Star Crossed - Michigan State Universitycunni268/writing/starcrossedgdd.pdf · Star-Crossed is...

Star-Crossed Game Design Document

Kristina Cunningham

Masters of Arts

Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media

College of Communication Arts and Sciences

Michigan State University

Cunningham! Star-Crossed GDD

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2.3 (Final) Version$ 3

Invitation to Play! 3

Players! 3

Goals! 5

Procedures and Rules! 6

Resources! 10

Boundaries! 11

Conflict and Challenge! 11

Conclusion! 12

Iterations of the Design$ 13

Version 1: Initial Concept and First Prototype! 13

Version 2: The First Playable! 17

Version 2.1: Changes Prior to Playtesting! 22

Version 2.2: Changes Resulting from Playtesting 2.1! 25

Appendix A: Star-Crossed 2.1 Playtest Rules$ 28

Appendix B: Star-Crossed 2.2 Rules$ 31


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2.3 (Final) Version

! After much iteration, Star-Crossed arrived at its deliverable form. Like any game or creative work, it is not truly finished, but merely has reached its deadline. There are always ways to improve any design. The discussion of the final design is based on game elements outlined by Tracy Fullerton (2008) and Ernest Adams (2010).

Invitation to Play! Because Star-Crossed is a social board game, players invite each other to play. However, at some level, the game also should invite them to play. Therefore, the players are introduced to the game from introduction to its rules:

! “Welcome to Star-crossed! Grab your best friends and be ready for a deviously $ creative game where you partner up to take over the sky with your stars and ! stories.”

The goal is to invite players in and hook them with an idea of what they will do when they play the game.

PlayersNumber of Players! Star-Crossed is designed for an even number of players, up to eight. These even numbers of players are divided into partners, who become color based teams (Red, Blue, Green, and/or Purple). However, players could easily modify the rules if they desired to create teams of three, rather than two players, in order to accommodate different numbers of players.


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Roles of Players! For most of the game, players have the same role, taking the action of placing Star Tiles and drawing a path along them in order to form a Constellation. However, once a constellation is formed, players take on special roles. The team that closed the constellation chooses a Judge, usually the person who placed the closing Star Tile. Other players then become Storytellers (and most Impostors), who are pretending to be the teammate that is left telling stories. In addition, this round has the role of Reader, but it is more to manage the reading of the stories for the Judge so s/he cannot guess their partner by their handwriting.!

Player Interaction Model! Players interact with each other in competitive teams. Team based play provides a sense of cooperation and competition for players of Star-Crossed that helps to balance the challenge and risk of competitive high score based gameplay with the support and guidance of a partner. This model sparks a sense of camaraderie between partners, and vocal competition between teams that adds incentive to the game and invokes a sense of urgency to win for each team.

Player Types! Fullerton (2008) elaborates on several player types described by Bartle. Of these player types, Star-Crossed appeals to several distinct types of players. Two of these are directly correlated to the competitive, team based gameplay provided by Star-Crossed: The Competitor, who plays to win, and the Achiever, who plays to achieve various incentives. During the playtest, both Fair Frank and Confused Cory represented aspects of these player types.

! With its creativity rooted gameplay, from the drawing and building of Constellations to the telling of their stories, Star-Crossed very strongly appeals to creative player types. Fullerton lists these as the Artist, who is driven by creative game play elements, the Storyte$er who loves to spin stories about worlds, and the Cra%sman, who wants to build. These three creative player types are engaged by different aspects of the game play. In addition, the game can also appeal to the Performer player type, as players are offered opportunities to act by being an impostor while telling their stories.

! The final two player types the game play can reasonably appeal to includes the Joker, who does not play seriously and focuses on the social aspects of game play. In Star-Crossed this would include elements of smack talk and trickery that create the unique game play experiences every time a new set of players sits down. Additionally, it was found through playtesting that Star-Crossed appeals to the Director player type, who loves to be in charge of the game play. During the playtest, Rulemaster Rob was an example of a Director player type.


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GoalsSerious Goals As stated at the outset of this report, the primary objective of Star-Crossed is to stimulate imagination of the player. As part of stimulating their imagination, players will take various creative actions as part of the game play.

! First, they will look at combinations of objects in new ways and see abstractions and imagery. This directly correlates to the “observe” studio habit described by Ellen Winner et al. As part of their observations, players engage in actions encouraging them to explore and play with the space and pieces offered to them. Players:

a) manipulate tiles on a board to strategically create lines that would lead to a closed ! shape or Constellation.

b) solicit feedback and support from a team partner while crafting constellations.

c) compete with other players in order to tell a story that seems authored by ! another player.

d) observe other players to make decisions about future actions in the game and create a strategy to win.

To support these actions players have the challenge constrained by game rules and boundaries. Players are limited to the Star Tiles in their hand as they continue a Constellation. In addition, Story Starters are provided when players begin to tell a story. This helps to make creativity and collaboration easier and more focused.

! Secondly, players will craft their own mythology in the sky like board provided by Star-Crossed. Players do this by placing tiles to create their own night sky and constellations, patterns that will be different with each game played. In addition, they create the mythology by reflecting on Story Starters to name Constellations and compete with each other as impostors for additional points.

