Games Design Workshop

On Thursday the 5th of March. I attended a workshop that was run by David Parlett.

David Parlett is an award winning  game designer. His most recognisable success is his game “Hare and Tortoise” released in 1974. Which was the first ever winner of the german “Spiel des Jahres (Game of the year) in 1979. 

The workshop began with a hour long lecture. Where Parlett spoke about his experience in the industry and explained why he believed his games had been as successful as they are. 

After that we split in to groups of 3 people to make our own race games. I worked with Lee Hatchman and William Terry. Our game was based around the idea of a night out. Therefore the winner was the first person to collect all four members of your group and make it to the finish tile. 

Our finish line was a Kebab shop and the locations that you collect the members of your group from are different clubs and bars. Some of the tiles between these locations contain effects. When you land on an effect you draw a card. You can hold on to the card’s but can only have three card’s at a time. 

The effects on the card would be things like 

• Move extra squares
• Make your opponent move fewer squares
• Make an opponent miss a turn

Some effects could be negative to you. These cards would activate instantly and would not be in your hand of three cards. 

These negative effects Would be things like

• Miss a turn.
• Lose your current hand. 
• Negate current move.

You can collect the members of your group in any order from any location. However you can only have one of each colour. Each colour is a different class (Wingman, Brawler, Lightweight, Dancer) and each class had different effects that can all only be used once and only after you have added that class to your group.

The Wingman can be used to negate the effect of one effect card. The Brawler can be used to force a opponent to re role his dice. The lightweight can be used to double the effect of an opponents card. Then finally the Dancer can be used to re roll your own dice. 

Below is some pictures I took during the workshop and a diagram I created to show the layout of the board.