Digital to Analog Process book
Taihong Chen Foundation of Ixd 12/13/2017
Table of content Introduction Analysis of formal elements Player proďŹ le Interview guide Prototype Key research insight
INTRODUCTION Mario Kart is a series of go-kart-style racing video games developed and published by Nintendo as spinos from its trademark Super Mario series. The ďŹ rst in the series, Super Mario Kart, was launched in 1992 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to critical and commercial success.
FORMAL ELEMENTS
FINAL PRESENT
WHY CHOOSE THIS GAME ?
1. Nostalgic——- recalls my childhood memories 2. Popular ——— a wide
range of people have played this game before
3. Joyful ———-diverse setting and the splendid scenery 4. Random———
the tons of possibilities of result
5. Stimulate ——— as considered a thrilling racing
FORMAL ELEMENTS OF MARIO KART Players:
Objectives:
Player can play as a driver and compete with friends. If you play this game on nintendo switch, you may take out the Joy cons from the console, and give one to your friend so that you can play the game on one screen.For two players there is a mode called VS Race, also you can choose Grand Prix, Battle . VS race means only you can your friend. means two play in one round. Grand Prix means you two players compete with computer(10 other players).
the objects are different , because in Mariokart game you need to drive your kart as quick as possible in order to be the first person to cross the finish line
Outcome: the objects are different , because in mario kart game you need to drive your
Rules:
Control the kart to overtake other kart then get a higher position it is more likely to be a family game, each player can enjoy the process of racing.
Resources During the game there are cube you can get
Procedure: All players start at the same time
Boundaries: The dimension of the map In Mariokart, the boundaries is basically the dimension of the map and the length and width of the track, the reason is because when you drive out from the track you gonna “die� for almost 5 seconds. then you can continue,
The Instruction of Mario Kart
Player Profile
Kyler Buckhout 8
“Yeah!I wanna play this game again with my hot wheels car.”
Michael Buckhout &Shu Buckhout 39 34
“We are finding a game can play with our kids.”
“Interest and challenge are the most important elements of evaluating a board game is good or not.”
I don't play a lot of game right now, but we used to play the Kirby, and Contra.
For me, the League of legend, Overwatch and some other online games.
What games do you always play ?
I like playing a lot of other board games such as the Thomas car and Uno
Gwangyoung Park 23
What type of games are more attractive to you ?
on-hands games, cartoon figure, and the game with melodic background music
horror games the games with high quality
shooting games, strategy games, and racing games
How many hours do you spend on games per week ?
10 hrs
2 hrs
6 hrs
Interview guide Boardgame : Mario Kart Goal : help people understand the game before play it Interviewer: Taihong Chen 1.Introduction: Hey, I am Tai, a sophomore student at CCA who is major in interaction design. I picked a console game “ Mario Kart�. which is a go-kart racing game, the players can drive the kart to compete with other players with a variety of items and coins to acclerate. For the board game, I designed a lots of physical items card to be used. Hope you can enjoy the game. I will be observing during your playlets, so feel free to ask me any questions I will explain to you as clear as possible. I want to interview your some questions to give you warm up.
2.Question: 1.Would you mind to tell me about your background a little bit ? 2.What type of games you would like to play with? 3.How do you enjoy them? rules? plot? image quality? 4.Have you ever played the Mario Kart game before?, if yes , which part do you like it or dislike, if no, what do you imagine to exception about this game. 5.Are there any other concerns just feel free to ask me
Prototype First ——run physical prototype
First iteration of the track and cards
Rules first draft
Prototype
Second&Third ——run physical prototype
Try a new version of the map
Enlarge the size of the map and getting more elements
Prototype
Final ——run physical prototype
Family game play
First Iteration Report 1) original design:
first version second version
2) From the play testing on last Wednesday, I noticed that there is a lot of flaws need to fixed. First the Balance, where to put the start line should be considered, because the person who roll the dice first has more possibilities to win the game. So for the improvement I change the start position for each car to make the game more equal. Also I think where to put the Rubik cube is challenging for me to make each player has same amount of chance. Second, Function, I found that when classmates they play with the sticker, they felt it is not that much interesting compared to the other. Thirdly, during the first test I found that the internal structure is not fully completed, since there is still lack of competition with each other. Next, When the game comes to end It is easy to see the the person at last is hard to come back, 3) The insights which I found in play test are balances, competition, and Strategy. For the balance part, I think each player are not that much equal on track, also for those items, the place to put then are important and significant, In addition, the competition of the game ,also need to considered, I tested it with my little brother, I saw he was impatient sometimes just because there is lack of battle or competition. 4) The first change I made it made the track thinner, which looks more likely to be a race track, Second, I add some new function to the game, such as combine the LeftCenter Right game to the Mario Kart board game, which encourage the player to compete with each other, like you can use your car to crush other cars in order to let them go back 2 grids. Third, I add the steering wheel model to the game, when the player who is going to pass the bend they can use the steering wheel as help.
Key Research Insight 1. During the first play test, the Jackie she mentioned that the rules of the game is not logical and unreasonable, because some of the rules are overlapping which make the players feel confused, so after that I reorganized the rules and built the order of by the power of the item cards 2. The map is supposed to be larger, I got this idea from my friend, he told me that if the target group of your game is for children, you need to make the track big enough for letting them free to play banditry to eliminate the constraint and barrier. Imagine that , if the track is getting bigger the kart can be bigger so that more be more simpler to manipulate. after that I increase the size of the track, now looks more interesting 3. Natalia said that there is need to be more conflict or interaction between each karts because for the first version game , each kart has its own track, so the players cannot get much more fun if there is no feeling about competition. So I break the laps boundary,now the karts can move diagonally forward to land on any squares.
4. Several of people have mentioned that the game progress is too slow, there should be more functions or elements to speed up since the process is too long which will make the player feel boring, For solving that, I enlarge the power effect of the Green Shell and Red Shell. 5. An she mentioned that you could add more interesting functions to the board game to make to more playful and intriguing. She said why not using the little pull back car, you can pull the kart and let it go to hit other player’s kart. That supposed to be more attractive. So that I add the function by using the pull back karts, nowadays the player can pull the kart when after they got 3 coins.
6.The rules need editing by native English speaker which means there are some grammar mistakes or run-on sentences in the description part and rules part. which get the player puzzled, therefore it causes they cant fully understand the game rules, after that I asked the native speakers to help me point out the grammar mistakes in order to make it more readable.
7. How to shuffle the items card, the tester Zhou asked me during the second-run test. When she draw the items card at first time she just return the cards back to top of the deck which cause the next player draw the same item cards, in order to solve this problem I change the rules that each player need to put the card in the bottom of the deck
8. How to make the game looks more consistent and coherent and concordant is really important for me, For the sake of this problem , I decide to teak all the UI to the one style, that make it looks more consistent and clean
9. When Mike he lands his kart in front of the yellow jump line square which also contain the question mark so he didn't know that the kart need to jump first or draw the card first. After that playlets I mentioned this case in instruction.
10. During the time when Shu Buckhout test the game, I realized that she seems got confused when her kart need to move back 5 places, but at the next round she rolled the dice and got 4 so she need to go 4 places forward then she pass the question mark again. should her draw the cards again or not ? , After talking with several testers, I finally decide to let the player draw the cards if they re-enter the Question mark.