! Third, players will collaborate with each other creating their own system in which to engage in creative acts and thought processes. Players do this by working with a partner to create new constellations on the board. In addition, the engage as a social group by pretending to be each other while telling stories in order to fool the Judge into believing their story was written by the Judge’s partner. For this trickery to work, players must continue to build the social system in which they are quite familiar with each other.

! Finally, players reflect on the constellations and stories and ask, “what do they say about me and my friends’ values and worldview?” This is accomplished by forcing the majority of players within the Storytelling round of Star-Crossed to take on the point of view of another player. Players must reflect at different levels on who that person is, and their relationship to their partner in order to craft a convincing story.


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Player Goals! Players, of course, are not concerned with accomplishing the serious goals. They have come to play a social board game and, hopefully, win. Therefore, the primary player goal is to collect the highest number of points in order for their team to win Star-Crossed. To do this, players must accomplish secondary objectives. The first is that players must take over the board with a large number of Star Tiles and Constellations in order to earn Star Points and Constellation Points. In addition, players must pretend to be other players in order to steal points or prevent other player’s stories from being mistaken for theirs so they can earn tokens that act as score multipliers for the Constellation Points at the end of the game. The combination of these points is totaled for teams to achieve a final high score.

! These goals correlate to Fullerton’s objectives of construction, which requires players to build, maintain, or manage objects; solution, which relates to the puzzle like nature of building constellations and placing them in the highest scoring spaces; and outwit other players, which is the primary objective of the Storytelling Round.

Procedures and RulesStarting the Game1. Players should check to see that they have all materials necessary to play the game. In

order to play the game, players must have:

1. The Star-Crossed Board

2. Story Starter Cards

3. 90 Star Tiles (15 of each number)

4. 9 Tokens

5. Score Cards

6. Index Cards

7. 4 Dry Erase Markers

8. 4-8 Writing Utensils

9. A Timer

2. Players must first set up the Star-Crossed board.

1. Players should shuffle Story Starters, then shuffle Star Tiles. Once shuffled they should be stacked on the labeled spots on the Star-Crossed board.

2. Players put the Tokens in a pile based on the number of players. If there are 4 players, they will need 5 Tokens, 6 players will need 7 Tokens, and 8 players will need 9 Tokens.


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3. Next, players partner up into teams of two and pick a color marker (red, blue, green or purple) for their team. Teams will also want a black pen of the same color, and notepad for scoring.

1. Partners should sit next to each other by the corner with their color to allow them to collaborate and have their own team space.

2. Teammates will alternate turn taking as players take turns clockwise around the board. One team member will keep score for their team.

3. A team member should create two columns on a black page of the team’s notepad. They title one column “Star Points” and the other column “Constellation Points.”

4. Every player then draws a Star Tile from the Star Tile pile.

1. The team who draws the tile with the highest number of stars gets to start the game.

2. Tied teams redraw until one team achieves the highest card.

3. Shuffle these Star Tiles Back into the deck.

5. Choose a dealer. The dealer gives 5 tiles to each player. The rest of the tiles, including the original drawn, are placed in a pile. Now you’re ready to start the game!


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Taking Over the Sky1. The starting Team begins by choosing a player to place a Star Tile from their hand in

their starting corner.

1. They can rotate the tile in any direction, so long as it fits in a board square.

2. The player draws a single line with their team’s marker connecting as many Whole Stars as they can in the Star Tile, choosing a Half Star for the line to exit the tile.

! Right Ways

$ Wrong Ways

3. The first Star Tile in a new Constellation (group of stars) is special.

1. Players get to choose two Half Stars to complete their line, an entrance and an exit.

2. Players should not double back on another Star Tile, as Constellations cannot overlap.

4. Count the number of Whole Stars (1-6) the player was able to use and add these Star Points to their Team Score Sheet.


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5. After playing a Star Tile , players do not draw a new one.

1. They must play all Star Tiles in their hand, one Tile per turn.

2. Once these tiles have been played, the player may draw up to five new Star Tiles.

3. This process then begins again.

2. Continue with the next player.

1. Any Star Tiles placed by a team that has started a Constellation must continue the Constellation or block another team until their Constellation is a closed shape.

3. Players may block another team only if their own Constellation can use a tile in the path of another team’s Constellation.

4. Teammates may discuss ways to play the Star Tile with their partner.

5. Once a team successfully makes a complete Constellation, they receive a bonus for their score based on the number of Star Tiles in their Constellation.

1. This is placed in the Constellation Points column of the score sheet.

6. There are four kinds of score multipliers spread across the board.

1. Double and Triple Star Spaces allow a player to receive 2 or 3 times the number of Star Points respectively.

1. Double and Triple Constellation Spaces allow a team to Double or Triple the number of Constellation points they can receive.

2. A player can only use a Constellation Space if they are finishing the constellation with a tile placed on that space.

Making Myths7. At this point players switch gears to the Story Telling round.

8. The lucky player who finished the Constellation becomes the Judge, and is now responsible for guessing which player’s story is his/her partner’s.

9. Each player takes an index card and a writing utensil.

10. The judge draws a three (3) Story Starters from the pile and chooses one to read to the other players.

11. Each player then has 1 minute (60 seconds) to use this Story Starter to create the myth of the Constellation. However, this is tricky, as they are trying to fool the judge by being impostors.

12. When time is up, a player from the next left opposing team will be the Reader of the stories.


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13. The reader reads each story.

