cultists to Survivors is 1:2. The number of Runes needed to win for either side is equal to the number of players.

There is a 2:1 imbalance between Corrupt and Holy Runes. At the beginning on the game, Roles are given out, along side 3 random runes.

If there is more than 1 Cultist, they are revealed in secret to one another while everyone else covers their eyes.

The rounds are divided into 3 phases.

1st Phase: Runes.  A Token is then given to one person, that person picks another to give them two runes out of their 3, the picked person then replenishes their own runes back to 3 while the person with the Token chooses which of the two runes they want to put down. Both the chosen person can say what runes were given, and they can also lie.

2nd Phase: Movement. Starting from the person with the Token, they can move their character from one room to another that is next to them. If they do move, the collect a random Action or Weapon card. If they do not move, they do not collect a random card. This phase moves clockwise from the person with the Token

3rd Phase: Action. Again, starting from the person with the Token, they can choose to use an Action based on what actions they have collected so far. If another player has an Action taken against them, they can use a Reaction in response. Action Phase goes clockwise from the person with the Token.

Today we came together with our different game designs. Mine was a bit underdeveloped (I hadn’t written out the rules, had a game board or prepared it at all really, but I had a general concept.) so I completed mine while Nate showed off his cluedo/paper scissors rock combination game and Dan showed off NBA basketball game where you roll dice. 

Basil and Peter’s games were very incomplete to the point where I can’t remember what they were, but apparently they were intriguing.

I eventually presented my game with an hour left in class. It is a vague combination of Cluedo, Secret Hitler and the card game, Mafia. It also has a few elements of D&D.

Today we came together and talked about the possibility of basing a game around isolation, having the game board change through out the game as the players loose sections as their characters “forget” things blocking off certain areas.

This idea, while interesting, seems rather dark but has potential to be a great game. If we were to do it, we would need to be careful as to not offend people.

Today we decided to scrap the idea of doing a computer game simply based on our lack of ability to code and create a game given the short amount of time. 

Instead, we have decided to use Nate’s original idea of a board game. This will be easier to create, but harder to give a theme of isolation or horror.

Today we reconvened  and unfortunately did not get much work done as most of the class was taken up by jokes and us as a team getting to know each other better.

We ended the lesson by going off and doing research on different versions and sub classes of the theme of isolation.

Today, everyone walked around with vague designs until people came together into groups.

I at first joined up with Nate and Dan, we went to a table and collected Basil and Peter.

We all had the idea of doing a horror/thriller based video game, with a theme of Isolation.

https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-triple-rocket-landing-success.html

I find that Elon Musk landing all 3 of the rockets shows the progress of humanity and the advancements in space exploration as they managed to land the 2 side boosters in perfect unison with the 3rd rocket coming down as well. It gives me hope that they will be able to enable easier space travel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4TMFCDfS5A

I have mixed feelings about “What a Wonderful World” and the find the lyrics extremely impactful as I have a few very important and personal memories based around this song with the most prominent being dancing and singing with my mom in the kitchen and pausing slightly on the line “I hear babies crying, I watch them grow, They'll learn much more than I'll never know.” finally realizing the importance of that line and what it truly means.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

After creating the Overthrow the Decktator card game, it is interesting to look back at the tasks that we performed and reflect on the things that we created and made. Being given the simply task of “Make a Deck of Cards” was extremely intriguing to me, and working with like minded individuals was a enjoyable experience as we got on most of the time and when we didn’t, it usually turned out for the betterment of the group as a whole. Being given a vague task with rules was a new experience for me. It also felt like it gave me very useful learning tools that will come in handy with later projects. This new experience included an increased ability to work with new people of whom I hadn’t met before, practise in the creation of posters and stylised posters and pictures, learning when to step forth with my own ideas, and that some of the best ideas can be the most simple. This was mostly showcased when we ditched our original plan for a much simpler one that turned out better than the first one most likely would have.

 Our groups main goal was to bring together a 2 or more strangers and make them either friends or closer friends. Fun would also be incorporated as enticement to use our deck of cards as it is a useful and versatile motive. We, as a group, started brainstorming ideas that we could use and develop a deck of cards from. Our original idea was to isolate 2 people from one another in order to have them meet without any prior prejudices by hanging a curtain between them or putting them in booths and passing cards between each other. This idea was scrapped as it would have most likely taken far too long, and so we brain stormed several other ideas, until we came across the basses of what would become Overthrow the Decktator. The base of the game was set around the Deck being letter cards where one person would create a word where the others would attempt to guess the word. This went through many testing phases as we adjusted the rules by playing with the deck ourselves and asking other groups to play with us. Various rules were created and adjusted with the core rules, such as adding in 2 of each vowel but only one constant in order to limit the length of words. We also changed how points were earned, giving points to the Decktator whenever the other players failed. Another small adjustment was that we gave the Decktator the ability to change the Topic Card’s topic after each round as well as the inclusion of a timer. The game eventually became close to what the final product was.

 Near the end of the making the Deck (which at the time was called Ditto) we decided we needed a theme. Several ideas were thrown about for a theme and eventually a joke between Patrick and me, “What about The Dictator?” “The Decktator?”, became the theme. After a quick vote, and some more discussion, we focussed it on a Russian dictators and created colour schemes and designed prototype cards to see what we could make. The colours were primarily maroon, cream and black which we based off various Russian propaganda (and modern depictions of Russian propaganda) posters. We also spent a while deciding on the font and eventually chose a blocky square font that looks similar to the posters we were using. We had 2 different designs for the 2 types of cards we had, Letter cards and Topic cards. For the Letter cards we had a very simple design with the letter in the centre and the logo we had design with the United Fist on the back with the name of the game. The Topic cards went through 4 or 5 designs before we settled on the two topics mirroring each other, one on red, one on black separated by a white line. We also created and printed out instructions that would look like the Russian Propaganda posters with cartoons created by members of our group.

 When we were tasked with the creation of the instructional video on how to use our Deck, we decided to continue with the Russian Dictator theme, so I went and purchased fake moustaches and a hat that had a star on it. I also used my dark rain coat in order to further the costume of a dictator. Most of the video’s script was made up just before we filmed it. I used a stereotypical Russian accent while in the video when describing the rules of the game and how to play it. The instructional video turned out quite nicely as we had Anwell edit it after filming. I also 3d printed a case for the cards. As for our presentation, it went well with the class listening to us without interruption except for questions. We went last out of everyone in the group presentations, which was personally a bit frightening to be the final ones. The play test went off without a hitch with me as the Decktator and the others guessing a 4 letter word “BEAR” with ease after the 3rd letter. We answered the questions asked of us with relative ease and showed around the showcase objects including several letter cards, a few topic cards and a set of the rules in the poster format.

This day we did less testing and more creation of a spice mixture including cayenne pepper, chilli flakes, food colouring and chocolate.

This mixture proved to be very spicy indeed as I taste tested it. We also created a single chocolate with this at the bottom of it and had someone taste test it. At the beginning, they thought that it wasn’t too spicy, but then it began to get worse for him. 

Today we went around and asked people to try chocolates filled with various fillings including olives, Vegemite, raw ginger, wasabi, capers, tabasco, mustard and cinnamon.

Today i taste tested several different homemade chocolates including a very large one that contained about 2 tablespoons of a sludge consisting of cayenne pepper and water, it was not a pleasant experience...

Today we had a research day as we explored different candies and how to create them, chocolate seeming to be the most simply out of them.

We also looked into the purchasing of molds in order to cast the candies, finding nearby stores to purchase them from.