This game is: Automatic, Supersonic, Hypnotic...

Local produce has always had to compete with the "Big Guys" when it comes to selling their products; although its usually cheaper and better for the environment! This week, we were asked to create some kind of game that focuses on local Ontario fruits and vegetables - specifically when they're fresh/in season. The goal of playing our game is to give people within Ontario a heightened knowledge of when they can buy fruits and vegetables locally.

They'll be even fresher than these.
Above image taken from http://amengelkoch.blogspot.ca/

The first thing we had to do before we started was decide what kind of game we wanted it to be. We played around with the idea of the four seasons on a square, with each quarter of the square representing a different season. Since it couldn't be a race-to-the-end game and we're such a fan of cards, we then tried to incorporate them somehow. Since fruits and vegetables are only fresh during certain seasons, we created decks of cards based on the four seasons. We then searched online for the Ontario's government website which shows a list of when all of Ontario's fruits and veges are in season.

The game then took a turn here, when one of the group members decided that players should be collecting the fruits/vegetables based on the current season in an attempt to collect more fruits/vegetables than other players. This then evolved into players gaining money based on the type of fruit/vegetable they collected, with all-year one's generating less money than specific seasonal ones. We also gave player's the option to trade their fruits/vegetables with each other (specifically for getting one of the various bonuses that happen end-game) or purchase a Farm. If a player owns a Farm that makes the fruit/vegetable another player has drawn, then that player gets half of what the other player would have received. A few more specific details and tweaks later, and the game was finally complete.

RULES:
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Players: 4 or more

Dominate the market in this all-out battle for farm produce domination! Compete to win the most money by growing and selling a variety of fruits and vegetables - or even trading for what you think could be the produce that rockets you to the top!

Set-up:

• Each Season Deck must be shuffled separately and placed next to their respective Season on the board.
• Each player receives $25 (each money piece is worth $5).
• The spinner is then set to “Spring.”
• Players can decide who goes first however they please.

Play:

• At the start of a players turn, the player has the option to purchase a Farm Card by flipping over a Farm Card – your first purchase costs $10 and each subsequent purchase costs $5 more (2^nd is $15, 3^rd is $20, etc.)
• Players may also trade any Farm or Produce cards with other players before beginning their turn.
• The player then flips over a card from the current Season.
• The player collects the money the card states – the rarer the card, the more money its worth. PLAYERS KEEP THE PRODUCE CARDS.
• If another player has a Farm that produces the turned over card, the player who flipped the card must pay the Farm owner half of what they would’ve received.
• After one whole round (e.g., when the first player begins their next turn), the Season changes to the next one in a clock-wise fashion.
• After all four seasons have been played through, a new year begins.
• Play ends after the end of the 5^th year.
• Players tally up all their Produce Card values and whoever has the highest value wins.
• Players must also consider the End-Game Bonuses before confirming who wins:

o   Most Vegetables: $20

o   Most Fruit: $20

o   Rock a P (2 Peaches, Pears and Plums): $25

o   Garden Salad (1 Lettuce, 1 Carrot, 1 Cucumber, 1 Onion, 1 Mushroom and 1 Tomato): $35

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The Season Tree game board.

In the end, this game became more fun than I thought it would - especially given the context of the idea. In my opinion, no one in their right mind would play a game that teaches you about when fruits and veges are in season; but I feel that the way we've structured our game keeps it hidden enough that the player doesn't necessarily know they're learning along the way. The game has a sort of Monopoly meets Mario Party vibe when it gets down to it; although one thing that player's seem to overlook is trading. This could be due to the fact that everyone is trying to get the same end game bonuses - so some form of card deck that contains random bonuses may have worked out better. The best possible thing (assuming we used a card deck) would be to shuffle the deck and select three bonus cards after the game is done. In this way, players are more likely to trade since they are unaware of what they'll need to collect a bonus when the game is over.

Chikka changa changa.

Bollywood - an Indian style of dance that is slowly becoming increasingly popular in the western side of the world. One famous Bollywood film that has generated an unforgettable (literally lodged-in-your-head unforgettable) song is Dil Se with the cult favourite Chaiyya Chaiyya. The song features a large group of people dancing and singing on a train and being able to dance on top without falling off; impressive stuff.

See? Impressive. Who even knows how fast that train's going?!

