Star-Crossed Competitive Analysis Kristina Cunningham Masters of Arts Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media College of Communication Arts and Sciences Michigan State University 1
Competitive Analysis" 3 Purpose! 3 Methods! 3 Analysis! 4 Game Overview! 4 Summary! 4 Details! 4 Insights! 7 Multiplayer Gameplay! 8 Summary! 8 Cooperative Play! 8 Competitive! 9 Insights! 9 Types of Fun! 10 Summary! 10 Puzzles! 10 Socialization! 11 Subterfuge and Hidden Information! 11 Storytelling! 11 Insights! 12 Design Decisions! 12 2
Competitive Analysis Purpose! A competitive analysis for Star-Crossed was conducted in order to examine successful game mechanics and elements in similar digital and board games. As Star-Crossed borrows elements from several game genres, it was important to examine a variety of games that best reflect the various modes of gameplay within the project. Methods! Nine board, card, and digital games were chosen for the competitive analysis. No one game contains all of the elements of the Star-Crossed design, but all successfully employ one or more design considerations for the game. Each of the games has a multiplayer option, as this is a significant feature of the Star-Crossed design. The games chosen for this analysis were Entanglement, Blokus, Dominoes, the Tetris Board Game, Balderdash, Origin of Expressions, Euchre, and Carcassonne. Of these games, five were tile based games and three card games. The game genres included four strategy/puzzle games, two bluffing games, one trump game, and one strategy game. The breadth of this group shows the difficulty in finding a game similar to the structure and goals of Star-Crossed. Game Title Type # of Players Genre Entanglement Blokus Dominoes Tetris Link Balderdash Origin of Expressions Euchre Carcassonne Digital Tile 1+ Strategy/Puzzle Board/Tile 4 Strategy/Puzzle Tile 2+ Strategy/Puzzle Board/Tile 4 Strategy/Puzzle Card 2-10 Bluffing Card 3+ Bluffing Card 4 Trump Board/Tile 2-5 Strategy 3
Figure 3.1: The competitive analysis included a variety of games containing different elements of the gameplay that was being developed for Star-Crossed. % The analysis examined the games based on seven core categories physical game pieces, multiplayer gameplay, types of fun, game rules and flow, scoring, and win conditions. The depth of this analysis was intended to enhance the design of an abstract game concept by comparing potential features and mechanics with and between successful commercial games. Analysis Game Overview Summary Details Entanglement! Entanglement was chosen due to the manipulation of tiles within the game that results in the creation of a single line. The goal of the game is to make the longest continuous line possible by rotating a repeating tile around the board. The tile is the same tile, with many possible placements due to its hexagonal shape. The game ends when there are no more moves for the player. This allows a zen-like experience that can last from a few seconds to several minutes.! The game feel offers the player a meditative puzzle experience, one desired player experience for Star-Crossed. This digital puzzle game is most often played single player in a web browser or mobile device. Despite being digital, there is a tactile feel to the experience caused by the representation of tiles and the ability for the player to manipulate them in order to continue gameplay. Blokus! In the board game Blokus the player s goal is to take over the board with their color. A four player game, Blokus includes tiles of different shapes, and requires players to place them strategically across the board to have the least number of tiles remaining at the end of the game. Meanwhile, the other players are also attempting to take over the board while blocking others from using their tiles.! Players begin based on the color chosen, blue then yellow, red, and green. The first tile of each color is placed in a corner, and play continues from there. In order to play a tile, a player must be able to connect to another tile of their color, corner to corner. This creates the block strategy of the game. The sooner a single player can block other players from placing any more tiles, the more likely it is that the player will win. The game ends when there are no more moves. At the end of a game, players lose points for their pieces that are 4
left. Players able to play all tiles win a bonus. The player with the most points wins, making this a high score based game.! Alternative rules allow two players to play. Each picks two colors, then the game is played in the same manner as the four player version. Dominoes! Dominoes is one of the oldest tile based strategy games, with a variety of rules of play. The two primary ways to play are block and draw. Block play was the focus of analysis because of the influence it has had on more modern games, such as Blokus.! Dominoes is most often a two player game, but it can be played in teams allowing for both cooperation and competition. In dominoes, players match the numbered tiled ends of a domino tile in order to continue play or block another player. There are many combinations of tiles based on the numbers of dots on each half of the tile (1-12), and some combinations include doubles (the number of dots is the same on both ends of the tile). A game of Dominoes typically ends when all tiles are played. Tetris Link! This board game version of Tetris shares much in common with Blokus. One of the key differences is that the game stacks the blocks vertically, and players do not begin play from four separate corners. In addition, players do not have to play their color next to an adjoining tile of the same color.! However, the key goals of the players are to accumulate the most points while preventing other players from scoring. The scoring of Tetris Link is more complicated, though, as it relies on multipliers to balance gameplay and align the feel with the popular digital game. The tiles, being physical, do not disappear, but the more a player stacks next to each other, the higher the score they can achieve on a turn. This balances the fact that players may place a tile that does not adjoin with other tiles of the same color. In the mean time, other players are trying to prevent this, while stacking tiles of their color. The game ends when there are no more moves available, and the player with the highest score wins. Balderdash! Balderdash is a trivia bluffing game. Players try to guess the correct definition of a word read by the Dasher. The Dasher then awards points to those players that know the correct answer. Following that, the Dasher reads all player responses and the players try to guess which definition was the correct one from the game. During this part of a round, points are awarded for correct answers.! Players whose answers were guessed by mistake also earn points toward the goal of winning the game. In this way, players can earn points by knowing the answer or by being a creative and excellent liar. 5
! Players keep track of the points they earn by moving a token around the game board. Whoever reaches the end of the board first wins a game of Balderdash. Origin of Expressions! Origin of Expressions is a trivia bluffing game, played in much the same manner as Balderdash. The key difference, other than content, is that the game only uses a score sheet rather than a board to track player points. In Origin of Expressions, players must actually tell stories about how a word or phrase, such as Let the cat out of the bag, came to be, rather than creating a definition. This allows a great deal of creative opportunity for players, provided they can write their story in a convincing manner. The game focuses on storytelling, an important aspect of the Star-Crossed creative experience, and uses bluffing as a vehicle to make this fun and competitive for players. Euchre! Euchre is a trump base card game required two decks of playing cards. In order to play the game, there must be four players. The players are split into pairs, or two teams. Partners sit diagonally from each other in the area of play, allowing partners of different teams to alternate once the game begins.! To begin the game, a dealer is chosen. The dealer deals each player five cards, and the rest are placed in the center, with the top card turned face-up. They have opportunity to call trump (highest performing suite). All players can pass once, but in the end the dealer must call the trump suite, such as Spades, if no one does. The choice of trump is important, as players rely on their partner to have matching cards from this suite and/or the suite of matching color (black or red). The more cards, especially Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces, that a player has of a suite, the better it is to call that suite trump. Once trump is called, Jacks are the highest cards within the trump suite, followed by the Jack of the matching color, the Ace, King, Queen, etc.! The gameplay is based largely on chance. To keep this balancing factor, partners may not communicate about their hand to each other. Cards from a players hand are played in rounds, with each player trying to trump the other. The highest card, gets to take the played hand. It is a convention of the game that one partner always collects card for the team and keeps score. Carcassonne! Carcassonne is a strategy tile game that focuses on representation to create the illusion of a game world. The goal of the game is to place tiles in order to place followers, cities, and farms, which earn the player points in order to win the game. There are several types of tiles within the board game, and they can include sections of fields, roads, and other land types that can be connected in different ways, creating a unique map by the end of each game. By connecting roads or closing fields, for example, the tiles allow placement of followers. 6
! Points are awarded based on the number of followers on a space. Management of these followers is essential to winning the game, as a player only has seven followers during the game, and cannot move them once they have been places. Pieces, such as cities, are considered completed with they are surrounded by tiles that can be expanded, and are scored differently. As a result, much thinking is involved in each turn, as tiles effect what a player can build or place. These increases the time of a game, therefore players are encouraged to communicate possible ways to play a piece in order to keep the game moving and players from sitting idle.! Players can cooperate to build cities and farms within the game, but players can also be highly competitive and block other players from achieving points. It shares much in common with the tile phase of Star-Crossed gameplay. Insights! Although no one game has all the features offered by Star-Crossed, there are many games that share different features with the game play that would support the serious goals of Star-Crossed. By recombining different mechanics, the design would not have to invent brand new mechanics in order to achieve serious goals. In fact, by relying on mechanics in use from other games, it should free the cognitive load of players to focus on the creative aspects of the gameplay.! A number of games surveyed include tile like game pieces or tokens to augment cards. These game pieces add a lot to the game feel of a board game, and the ability to turn, rotate, and otherwise manipulate game pieces allow players more flexibility, creativity, and choice during game play, while still holding a very tangible object.! All games analyzed included a high score component as the way to win the game. High scores add to the fun of these games, and provide competitive motivation for players. Therefore, the inclusion and balancing of scoring will be imperative to Star-Crossed.! Board games are meant to be social. As creativity is often at its most powerful as a social experience, board games are an ideal avenue to explore game mechanics as they relate to creativity.! All prior art games allow creativity by players in some form, be it storytelling, problem solving, or the freedom to converse or bluff during the course of a game.! Many games end when all moves are played and there are no more available. By creating a finite number of tiles or a finite board space, this would be easy to employ in a game like Star-Crossed and allow players to see a clear end to the game.! Most games don t let players lose points or have them stolen. If Star-Crossed is to maintain this mechanic, it must be carefully balanced to maintain fairness. However, this allows for several balancing opportunities not present in games analyzed. 7
