Catapult CapersRyan HorbalGame Design 1April-May 2014

Sunday, May 4, 14

LaunchingRecently I have been playing a lot of the game Clash of Clans by Supercell. When I saw launching as a theme this month my mind immediately went to medieval launching devices. I started doing my research and I slowly started to come up with my game.

Sunday, May 4, 14

Catapults

I have always known that catapults were used to hurl objects long distances but I never knew that the word “Catapult” was just a word to group these like devices. There are many different types of catapults like the Ballista, the Trebuchet and the Mangonel.

Sunday, May 4, 14

From Catapults to CapersI originally wanted to make a game where you actually use small catapults to launch different objects into cups but there was no meaningful decision involved. I then started to create a turn based card game like Magic: The Gathering but I was informed that that was not really the assignment. All the games I came up with were to complicated so I started from the beginning again and thought simple. Attack, Defend, Misfire, and Collapse. That was where I started. After I had the main idea down the rest started to flow.

Sunday, May 4, 14

RulesYou have 10 cards in your hand. 4 Catapults, 4 Walls, 1 Misfire, and 1 Collapse.

Each players castle starts with hit points.

Each player chooses a card to use against the other player.

Each player places their card in the battlefield face down. Once both card are placed the players flip the cards over.

Catapult cards take points away from their opponents castle.

Wall cards add points to their owners castle.

Misfire cards stop a Catapult card.

Collapse cards stop a Wall card.

The winner is the first player to destroy their opponents castle.

Sunday, May 4, 14

The Beginning of Catapult Capers

As previously mentioned Catapult Capers started out as a turn based card game with resources and different structure cards and troops cards and more. It was very complex. I finally simplified the game and went form there. It started out as each castle having 10 hit points instead of 20 and the Catapult cards and Wall cards had the same numbers, meaning I had +1 +2 +5 and +10 for attack and defense. The game looked good on paper but after making a prototype and trying it out it needed changing.

Sunday, May 4, 14

The MiddleI did 5 play tests to help me with the creation of my game. They all went great. I enjoyed having an outsiders view on my game. The people that helped me with the play tests helped be create a functioning game that is quite fun. I had 5 different people help with the tests. I did 3 of the play tests at work with 3 people playing each other once. I now look back and realize that having the same 3 people play more then once was not a great idea but in this instance it helped me iron out the details and issues with the game. During the first 3 play tests I had new ideas and changes to make to the game before the next test. Changing the games as I went made it easier to test what worked and what didn’t. The ability to test the game while I was still in the creation process made it easier for me to submit my final result instead of having to re-submit any changes I made afterwards. I am very pleased with the way the helped me make the game better. The last 2 play tests were mainly to see what others thought of the game. At this point the game was functioning smoothly and there were no issues. You could pick up the directions and just start playing without any help.

Sunday, May 4, 14

The EndThe completed game of Catapult Capers is fun, exciting, and fast paced. The game itself is simple and easy to just pick up and play, but the real fun is in the strategy. Seeing as this was my first game creation, the game came out wonderful. The people that played the game enjoyed it and they wanted to play it again. I wish I had a little more time and experience to make the game better but in the end, I am very pleased with how it came out.

Sunday, May 4, 14