Meeting #9

Rules:
starting tile
- The starting tile is size 2x1tile
- says "start" on the back.
- placed freely on the board at game start.

The board:
- size12x8 squares

Game round
1. Movement phase: 1 turn per player (doing actions, eating FOOD)
2. Challenge phase: If a player is on a challenge tile, the player can chose to take the challenge, gaining FOOD CARD or allow further passage. If challenge is accepted a D20 is rolled. If the players character card meter exceeds the die roll value the player beats the challenge.
If the die roll value exceeds the players character card metre the player fail the CHALLENGE.
-if there are more than one player on the same CHALLENGE, the ENERGY from the character with the highest ENERGY is used.

Player turn:
- 1 move-action per turn
- 1 CHALLENGE action per turn.
- Consume X amount of FOOD (optional). For each FOOD CARD consumed, exchange for 2 UNPREPARED MEAL CARDS (PREPARED, if FIRE was used)
- raise character card meter with the same amount as on the value on MEAL CARDS
- Remove tile(s) out of VISUAL RANGE and place on "tile discard" pile.
- Consume 1 ENERGY on character card meter, at the start of the first player turn.
- If character SANITY is 9 or lower, roll D10. If value is equal or lower than character SANITY, nothing happens. Else, lose 1 SANITY.

Coordinate system
The short side of the board is marked from A-H (D8, 1-8)
The long side of the board is marked from 1-12, (D12, 1-12)
Roll D8 and D12 to get coordinates.

EVENTS
EVENTS are triggered by flipping a cave tile that says EVENT on the front.
Draw EVENT CARD!
If card says "CHALLENGE or suffer DAMAGE", you will have to CHALLENGE. If failed, roll D4 and suffer ENERGY loss equal to value.
If you enter a tile containing an EVENT TOKEN, flip EVENT CARD.
If EVENT CARD has the FIRE attribute (item cards), player can call to use it and PREPARE a FOOD CARD. Player can PREPARE multiple FOODS a the same time.
If an EVENT CARD has the "PARANOIA" attribute you must roll D10 under or equal to your SANITY level on character card. Otherwise lose 1 SANITY.

THE MAP (ITEM)
If a player has THE MAP, no tile discovered by that player is removed at the end of the players turn, in . Each tile that has been "MAPPED" is marked with a purple token.
If the mapped path has no further way of exploration, the map is tossed away and the path is lost.

THE SANITY METER
GREEN FIELD: Provides boost to energy during CHALLENGE with +2.
YELLOW FIELD: Provides boost to energy during CHALLENGE with +1.
RED FIELD: Provides no boost.
If MENTAL reaches 0, character is unable to move.
- Roll D10 every turn for chance to recover. Roll 10 and receive 4 SANITY.


My imaginary friend.
If character possesses the IMAGINARY FRIEND CARD and is located on the same tile as one or more other players, all players on that tile looses 1 SANITY.
If character possesses the IMAGINARY FRIEND CARD it receives 1 SANITY per turn as though the it was with another character.
If character possesses the IMAGINARY FRIEND CARD, he/she can use EXIT 1 & 2 alone.

Haunted Item
Player receives SANITY damage, 1 per ITEM CARD the character has.

SANITY
Character card has SANITY METER 1-10
Roll D10 every turn to test SANITY.
If a character is alone on a tile the player must roll D10. If value is greater than character SANITY, the character looses 1 SANITY. else, nothing happens.
If a character is located on the same tile as one or more other characters, the character receives 1 SANITY per turn.
If you have 0 SANITY you can not move.

EXIT TILES
There are three EXIT tiles.
The 1st is the easiest. Requires minimum 1 PLAYER and SHOVEL.
The 2nd require 2 PLAYERS (ore more), and complete a CHALLENGE.
The 3rd is the hardest, you will need  the ROPE and PICKAXE to get out.


