Week 3 Blog - Trisha Patel

Today our group continued to work on our game. Even though we already decided to use Isaac's game, every time we meet we seem to forget what the core mechanics of the game are. For example, we didn't decided until today what exactly the purpose of the game was. However, I think it worked out better that we waited two weeks to make a decision; otherwise it would be a rushed decision. We had time to put all our thoughts from Citadel, San Juan, Guillotine, and parts of all our games to make a complex yet fun game. 

I particularly wanted to have a deck of cards with "gold points" in it, all holding different denominations. However, we had conflict because Hai Ahn pointed out that it would be hard to buy and trade goods if some items cost 3 point but you only have a 4 point card. We aren't incorporating an exchange or change system in our game, so this would be a disadvantage for the players. Isaac suggested that we make a prototype for next week that includes a range of denominations, and we can change it if this mechanic causes NPE.

We also started working on the more interesting parts of the game, the theme! Since we have an 49er's theme with the California Gold Rush, we brain stormed different buildings that would be found in this time period. Mihaly had a clever idea of using the Post Office as a medium of trade between two players, which will lead to player interaction. However, we did have issues with how the town houses and hotels are different. We were not sure what their special functions would be, because they don't tie in much with the team of gold mining. However, as a team we finally decided to have all rest areas as a set of cards that encourages players to buy buildings of the same type. Players will have incentive to incorporate both town houses and hotels into their part of the town, and the makers of the game find a way to incorporate the buildings into the theme. 

Overall, today was a successful class, mainly because we finally got through a full game of San Juan! Last week, the game seemed like rocket science to all of us, or at least to me. However, this week my classmates walked through the first few turns with me until I got the hang of the game. Halfway through the game, I noticed we were using strategies. I was building all violet buildings, Mihaly was being a chaos player and always picking Prospector, etc. After playing this game again, I realized how many different options the players have even though they are only picking from one deck of cards.