Designing a game from scratch, which can be played both physically and digitally
Slink Out the Clink
Board games aren’t just being played over Christmas holidays anymore, with traditional tipples such as Baileys and Port helping to fuel competitive spirits. Dedicated board game cafes are gaining more and more popularity, so there’s always room for a new game to be introduced to the market.
Games can be seen as the ultimate UX — the whole point of playing them is to enjoy the experience, as opposed to using a product for purely functional reasons, such as making a dental appointment or booking a train ticket.
I set myself the challenge to create a game, which can be played traditionally in the physical sense and digitally to accommodate the popularity of online products, and, most importantly of all, to be fun to play
Project Type
Project
Role
Physical and Digital Product
Concept
UX, UI, Branding
Pssst, if you want to skip past the research you can go to straight to the digital prototype instead!
CHAPTER 1
Understanding the Market
Who Is The User And Why?
Since there are so many types of games and players out there, I decided to narrow down the design of my game and focus on a particular type of demographic. The software I would be using wouldn’t be advanced in game-making – I would be using Sketch as I am familiar with it and it’s currently my favourite tool.
To start to generate some ideas, I imagined some existing popular board games such as Monopoly and Cluedo which are simple in concept and involve strategy, making them compelling to play.
Are Board Games Still Popular?
Just to make sure board games would still be appealing to users in this day and age I checked the stats.
Board games are even growing in popularity - the global board games market size is expected to reach values of over $12 billion by 2023 - ResearchAndMarkets.com’s.
Thirty is the average age of a gamer these days and the most popular computer game (not console) genre is strategy - Entertainment Software Association.
There are also many sites where you can play board games online, against other people across the globe, such as Steam and Board Game Arena. My research confirmed that there would be an audience whether I made this a traditional table-top game or an online version.
My target audience were 30-somethings who enjoyed strategy board games.
?
CHAPTER 2
User Research
CHAPTER 3
Vison
Game Vision
My starting point was the scenario. I wanted the game to feel like an adventure which had an engaging plot. I decided the game would be set in prison and the end goal was to successfully escape. A prison has a lot of possibilities and elements for strategic thinking - various rooms, characters (both allies and enemies), possible escape scenarios, artefacts and even general prison routines. All of these elements collectively make an engaging game.
Game Dynamics
Taking inspiration from Cluedo, I envisioned rolling a dice and moving individual counters around a floorplan of the prison. Cards also provide a way to tell a story, which would be beneficial in aiding the direction of the game. These cards could also be collectable items which aid your escape. In order to understand the entire basic process, I mapped out an overview of how to navigate the game.
Individual role: Move around prison, collect essential cards needed and escape. I added in complexities after understanding the basics.
The diagram below shows an event card being included after each round:
CHAPTER 4
Creating the First Prototype
User Testing Round 1
Now I had a better idea of how the game could work, I decided it would be easier to make a paper prototype to test it out. This way I could add elements such as rooms, cards and counters to see how they worked in union.
Trialling a test round of the absolute basics with my target audience, I asked them to collect just 3 items on the board which they needed to escape from the relevant room, before adding additional features to make it more interesting.
Feedback: All of the users involved with the testing understood the core premise of the game. I placed all the cards in various rooms including the main task card. It was expressed to me that the main task (intel) card should be distributed to each player at the beginning, so you know what you’re doing straight away and only you know what your objective may be.
Also, all the players should start at the same point, so no one is at a disadvantage if their cell is further away on the board to other rooms.
User Testing Round 2
After the initial feedback I tweaked the game so it wasn’t so simple, by adding elements to create depth and suspense.
Guard - I placed in a guard counter. Once a player’s turn was over they get to move the guard anywhere on the board. If they get caught by the guard, then they’ll have a card confiscated at random (if they have a card), and will be thrown back into their cell.
Feedback: I initially had the guard move 6 steps around the board so he could move enough times that the players would always be cautious of where he was on the board. A loophole with this approach was that a player could potentially move the guard between the same two squares to essentially not move him from his original spot.
The rules will now state that you can’t have the guard go onto the same square twice and the player now rolls the dice to see how many times he can be moved.
Event card - This card’s purpose is to level out the playing field by creating events that could affect players either to their advantage or disadvantage. A new event card will be shown to all the players once everyone’s go in that round is over. The types of scenarios of these events could be a lock-down, causing all players to immediately be placed back in their cell, or something mundane which doesn’t affect the players at all.