Movement (move-action)
- move player piece to adjacent board space. Cannot move diagonally.
- if adjacent board space is empty. Place new tile from draw pile.
- if the tile draw pile is empty shuffle the tile discards and form a new draw pile.
- player chose tile orientation.
- tile orientation must be so that player can move in to it.
- if player move onto tile with text "FOOD", the player receive 1 FOOD CARD.
- if player moves to a title that contains the text CHALLENGE/FOOD you must complete a challenge to acquire the FOOD.
- if player move onto tile with text "EXIT" the player does not consume 1 ENERGY on "character card" meter (if the player leaves The
Cave).


VISUAL RANGE
- player "VISUAL RANGE" is 1 adjacent space, left, right, up, down, that allow player movement from current position.

”Character card”
- 20 step meter ENERGY


FOOD
FOOD CARDS
Received when player completes FOOD CHALLENGE or if player enters FOOD ROOM.
If consumed the player draws 2 UNPREPARED MEAL CARDS for each FOOD CARD consumed.
If the player call out the FOOD is PREPARED with FIRE, then player draws 2 PREPARED MEAL CARDS for each FOOD CARD consumed.
If the PREPARED MEAL CARD matches the FOOD the character is consuming, the MEAL was PREPARED successfully and grants +1 to the FOOD value. Else, the MEAL was BURNT and the FOOD value receives -1.
If the UNPREPARED MEAL CARD matches the FOOD the character is consuming, the MEAL was poisonous and the character suffers an energy loss equal to the value on the MEAL CARD. Else, the MEAL was not poisonous and the character receives energy equal to the value on the FOOD CARD.

UNPREPARED-MEAL CARDS
- meat (carnivore)
- vegetables (herbivore)
- x (number representing how much you increase character card meter when consumed), consumed cards are put on a FOOD discard pile (not the tile discard)
- if more players are in the same tile when consuming FOOD all players on that tile receives all positives and negatives from that MEAL.
- if there are no more cards in the FOOD draw pile there is no more FOOD.
- Can be PREPARED with FIRE.

PREPARED-MEAL CARDS
- meat (carnivore)
- vegetables (herbivore)
- x (number representing how much you increase character card meter when consumed), consumed cards are put on a FOOD discard pile (not the tile discard)
- if more players are in the same tile when consuming FOOD all players on that tile receives all positives and negatives from that MEAL.
- if there are no more cards in the FOOD draw pile there is no more FOOD.

CHALLENGES (CHALLENGE-action)
Movement CHALLENGE Tiles
- tiles with text "CHALLENGE" on front requires player to roll D20 die equal to or under current character FOOD card metre value to allow for passage through tile.
- when player piece enter tile with challenge it simply "enters the room". During next round player can choose to take CHALLENGE and go further or turn back.
FOOD CHALLENGE Tiles
- when player enters tile with text "FOOD" and "CHALLENGE", a player can chose to take the CHALLENGE and gain 1 food card on that same turn.
- if player fail with CHALLENGE or does not take CHALLENGE, 1 FOOD token is placed on that tile.
- FOOD token is removed when CHALLENGE is completed.

Game setup
- place starting tile (marked "start" on back) somewhere on the board.
- place Exit tile(s) aside to form a discard pile.
- 2 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use 1 Exit tile.
- 3 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use 2 Exit tiles.
- 4 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "4" on the back.
- use 3 Exit tiles.
- 5 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "4" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "5" on the back.
- use 3 Exit tiles
- 6 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "4" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "5" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "6" on the back.
- use 3 Exit tiles

Game rules (meeting #5)

Rules:
starting tile
- The starting tile is size 2x1tile
- says "start" on the back.
- placed freely on the board at game start.

The board:
- size12x8 squares

Game round
1. Movement phase: 1 turn per player (doing actions, eating food)
2. Challenge phase:If a player is on a challenge tile, the player can chose to take the challenge, gaining food or allow further passage. If challenge is accepted a D20 is rolled. If the players character card metre exceeds the die roll value the player beats the challenge.
If the die roll value exceeds the players character card metre the player fail the challenge.
-if there are more than one player on the same challenge the value of all the players character card metre, on that challenge is combined for the challenge.

Player turn:
- 1 action per player
- Consume X amount of food (optional), if a food card is consumed it is discarded into "food discard" pile.
- raise character card metre with the same amount as on the food card.
- Remove tile(s) out of visual range and place on "tile discard" pile.
- Consume 1 food/energy on all "character cards" metre, at the start of the first player turn.

