The first iteration of my Game Design & Development class focused entirely on gameplay mechanics and their implementation in analog games. The majority of the work for this course was a group project that involved creating some form of analog game. My group decided to create a board game called The Heist, which revolves around cooperatively creating a team and robbing a casino’s vault (Ocean’s Eleven style).
After players pick specialized characters for their team, they infiltrate the casino and begin causing mayhem. This project was the result of an entire semester of prototyping, playtesting, developing, and more playtesting.
My favorite part about The Heist is the guard system we created for players to go up against. Since The Heist is a co-op game, we needed some kind of common enemy for everyone to try and defeat. Guards and cameras are placed throughout the casino, and players need to plan their actions accordingly to avoid attracting suspicion to their character. An alarm system represents how alert the security staff are, and if players draw too much attention to their team the game ends.
From working on The Heist, I learned about many aspects of creating games that can be applied to more than just analog projects. Learning how to balance a game was very difficult, as it had a crucial role in The Heist’s playability. We had to find the perfect balance of guard strength versus player power, making the game difficult but still fun to play.
Miguel L. Murphy 