! Most tile based games and card allow players to choose from a hand, then add to their handing by drawing a random card or tile. This allows the player to maintain choice, but adds a little risk and randomness to the game player that can provide a sense of fairness to other players.! The more choices a player has and the higher the risk of those choices, the longer a turn will take. The design should allow opportunities for other players to participate during this time, such as having their own choices to make or being allowed to offer suggestions to other players to move the game forward. If necessary, the time of the turn should be limited to ensure fairness, particularly when the current mode of play requires storytelling. Multiplayer Gameplay Summary Games No. of Players Partners/ Teams Cooperative Play Competitive Play Entanglement Blokus Dominoes Tetris Link Balderdash Origin of Expressions Euchre Carcassonne 1+ No No Yes 4 No No Yes 2+ Yes Yes Yes 4 No No Yes 2-10 No No Yes 3+ No No Yes 4 Yes Yes Yes 2-5 No Informal Yes Cooperative Play! Dominoes, Euchre, and Carcassonne were the only games representing aspects of cooperative play, in particular partners or teams.! Dominoes is a single player verses another player. However, there are variations of the rules that allow team cooperative verses another team in order to win the game. These rules are adapted little, and play continues in the Block or Draw fashion much like the single player variety. The benefits of team play become another set of eyes on the board and potentially mentorship, if a team member is more experienced than another. 8
! Euchre requires partners in order to play. In fact, a player often relies on their partner to win each round of the game, as their hand contains cards that they do not. As it is a trump game, players choose the suite that will be trump (the most powerful cards in the deck). However, partners do not know the contents of their team mate s hand, so much of the game is left to guessing and trust, unless of course a pair use more devious codes between each other throughout the game. The result of this partner based game play is balance, allowing a player who thinks they ve chosen a good trump card to fail if their partner cannot balance out their cards. Alternatively, a player can win a round based on a superb hand held by their partner.! Carcassonne does not require cooperation, as the focus of the game is competitive. However, do the length of turns and the difficulty making strategic decisions in the game, the rules encourage other players to offer suggestions and cooperate with players when deciding where to place a land tile. Competitive! All games sampled offer competitive play options, though few are team based. In these games, the goal of the player is to achieve the highest number of points, thereby winning the game. Although each game employs different mechanics and types of fun to reach this goal, competition is created through gaining of points and achieving the highest score.! For example, Tetris Link, Entanglement, Blokus, Dominoes, and Origin of Expressions all keep score in a fairly traditional way. Euchre uses two cards to track score by covering and uncovering parts of the card, but it is still based on achieving a high score, in its case, a specific score. Balderdash tracks points using a game board, allowing the feeling of moving forward so they get a sense of progression through the game. This is offered through the core gameplay of games like Blokus, so having a separate board to track points is unnecessary. However, Carcassonne, manages to fuse the two, in part because the scoring methods and game rules are much more complex than any other piece if prior art. Insights! Competition is a heavy motivator, however, having the support of a team mate can keep the pace of a game moving and provide moral support for new players. In Star-Crossed, the player engages in much creative problem solving and thinking. By having a team mate to rely upon, the game can move quicker during constellation building. In addition, it presents new social situations that can be created in a game only by utilizing teams.! Reliance on a partner builds trust. One player can begin a strategy and count on another player to complete it on their turn. In Star-Crossed, this trust is would be essential during the bluffing portion of the game, as one partner is left to guess which constellation story was written by the partner they ve relied on in the previous game mode. 9
! Players play to win. Competition provides challenge that motivates players to have epic wins and try daring moves in order to ensure their place at the top of the scoreboard. This also increases replayability, with that mentality of I ll beat you next time. Types of Fun Summary Storytelling Blokus Dominoes Tetris Link Balderdash Origin of Expressions Euchre Games Puzzles Socialization Subterfuge Hidden Information Entanglement Carcassonne Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Puzzles! Entanglement is zen experience focused directly on solving the puzzle of creating the longest continuous line possible in the board space. This is based on rotating and placing one tile to create a continuous line that does not cross the line across the entire hexagonal game board.! Dominoes, Blokus and Tetris Link have very similar implementation of the puzzle mechanics and player strategies related to these mechanics. Strategy elements of these games rely not only on matching tiles, but also blocking other players. There is a constant balance between these play types, with the ultimate goals still being a high score, rather than solving a puzzle alone.! Carcassonne is a game where resource management and strategic tile placement is core to gameplay. As it is a social game, interactions with other players change the strategy element, as one can place tiles to help or hinder other players. Critical thinking combined 10