Movement
- move player piece to adjacent board space. Cannot move diagonally.
- if adjacent board space is empty. Place new tile from draw pile.
- if the tile draw pile is empty shuffle the tile discards and form a new draw pile.
- player chose tile orientation.
- tile orientation must be so that player can move in to it.
- if player move onto tile with text "food" the player may take the food token generated (purple token), if so discard it and take 1 food card.
- if player moves to a title that contains the text challenge/food you must complete a challenge to aquire the food.
- if player move onto rile with text "exit" the player does not consume 1 food/energy on "character card" metre (if the player leaves The
Cave).
- no movement occurs if new tile is completely "black".

Visual range
- player "visual range" is 1 adjacent space, left, right, up, down, that allow player movement from current position.

”Character card”
- 20 step metre (food/energy)

Food cards
- kött (meat/carnivore)
- veg (vegetables/herbivore)
- x (number representing how much you increase character card metre when consumed), consumed cards are put on a food discard pile (not the tile discard)
- if more players are in the same tile when consuming food all players on that tile receives all positives and negatives from that meal.
- if there are no more cards in the food draw pile there is no more food.

Challenges
Movement Challenge Tiles
- tiles with text "challenge" on front requires player to roll D20 die equal to or under current character food card metre value to allow for passage through tile.
- when player piece enter tile with challenge it simply "enters the room". During next round player can choose to take challenge and go further or turn back.
Food Challenge Tiles
- when player enters card with text "food" and "challenge" a player can chose to take the challenge and gain 1 food card on that same turn.
- if player fail with challenge or does not take challenge 1 food token is placed on that tile.
- food token is removed when challenge is completed.

Game setup
- place starting tile (marked "start" on back) somewhere on the board.
- place Exit tile(s) aside to form a discard pile.
- 2 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use 1 Exit tile.
- 3 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use 2 Exit tiles.
- 4 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "4" on the back.
- use 3 Exit tiles.
- 5 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "4" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "5" on the back.
- use 3 Exit tiles
- 6 player game setup
- use all tiles marked "2" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "3" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "4" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "5" on the back.
- use all tiles marked "6" on the back.
- use 3 Exit tiles

Grottan/Cave Aesthetic Aspiration

Grottan/Cave Aesthetic Aspiration

The aesthetic goal for the board game Grottan/Cave was survival and paranoia. When we created our aesthetic goal we wanted to emulate the proper feelings with the high concept. The high concept was based on the movie Sanctum where you are a group of scientists stuck in an uncharted cave system and the only way out is by exploring the cave.

While trying to define these we came to the conclusion that there were several “feelings” we felt were necessary for us to create a creepy and horrible environment. The environment would emulate the feeling of having to swim through a dark cave without the knowledge of where the exit is, just to survive.

Fear: Take stuff, Frustration, Anxiety, Hatred, can’t find your way home, Take other people stuff (secret)

Friendship: Survival -> Hunger games; Vulnerable, Helpless, Alone/Backstab or go together, against all odds -> Food, water, loss of strength/helping out.  

Insanity: Wild animals, stuck in tunnel, drowning, stuck with arm, attacking friends, alone/backstab or together. Standing on a cliff edge with a friend and pushing them over the cliff, bring someone else down with you. You are going to climb a cliff, which climbs first.

Catastrophes: Flesh eating Humanoids, Earthquakes, Flooding, Lava,

Exploration: Finding the exit, searching for food, desperately doing things you would otherwise not do to find it.

(Desperation)   

After we decided what the primary feelings were and a few examples on how we could accomplish them, we went about discussing how we could emulate those using different actions in the game using mechanics.

