In Season

Presents

So for this game we decided to stay as close to the core mechanic outlined as possible.  We decided to make a game that was an education memory game that will teach people the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season.

Our inspiration for this game comes a lot from Gin, and a little bit from Go Fish. We decided to make a simple model where players draw cards and create sets of matching fruits and vegetables.

Goal:

The goal of the game is to collect as many different sets of fruits and vegetables as possible.

Each month of the year has a specific group of fruits and vegetables that make up a set.

Fruit and vegetables may belong to more than one set (mirroring how a fruit or vegetable is in season several months a year).

A month set is considered "complete" when a player holds the necessary fruits and vegetables for that month.

For example, if you collect five fruits or veggies that are part of the January set, you have succesfully gained one set.

The player with the most sets when the game is over wins!

Rules:

Each player starts with 4 cards, a random player goes first

Steps in a turn:

                First:

                                Draw a card from the deck

                Second:

                                Check to see if he you a complete set of 5 cards

                                If you do, play that set face up, in front of you. This set is considered complete.

                                Draw until you have 4 cards - the turn is now over

                                If you do not have set after drawing a card, proceed to step Three

                Third:

                                Choose a card at random from another players hand

                                Choose a card from your hand (not at random) to give back to the other player

                                If a set is made, play that set and draw until you have 4 cards - the turn is now over

                                If no set is made even still, your turn is over.

A random selection of my favorites fresh fruits and vegetables:

 

 

 
  

Dance Dance Simon

Presents

Overview:
For are final prototype we decided to recreate the single player party game Simon into a multiplayer party dancing game.

We came up with this idea by looking at the game requirements and thinking about party games we have played in the past, Simon seems like a natural choice to build a base off of. The next step was we wanted to incorporate the video into our game so we developed a simple console application to randomly pick and play a user defined number of videos in a row that are individual moves from Chaiyya Chaiyya video.

The game functions much like the game Simon in that the moves keep repeating, with a break in between for the players to copy the moves.

Dance Dance Simon Rules:

The game is intended as an icebreaker to be used at parties, social gatherings, etc.

The game operates similarly to the game “Simon” where a computer plays a pattern based on four buttons (Red, blue, green, yellow).  It is the player’s job to return that same pattern.  Successfully repeating the computer’s pattern adds one button to the list of patterns, scaling up the difficulty.  It is a single player memory game.

Similarly, our game hopes to turn this into a multiplayer dancing game. 

Setup:

·         All players stand facing the Leader.

·         The “Leader” may be: a person, a video, a drawing, or any other representation of dance moves

o   We have provided a program that randomizes dance moves based on clips from the actual Chaiyaa Chaiyaa dance scene

How to Play:

·         The leader starts by showing one dance move

o   All players must repeat the same move. 

o   If any player fails to do so, they are out

·         The leader repeats the first dance move, then adds a new one

o   All players must repeat this dance move sequence

o   Any player who fails to repeat the move is out

·         The leader repeats the previous dance sequence, and adds a new move

o   All players must repeat this dance sequence

o   Any player who fails to repeat the move is out

·         The game continues until there is one person left.  This person is declared the winner

   Game File Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5six2y8gzbq5ada/DanceDanceSimonFinal.7z

A Starry Night : Whodunit - Murder He Worte

PRESENTS

BASED ON THEMES DERIVED FROM

A STARRY NIGHT BY VINCENT VAN GOGH

So for our Second Prototype game we had a lot of fun developing it. We deiced to make our own Whodunit type game as a bases for telling a story. Essentially we have created a framework for players to play through a murder mystery in the town based in A Starry Night. We decided as a group the themes that best represented the painting are dark and depressing so we used that as a base for the Whodunit, by crafting characters and mechanics that will fill that role.

Concept:

We started out with the basic concept of a Whodunit murder mystery since that at its heart is a story driven book, we took this concept because it allowed us the amount of control we required to guide players through the game with our themes intact. We eventually released the control we had into one of the players who will play a "Van Gogh" which is essentially a Game Master. He leads the players through the game providing answers to there questions and providing them with clues, he controls the important facts about the game.