14. The judge must then guess which story was created by their partner.

1. If they guess right they earn a Token.

2. If all the Tokens are already distributed amongst the teams, then they get to choose which team to steal a Token from.

3. If they guess wrong and the team that won the round gets the Token instead.

Repeat above steps until the board is full

Ending and Winning the Game1. The game is over when the board is full of constellations or there are no more moves

left.

2. Each team multiplies the number of Constellation Points with the number of Tokens they have achieved.

1. 1 token equals double points, 2 tokens equals triple points, and so on.

2. Add this final number to the Star Points achieved during the game for a Final Score.

3. At this time, whichever team has the MOST points wins the game!

ResourcesStar Tiles! There are 90 total star tiles in the game Star-Crossed which players must strategically manipulate in order to score the maximum number of points in the game. These tiles are worth 1-6 Star Points as they are being placed on the board, and there are 15 of each type of tile. It is the luck of the draw whether a team will have a high or low Star Tile, but because they begin by choosing from a hand, as well as having a partner to rely on, there are plenty of opportunities for players to make use of high tiles.

Double and Triple Spaces! Additionally, there are strategic spots on the board that multiply the number of points a team can achieve for a move. There are 4 Triple Star spaces and 8 Double Star spaces on the board. By placing a Star Tile in these spots, players can increase the number of Star Points earned in a turn.

! There are also Double and Triple Constellation spaces. There are 4 Triple Constellation spaces, deliberately placed between the starting places of teams to encourage competition, challenge, and conflict. In addition, there are 12 Double Constellation spaces. The high number of Constellation multipliers is to discourage large Constellation creation by making it more effective to create smaller constellations using multipliers. This allows


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players to experience more Story Telling rounds and better achieve the serious goals of Star-Crossed.

Tokens! Tokens are based on the number of players, and are a score multiplier used at the end of the game. The idea of a finite number of Tokens is to balance the game and to prevent any one team from achieving a ridiculous number of multipliers by the end of the game. They also add conflict to the game by allowing teams to steal Tokens from each other once all are in play. If there are 4 players, they will need 5 Tokens, 6 players will need 7 Tokens, and 8 players will need 9 Tokens.

Time! Time is limited in the Story Telling round to keep all players engaged and to prevent one player from writing an entire novel during the course of the game. By limiting this resource, it keeps the pace of the game from slowing to a crawl.

Story Starters! Judges are allowed to draw three Story Starters to choose from. By limiting it to three, the Judge cannot deliberately choose one Story Starter that would be easier for his partner from the whole deck. However, it does offer some choice so that the players do not so easily become stumped on what to write during this round.

Boundaries! Because this is a board game, there are several natural game boundaries. For example, there are a finite number of board spaces, 81. In addition, the shape of each space provides a boundary for how players can place a tile (they cannot place the square tile like a diamond). Finally, there are defined start spaces that place teams across the board from each other, giving each team time to establish a strategy.

Conflict and Challenge


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! Conflict and challenge between teams keeps the Star-Crossed gameplay interesting. The finite number of multiplier spaces spread across the board, encourage players to strategize and race to achieve the most multiplier spaces as part of their Constellations as they progress through the game. In addition to that, the board uses an odd number of spaces in rows and columns to allow players opportunities to compete for prime spots on the board.

! Other forms of conflict and challenge are created by allowing players to steal Tokens after all are in play. On top of this devious game play, of course, players get to be impostors in the Story Telling round as they try to earn these Tokens. In addition, players can block other teams from finishing a constellation by working to complete one’s own as the board space fills up.

Conclusion! On top of the serious goals, player goals, and rules of the game, Star-Crossed offers players an engaging experience filled with several layers of fun. These mechanics were built by careful examination of other board and digital games as well as playtesting. Star-Crossed proudly offers players the chance to have a great time through storytelling, rewards, novel experiences, expressive play, subterfuge, strategy, and other classic game play elements, all bundled into a social game that will never be played the same twice.


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Iterations of the Design

Version 1: Initial Concept and First PrototypeSummary! The first prototype was crafted as Star-Crossed was initially proposed, a game experience titled Luminaries, retaining all features and attempting to create a paper prototype that could be iterated upon and then extended to a digital platform.

Features Luminaries initially planned to include several key features to enhance user experience and achieve serious goals. However, since modifying the gameplay, only the “sharing” and “modeling and scaffolding” features have remained in tact.

1. Real astronomical objects:

This feature was intended to allow players to enjoy the product of their play in real life, by allowing the player to create sky maps based on real astronomical objects. This also supported a secondary serious goal to expose players to basic astronomy terminology and ideas. However, this goal was deemed far less important that the goal of encouraging player creativity and storytelling within a social environment. This first feature would not remain in additional iterations of Luminaries that became Star-Crossed.

2. Enhancements:

Not every player will be able to make sense of the myriad stars visible to the naked eye on first glance. Therefore, enhancement features were initially proposed to help them find patterns within the stars. These features included adjustments for luminosity, contrast, and color, as well as option for zoom and inversion of color. In addition, selected stars were to be highlighted in a different fashion then enhancement options, so players could easily see which stars they have chosen to be part of their constellation. These enhancements were particularly designed for a digital product that focused on the real night sky.

3. Visual and text editing tools:

These tools included paint and erase tools, text entry tools, and undo functions that would be necessary to elaborate on a sky map and create substantive mythology.

