Game Design and Production Blog 10 - Hopscotch Game (INFR 2330)

Snowboard Cross: Hopscotch Edition

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

Today, I will be talking about a hopscotch assignment given to us for the Game Design and Production class.

When in class, our teacher asked us to get into groups and told us to make a brief half-an-hour study on the game of hopscotch. We were able to come up with a couple of different aspects, and rules for the game of hopscotch.

Here is what we had found:

Creating the Hopscotch Prototype:

-------------------------------------------------------

Different Skills involved in Hopscotch:

- Jump, Balance, Toss the rock into in the square (aim), patience/focus.

Luck Elements Involved:

- Rock lands and rolls (unlucky)

- weather conditions (push you or resist you with wind)

Apparently, we were supposed to use all aspects in which we found, and implement them into a game. As I continued reading into the aspects we found, it kept pointing me back to the game "Snowboard Cross" which was mine and Tyler Bibacks first game for this class.

When I went through the aspects, this is what I linked all the aspects to:

Different Skills involved in Hopscotch:

- Jump(Jumps in snowboarding)

- Toss the rock into the square(aim) -> toss an object(given) within a square on another board...whatever you land on, is what you move

- patience/focus (landing jumps and acing turns)

Luck Elements Involved:

- Rock lands and rolls(unlucky) -> when you throw the object onto the space(grid) with a certain number that you want, and it rolls one extra spot, in which gives you the number you did not want

- Certain cards enable you to go faster or hold you back...its the luck of the draw (certain spaces on the game board)

With this, we made a Skype call to the entire group, and the majority agreed on these mechanics, so with this, we worked it into the old rules of the game.

Here is the modified ruleset to compensate for Hopscotch:

Included: 32 Icy Cards,  Freestyle Boardcross Race-To-Survival Boardgame(Remix), 4 game pieces, 1 rock.

Number of Players: 4

What is the game?

These judges are crazy! It seems you and your 3 friends have been thrown into a snowboard cross race – in the white slopes Boarder’s Hell. As soon as the last boarder is out of the gates, the peak of the mountain will be blown up with TNT causing an avalanche to come crumbling down behind you! If the snow bunnies are on your side, you will be the first to cross the finish line and guarantee your survival! Keep playing until 2nd and 3rd place has crossed the finish line. If you do not cross the finish line by the time the speed deck is reshuffled three times, the avalanche will kill you! As an added penalty, you may be dealt time penalties (and forced back uphill) or if you happen to fall 3 times you are automatically disqualified from the race and you pack it up and go home.

Who gets the head start out of the gates?

To move in this game, you throw the given object onto the grid which is filled with numbers. Whoever lands on the highest number, is able to get out of the gates first.

Turns

To start your turn, roll a die onto the gridded board. Move the correct number of spaces downhill as stated on the board. If the deck of Icy cards gets shuffled twice and runs out, the avalanche has caught up to you and consumes you. You are dead and the game is over for you. After moving from the original toss of the object onto the grid, and dealing with icy spots as appropriate, your turn is over. The player sitting to the right begins their turn next.

Icy Spots

If you land on an Icy Spot, draw an Icy card. If the card tells you to move again and you land on another Icy Spot:

• Do not draw another Icy card.
• If you land on icy spot on the take-off for a jump, you must throw the rock onto the grid in which is greater than 4 to make sure you will maintain your balance and control when you land.  Stay on the ramp until your next turn. (See Jumps)
• If the icy spot is on a quarter-pipe turn, you must throw the object on the grid on a space marked 3 or higher and finish rounding the corner before ending your turn. (See Quarter-Pipe Turns)

Icy Cards

Icy Cards are the ‘make or break’ cards of this game. They may either aid or hurt you. Some Icy Cards will cause you to move downhill, others make you go back uphill. Some cards will even cause you to fall landing you another X in your Fall Count. Good Luck! You will need it.

Jumps

If you land on one of the icy patches leading to a jump, you have landed on a Focus Spot. Instead of picking up another Icy card, you must throw the object onto the grid to determine if you are focused enough to land the jump properly or not. You must land on a space on the grid labeled 10 or higher. If it is anything lower, you fall and sprain your ankle which counts as another X towards your Fall Count. . You do not complete the jump during your current turn; instead you must wait until your next turn and continue normally.

Quarter-pipe Turns

These turns have massive walls like Quarter-Pipes allowing boarders to ride the wall and gain maximum speed on the corners of the course! If you land on the Icy Spot on the corners, you must throw the object onto the grid on a space marked 3 or higher and get off the icy corner before you can end your turn. If the throw of the object doesn’t get you farther than the 3 spaces, your turn ends and you must go back uphill 2 spaces.

We got through this well and receiving fine marks for the work.

Thanks for reading my post!

Kazekumaru -- Peacing Out!

Questions to consider:

1. Do you like the changes we made to the game? If not, why?
2. Do you know of any other modifications that we could have made to this game so that we could improve? If so, what are they?