For our game this week, we were asked to capture the essence of this particular Bollywood scene and transform it into a party board game that inspires movement - like games such as Twister. We decided that the best thing to do would be to get the players dancing - cause hey, that's about the only thing going on in this scene (next to the singing). We decided that players would draw cards and then watch a video to learn the move, with a limited number of views. Players would then perform the move and some point to get points, with harder moves earning more points.

We studied the Chaiyya Chaiyya clip, Jai Ho from Slum Dog Millionaire and the other Youtube "sensation" Tunak Tunak Tun. Using all these moves as the base, we then recorded ourselves performing the moves and proceeded to name them accordingly. Thankfully, I have 15 years of training in dance, so this really was a snap. The reason we chose these three songs is that we felt they captured the Bollywood essence best - all are upbeat and leave you with a carefree feeling. The moves themselves seem rather... impromtu, although everyone can be seen performing them at once. Its this carefree, semi-spastic flowing of the limbs that makes Bollywood what it is.

RULES:

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Chaiyya Chaiyya Party Extreme!

Setup:

• To begin a new game of Chaiyya Chaiyya Party Extreme, both the Easy Dance Deck and the Hard Dance Deck must be shuffled separate from each other.
• From here, the easy deck and the hard deck are placed on the game board inside their designated areas.
• Determining which player goes first is simple.  The owner of the game goes first and then determines the order for the game.

Gameplay:

•  The Gameplay phase begins when the first player picks up either an Easy or Hard Dance Card.
•  After choosing their card, the player will read off the card details to the other players of the game.
• On each card are three details: The Song Indicator, The Dance Move, and the Score Modifier.
• After the details have been revealed to the other players, the dancing player must find their corresponding dance move in the dance list.
• The player will be able to view the dance move twice before they are allowed their one chance to complete three consecutive repetitions of the move.  Dancing will be completed with the three songs provided.
• The other players will judge whether the player has completed their move successfully
• If the move was completed, the player gets the corresponding score and they keep the performed dance card in their hand. If the move was not completed, the card is inserted back in the deck
• Each player may only have a maximum of four cards in their hand at one time. The player may pick up a Dance Card and perform for their score however, they must discard before a new card can be added to their hand
• Whenever a player has more than one card in their hand, they may attempt a Combo Dance!  This means that the player may try and perform all of their dances in one performance to earn all of the score modifiers combined! 
• To win, a player must reach a score of 1000 points, or a player can win through the Special Combo Dance.  A Special Combo Dance is when the players four cards are all from the same Song Indicator.  If the is able to complete the Special Combo Dance for the duration of the songs provided!
• HAVE FUN!

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Overall, it was a pretty interesting experience creating a dance game. One thing I wish we could have done was create an interactive DVD video of sorts with a cool menu. This would've made the experience way easier to convey to the user. Also, it would be cool if there was a sort of training mode where the moves are walked through slower in case people wish to practice.

None the less, this game will get you hopping and laughing at your friends - guaranteed.

Once upon a tim...

Creating a character for anything (movies, books, games, etc.) can be quite the daunting task. Not only do you need to "be" the character to get in their head and say/think things they would - you also need to know everything about the setting around them as well as their time period (unless they're fictional - then it becomes slightly easier). This is exactly the thing we were tasked with this week in Game Design: creating a character set somewhere within the past or present.

For some strange reason, I was really itching to create some old man with overalls. After messing around on the sketchpad, I was finally able to create something useable as a reference.

What a beaut.

But where in the world to put Carmen Sandiego? I decided on letting the location impact his name, since if he was in a smaller town or somewhere outside of certain areas of North America, I feel as though the name choice could be impacted by that. I finally settled on landing him in Lithuania sometime during the 1800s. I then gave him a proper Lithuanian name: JOKŪBAS.

Lithunia's location (in dark green).
Above image taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/EU-Lithuania.svg/713px-EU-Lithuania.svg.png

As for the time period, that was a much harder choice. I didn't want to put Jokūbas in something intense since his design seems pretty timid and laid back - but when the going gets tough, he has a panic attack and dies of cardiac arrest. Two unsuccessful uprisings in 1831 and 1868 brought the ban-hammer down from their new Russian Conquerors (who had just taken over a greater part of Lithuania in 1772) in what was called a Russification. They attempted to stop Lithuanian presses, as well as educational and cultural schools, however, due to extensive network of book smugglers and secret Lithuanian home schooling, the Russification was in vain. 