4. Sharing:


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As the platform was originally planned to be for a digital device, share features were deemed incredibly important to the game play. In accordances with a systems approach to creativity, sky maps were to be shared, public, or private. This would allow players to invite friends for play, play with strangers, or play privately.

5. Modeling and Scaffolding:

Example sky maps and constellations as well as “prompts”, such as “my backyard”,were to be provided to the player to inspire them to create, as a blank canvas can be extremely intimidating. A museum setting was considered and another though was that other players will ultimately serve as a model to new players of the game, adding a final, organic modeling scenario.

Archived Knowledge OutcomesAt the proposal of this game, a secondary objective of Luminaries was to engage the player in further exploration of the night sky. This was intended as a “teachable moment”. However, because the physical night sky limited competitive elements and game flow, this outcome was removed from the final design in favor of the primary targets.

1. Identify basic astronomical terminology (star, galaxy, constellation, etc).

! a. ! by interacting with named objects and viewing example star maps.!

b. ! by interacting with real astronomical objects visible to naked eye (and ! ! telescope) by selecting only specific types of objects (i.e. galaxies, planets, new ! ! stars, old stars) to recombine the star map in new ways.

Challenges Challenges were designed with resource limitation in mind. A player would draw a card that designates the number of stars for them to use in their constellation, an idea that is represented by the magnetic tile in future iterations of the design. Players may receive a card for them to create a constellation using 5-20 stars and the draw is random. There were 48 cards total in the challenge deck, and the intention was to balance the number of each to create the appropriate game flow. However, the challenge cards simply represented the size of a potential constellation, not a final score for the round. It was decided that players may divide the number of stars into two constellations. However, a player could earn an achievement by creating one constellation of 20 stars.

Play Option A: Story Spinning Cards/Spinner One of the problems with this prototype was establishing game flow. As a result, there were two possible play options. The first involved story-spinning cards or a story spinner. Following Constellation play, the player would draw a card from the Luminary deck , which contains the prompts for the game, or they would spin a Story-spinner. This card challenges the player to draw, perform, or story-tell about their constellation, without


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saying what the constellation is. However, the purpose to this action in a non-competitive prototype left many holes in the design.

Play Option B: How Well Do You Know Who You’re Playing With The second play option was more social in nature, and based on mechanics common in bluffing games. In each round, there would be one prompt. Each player would then create a constellation and write their story based on this prompt. Players then share each other’s stories and guess who wrote/created each. This option was preferable as it did not require extra story spinning cards and encourages social sharing, reflection, and listening. In fact, this mechanic would eventually be refined to be a core mechanic in the second prototype as part of team game play.

Competition In this prototype of Luminaries competition was discouraged as the main form of play. However, for those that might desire a competitive rather than cooperative creative experience, achievements were proposed. This is the only prototype that contains achievements and their were as follows:

Achievements

Achievement Description

Re-imagined Constellation

Four Corners

Cross the Milky Way

Starry Night

Oral Tradition

Ring Around the Rosie

Our Mythology

The player creates a constellation using the same stars as one that actually exists on a sky map.

The player creates a constellation in each of the four corners of the game board.

The player creates constellations that spread across the Milky Way.

A player creates more than ten constellations during the game.

Every player contributes to the same story.

A player creates constellations that surround the outside of the sky map.

Players create three or more constellations that share the same story.


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Achievement Description

Proper Nouns

Symmetry

Bull’s Eye

North Star

Brightest in the Sky

No People

20 Stars

Dark Cloud

Players create constellations on that map are real people or places.

The player creates a constellations that is symmetrical.

The player creates a constellation in the center of the board.

A player uses Polaris as a star in their constellation.

A player uses Venus, Vega, Sirius, or Altair as a star in the constellation.

A player creates a set of four constellations using no people.

A player creates a constellation using 20 stars.

A player creates constellation using dark clouds in Milky Way to pick out shapes

Star Fields! The star fields used for the paper prototype of Luminaries were be based on the SFA star charts. The SFA (Stephen F. Austin) Observatory provides complete star charts representing the North Pole, South Pole, and equatorial star regions, providing a complete printable celestial sphere. These maps were to be hand modified for the paper version of Luminaries. By using multiple maps of the entire celestial sphere, there was more room for game play, however, the game play changed significantly before the prototype versions could be completed.

Prompts Prompts remain an important feature of the Luminaries game play as it evolved into Star-Crossed, as they provide a spark of inspiration to the player when creating their constellation stories. Prompts range from reflective, to creative, to about me material. Although players are likely to lean toward one or two of these groups, the intention was that a player would always draw a prompt randomly. Playtesting will be used to refine prompt cards and provide the most inspirational choices to players.

! Each card is constructed with the theme of the card, a description that hints at possible ways to use the card, and a call to create a constellation with it. The card set has many themes to playtest, and the initial proposed themes are listed below:


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Decision to Redesign This prototype was abandoned due to a problem with game flow. The problem was illuminated when the designer attempted to play a round of the game and realized this version lacked any sense of reward or feedback, moved very slowly, lacked a true socialization component, and required other players to wait long lengths of time between turns. All of these detractors took away from the player experience and required rethinking the proposed core mechanics to retain the features of a game while achieving the primary serious goals. This act required the removal of secondary serious goals, which were deemed less important at the outset of the project.