Rules:

•             Players will decide on a player to be the 'Van Gogh'. The Van Gogh acts as a game master and narrator for the game. The VG will then choose one of the 11 characters to be a murderer and one to be a victim. They will then create a plot as simple or complicated as they want using the rest of the characters. Use sample plot as a template.
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•       Every player picks a character bio card (this is their character) and places their token in the town square.
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•       The objective of the game is for players to successfully discover which of the 11 characters is the murderer.
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•             The game will begin with the Van Gogh telling the players who the murder victim is and suspicious details about the townspeople that may or may not be relevant to the murder. The type and amount of information given is completely up to the Van Gogh.
• 
  
•       Players gather information about the murder in two ways: Talking to characters and investigating areas around the town. Only one of these actions may be done each turn.

•      Players can talk to any of the 11 characters to gather information on the murder. This is done by asking the Van Gogh any question they want that they feel is relevant to the crime. All characters have things that anger them. Trying to determine motive is a good place to start.
• 
  
•       Players may also talk to other players, but there is no guarantee that other players will share information or even tell the truth.
• 
  
•       Players may also investigate any of the places in the town in an attempt to discover clues about the murder. The players must justify to the Van Gogh why they are investigating certain places. If the Van Gogh determines an investigation to be 'successful', a player is rewarded with a clue card, which has valuable information on the murder.

• *It is important to note that this game is a very role-playing 'table talking game. The Van Gogh will always tell the truth, but may withhold certain information depending on how justified you are in asking what you are asking.

•      After every player has had a turn, the game advances to the next night. Every three nights, the Van Gogh picks another character (not being played) to fall victim to their murderer.

•     The game progresses until a player is confident that they know who the murderer is and what the murder weapon was. The player will make their accusation at the beginning of their turn. If they are correct, the game is over. If they are incorrect, they are out of the game.

The Van Gogh Role Tips:

This is intended as a reference guide for the Van Gogh of the story.  Remember, the Van Gogh is the most important player; they set up the game, and are usually the host of the party.  They are the god within the machine, all-knowing.   They need to be good at improvisation, because some story arcs will appear out of thin air!

• To do beforehand:
• Scene of Crime:  Specify the location of the murdered person.  It can be anywhere as long as it is not the town square.  As an example, use the graveyard.
• Murderer:  Each player can hypothetically be a murderer.  Make sure you specify who the murderer is beforehand, so that you can’t accidentally change it halfway through.  Also give the player a reason to murder.  Don’t have the priest randomly kill the widow without explaining why he might do that.  Some player relations are listed on the Bio sheets.  For advanced players, you can make a murderer as well as an accomplice.  To start, it is recommended to use the Baker on his own as the murderer.
• Back story:  Create some back story for the NPCs that you’ll be controlling.  This back story is basically just what the character was doing night of the murder, so possible alibis.  These change from game to game.  We recommend having something like the priest saw the town drunk get outrageously drunk the night of the murder and pass out in the park.  Also, have something like the baker’s assistant was out of town that night on a delivery.  Use your imagination, you tell the story!
• Clues in the area:  Make sure you think about some clues and where they are going to be found in the game map.  For instance, if the dead body was found to be poisoned, and the baker happens to have an empty bottle of poison in his garbage, it looks extremely suspicious.  Similarly, if there are only male footprints at the scene of the crime, it is unlikely that the murderer was a female.  If the clues provided aren't good enough, take one of the blank ones and write something down!
• To do during:
• Make sure people tell good stories.  If someone says “I search the area for clues” give them a poor clue at best.  But, if they say something like “I meticulously search the main path to the cemetery, looking for footprints”, award that player with exactly what he was looking for.  Remember, this game is just as much about storytelling as it is murder mystery and role playing.
• Just because someone asks a question, doesn't mean you need to answer it.  If a player challenges an NPC saying unimaginative like, “Did you murder him?”, feel free to create a story workaround so that you don’t have to answer it, such as: “I get so offended at you slandering my good name that I punch you in the face and knock you out”.  This is to discourage people asking easy questions.  However, should you choose to actually give an answer, it MUST BE TRUE.
• Someone looks for a clue that you don’t have?  Let’s say a player looks around in a bush to find poison berries, which could be a murder weapon.  You could tell the player he finds nothing, or for advanced players, feed him a false clue by taking a second write down the poison berries on one of the blank clue cards provided!   Be careful of this though, you need to keep track of the clues players find, and how they relate to the game. 
• Slow game?  Kill a character!   If you find that the game is slowing down and the players aren't making much progress, you have the option to kill off an NPC every 3 turns.  This helps the player by adding a new murder scene where you can plant new clues.  Also, it decreases the amount of possible suspects, helping out the players.