Mechanics:

·        Removing tiles/vision

·        Commonly held food/Bullying/stealing/bluffing

·        Food connected to strength = weaker less food

·        You have a starting tile

·        Player cards/predetermined stats – Good/Bad for every character

·        If you die you get to play the bad guys

·        Inventory = Combine stick and poison to create a weapon

After talking about the different mechanics we could incorporate into the game we decided that we should try to figure out a few potential dynamics that could be generated by implementing the mechanics. We came up with a short list containing a few examples:

Dynamics:

·        Severe hunger need

·        Poison/weakness

·        Food = power

·        Hallicunations

·        Eat the right mushroom

·        Help/Backstab

·        Run away

·        Get lost

For the exploration part of the game we wantedd

to use a tile system we would have a starting tile where the explorers started but then a combination of different tiles with different purposes such as a high cliff or having to swim underwater.

Tile system:

Starting tile:

Size = 2 regular tiles

Estethic: Cavern - Water/Lake

Meeting #4

Today we took the whole day to work on the game. The overall plan was to have a playable core system by the time we went home.

Before everyone had a chance to get on site we discussed a little about the alignment concept. 

The first iteration: Test the movement system.
Ever player gets one action per turn.
Movement is an action. If the player moves into an empty space, place a new tile. Otherwise just move into an existing tile. A tile must be placed so that the player can move into the tile. Every round (when all players have taken a turn)

Notes during the day:

We're talking about weather or not a character should have alignment in the game.
Daniel mentions it would be an interesting idea if the player received an alignment when the game is over, based on how the player has played the game.
Simon thinks it's a weird idea and rather think and that you should get an alignment from the beginning, adding more dynamic.
Andreas says he can see the potential if you get a alignment based on how they played but also think it might be confusing.
It's discussed how the alignments is to be used in the game. Andreas mentions that it would feel strange if you had to be role-playing. He thinks the mechanics should be affected by what alignment you have, clear choices.
Andreas makes a connection between weakness and alignment.

You are playing against the game (pandemic, forbidden island).

We sort the cards to make a pool that we can use and expand the game as we go from iteration to iteration.

We discuss the choices in the game.
Andreas think that choices should be clear. E.g. a card, "chose A, B, or C". Not " role-playing choices", like "I have climbed up the cliff and now chooses to abandon and not help the other up".
Daniel agrees.

Andreas has thought of a coordinate system for the placement and movement of other tokens.

Iteration #0
The idea was to start and try playing the game at 1/4 the current board-size and expand as we go. But it was  obvious it was too small to begin with and we used the full size instead.

At the start of the players round you decide where to go. If there is no tile already placed at the destination the player draws a tile and put in a legitimate way. The player decides the orientation of the tile, but the player has to be able to step onto the tile.

We start by having all the cards in a pile and take one from the top.
Cards thrown away are put in a discard pile .

Iteration #1
What happens if you get to a passage leading into a wall against another room? Will it be a dead-end or does it lead under the room to the other side?
For now, it's a dead end.

We interpret "event room" as regular rooms.
When the discards are mixed into the draw pile, it is MIXED into it, not just added to the bottom. The discards are mixed in after each round.
Andreas suggests that the discard pile is to be mixed in only when the draw pile is out of cars ( like any other game). Well be tested.

6 players must have 66 tiles.

num_players * 9 squares + starting_tile (1) + tangent_tiles (surrounding the starting tile) (10)

f (x) = y = 9x + 11

Iteration #2
1 exit less than the number of players. A maximum of 3 exits.

Iteration #3
Should you have a "vision" and be able to see the adjacent rooms, in a cross shape, if all tiles allows it (visuals through corridors) or should you have a "local knowledge" about the 8 surrounding tiles.
We went with the "cross vision", until further.

Iteration #4
All exits are in the discard pile from start so you don't stumble upon it the first thing you do.

Iteration #5
We mark a set of "basic" cards with the number 2 to indicate that they are for at least 2 players.
For each player (3 and up) a set of 9 tiles are added to the deck (marked 3, 4, etc..)

Iteration #6
The implementation of food.
Daniel says that it gives a sense of time, so that you must do something.
There will be a finite amount of resource.
Food can be shared with other characters.
Victor thinks that your food/energy level should be secret and that challenges costs food.
Daniel thinks that eating prevent you to become weaker. If you do not eat, you have to roll a dice that will lower your stats.