Version 2: The First PlayableSummary! The design of the first playable of Star-Crossed was heavily informed by the analysis of games reflecting Prior Art discussed in Chapter 3. The first playable prototype was created entirely of inexpensive paper in order to iterate on the game as necessary during the playtest. The ruleset required several modes with several options available for scoring, and the plan with the design was to test scoring and balance game mechanics as the game was being played, to observe immediate impact on the design. As a result, this playable prototype came with several important design questions.

Materials1. Star-Crossed Game Board

2. Think Checkers board

1. Pop culture

2. Animals

3. My Zodiac

4. Family

5. Everyday Objects

6. Everyday Events

7. Current Events/News

8. Celebrities

9. Holidays

10. Hometown

11. Favorite Things

12. Nature

13. Holidays

14. Travel

15. Child’s Play

16. Once Upon a Time

17. Alternate Skies (for alternate Earths)

18. Pets

19. Yesterday

20. Tomorrow (the future)

21. Backyard

22. Garden

23. Ocean

24. Vehicles

25. Monsters

26. Magic

27. Heroes

28. Villains

29. School (Spirit)

30. Faith

31. Hope

32. Science

33. Haunted

34. Mystery

35. Romance

36. In Memory

37. Nostalgia

38. After Hours

39. TGIF

40. Change

41. Create Your Own


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3. Laminated Game Tiles

4. 4 Planet Obstacle Tiles (may or may not be necessary)

5. Transparency Marker

6. Prompt Cards

7. Story Writing Sheets

8. Pencils

9. Score Cards

Player Number and Seating This version of Star-Crossed is intended to be developed first as a board game, focusing on social aspects of creativity and team based competition. It best accommodates either 4 or 8 players. Each player has a partner and is seated diagonally from them, as in the trump card game Euchre.


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Rules and Game Flow

Starting the Game1. Players divide into pairs.

2. Teams should divide themselves into the seating arrangement mentioned above (either 4, 6, or 8 players). Players may not sit next to their partners. Partners should alternate in the same team order (for example, Team 1, Team 2, then Team 3, etc.).

3. Each player draws a tile.

4. The team with the highest combined tiles chooses a partner to start the game.

5. That partner begins by placing an planets. Each player then places a planet, until all four are placed. ** Optional rule to make it harder for players to make one giant constellation.

6. A dealer, deals 5 tiles to each player. The rest of the tiles, including the original drawn, are shuffled and placed in a center pile.

Tile mode1. Placing tiles on the edge of the board or corners limits the moves a player may choose to

take (removing 2-4 entrances and exits on any given tile).

2. Tiles may be rotated, so long as the are placed in a square (not diamond shape).

3. A player may use only two outer stars (one for entrance and one for exit)

4. The entrance and exit must be on different sides of the tile, therefore a player may not double back on a used tile.

5. A player may use as many stars on the interior of a tile as possible, so long as the lines do not intersect.

6. Players receive points for each central star used on a tile to continue their constellation.

7. A player may tell their partner how to play their tile.

8. This mode continues until a constellation is closed by one of the teams.

9. The sum of all stars contained within this constellation becomes the constellation bonus, which leads to the next round.

Story telling mode1. After a constellation is closed, storytelling mode begins.

2. A player from the next left opposing team will be the reader.

3. The player who closed the constellation is the judge.

4. The judge draws a prompt and reads it to the players.


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5. Each player attempts to create the story of the constellation from the prompt

6. The reader reads each prompt.

7. The judge must guess which story was created by their partner.

8. If the judge guesses correctly, the team earns a bonus.

9. If the judge guesses incorrectly, the team the judge guessed instead steals the constellation bonus.

Resume tile mode

Ending the game The game is over when the board is full of constellations or there are no more moves left (no way to complete a constellation).

! At this time, the final score will determine which team wins the game.

Scoring Scoring for the game was initially a complicated endeavor, concerned very much with creating a fair play experience for players so that they could feel challenged and competitive. Initially, a player could receive 1-6 star points, based on the number of central stars on a tile that they used in a turn, to gain points each turn.

! The teams then received the sum of all the stars in their finished constellation before moving on to the storytelling/bluffing round. The storytelling bonus was much smaller, only 3 points, in an attempt to keep scores from skyrocketing. However, it was also decided that alternate scoring could be tested, where players would risk losing the constellation bonus to other teams. However, if they won the round the kept these points and also gained the 3 point story bonus. This method of scoring seemed more challenging than it had to be. The scorecard below represents this initial scoring concept.


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Game Board The game board looks much like a checkerboard, with boundaries to play square tiles. The board, in its final form, should be inset or magnet to allow placement of tiles without them moving around the board when players draw paths on them. Game board size will need iterated for the optimum play experience, however, for the purposes of this prototype, the board will be 10x10 tiles (allowing for 100 total tiles to be placed).

Tiles In this iteration, rather than players drawing a constellation each turn on a predefined board, players strategically place star tiles to either attempt to close a constellation or block another team from closing a constellation. This adds an element of team competition to the game, as well as suspense. Since partners are seated diagonally from the player, they must wait on their partner’s turn to engage in the team strategy. When a team closes a constellation using a tile, they receive the number of points based on the number of stars in the final constellation. Other teams then have the opportunity to steal points by competing in the naming and story design of the constellation. Players ultimately still draw to close a constellation, however, they also have choice of which tile to


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place and which direction to place it, in order to make it a more collaborative and strategic creation process.

