Instructions and Reflection

As we look to put the finishing touches on our game, it is easy to see how the strength of communication and cooperation amongst a group's members directly influences the quality of a collaborated product. While there were some days where members of the group faced scheduling conflicts, there was general agreement on the direction that our game was headed from the early goings. Play testings were key to see what tweaks were needed; for example we have recently sought out ways to take away from the dominance of some action cards. With a good group chemistry, we designed what we believed could turn out to be a very entertaining game.

I will separate the instructions into sections to explain how it operates:

Pharaoh's Orders

Premise: In Ancient Egyptian times, Pharaohs looked to their slaves to build them pyramids so that their bodies could be preserved in peace in a sacred temple to call their own. Each player (ranges from 2-4) must utilize their workers to build a pyramid before the opposing Pharaohs to lay claim as the superior leader.

Component Description: The games components are simple; there are action cards (42), and there are brick cards (60). The brick cards are used to construct the pyramid while action cards are used to protect a Pharaoh's pyramid, or stand in the way of opposing Pharaoh's pyramids.

Object of the Game: The object is to stack the brick cards in the order of four on the bottom row, three on the above row, two on the next row, and one brick on the top. The goal is to accomplish this before the other Pharaohs build their pyramids to the top.

Set up: The game begins by dealing out five cards to each player at random. The player who goes first will be determined by whose birthday is nearest (as Pharaohs grow even more demanding around their birthday), and will proceed in a clockwise order.

Playing the game: As mentioned before each player starts with seven  cards in his or her respective hand. Each turn, a player can make three different choices. He or she can draw three cards from the deck and end their turn. The second choice is to play one card (action or brick) and draw one card from the deck. The final choice is to play two cards (action cards or brick cards) on to the playing field.With your cards, you could either lay a brick on the pyramid, or play an action card. An action card can be used to slow down your opponents or defend yourself from an opponent.
Every time a player finishes a layer of bricks, he or she draws one card from the deck. in order to start the second layer, player has to discard one card. In order to start the third layer, a player has to discard two cards. In order to built the top layer, a player has to discard three cards which will finish the pyramid.
A player can also protect two brick cards by putting a brick on top of those bricks.

Winning the game: Once a Pharaoh has successfully completed their pyramid (in 4-3-2-1 order), they have won the game, and claimed their spot on the throne as the greatest Pharaoh in all the land. Any remaining cards in the winners hand then get recycled into the deck. Any remaining participants can continue until one Pharaoh remains with an unfinished pyramid. This is Pharaoh is the one who gets overthrown by his own slaves and loses control.

Credits:
Basharat Chaudary, Matt Peterson, Steve Werther, Gregory O'Neill

Play Testing

Today in class, we played tested our card game and overall we thought it was a successful test. We played the game roughly eight times and each time we slightly altered the rules to make the game more entertaining and involved. The main rules we settled upon were as follows. In your turn you can either draw three cards and play none or the round, Pick up one card and play one card or pick up no cards. This way the player has three different options or strategies he can use to help him win first. Also, for every row you complete you get to pick up one extra card from the draw pile. Also, we decided to the player decide whether he wants to build up or across quicker; If you complete a row of bricks across you get to draw another card, but as you build up you protect the bricks underneath it from attack. Those are the main rules that we think make the game the best and play the smoothest. Some other rules are still up in the air and hopefully after next class, the other groups can give us some help in making our game the best it can be.

Ideas For the Prototype

Last class we started to come up with more ideas for our game. After talking about different mechanisms we came up with great ideas to help make the game more complex and realistic. One of the biggest issues is the concept of building the pyramid, It is so important because the game revolves around it. Some of the ideas that we came up with were after each layer of the pyramid is fully constructed is is protected and no bricks could be destroyed, also if we build bricks on top of each other the brick on top has to be destroyed first in order to get to the lower ones, and also paying a price (cards) to build up another layer. All of the ideas will be taken into consideration and we will keep tweaking until we find an effective method. Other ideas of action cards are being throw around which is another important aspect to the game. We are going to try to keep it simple and yet interesting. This game has the potential to be enjoyable and yet competitive we just have to find the right mixture of cards and ideas.

Prototyping "The Pharaoh's Orders"

The prototyping for our game tentatively titled "The Pharaoh's Orders" is relatively simple in that it does not take a long time to catch on to what the game is about, and an individual of any age can see what is required to come out victorious fairly quickly. To make it easiest to explain, we'll break the game down into the three elements used to prototype a game, as explained in our textbook.

• Core Mechanics: This game is a 2-4 player game that will involve taking turns in a clockwise order. Each turn, a player will play a card and then pick up a card from the deck once their turn is over. If a brick card is played, a brick is laid down in front of the player.

• Structure: The pyramid must be built with four bricks laid out on the bottom layer, three on the layer above it, two above that, and one brick at the top to complete the pyramid. Each turn, a player must play only one card (whether it is an action card or a brick card) unless a played action card says otherwise. All players start with seven cards (two brick cards, the other five random) and can never hold more than seven cards. Action cards are where strategic planning comes in, as a pharaoh must plot to help his/her own pyramid grow while preventing the other pharaohs from winning the race to completion.

• Features: Each time a pharaoh lays down a full layer of their pyramid, the row of bricks becomes stable and opponent's action cards can not bring damage to it. Action cards are offensive to damage other pyramids, and defensive to protect their own pyramid. The action cards maintain relevance to the ancient Egyptian time period. For example, "Locust Storm" will cause any chosen enemy pharaoh to skip their next turn, as the slaves would not be able to work in these conditions.

While there are still details to iron out such as the number of brick cards and action cards that the game will incorporate, we are excited with the direction that our card game is heading and look forward to building upon the foundation we have laid out so far.

why we chose this card game

I also wanted to discuss why we chose this card game. The main reason that we chose this card game was because we thought it would be a lot of fun for any age group. More importantly, we also thought that this game had the replay ability factor. There were many other great card games ideas but this seemed to be the best one in our group. Overall, the group works together pretty well so it was pretty easy to make a decision when it came to choosing a card game.

card game description

The card game that we are making will consist of players trying to built a pyramid before the other players who are playing the game. There will be cards in the playing deck known as "brick cards" which will basically be used to built the pyramids. There will also be action cards used in this game that can be either used to give yourself a boost in creating the pyramid or slow other player down. For example, there will be an action card in the deck that will allow a player to play more than one brick card which will speed up the process for them in building the pyramid. You need at least two or more players to play this game.
     
        The theme of this game is primarily based on the pyramids in Egypt. Players are basically trying to build a pyramid faster than the other player for their Pharaohs.

Hi, this is the blog for collaborative writing class at Rutgers University. It will be used to discuss a card game proposal which will be based upon middle eastern theme.