Feedback: This was liked as it added more depth to the story and each game would be different compared to the last. It was felt that the introduction of the Event card helped to change the dynamics of the game.
Action Cards - Two random action cards are given to each player at the start of the game. These can be used whenever it’s that players turn and once a card has been used it can’t be used again. The cards are to be used strategically to gain an advantage in the game. An example of an action card is ‘your uncle Lenny is here to visit’ which means you get to jump to the visitation room at any time during your turn.
Feedback: Fun and there’s the potential to use it to put other players at a disadvantage too, so that added another level of strategy.
CHAPTER 5
Showtime
User Testing Round 3
I gathered the users from my target audience and had another round of testing, watching them play the game. This time round I created all the cards and tokens, so I had a much better idea of how this game would go with all the components in place.
Feedback: The game was fun and the users got through the whole game, which took about 25 minutes once everyone got to grips with it. There were some key areas, which I hadn’t appreciated until we played, which were good to understand. These were:
• Some rooms needed two doors to make it a bit quicker to get around the board.
• Once the guard catches the player, the person who was controlling the guard is the one who gets to confiscate a card of their choice from this player and get to put it back on the board in a room of their choice.
• Once a player has collected all of their tokens, the last stage should be the deployment of the decoy immediately prior to escaping. The storyline then takes a turn depending on what that decoy was. For example, if a lock-down occurs because of a riot in the kitchen, all players go straight to their cell and the guard goes straight to the kitchen because that’s where the disturbance is taking place.
• If a player needs a riot as their decoy and there happens to be one pulled from the event card in the location which matches what they need, then they could escape if they have collected their full hand of cards and get to their escape location before that round is over.
• Once a game is over by someone escaping, the other players can decide if they want to carry on to see who escapes next, or just end the game.
I also observed the players and spoke to them about how they felt. There was general agreement that the introduction of a guard into the game increased their excitement and injected an element of tension into it.
The use of a model paper prototype helped me understand the flow of the game better and identified aspects that needed addressing. For example, I had a fire alarm situated in a corridor but it was clear after playing that this was confusing to players and it made more sense for it to be located in a room.
I looked back on my user needs which I took from my initial research and, happy that my game had covered the main points needed to make an enjoyable game, I went on to make my digital version.
CHAPTER 6
Going Digital
Digital Wireframes
Now I understood how to play the game using my paper prototype, I was ready to make a version where you could play the game online. Everyone would need a separate device to play, similar to online card games, as it would be played from your individual point of view. You could invite players into your game or play against random people, online, from around the world.
The computer would automatically setup the game, including laying down the tokens on the map and distributing the action cards amongst all players.
I created two wireframes I thought would be best to contain the board and all the other information in an easy to understand manner. I asked members of my target audience which design they preferred and proceeded with the most popular.
I chose to create a desktop only version for my game as there’s a big market for desktop web games, and I felt playing a board game on a mobile phone would be too difficult for the user.
One of the wireframe options
CHAPTER 7
Slink Out the Clink
Digital Advantages
I present to you my board game called Slink Out the Clink.
Once I had the basics such as the boards and cards placed into my wireframe, I thought about advantages that a digital game can provide. Microphones are big in the online gaming world. I included the mic so players can communicate with each other online.
Explaining more about the mic feature, I wanted my game to be accessible to everyone. If someone finds it hard to use the mouse I added a voice recognition feature. Using this, key words can be understood such as “Roll” to roll the dice.
I added a grid around the map, taking inspiration from Battleships, so a player can say directly which tile they want to land on. To make it easier for players to see possibilities as to where they can go on the map, after they’ve rolled the dice, the available tiles or rooms for them to use (based on the number on the dice) become highlighted to make it easier for them to choose where to go.
I created high-fidelity wireframes which had been adapted to digital. It was very similar to my paper version, but also different due to the wealth of possibilities digital gave me.
Features
Token cards
A player can only move horizontally or vertically, not diagonally.
CCTV Monitor - placing decoy features inside a room following feedback from the paper version.
Highlighted areas showing where you can go after your roll, example if you roll a 3.
Instructions explaining key elements.
CHAPTER 8
Future Thoughts
I had a great time creating this game and enjoyed every step of the process.
I am happy with the game as it achieved a high level of user satisfaction during user testing. If I had the time and resources I would like my digital version to be developed further so I could test that too.
If the game had opportunities to grow, I envisage developing extension packs which could include a new prison wing for the map, new event cards, tokens, co-op mode etc.
Illustration credits go to freepik/macrovector