! Each tile is a square. The square tile has eight entrances and exits along the sides, represented by a star. There are six types of these tiles, having 1-6 stars in the center of the tile, providing players with ways to create unique shapes or redirect lines, depending on the number of stars available. This provides opportunities for balancing, as the number of tile types can be reduced or increased. In addition, the number of each type of tile can be adjusted according to playtesting experiences. For the purposes of version 1.1, there will be an equal number of each type of tile.

Retained Features! From version 1 to 2, Star-Crossed, did retain several key features. The most important of these is the use of prompts to stimulate the storytelling round. Prompts continue to range from superficial to reflective, allowing players to enjoy a wide range of experiences telling stories to their friends. The entire experience of Version 2 is based around getting players to reach the storytelling state, which is based on Play Option 2’s, “How well do you know who you are playing with?” concept from Version 1. However, this bluffing component has been significantly refined from that initial proposed mechanic during the creation of version 2. Moving forward with the bluffing component as primary method of storytelling added to game flow and fun, as many players are familiar with party bluffing games and bluffing ensures there are turns where every players can work at the same time to try to win the game.

Version 2.1: Changes Prior to PlaytestingName ChangeThe mood and tone of the originally proposed Luminaries changed significantly from version 1 to version 2. As a result, the title of the game was changed to better fit the new element of


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subterfuge and team based competition. The name Star-Crossed was chosen for the game at this time.

RulesDue to concerns with fairness, scoring, and the potential for eternally expanding constellations, the extra rules were added to Star-Crossed prior to playtesting. These rules are based, in part, on a examination of the mechanics of “blocking” games, such as Blokus, referenced the chapter 3.

1. Each team starts (om one corner of the board. This rule mimics the idea of Blokus, which helps players have their own space in the board and has the potential to give each time time to establish themselves on the board.

2. Teams can only add to one conste$ation at a time. This is to prevent players from starting constellations all over the board, making it impossible for other teams to develop any of their own.

3. A player may add a tile to their own conste$ation or block another team’s conste$ation. This rule is a refinement of the original rule, which allowed a player to add to any constellation.

4. If a player blocks another team but is not continuing their own conste$ation, they do not receive any points for their tile in that turn. This is to discourage blocking unless a player sees another team getting to far ahead.

5. A player may close another team’s conste$ation. However, this is risky, as they could sti$ lose these points to the other teams. This reminds players that constellation points are about the storytelling and are up for grabs, hopefully encouraging players not to worry so much over who finishes a constellation.

6. A%er closing a conste$ation, the new conste$ation must be created next adjacent to the a previous conste$ation created by that team. This rule is to help players use board space well to continue play.

7. A player earns points (om the number of interior stars they intersect on a tile. This is a scoring clarification that helps keep a star from being counted twice.

8. A%er closing a conste$ation, the conste$ation bonus is determined by the number of exterior tile stars in a conste$ation, this is the same as the number of tiles making up the conste$ation. This rule is to balance the game since players may close another team’s constellation, prevent accumulation or stealing of too many points.

9. Optional Rule for Testing: The team that closes a constellation receives the constellation bonus. Then, the bluffing round becomes a bonus round, rather than a steal round, where players can earn the sum of all stars in the constellation. This would allow points to wrack up quickly and may provide too many opportunities for imbalance. However, this rule


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was reserved in the event the game needed scoring iteration on the spot during playtesting.

The rules added will also encourage players to strategically use board space in order to place more tiles. The more tiles they can place on a board to create a constellation, the better chance they have to win. This means creating smaller constellations, more frequently, should be more beneficial to players. Even if they begin by creating large constellations, the storytelling rounds will eventually be more frequent with this design as players begin to create small constellations inside of larger constellations.

ScoringFor the purposes of playtesting, scoring was simplified while still attempting to retain appropriate incentives relevant to players engaging in both types of creative behaviors within Star-Crossed, creative problem solving and storytelling. Points are still scored by the number of center stars a player draws through on a turn. However, the constellation bonus that players will play for is determined by the number of tiles in the constellation. The idea of this is that because a player can lose these constellation points, they will make smaller constellations more frequently in an attempt to risk less points at once, like placing a small bet. This should work to keep the game moving, unless of course, one team is feeling lucky and is looking for a jackpot.

Board ChangesSince each team would now start from a corner of the board, the planet obstacles were removed from the game. In addition, the very center of the board would be used to hold the prompt cards, helping to provide a natural boundary, but also to allow those cards to be in reach for the storytelling round and visually remind players that they are associated with the constellations on the board.

Complete Playtest RulesFor the playtest, the players were given a set of more friendly worded rules, to peak their interest in the game and ensure they understood how to play the game. The version of these rules supplied for the playtest are included in Appendix F. These rules were modified for the final version of the game.


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Version 2.2: Changes Resulting from Playtesting 2.1Player Seating! Players asked for more interaction with their team mates during play. They felt that sitting across from their team mate discouraged some of the team work inherent in the design. Therefore, although teammates will still alternate turns, they will now sit next to each other while playing the game, offering a physical sense of connectedness.

