By now I’ve developed initial rules that you can see below:
Birds table top game
Speed duel game
2 players
Using: mobile app, origami paper
Goal: be the first one to get to the top of the tree
Description: the game requires a mobile app to play. The app switches colour, which indicates the positions players can take during a period of time. Colours shift randomly and random time in the range from 40 to 120 seconds. During this time players act simultaneously.
Time: For the time period given players must fold a bird and/or place them in the desired position of a highlighted colour. It is allowed to take 2 strategies:
- Use the time period only to make as many birds as possible. In that case you can’t claim positions. The next time period will allow you only to take positions with the birds made previously
- Make-place-make. Make a bird and place it immediately. If there’s time left the cycle can be repeated. If time runs out before the bird is placed, it doesn’t participate in the game any more and can be put away.
Starting position: players make a tutorial bird to acquaint themselves with the scheme and place it to any position on branch edges of level 1. This will be your starting position.
Movement: Players can claim position of appropriate colour only next to their already placed bird (reduce time to make colours shift faster? 60 sec max) If there is same colour nearby and player gas enough time to make another bird, it is allowed to take as many positions of that colour in that way.
Levels: There are 4 levels in the game, each of them having several stems. Level of a particular branch is defined by the position of its stem. Branch can be higher or lower, but till is counted as the level of its stem.
The UP branches: There are special branches that can take you to the next layer. There are several of these on each level. One can claim it if:
A) they managed to claim one of (3?) surrounding positions. Another bird is placed on the UP position and can proceed with positions of next level
B) If all other position on the level have been claimed
The WIN position: doesn’t have a particular colour and can be claimed if:
- All positions on level 4 have been claimed. The one who manages to make and place the bird first wins
- If a player manages to claim a sequence of position, leading to the winning position
As I’ve mentioned in the previous entries, I’m trying a bit another approach in generating rules and ideas from the current game situation (like inventing gameplay options in real time).
I could already see potential problem with the prototype: I didn’t have any plan for colour code and marked positions with colour randomly. So I didn’t know whether that will work at all.I tired to rely on the idea that colour in the app will be switching, and give time to claim appropriate amount of positions, and the game will function.
Unfortunately, almost immediately I saw that time strategies don’t work at all. Colours were too slow to switch for such type of (strategy) movement and some king of colour spread over the level must be introduced.
Very quickly I ran into an issue of defining what is a “nearby/neighbouring position”, because it’s hard to tell judging by their physical position. So since there are clear and separare branches, it’s possible to use them as a defining criterium. So a neighbouring position is any position of any colour situated on a branch. Player can claim any position on a branch per turn*.
*turn is the time period when a colour in the app is active. Players act simultaniously during a turn.
This helped me to develop further ideas to substitute the failed concept of movement and UP positions.
Initially UP position should be available when all positions on a branch have been claimed, i.e. player will be the last one to claim a position on that branch (it doesn’t depend on which of the players claimed more positions on that branch. It’s important just to be the last one). This is already an altered rule for UP positions. As you can see from the rules above, I wasn’t sure at all how that would work. Playtest showed that the new version kind of worked, but global change in colour code changed this concept one more time.
Now any position of a particular colour (shown in the app) on the level can be claimed, and gradualy players will fill up the branches. The component of strategy kind of shifted to just being attentive, when one position on a branch is left and claim it as soon as possible to continue to the next level.
Shifts in colour code:
So, quite quickly playtest showed that total randomness doesn’t contribute to game playability, so I applied a more mathematical approach. First of all, branches must have equal amount of positions what must bring equal opportunities for players to claim branches and go up.
Colours are now repeated in cyles, amount of which depends on the amount of positions on the level. Amount of positions decreases as levels go up.
Level 1: 5 positions + 1 UP equals to 4 colour cycles
Level 2: 4 pos + 1 UP equals to 3 colour cycles + 1 colour
Level 3: 3 pos + 1 UP equals to 2 colour cycles + 2 colours
Level 4: 3 pos equals to 2 colour cycles + 2 colours (alternative to level 3)
These calculations are theoretical for now, but I can predict they are workable. Of course this must be tested, what means I’ll have to rebuild the prototype with these alterations.
Playtest 2 upcoming