Daniel says that all Challenges will be easier if the characters collaborate. Encourage to help each other and sharing food.

Andreas mentions meeting #2 where there was talk about food.
"Food cards, eat mushrooms, roots, animal etc. Flip the cards to see if the food was toxic or not."
Andreas adds that you could wait a few rounds to reveal side effects.

Daniel think you should be able to cook the food to avoid poisoning. This kind of thing can give depth to the game.

Iteration #7
Daniel thinks we can implement some sort of meter, for each character, that will drop for each round if you do not eat anything.
We create a "character card" with a meter (1-10). The meter has been directly linked to the food. However, we haven't decided what it does so far.
Should we use dice or a card system?

When you resolve challenges should you roll you as many dice as you have energy/food?

Andreas think a character could prefer a special type of food , like mushrooms , roots , meat, veg , GI, etc. Daniel says "carnivore", "herbivore" and "omnivore".
Different characters benefit more from different types of food.

Daniel says, that if one gets ill and vomit, maybe you lose two levels of food or so.

We discuss an item system.
Find the stick, that is useless, but can combine with a poisonous spider.

Discussing Terror
Overkill penalty? Speaking of terror and overreact to something that was harmless.
Simon has an idea that when a player dies, you turn the character card. That player now control the terror.

Iteration #8
We are trying to expand the power meter to from 1-10 to 1-20 so the players don't starve so fast.
Tiles surrounding the starting tile will be removed when out of visual range.

Do we need the start-tile once the game is on?

Rules so far:

- You can pass.
- 1 action per round.
- 1 round = all players made ​​X actions.

Actions:

- Movement
Move one square. Left , right , up, down .
Put out a tile if there is no where you are going.
You have to put the tile so that you can move onto it (if possible)
- Lost of vision!
Remove tiles that are longer than 1 square away. ( Right , left, up , down)

- Food
You start with 20 energy/food.
For each round, you loose 1 energy/food.
If you eat a food ration, you get two energy/food.
When the energy/food marker reaches 0, you die.
You get to eat X number of food per round.

If there's an black tile, you can not go into it. It's just a solid wall, no movement occurs.

Meeting #3

The group hasn't yet been able to make a proper project plan, so this meeting was set up for that reason.

We looked through the slides that Adam had provided and realized that we had to come up with a playable prototype until Thursday. So our plan is to work our asses of during Wednesday.

During the meeting we started working on a tileset based on some loose descriptions of the game, just to get started. The image can be views bellow and features a bunch of random tiles and a template on the right for making more tiles. The middle section is generally based on the left section, just containing more corridors.

The first bunch of tiles (to the lower left) are concepts from Simon, he made them based on the discussion we had during the second meeting. He explained there was a room with mushrooms where a character could collect food, a room with some kind of creature that would pose some kind of danger, a room with a hermit that would cause an event, rooms that would challenge the characters, and lastly a few rooms that would provide some kind of exit out of the cave.

After he had presented those, we completed the first sheet with a set of corridors that would turn in different directions. An extra sheet was added to provide more corridors, and some tiles that would be used for concepts that had been discussed, like the ABC-tiles.¨

The idea with the ABC-tiles was that a player would flip a tile that said 'A' which would lead back to an entrance/exit on the starting tile that was marked 'A'.

The tilesets were photocopied and cut out to make a collection.

Meeting #2

Just some brainstorming about the games aesthetic goal, a few mechanics and other stuff. Notes in the image bellow are written in bothe Swedish and English.

Meeting #1

We received the board game assignment roughly one week ago and just simply gave every member the task of coming up with an idea for a game.

Three games was presented;

A game about different factions fighting on a rectangular map divided into 5 different sections with a temple in the middle.

A game about a group of people trapped in a dungeon/cave after falling down a hole or something and then trying to get out, fighting for survival against hunger and the mere thought that each group member would let you die to benefit himself and him alone.

The third game was based on stock market exchange. With the thought that one could influence lobbyists to change the course of the market. The aesthetic goal was to create tension. To make the player feel a huge lump in the stomach when realising its too late to sell for profit or that it is too late to buy stocks since the price is to high.

The group chose the cave game.