Game Board! The board size tested for version 2.1 was a good play size, given the pacing of the game. However, due to changes to scoring rules, the board was resized to 9x9 squares in order to create uneven board space. This would allow players to fight for the squares that were not on their side of the board, and allow the designer to place desirable score multipliers in these zones of high risk.

! This was part of the addition of multipliers for scoring, such as those seen in the game Scrabble. This is explained further under the heading “Scoring.”


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! The board was also modified to accommodate design choices made in version 2.1. The team starting points were color coded. Although this was planned for the final design, players confessed color coding would be helpful even in a prototype test. The colors are as follows, purple, green, blue, and red.

Hand of Star Tiles! Players still start with 5 Star Tiles, as this number of tiles provided players with choice and allowed them to strategize with their teammate. However, the draw one then play one rule in effect for version 2.1 needed to change. Players often had high scoring Star Tiles, such as five and six. They would, of course, only play these cards. Although the game could include less high scoring Star Tiles, a different method was tested in version 2.2.

! In this case, players must play out all 5 Star Tiles in their hand before they can draw any new cards. After last tile is played, they may draw up to 5 new Star Tiles. The process then repeats until the end of the game. This has an advantage, as players must strategize which Star Tiles they will play when. With the addition of Star Tile multipliers on the board, this becomes a very important part of game strategy in this design. This kind of strategy would not as important with “draw one, play one” or a player drawing a random Star Tile every turn.

Scoring

Star and Constellation Multipliers! As anticipated, scoring in version 2.1 was unbalanced and needed iteration. In particular, players were attempting to create a “single giant constellation” as their main game strategy, as the incentives surrounding smaller constellations were more risky. The Star-Crossed Bonus for the story round was considered unfair and did not provide incentive to make more constellations. To solve this problem, the designer considered the way that Scrabble uses score multipliers across the board to allow players to win by using the strategy of small words with high point values and strategic use of multiplier squares.

! In version 2.2 there are now four different multiplier squares: Double Star Spaces, Triple Star Spaces, Double Constellation Spaces, and Triple Constellation Spaces. Star Spaces multiply individual Star Tile points and Constellation Space multiply completed constellations. In order to keep the game strategic, as players do not play a whole constellation at once, the Double and Triple Constellation Space points can only be achieved if the constellation is closed on the Double or Triple Constellation space.

! If a player is very strategic, they can achieve all of these spaces on the board, most likely by creating what a playtester called “Starception”, a constellation within a constellation. These constraints and incentives require the player to be even more creative with tile placement, line drawing, and constellation creation. It also makes creating a large


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constellation a higher risk, as the other team could feasibly make many small constellations and win simply by using multipliers on the board effectively.

TokensRather than earning or stealing bonus points related to the tile round, players will have the opportunity to earn ____ Tokens. There are 5 Tokens for a 2 team game, 7 Tokens for a 3 team game, and 9 Tokens for a 4 team game. Once all Tokens have been distributed in play, when a team wins the Story Round, they can choose a team to steal a token from. At the end of the game, Tokens act as a final score multiplier.

Blocking! This rule was causing more problems then it was solving. Players can now only block if their constellation reaches a size where they must take a space adjacent to another team’s. A block must be part of a playing team’s constellation in order to be allowed. Because the board is now an uneven number of squares, there will be instances where players can interact like this as they attempt to obtain the Triple Constellation Score spaces.

Minor Rule Additions and Changes! Some rules were assumed or forgotten before the 2.1 playtest. For 2.2 there was careful attention to adding rules that were forgotten or assumed before. On example of this is that the players should shuffle the Star Tiles and Story Starters at the beginning of the game. Full rules for Star-Crossed version 2.2 are available as Appendix F.


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Appendix A: Star-Crossed 2.1 Playtest Rules

Welcome to Star-crossed!! Grab your best friends and be ready for a deviously creative game where you partner up to take over the sky with your stars and stories.

Rules and Game Flow

Starting the Game1. Set up the Star-Crossed board. Players should have Star-Crossed Story Starters and

Star Tiles. Put these in separate piles within reach of all players.

2. Partner up into teams of two and pick a color marker for your team. Partners should sit across the Star-Crossed board from each other. However, make that each team gets a turn in order (for example, Red then Blue then Green). Use the image below as your guide to get started.

3. Everyone draw a Star Tile from the center pile. The team who draws the tile with the highest number of stars gets to start the game! Tied teams redraw until one team achieves the highest card.


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4. Choose a dealer. The dealer gives 5 tiles to each player. The rest of the tiles, including the original drawn, are shuffled and placed in a central pile. Now you’re ready to start the game!


their starting corner. They can rotate the tile in any direction, so long as it fits in a board square.

2. The player draws a single line connecting as many Center Stars as they can in the Star Tile, choosing a Side Star for the line to exit the tile.

! Right Ways

! Wrong Ways

3. The first Star Tile in a new Constellation (group of stars) is special. Players get to choose two Side Stars to complete their line, an entrance and an exit. Just be sure not to double back on another Star Tile, as Constellations cannot overlap.

4. Count the number of Center Stars (1-6) the player was able to use and add these Star Points to their Team Score Sheet.

5. Continue with the next player. Any Star Tiles placed by a team that has started a Constellation must continue the Constellation or block another team until their Constellation is a closed shape.