Character Bios:

Name:	Basile Chaput
Gender:	Male
Occupation	Butcher
Age:	32
Height:	5 foot 4
Important Relations:	Has a secret crush on the candlestick maker
Facts:	Likes to walk alone at night No one knows where he gets his meat Is a vegetarian

Name:	Léo Gosselin
Gender:	Male
Occupation	Town Drunk
Age:	40
Height:	6 Feet
Important Relations:	Brother of the widow On good terms with constable
Facts:	Occasionally passes out in the graveyard or park Sometimes gets arrested for public indecency, drunkenness, etc.  Used to be a soldier

Name:	Guy Tailler
Gender:	Male
Occupation	Baker
Age:	28
Height:	4 foot  11
Important Relations:	Is crushed on by the candlestick maker Frequently employs the services of the courtesan
Facts:	Severe Napoleon complex Binge eats his own pastries Used to make cakes for royalty, quit because he was ridiculed for his height

Name:	Jérémie Archambault
Gender:	Male
Occupation	Gravedigger
Age:	22
Height:	6 foot 2
Important Relations:	Married to the Baker’s Assistant Doesn't get along well with the Priest
Facts:	Extremely emotional Works at nighttime as a gravedigger Often falls asleep on the job, making Father Benoit dislike him somewhat Falls asleep in the graves he digs.  Can talk his way out of any situation, smooth talker
Name:	Léandre Gagnier
Gender:	Male
Occupation	Constable
Age:	35
Height:	5 foot 8
Important Relations:	Mutual respect with town drunk Doesn't trust the gravedigger
Facts:	Bad judge of character Nighttime vigilante Can’t talk to women
Name:	Marion Archambault
Gender:	Female
Occupation	Baker’s assistant
Age:	20
Height:	5 foot 6
Important Relations:	Good friends with candlestick maker Married to the gravedigger
Facts:	Gossips often with the candlestick maker Unintentionally flirty Does deliveries for the baker.

Name:	Suzanne Lapointe
Gender:	Female
Occupation	Courtesan
Age:	26
Height:	5 foot 4
Important Relations:	Has a crush on the gravedigger Is frequently employed by the baker
Facts:	Extremely insightful Knows everyone’s secrets Is very good at keeping them

Name:	Geneveve Janvier
Gender:	Female
Occupation	Candlestick maker
Age:	21
Height:	5 foot 7
Important Relations:	Has a crush on the baker Is good friends with the baker’s assistant
Facts:	Has recently put on weight and is insecure about it Short temper Very affectionate about her cats

Name:	Pétronille Chastain
Gender:	Female
Occupation	Widow
Age:	45
Height:	5 foot 2
Important Relations:	Sister of the town drunk Good friends with Father Benoit
Facts:	Religious Has a loyal dog Indifferent Is a polite old lady

Name:	Father Francois Benoit
Gender:	Male
Occupation	Priest
Age:	50
Height:	5 foot 10
Important Relations:	Dislikes the gravedigger Good friends with the widow Thinks the courtesan will spend eternity in hell
Facts:	Has as wooden leg Angry when people miss church Carries holy water with him at all times.

Clues:

These are the predefined clues we provide to the "Van Gogh", he can also create his own clues on the blank cards we provide.