Devlog 12 - Board Games

Board games are not my forte. I don't have a ton of experience playing them let alone thinking about how they would be made.  I've played popular games like The Game of Life, Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, and, my favorite, Clue, but I've never examined the gameplay those games utilize and the player experience they invoke like I did while playing Haunted Mansion in class. While reading Mary Flanagan's work I did realize that I had played more board games than I thought I had. I hadn't considered the fact that things like Checkers, Chess, and even Mancala are all board games.  I love playing Chess and Mancala but because they are so different from the modern idea of board games I had separated them in my mind. When I think of board games I think of games that have a lot of complex rules, flavor text, and a modern design aesthetic, but it's interesting to think about where board games originated from and how they've developed.

When Soren Johnson talks about transparency, I realized that that was one of the things that I struggled with the most when laying out rules and actions. I find it difficult to make a clear yet condensed version of rules that the players will have no problem understanding. If I understand something in my head, it's hard for me to remember parts that seem natural to me but might not be to other people. 

Johnson also talks about how board games open experiences to the general public that video games don't and this is something that I've experienced a lot. I don't have the reflexes or skill to play most first or third-person shooters, especially competitive multiplayer games because I don't have the reflexes or aim required for them. Turn-based games (whether they be analog or digital) are more accessible for me because they rely more on strategy than physical prowess. I always found it kind of odd when video games were turned into board games, but this explanation makes a lot more sense to me. Allowing a wider audience to experience a similar game play experience, even if the medium is different.