Prepare a short paper that answers the following questions:
Analysis:
Who will play the game? Age group characteristics, interests?
Analysis:
Who will play the game? Age group characteristics, interests?
The game will be catered primarily towards people ages 14 and up. This is because the game will require certain amounts of strategy that requires a certain level of mental development. The game will be playing a historical recreation of the Roman Battle of Alesia, in which the Romans fought a confederation of Gallic Tribes. Thus, the game will be most enjoyed by those who enjoy battles, battle strategy, and ancient Roman history.
What play characteristics will engage your target audience?
Characteristics that engage the target audience will be freedom of play, (The game has very few restrictions of how you can move your troops), turn based strategy, and contest based gameplay.
Concept Development:
Theme: What is the basic premise of the game? the environment? the situation? Why will this be fun?
The premise of the game is a historical recreation of the Roman Battle of Alesia. The environment is the final skirmish of the battle. The Roman army is fighting on two sides. The Gauls had a relief force pressing on them from behind, while initially the Romans were siegeing another group of Gauls in the middle of the fort. If the Romans lose this point in the battle, the two Gallic groups will be able to combine, and wipe out the Roman force. On the other hand, the Gauls in the inner circle have been without food for days. If they do not get relief after this battle, they will lose the will to fight.
Game Play: Decide on the rules (what is permitted), characters (minimal), challenges (how will the player be put in difficult circumstances), and consequences (carrot and sticks) of each level of the game. Incorporate randomness to ensure that the learning experience is varied.
The gameplay is turn based. The Romans have a turn to move their pieces, then the Gauls can move theirs. This is repeated until the game is concluded (Much like chess). The challenge for the Roman side is that they are outnumbered and fighting on two sides. They have better troops, but this alone is not enough to overcome the Gallic numbers. The challenge for the Gauls is that to win, they must kill all the Roman troops or kill Caesar, who will be defended by strong pieces. There also may be a time limit imposed (after which the Romans would win) but that will have to be determined during game testing.
Every aspect of the game is consequential. You must sacrifice troops to gain better positions, the longer the game goes, the less troops you will have. Trades must be made in order to succeed. There will be choke points where it is easier for the Romans to hold back the Gauls, but they may lose troops trying to get to that choke point. etc.
Each side will have unique troops with different “stats” as well, certain troops will be powerful against others. For example, pikemen might be strong against cavalry, but weak against heavy infantry. Archers have high attack range, but very little defense. The calculation for damage caused is actually very simple, and should be easy to include.
Randomness is gained from the competitive nature of the game. Due to the difficulty of programming a computer “player” the game will be played by two users. Because there are many ways to strategize and move your troops (again, similar to chess) the game will be different every time, and each player will have to adapt to the opposing player’s strategies.
Learning context: How will you provide feedback to the user, both positive and negative, that will allow the player to "win"? What is the end objective, eg, what will the player learn from the gameplay?
Win conditions will be different for each side. The Romans will need to hold out for a certain length of time, or kill a certain number of the enemy troops. The Gauls will need to defeat all the enemy Romans, or kill Caesar himself. This would represent a loss of morale and the routing of the Roman army.
The learning element of the game will be historical. The game will start with a factual description of the situation, along with events leading up to the battle. This will be displayed in the form of text. Each type of troop will also be based on historical fact. The users will have an option to see more information of each kind of troop, and strengths and weaknesses. In this way the game will be able to present a large amount of historical information, while still preserving the entertaining aspects of the strategy-based gameplay.
