OUGD503 - Studio Brief 2 - Hasbro Board Game (Large Collaboration) - Concept Exploration

Concept Explorations

Bones Dominoes

Within the game there would need to be an element of matching two pieces together. It was considered that when a bone is broken it often breaks into two pieces that can fit back together. Looking at different types of broken bones it was found that there were a few types of broken bones that brake cleanly and that there were a variety of different ways. For this concept the dominoes would have two parts, however rather than numbers these would be two shapes of broken bone e.g. a socket for one half and a diagonally cut end on the other. The ends of the dominoes would then fit together with one other type of domino e.g. socket end will fit with ball of another domino or squarely broken end will fit with another squarely broken end etc. With this idea it was found that there were only two types of broken bone that broke cleanly and that would fit together when matched. These two breaks were combined with the round end of a bone, a socket and a flat ended bone. This meant that there were five different ends for the dominoes with them all having a partner to join to. because of this it was found that there would only be 15 different tiles with the combinations created from these five ends, so it was likely the set would be duplicated a few times to make the numbers up in the set if lots of people were playing. The aim of the game could be to create the longest bone individually or could be played in a similar way to the original, where everyone just keeps adding pieces until no one can go or the bone is 'capped' at either end. Varying the length of the pieces could also make the game interesting if playing to make the longest bone.  It was considered that perhaps a board could also be added to this version as in original Dominoes there is a Boneyard where pieces are collected from. This could be used within this game also making players adapt to the restrictions of the board. If this was the case adding a ball and socket joint to the list of domino ends would allow the dominoes to be played around corners rather than just straight. 

Fruit Idea

There is two variations to this concept, the first uses pips and is played in a similar way to Dominoes in terms of matching the pips, whilst the other game involves creating the whole fruits.

In the first game an end can be blocked if the pieces turn in on themselves meaning that no other pieces can be added to that end. This means players have to focus on adding tiles to the other end. 

The pipped tile however can be used to open up an end allowing game to be played from both ends again, this is placed down and the tile that was already on the board is taken by the player. Any number tile can be adjoined to a pipped tile. A pipped tile also has to be played if there are no other tiles to be played 

It was considered that the game could be played with the same tiles however the aim would be to collect whole fruits by arranging four in a circular shape. When this was trialed however it was found that it was really difficult to find the last tile to fit within a fruit. Some of the tiles had the correct numbers on the tiles however they were the wrong way round to fit with the other pieces. It was found it would be really difficult to work out the right combinations for the pieces for more of them to work, if not impossible. It was thought however the pipped tiles could be used as a way of finishing the fruit off so that it isn't necessary to find the precise tile to complete the fruit. There should only be a fixed amount of pipped tiles within the set to match how many complete fruit can be made.

It was considered that rather than using the fruit pieces with pips the pieces could be coloured instead to represent different types of fruits. These would then be matched to create whole fruit through colour rather than numbers. It was considered that only three whole fruits should be on the go during the game, this allows enough options for players to choose from but also means people will have to pick up from the centre pile quite often.  It was also considered that people should have no more than five pieces at a time to reflect the original dominoes game and also this avoids people hoarding / collecting lots of colours and still not being able to play. 

With a Board and different sized pieces 

Players would take the same amount of the different sized pieces. The boards would be 6 x 6 grids which allows room for at least four two squared pieces. It was thought that the board shape could be adapted to be harder or more difficult depending on its layout. The board would also adapt depending how many players were playing e.g. 1 board for 2 players, 2 boards for 3 - 4 players,  3 boards for 5 - 6 players. With multiple players the square boards could be laid out in different ways allowing for interaction. It was considered that things could be put on the board like in Scrabble to create variations within the game. 

Tile concept 

Different colours were used in each of the sections to identify areas that would match. These could be changed later on when an aesthetic concept was developed. The different variations of the four sections within the tiles were worked out. When trialed it was found that the pieces for this concept weren't varied enough to make it difficult to match the pieces.  

Wood Stack 

The aim of this game would be to stack the pieces by matching numbers / wood grains. For the woodstack game it was considered that there might need to be more than a double 6 set to be able to create multiple trees especially if in the race variation that people will do individually.  

It was considered initially that the pieces would be split half and half like normal dominoes on one side with either numbers or wood grains to represent the different values. It was also thought that perhaps the tiles could be double sided. The pieces would be double sided with different numbers / wood grains on both sides. It was considered that because they are double sided they would have to be drawn from a bag to avoid people choosing what they want at the beginning and also during the game. Having a stand to place your tiles on would also prevent other people seeing what numbers other players had.  One will be laid down and the next player has to match one of their pieces using either side of the piece to the tile previously played. This means the game is played vertically through stacking the pieces rather than horizontally across a table. The trees would be built in the middle and the first to claim/ finish the trees would get that tree. To make it more difficult it was considered that the same number should be matched all the way through the 'tree' e.g. the number that appears upright on the first tile or all even or all odd numbers. A tree could be 'completed' after reaching a certain height or just continue until it falls over. It was thought that maybe if multiple trees are being created then a new one can't be created until the first one is completed. It was considered that bonus points could be won for the amount of completed trees as well as for having the least amount of tiles left.