Chicken Cross

Chicken Cross Game

Today we were given the task of creating a game in groups. Once we had been placed in groups and given the rules of the game we promtley started to concept out game ideas and theories.

The Rules were as follows; It has too be 2 player, On a fixed tiled board that is turn-based. The game also shouldn't last more than 15 minutes. These rules allowed for a lot of freedom within the design and concept but it also served as enough of a constraint to keep our designs and thoughts focused.  

We began discussing different ideas and theories on what we wanted to create, we eventually settled on the concept that we want too have chickens in the game. One thing lead too another and thus 'Chicken Cross' was born. 

The concept is simple; Two players roll a dice, and try to get too the other-side of the road before the other player. Sounds simple? However the map we designed was littered with obstacles and power-ups that each player could use too their advantage!

The power-ups are as follows; 

 Card                                        Effect

Cone                              Small obstacle taking up 1 grid space. Blocks player movement. 

Barricade                      Same as the cone but coming in various sizes and shapes. 

Traffic Jam                     Coloumn of cars crosses the board vertically blocking the players from
                                       moving  across the board horizontally for 2 turns.

Oil Slick                         2x2 Grid, If the player lands in it and rolls a green they move an extra
                                       2 places, if it's red they move move back two spaces.

Chicken Flight               Player can Jump barricades & cones. .

Citizen Help                   Enemy player miss a go.

Vehicular Drag Back    If dice roll is even, half opposing players next dice roll. 
                                        If dice roll is odd, half your next dice roll. 

Truck Smash                 If you roll green, the player will move forward 6 place If red they will move
                                        back 6 places. Can be used on either player.

We then went on too play test the game;

We found out a few things during the testing and prototyping process;

Fundamentally, we learnt that the game was fun! Which is good because it meant that it would be a game that would be worth refining and perfecting.

Secondly we learnt - Don't use origami dice. They're heavily weighted to particular numbers see pictures below!

We also found that the game was potentially a little bit too quick and it was easy for players too complete the map. We also found that if one particular player has a good start it's difficult for the opposing player too catch back up. 

The cone is pointless. No really, it did nothing in the way of hindering anybody. 

These are things that we'd address in an iterative process had we taken the game further. A few ways of fixing these problems would be to; 

A) Make the maps bigger.
B) Add more preset obstacles. 
C) Add more card pick-ups and alter card frequency of powerful cards. 


All in all I feel that it was a good experience, we had fun creating and playing the game and it also taught me the importance of paper based design and how theoretical ideas can never be perfect. We can make informed desisions in the conceptual stages however the only true way too find out if the game is fun and the mechanics work, is to play the game.