Week 3 Readings

This week's main idea was all about translation. Specifically the art of translating a sport, to a board game. For me when I searched out odd sports the first to come jump out at me was a game called Bad Toss, Bad Toss is an english pub game that actually plays a lot like a mini version of baseball,  one side is using a seesaw to launch a ball up in the air to hit, If they hit it between the goal posts they score a run, If they miss or the ball is caught by the fielder, who also sort of plays as a goalie, then its an out! For me I thought this would be the perfect game to turn into a board game because it's not so complex that one could probably make a pretty fun and engaging miniature version. However when I met up with my group we very quickly jumped onto the idea of Shuffleboard and we even modified it a bit until it became SkrewBall. Which is our idea of a fun competitive shuffleboard for 4 players! When we were coming up with the idea I was specifically partial to the idea of upping the player count to 4 players and partly because of this week's readings. Around the 7 minute mark Bennet talks about how in a given game of Counter Strike one's dead friends and enemies become the overwatching crowd for the players still alive as the round continues on. This gives a sense of anxiety and the desire to do well but in good ways. To me the incorporation of a 4 player game mode gives us that crowd and that anxiety to perform well. When play testing there was a point where I and one other were the last to go head to head because we tied. At that moment my other two players became my crowd. That mounting pressure on that final round sent me through the roof when i ended up winning! Another point Bennet mentions; that when meditating on it i think relates to our game design is his frustration with quick saves and cop outs in video games. For us the idea of Skrewball had to have the desire to knock around opponents beads and be in constant fear that your own might be moved around. We played with the idea of only  having the beads stay on the target for one round and tally points up right after but quickly realized it ruined the fun. It became a crutch like a quicksave, that removed a capacity for great enjoyment because the stakes were lower. And when we decided the rounds to be 3 waves of beads each we had far more fun because we were far more anxious about keeping up and doing well!