Sunday, 26 February 2012

Game Design and Production Blog 7 - Macbeth Board Game: MacMafia (INFR 2330)


Macbeth Board Game: MacMafia

Hello! Welcome to my blog!
Today, I will be talking about the recent assignment given to us for the Game Design and Production class.

Our teacher Professor Nacke, had given us a Shakespearean game to make… JD,  Tyler and I had met up with no clue whatsoever to do with this. We brain stormed ideas, but for a while, we didn’t know what we could do for the game, until we came up with a random idea. We all enjoyed playing a "mafia" game in which killers, doctors, detectives and civilians are chosen, and you have to eliminate the killers (the mafia). So why not try and incorporate that within this game? That is how we came up with MacMafia.

Now were for the roles,  and structure. Mafia, is for a large group of people, and is likely not to be played with a small group (a larger group is more fun and keeps the game going longer with more suspense).

First question was, who is playing? Roles? We obviously took Macbeth, and MacDuff, but then another role was King Duncan, and also, the Narrator. So then we decided to make the larger game be for 5-10 people. The full roles in which were there are, Macbeth, MacDuff, King Duncan, the Narrator, three witches, Lady Macbeth, Lady MacDuff, and Banquo (given that  Macbeth, MacDuff, King Duncan, and the Narrator must be roles in all games).

Now here came the question... What was the structure? So next, we made it so that, if four people are in play, Macbeth, MacDuff, King Duncan, and the Narrator are definite roles, and if five and up, then the mafia rules are used. With this, we came into the knowledge that we would need to make two rule-sets.

Here is part of the mafia rule-set:

How to play:
Shuffle the cards and deal them out face down. (***Each player must not reveal cards to anyone but themselves***)  The only player that everyone can know is the narrator, the narrator see’s all.
Step 1 – Everyone but the narrator closes their eyes. Narrator will then call upon the killer(s) to open their eyes and point at who they choose to kill. Once killer(s) decide who the victim is they must close their eyes.  Narrator will then call upon the doctors to open their eyes and decide who they think should be saved; they then proceed to close their eyes. Narrator then lets the detective(s) open their eyes and decide who they think the killer is. Once the detective(s) come to decision the Narrator will either nod to let them know if they are right or not. The detective(s) then close their eyes.
Step 2 – The Narrator then calls upon everyone to open their eyes. Without revealing who the killer is, the Narrator must tell who the victim is. If the victim was not chosen by the doctors then the player doesn`t die. If the victim was not the chosen player to be saved by the doctors then that player must reveal their card. Once dead you do not need to close your eyes when told too, but cannot give away other players roles.
Step 3 – The Narrator then opens the floor for discussion to nominate who the killer(s) is/are.  Every player is given an opportunity to convince who they think the killer is.  After this each nominee will get a chance to do whatever it takes to convince as many people as possible why they’re not the killer. Once this is over the voting process starts, which every nominee gets the most votes dies. Keep in mind if you are either Macbeth or King Duncan you want to try your hardest to stay alive. 
***Repeat steps 1 to 3 until either Macbeth or King Duncan dies***
____________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the rule-set for 4 people:

How to play:
Shuffle the cards and deal them out face down. (***Each player must not reveal cards to anyone but themselves***)  The only player that everyone can know is the narrator, the narrator see’s all.
Step 1 – Everyone but the narrator closes their eyes. Narrator will then call upon the killer(s) to open their eyes and point at who they choose to kill. Once killer(s) decide who the victim is they must close their eyes. The Narrator then lets the detective(s) open their eyes and decide who they think the killer is. Once the detective(s) come to decision the Narrator will either nod to let them know if they are right or not. The detective(s) then close their eyes.
Step 2 – The Narrator then calls upon everyone to open their eyes. Without revealing who the killer is, the Narrator must tell who the victim is. Once dead you do not need to close your eyes when told too, but cannot give away other players roles.
Step 3 – The Narrator then opens the floor for discussion to nominate who the killer(s) is/are.  Every player is given an opportunity to convince who they think the killer is.  After this each nominee will get a chance to do whatever it takes to convince as many people as possible why they’re not the killer. Once this is over the voting process starts, which every nominee gets the most votes dies. Keep in mind if you are either Macbeth or King Duncan you want to try your hardest to stay alive. 
***Repeat steps 1 to 3 until either Macbeth or King Duncan dies***
_________________________________________________________________________________

It was really fun to make this game with my friends, and I am excited to see what challenges our professor gives us next.

For further information on MacMafia, see our game or ask!

Thanks for reading my post!




Kazekumaru -- Peacing Out!

Questions to consider:
  1. With what you saw above, what do you think about the game? If you want to see the full rule-set, comment, and or email aaron.p.providence@gmail.com
  2. Would you like to play the game?

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