ePortfolio Post 4

Konner Rooney

10/27/23

2238-CAGD-170-01-3091 

Space-Ed!

Postmortem of Unit 2

    For Unit 2, I was half of the pair of Group 7, and we were assigned to create a space-themed game targeted at 6-12 year olds. The resulting game was titled, "Space-Ed!"

So, what exactly is "Space-Ed!"?

    In Space-Ed!, players are tasked with collecting celestial objects, each worth a certain amount of points, by answering trivia questions correctly., in hopes of creating the best galaxy. Each player's galaxy is represented by their player board, which they placed their earned celestial objects onto. 

Players must draw space-themed questions from a deck of cards. If the player gets the question wrong, their turn is over, and it becomes the next person's turn. If the player gets the question right, they roll a six-sided die to determine which celestial object they get for their solar system...

• If 1, 2, or 3 are the result of the roll, the player earns a Star. Stars are worth one point toward the player's final score at the end of the game. There are a total of 26 stars that can be earned.
• If the player rolls either a 4 or a 5, they earn a Moon. Moons are worth two points toward the player's final score at the end of the game. There are a total of 17 moons that can be earned.
• If a 6 is the result of the roll, the player earns a Planet. Planets are worth three points toward the player's final score at the end of the game. There are a total of 9 planets that can be earned.

The game ends when all of the questions are played, or if any of the types of celestial objects are all earned by players. For example of the latter possibility, if a total of nine questions have been played, and all players got every question correct and rolled a 6, there would be no more Planet pieces left to earn. We considered sorting alternative dice rolls and their rewards following a celestial object running out, but we felt like this would be too complex and convoluted for any type of player, let alone 6-12 year olds!

Target Audience & Playerbase

    As previously mentioned, we were assigned a target demographic of 6-12 year olds. However, we felt like the difference between a six year old player and a twelve year old player was quite large, both in terms of general (and space) knowledge and general playstyle. To compensate for this, the questions consist of some easy questions, trick questions, and hard questions to keep it engaging for all ages within the age range. Plus, if a player gets a correct answer on one of the harder questions, they would likely feel extra accomplished! 

With all of this being said, you don't need to be a rocket scientist (Get it? Rockets? Space?) to know that players aren't just categorized by their age. There are multiple playstyles that players can have, and our game appeals to all of Richard Bartle's four types of players.

• Achiever: Achievers would likely focus on trying to get as many correct points and high dice rolls as possible. They want to play the type of game they can brag about winning!
• Explorer: Explorers would be intrigued by some of the more unorthodox and hard questions, and would have an interest in learning the correct answers, for the sake of learning riveting and relatively unknown facts. 
• Killer: Killers would take joy in earning the "rare" celestial objects, and keeping them from other player's grasps. This includes the moons, but especially the planets.
• Socializer: Socializers would enjoy the interactions initiated by playing. From getting a good laugh of someone answering a seemingly obvious question incorrectly, to someone answering a seemingly hard question correctly with ease, those are the moments Socializers live for!

Our Duties

    I worked on creating the questions and their card pieces, as well as editing drafts of group assignments created by my partner. My partner would write the aforementioned drafts, as well as creating the games' non-card pieces. There were times when I felt like my tasks were more "passive" than my partner's, but when I brought this up, they told me they were fine with how we were working. Looking back, it may have just been my self-doubt talking.

Overall, I felt as if we both applied ourselves when needed!

What Could have we done Better?

    We're all only human (at least I am; I haven't asked my partner), and we could've done things better! For one, during our playtests, some of the questions were a bit too hard or niche for the playtesters. One of them would immediately give up without attempting to answer if they didn't know! Despite this, I never added or switched out these questions. This goes against the flexibility taught to us, and that was on me.

I also feel like we could've added a bit more of an interactive element to the game. While the results directly revolve around how the players answered the questions, their reward is entirely up to a base luck system. In hindsight, we should've introduced a way for the players to have a bit of agency, such as a risk and reward system or the ability to choose multiple cards. Mechanics focusing on these aspects could' have remedied this.

Finally, our materials could've been a bit more high quality. We cut out basic shapes on binder paper, for the celestial objects and player boards. They served their purpose during our playtest, but we could have made new ones or added patterns to our current ones to make them more distinct from one another. This was especially an issue with our moon pieces, which were just smaller circles in comparison to our planet pieces, which were bigger circles. 

What I Would Change

    Honestly, there wasn't much about our workflow in this Unit that I would change. Besides my concerns about my potential"passiveness", I found our workflow and product to be pretty well done. 

The only thing I would try to change is our meeting schedule. I think we could've been on the same page more often if we met more outside of class.

Conclusion

    All in all, I am very satisfied with our end product this semester. The product my partner and I created was stellar in my eyes (or should I say, Interstellar? Get it?), and I'm optimistic about the final Unit to come!