Rule The Deck

Scott T Higgins - An upbeat aspiring game designer.

Over View

Rule the deck is an analogue deck builder game that gives the player agency over the uncertainty of deck builder games.

The game has the player take on the role of a Villain on their conquest to rule the world, through this the player will face off against Heroes attempting to stop them.

This was my Honours Project for Abertay University, for my honours I wanted to explore the uncertainty that exists in the deck builder game genre, through my research I designed a deck builder game that aimed to give the player control over the uncertainty that was found in deck builder games.

What Skills I used

Game Design ~ UX Design ~ Systems Design ~ Prototyping

For this project I used my game design skills, that I hard learned through my time at Abertay, to lay the foundation for a new deck builder game. I focused heavily on user experience design for this project, as I wanted the player to feel in control over the uncertainty in the game, I created prototypes using the Rite method, creating and adjusting prototypes in rapid succession for testing. I researched the common forms of uncertainty in the deck builder genre though a literature review and 2 case studies on market leaders. With my design skills I came up with a play system I called 'Play Stacks'.

Play Stacks

Play stacks is a gameplay system I ideated in attempt to negate the most common form of uncertainty that exists in deck builder games, card draws. Where in most deck builder the player draws cards from the top of their deck into a hand that they must play with for that turn, Play stacks has the player take the top 10 cards of their deck and split them into 2 separate stacks facing up. The player can then look through both stacks and select which of the stacks they would like to play with that turn, the other stack they will set aside till their next turn. At the end of each turn the player can place any number of cards left their hand onto the bottom of their deck, any other cards left are forced to be discarded.

Record of development/ Portfolio

Des404_Portfolio_ScottHiggins_2101259.pdf

Dissertation

Abstract

Deck builder games are a popular genre of games that heavily utilize uncertainty and strategy, they are found in both digital and analogue formats. With uncertainty being so prevalent, it is important to keep the user experience in mind, balancing the players control when uncertainty is involved.

This dissertation aims to explore player control over uncertainty in deck builder games, looking at what control players have over it and seeing what more can be done to improve the user experience.

Research was done by investigating market leaders in the genre and forming case studies examining their games, the uncertainty that exists in them and how they combat that uncertainty. This research will also include a literature review examining the relationship between player control and uncertainty as well as uncertainty in deck builder games.

The findings from this dissertation show that uncertainty, when balanced, can provide player enjoyment and give a game replayability.

When players are given foresight, it opens the way for players to strategize more, having the ability to play around certain outcomes that if were left uncertain the player would not have been able to predict.

This research and findings inform the artefact of this dissertation, a deck builder game that aims to give players control over uncertainty in a way that feels organic and satisfying. This dissertation aims to explore new ways of player focused design in deck builder games.

Des404_Dissertation_ScottHiggins_2101259.pdf

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse