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                  Clear Ace

 

Richard Dalm

Game Design I

 

November 2015

 

 

My name is Richard Dalm and the name of my game that I created is Clear Ace. The creation of my game was interesting and not really thought out before reading the assignment. I remember the week before the assignment of making the game that I had some kind of imaginary card game consisting of players dueling for the values of the cards. When reviewing the themes of the month, I chose the privacy theme over the melting theme because the idea I made out in my head fit perfectly for my game. I began researching what privacy meant while asking myself how to create a game with a privacy theme. The relation of the game idea I had came together like a puzzle once I started building the rules.

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My research consisted of asking myself first what privacy meant and analyzing what I knew about privacy. I made some assumptions that I knew while answering my questions but I needed to know exactly what privacy meant towards others. My results of research contained mostly information that was kept secret or hidden from others. Since information is such a necessity to people, why not make a game with information that only the players know? But I could not just make a game with just information. I wanted to build a game that contained information simple enough to make it private.

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The basic rules of my game consist of a card game with only two players and a deck of 52 cards with a six standard sided die. Each player starts with a hand of two cards and the rest of the 48 cards get piled into six individual piles with eight cards in each pile. Then players play rounds that consist of rolling the die first, followed by drawing a card from the respective number on the die to the pile. A battle takes place after each player has three cards in their hand and they choose one card to succeed or fail on purpose towards their opponent. Once the battle ends the entire round ends with a player obtaining the dealt cards and stacking their deck. But the goal of the game consists of both players obtaining all the aces in order to win the game. If all the playable cards get used then a showdown commences. Showdowns are the final sequence in the game if both players contain an ace. The players continue to attempt a successful showdown by overcoming their opponent and obtain their ace(s).

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My original setting of my game before playtests was exactly like my rules entailed. Each player needs to obtain all the aces before their opponent does. Each round was procedural and decisions for the players only took place during battles and showdowns. I felt that my game was lacking fun and interest with player involvement. There seemed to be more mechanical steps for players to take than decisions. I thought my game was going to be boring and people were going to be picking at my game until I reformed the game to player entertainment.

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My playtests were proved wrong. I was totally over thrown with the reaction of my players enjoying my game and knowing that Clear Ace is simple. I was in complete denial! If my playtester was a friend, acquaintance, or some complete stranger; all of my playtesters enjoyed play the game. I felt perplexed, happy, and emotional all at the same time. I could not believe that I made a game from complete scratch in a matter of days that was fun, simple, and quick to play.

My playtester Chris Cullen remarked to me about how he has never played a game like my game before and found it entertaining within minutes. He looked like at me with amazement as I was packing my materials the night I playtested with him and Justin Evans. Chris asked me how long the game took me to make. I told him I made the game up completely in less than a week. Justin then stated that he liked how I made the game something like a mix between the card games of War and Solitaire. I never had the intention of either of those card games in mind while making Clear Ace.

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Aaron Parish told me that his friend Zach was a nitpicky guy when it came to games. I knew that if I playtested Zach, then Zach would ultimately find something or dislike the game altogether. I asked Aaron to set up a meeting with Zach so I could playtest the game. Zach invited his friend Shima to join and playtest with him. Zach definitely was an odd character and I was really hoping that he would dislike the game. By the end of the game, Zach ended up enjoying his time with the game! Even his friend Shima noted that the game I made was engaging and had materials that were simple and portable.

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My neighbor Adam was the only playtester with real argumentative perspective on his gameplay. Although he enjoyed the game overall, the rule for always playing a value two card frustrated him. Adam really brought light to my game when he helped me figure out a solution towards the rule. The value two card rule seemed bothersome to some players and others did not really find the rule hindering. The results of changing the rule were successful and I was glad for Adam’s strong idea to change the game and make Clear Ace more strategic.

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Between all my playtests, I found very few problems in the mechanics. Problems like after rolling the die and drawing the card from an empty pile. As well as the problem of who rolls the die for each round once the round starts. There was one significant problem on an off chance you may end up with only one player drawing the last card in the card piles. But the solution was simple since both players should have cards to draw from their decks. All the other player has to do is draw a card from their deck in order to obtain three cards for their hand. Those were what really broke my game and halted the playtests. Most of the other problems were minor like the value two card rule altogether and where you have to place the value two card no matter what. The rule was changed thanks to Chris’s and Adam’s idea. The value two card rule was changed into something more strategic rather than a restriction.

The game ended up being a complete success after the first initial build. As of right now, the game is ready to be played by anyone looking for something to do while the power is out or camping. From what I have seen and the explanations of others, Clear Ace is enjoyable and easy to learn right from the start. Materials are simple and not overly complex. The time lapses of the game range from mere moments to almost an hour. There are different scenarios that happen and many of them can be unforeseen and enjoyable.

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As of my feelings for Clear Ace today and the entirety of the structure I am pleased with my work. Originally, I thought that the game Clear Ace was made on the fly and perhaps boring to play. There was no doubt in my mind that I had the thoughts of having a game where people played my game for the sake of an assignment. That was proven wrong when presented to actual people. I saw smiles, grins, laughter, pain, suffering, and many types of emotion within faces and voices of my playtesters. My next hopeful encounter and experience is to find someone who has no emotion and playtest Clear Ace.