Games Studies / Full Compilation
Daphne Lai Yu Cheng / 0366380
GCD 61504 / Games Studies / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors' University
Full Compilation & Weekly Progress
Week 1
Ms. Noranis briefed us on the assignments for this module and our final outcome is a tabletop game.
Week 2
Ms. Noranis mentioned that Heartbeat and the medical game sounded more solid and has potential for further development but have to create more user engagement.
Week 3
Figure 1.2 UnboxmoU Game Cafe
We decided to go with Heartbeart's concept. To further develop this game, our group went to a game cafe, UnboxmoU, at SS15 for field study to play some table top games to gain some ideas during week 3.
Week 4
On week 4, our group did a play test on the game. Unfortunately, the game did not turn out as exciting as we expected it to be. There are also a lot to debug from the game the more we played the game. To solve this issue, our senior, Edwin, tested the game with us and provided feedback saying that the gameplay rules and instructions are confusing as a first timer and we needed to come up with better gameplay mechanics.
Week 5
Figure 1.3 New Ideas, Play Test
We had to brainstorm for more ideas to solve our current gameplay mechanics. New ideas were proposed in our progress check document and we scheduled a meeting to playtest our refined game. Surprisingly, the game became more fun and exciting! We also played the game with our friend to gain feedback from her. She mentioned that the game is fun and wanted to replay it.Week 6
Figure 1.5 Play Test
After the group presentation, we wanted to gain more feedback from other people. We had a playtest with another group. They mentioned that the game is easy to understand and fun but the prototype is too lofi as everyone could see through the cards each player has. (will be redesigned for upcoming playtest week).
Feedback from the group:
- The cards are too see through and players could predict the next player's move.
- Reflect card bug: After deflecting an attack, if the player has a reflect card as well, can deflect the attack back again.
Figure 1.6 Making new set of cards
According to the feedback we received, we decided to make the cards with thicker paper and used colour paper to categorise the type of cards.
We also decided to add a new power card: Roll A Dice. How it works is that it syncs your heartbeat with whatever number you get after rolling the dice (Luck).
Figure 1.7 Playtest (Jensen's Family)
- What if already on speed round, but one player plays another speed card.
- Does it double the speed or nothing happens
- Player was gonna die of shocks, but last card was a swap card
- Player can risk using the swap card to swap with another players card to save their live
- If manages to get power cards like cancel or deflect, then player can survive
- Add abit more
- Somehow ended up with winner x9, second x8, third x3, last x0
Week 7
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Figure 1.8 Playtest with Ms. Noranis
This week was for playtest 1. We had 2 playtests, one was with Ms. Noranis! It was fun and she said our game was quick to learn, very easy to understand and interesting.
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Figure 1.9 Playtest 1
After that, we had Playtest 1 with Group 4. They played the game on week 6 before so they were slightly familiar with the rules, they played a few rounds and said that the game is fun and the cards have better quality now as they could not predict the next player's move.
Figure 1.10 New Power Cards
We also started on the gameplay mechanics review and iterative playtest report. After that, I made the Luck cards into a different colour so players won't get confused when playing.
Week 8
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Figure 1.11 Playtest 2
On week 8, we were assigned to do playtest 2, we did a playtest with Group 2 and answered the game mechanics review and iterative playtest report after the game. They said that the game is exciting, fun and quite a short one so they played for a few rounds to compete on who can win on each round.
Figure 1.12 Rule Book Sketch
After class, we decided to make a physical for players to better understand the game rules and sketched the design inspired by Exploding Kitten's rule book then divided parts on which page to do.
Week 9
This week was self directed week.
This week, we worked on illustrating the rule book, updated the game mechanics review and iterative test report.
Week 10
This week was self directed week.
This week, we worked on illustrating the rule book, updated the game mechanics review and iterative test report. We also updated Ms. Noranis on our current progress.
Week 11
This week was self directed week.
Figure 1.13 Rule Book Design
Figure 1.14 Printed Rule Book
Week 12
Figure 1.15 Playtest 3
Figure 1.16 Playtest
Before class ended, Ms. Noranis briefed us on the final group presentation and submission.
Week 13
This week was self directed week.
We submitted our game to Ms. Noranis for submission, updated the game mechanics report and iterative playtest report, divided tasks and started working on the final presentation slides.
Week 14
This week was holiday.
Our group finalised the final presentation slides and recorded our group presentation.
Figure 1.19 Final Group Presentation Video
Submissions
Weekly Progress Slides
Project 1: Tabletop Game Proposal Slides
Figure 1.23 Final Group Presentation Video
Week 2 (29/9/2025)
1. Heartbeat: Have potential, keep the game speed, create more engagement, come up with a way for the next person to cover back (protagonist & antagonist).
2. Lost in Translation: Come up a winning mechanism, can look at existing game mechanism.
3. Medical: Make something different with happy family, think about the narrative, more scenarios, the roles can have more conditions.
Week 4 (13/10/2025)
Come up with better game mechanics, a little difficult to understand the game as a first timer.
Week 6 (27/10/2025)
The fact that you managed to change the gameplay mechanics by eliminating the metronome concept is already good. Make sure there is balance in the gameplay.
Overall, this was the module I enjoyed the most and had a lot of fun with. Throughout the group work process, I really enjoyed brainstorming and playtesting our game by using feedback from other players to improve it. During the brainstorming stage, everyone in our group put in effort to come up with ideas. There were times when things didn’t work out as expected, but everyone was open to feedback and suggestions to refine the game mechanics. I realised that communication is very important in group work, especially when discussing gameplay mechanics, because we needed to work collaboratively and ensure the rules were clear. Gameplay mechanics are also essential in making a game user friendly, helping players understand and enjoy the game without feeling frustrated. I am grateful to all my groupmates for putting in extra effort and for the feedback everyone provided and especially to Ms. Anis, who guided us and helped us progress successfully. Overall, this was a fun experience and a great exposure to UI/UX design.
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