Now, I know I said I didn't want to put Jokūbas somewhere intense due to his design, but on looking at it again, he could totally be someone who helped during the book smuggling. All printed material was banned in force from 1866 to 1904 - so Jokūbas will be from... 1868 - near where the resistance started.

Ok, time and place are set; now all we need is a full character bio on him. These can be seen from the excerpts of his diary, below:

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My name is Jokūbas. I'm a Jewish male who's just over 55. I was given birth to in Šiauliai, Lithuania by my beautiful mother Julija. My father, Linas, was there, I'm sure, but it is likely he didn't help too much, ha ha. Alas, both have passed away in assisting me with something that must be done in our country - something we need in order to keep Lithuania true to its roots.

The year is 1868; 2 years after the attempted uprising. I have stayed out of sight for the past couple days to remove any watching eyes - Milda says it's possible that they are catching on to what we are doing. Thankfully, I believe myself to look rather harmless and try to take on a timid approach any time I venture into the outdoors. The first thing I want people to think when they look at me is: that man looks like a priest that no-one wants to listen to. A recluse. This will make my job easier as time goes on.

An interesting thing happened today with Milda. While we were talking, she put her hand on my hand. I'm no fool towards love - in my old age, I had many a lover back when things were simpler. If things were simpler, I might've tried to court her. In these times and in my current line of work, a family is hardly something to be focusing on.

My best friend is Milda - surprisingly enough. This could be why I thought the hand placement was one involving love. I overlooked that she could just be caring for me. I think too much, sometimes. Milda is such a smart, funny, caring, loving, humble, generous... ah, I can see perhaps it is me who wishes we could be together some nights. I know it tisn't the place now, though. Perhaps in another life - in another time. I wonder what Milda thinks of me? If someone were to ask her, I bet she'd say how forgetful I can be with small things, ha ha. Doesn't seem like the greatest attribute for smuggling books, but I get by somehow. I'd like to think she would also say something about my fantastic cooking.

I wouldn't steal unless it was to give something back to Lithunaia. Lying, on the other hand, that is something that comes up week after week. Covering for my partners, helping them stay out of trouble and watching my own back too. In this line of work, lying is inevitable. I keep clean where I can, though - I always tell the truth to people who are important to me.

Today, Pilypas started ushering rumors about me to the rest of the team. I could tell due to all the glances I got at the meeting and how the whistling murmurs halted on my entry. What asstounds me is that anyone would believe Pilypas in the first place - there is not a thing for Lithunia I would not or have not done! I keep my word to everyone and never back down on a promise! I have already given so much to this movement and yet, even in these times when we must all stay together; when we must join hands to overcome this huge obstacle, people are still trying to weasel their way to the top.

Nothing brings me more joy than sitting down and playing some old folk songs on my lamzdeliai. Anything to raise the spirits when they are feeling low. Although we have not had a festivity in a while, I am very sure that soon our spirits can be light once again. What brings me profound sadness, however, is this continual Russification and the impact I watch it have on the lives of my friends, family and neighbours. If we had wanted to be Russian, we would have been Russian long ago. 

The one secret that no one must know is the mission I am carrying out right now. If anyone were to get word of this to the police, I would be done for. Locked away until my final days. Delivering these books to everyone within my zone without getting caught and without the books being discovered by anyone other than the intended receiver is no easy feat; but someone has to do it. 

Death has been something that has weighed heavily on my mind these past few days, every since my extremely close encounter and chase. I had always said once I joined the resistance that I would not fear death as I would be gambling closely with it. After yesterday, however, I am not so sure. I know it should not be feared yet I cannot help but fear it. Perhaps it is due in part to me wanting to see Lithuania rise up to what it once was; to a time without the dark clouds hanging over.

I ran into my mortal enemy on my route today and it took all the strength in my body to not yelp and give my position away as a guard passed. As I was crouched in a bush, I watched a spider slowly descend from a branch in front of me. As it dangled in my face, I felt my pulse quicken and sweat starting to bead down my brow. Thankfully, the patrol passed quick enough that I could jump out of the bush and run out of there!

I'm a patient man; as I wait for the beginning of the new Lithuania to commence, I do all the small things I can to speed the process along.
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List of references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_smuggler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianisation_of_Lithuania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaunas_Fortress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Lithuania
http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/lithuanian