with socialization provides dynamic, emergent gameplay stemming from creatively solving problems as the game progresses. However, turns are often significantly long because of their long term impacts to the game. Therefore, discussion of player moves is encouraged as part of the game s socialization, allow the turn-by-turn puzzle solving to move faster. The players solve game problems together, even while remaining competitive. Socialization! All games but Entanglement include some type of socialization element, either indirectly or inherent in the game play.! Blokus, Dominoes, Tetris Link, and Euchre all are indirectly social, by the nature of being a table top board or card game. The ability to socialize while playing these games are all reasons that players would choose a table-top game instead of a digital game experience, which was an important part of the decision to change Star-Crossed into a table top rather than digital experience. This type of social interaction provides more opportunities to incite creativity, as suggesting by the Systems approach.! Balderdash, Origin of Expressions, and Carcassonne all encourage socialization and conversation as a part of gameplay. Balderdash and Origin of Expressions have the strongest socialization element, as they are bluffing games. This requires a player to convince other players that the have the correct or best response, whether this is the truth or a lie. As the act of convincing is conversational, therefore social, a strong social component is built into these two board games. Carcassonne also encourages socialization, but more as a support for players and to keep the game moving. Due to the strategy involved in placing tiles on the board, turns can take a long time. By encouraging players to socialize and offer suggestions, this keeps the game moving and waiting players from becoming bored with the game. It is a different use of socializing than the previous bluffing games. Subterfuge and Hidden Information! Balderdash, Origin of Expressions, Euchre, and Carcassonne all encourage or allow players to engage in trickery of opponents. These same games, with the exception of Carcassonne, contain hidden information, which requires the player to make guesses about the actions or potential actions of other players. Storytelling! Balderdash and Origin of Expressions are the only two games that include a form of storytelling as their core mechanic and a type of fun for the player. The storytelling is based on bluffing, and the more skilled a player is at bluffing or telling stories, the more points they will likely score. However, one of the key aspects of fun is not just the well told story, but also them completely made up stories a player will tell when they have no idea how to respond to a question. This allows for humor, concentration, and encourages flexible, out of the box thinking. 11
Insights! Problem solving initiated by puzzles, socialization, and storytelling encourage different types of creative acts. Combining these actions is a potentially empowering experience for players.! Hidden information adds suspense and anticipation, as well as a feeling of risk to go with reward. The moment of revealing the surprise, such as which definition is correct in Balderdash, provides a satisfying sense of round closure and a variety of reactions, such from Yes, I was right to Aw, I should have got that.! Finding ways to involve all players when one is taking a turn keeps the game from becoming boring. The longer a turn must take, usually because it is high risk, the more important this becomes. Other players need a way to participate during this time, whether they are planning their next move or actively contributing to the turn.! Allowing players to create their own memories as part of the game is a powerful experience, and one shared by many board games, even those not expressly creative. The more diverse these memories could be allow for replayability that makes a successful, social game. Design Decisions! As a result of the analysis of prior art, the following design decisions were made in regards to Star-Crossed: Recombine different mechanics from a variety of games to avoid inventing brand new, untested mechanics in order to achieve serious goals. This should additionally free the cognitive load of players to focus on the creative aspects of the gameplay. Ensure game pieces, such as tiles and cards add to the overall tactile game environment and player experience. The inclusion and balancing of scoring will be imperative to Star-Crossed, therefore scoring should be a focus area during playtesting. Board games are meant to be social. As creativity is considered a system, a social board game is the best game environment to foster creative actions. Create a finite board space to allow players to see a clear end to the game and allow players to invent strategies to make best use of the board space available. The point stealing aspect of Star-Crossed must be tested and balanced to maintain fairness. Players should be allowed to choose Star Tiles from a hand. Allow players to offer suggestions for moves while a player is taking their turn to keep them engaged in the game. 12
Include a round where all players can participate during a turn. Players should compete against each other with teams, combining the best of competitive and cooperative game play. As trust is essential to the Story Telling mode of game play, teams must be provided enough opportunity to build trust and feel like part of a team before engaging in this round of game play. Players play to win, therefore competition between teams should be encouraged using high score as a motivation. Place value on puzzles, socialization, and storytelling within the game to develop a truly inspiring experience for players. Use bluffing and impersonation to add an element of risk and surprise to the game. Allow players to dictate the ultimate feel and experience of the game by their choices in naming and creating constellations. This is the essence of creativity. 13