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6. Players may block another team by placing a tile and drawing a line so that it takes longer for the team to finish a Constellation. However, the team will receive no Star Points during that turn.


8. Once a team successfully makes a complete Constellation, they receive a bonus for their score based on the number of Star Tiles in their Constellation.

Making MythsHere’s where things get devious! There’s a Star-Crossed Bonus up for grabs, which is the total number of stars in the Constellation. The question is, can the player who finished the Constellation guess who their partner is if everyone tells the Constellation’s story?

9. Were you the lucky player who finished the Constellation? That’s great news, as you’ve just scored some points for your team. Now you can earn even more, so long as you know your partner well enough.

10. Every other player is going to tell the story of the Constellation, and you, the player who finished the Constellation have to guess which story was written by your team mate.

11. Draw a Story Starter from the pile and read it to the other players.

12. Each player has 1 minute (60 seconds) to use this story starter to create the myth of the Constellation. However, this is tricky, as they are trying to fool you by being impostors!



15. You must guess which story was created by your partner. If you guess right you earn the Star-Crossed Bonus, the sum of ALL of the Stars in the Constellation.

16. However, guess wrong and the team you mistook for your partner gets those bonus points!

Return to Taking Over the Sky!

Ending and Winning the Game The game is over when the board is full of constellations or there are no more moves left.

! At this time, whichever team has the MOST points wins the game!


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Appendix B: Star-Crossed 2.2 Rules

Welcome to Star-crossed!! Grab your best friends and be ready for a deviously creative game where you partner up to take over the sky with your stars and stories.

Rules

Starting the Game1. Set up the Star-Crossed board. Players should have Star-Crossed Story Starters,

Star Tiles, and Tokens. Shuffle Story Starters and Star Tiles and put these in separate piles within reach of all players. Put Tokens in a pile based on the number of players. If there are 4 players, you will need 5 Tokens, 6 players will need 7 Tokens, and 8 players will need 9 Tokens.

2. Partner up into teams of two and pick a color marker for your team. Partners should sit next to each other by the corner with their color. Teammates will alternate turn taking as players take turns clockwise around the board. One team member will keep score for their team.

3. Everyone draw a Star Tile from the Star Tile pile. The team who draws the tile with the highest number of stars gets to start the game! Tied teams redraw until one team achieves the highest card. Shuffle these Star Tiles Back into the deck.

4. Choose a dealer. The dealer gives 5 tiles to each player. The rest of the tiles, including the original drawn, are placed in a pile. Now you’re ready to start the game!


their starting corner. They can rotate the tile in any direction, so long as it fits in a board square.


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2. The player draws a single line with their team’s marker connecting as many Whole Stars as they can in the Star Tile, choosing a Half Star for the line to exit the tile.

! Right Ways

! Wrong Ways

3. The first Star Tile in a new Constellation (group of stars) is special. Players get to choose two Half Stars to complete their line, an entrance and an exit. Just be sure not to double back on another Star Tile, as Constellations cannot overlap.

4. Count the number of Whole Stars (1-6) the player was able to use and add these Star Points to their Team Score Sheet.

5. After playing a Star Tile , players do not draw a new one. They must play all Star Tiles in their hand, one Tile per turn. Once these tiles have been played, the player may draw up to five new Star Tiles. This process then begins again.

6. Continue with the next player. Any Star Tiles placed by a team that has started a Constellation must continue the Constellation or block another team until their Constellation is a closed shape.

7. Players may block another team only if their own Constellation can use a tile in the path of another team’s Constellation.



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9. Once a team successfully makes a complete Constellation, they receive a bonus for their score based on the number of Star Tiles in their Constellation. This is placed in the Constellation Points column of the score sheet.

10. There are four kinds of score multipliers spread across the board. Double and Triple Star Spaces allow a player to receive 2 or 3 times the number of Star Points respectively. Double and Triple Constellation Spaces allow a team to Double or Triple the number of Constellation points they can receive. A player can only use a Constellation Space if they are finishing the constellation with a tile placed on that space.

Making MythsHere’s where things get devious! There are Tokens up for grabs, which increase your total score at the end of the game. The question is, can the player who finished the Constellation guess who their partner is if everyone tells the Constellation’s story? Can you keep your Tokens once you have them?

11. If you were the lucky player who finished the Constellation, that’s great news, as you’ve just scored some points for your team. Now you can earn even more, so long as you know your partner well enough.

12. Every other player is going to tell the story of the Constellation, and you, the player who finished the Constellation have to guess which story was written by your team mate.

13. Draw a Story Starter from the pile and read it to the other players.

14. Each player has 1 minute (60 seconds) to use this story starter to create the myth of the Constellation. However, this is tricky, as they are trying to fool you by being impostors!



17. You must guess which story was created by your partner. If you guess right you earn a Token. If all the Tokens are already distributed amongst the teams, then you get to choose which team to steal a Token from.

18. However, guess wrong and the team you mistook for your partner gets the Token instead, and could even steal it from you!


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Return to Taking Over the Sky!

Ending and Winning the Game The game is over when the board is full of constellations or there are no more moves left.

! Each team multiplies the number of Constellation Points with the number of Tokens they have achieved, with 1 token equalling double points, 2 tokens equalling triple points, and so on. Add this final number to the Star Points achieved during the game for a Final Score.

! At this time, whichever team has the MOST points wins the game!


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