Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Visual Communication Project - 3
Designing a game on Hindu Thoughts Mythology, Gods & Symbolism Project by Shravan Muralidhar Roll. No. 10625004
Guide: Prof. Mandar Rane
IDC, IIT Bombay
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Approval Sheet
The Visual Communication project 3 entitled “Designing a game on Hindu Thoughts, Mythology, Gods and Symbolism� by Shravan Muralidhar Roll No. 10625004 is approved, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Design Degree in Visual Communication at the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
____________________________________ Guide Name Signature
____________________________________ Chairperson Name Signature
____________________________________ Internal Examiner Name
Signature
____________________________________ External Examiner Name
Signature
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
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Declaration
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
I declare that this written submission represents my ideas in my own words and where others' ideas or words have been included, I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources. I also declare that I have adhered to all the principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not misinterpreted or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/fact/source in my submission. I understand that any violation of the above will be a cause for disciplinary action by the institute and can also evoke penal action from the sources which have thus not been properly cited or from whom proper permission has not been taken when needed.
.......................................................... Shravan Muralidhar Roll No: 10625004 Date:
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Acknowledgement
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to my Guide Prof. Mandar Rane who has always been there to support my ideas and not letting me give up hope during the complete journey of my project. He has been a wonderful mentor and a knowledgeable guru, with his expertise in the field of visual communication I learnt a lot form him in terms of perfection and precise communication. I also wish convey my gratitude to all my batch mates for being a constant support in reviewing my works and giving valuable inputs. Last but not the least, I cannot forget the immense help extended by the Players, who took time off their busy schedule and played a main role in testing my game.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Introduction
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Why Game?
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Fun Making information interesting. Repetitive process The very aspect of a game being played multiple times helps making information stay in their memory for a long time. Versatility of stories and information Different schools of thoughts have different stories, so it's hard to decide the authenticity and arrive at a single story. Hence, game has been taken as the medium of information transaction, so that it conveys the basic detail and leaves the rest to the players' discretion. Casual yet informative A game can be casual but yet give subtle information. Existing Mediums Books, Web Sites and other mediums are already existing and hence game has been chosen to convey the information in a more interesting way.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Books
Hindu Gods and Goddesses. By Swami Harshananda. In this book Swami Harshananda introduces us to the basics of Hindu gods and goddesses & the symbols they carry. He deals with these details on the surface and does not delve very deep into the stories of each and every symbol or about why a god carries it or where did it come from, etc..
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Books
The Symbolism of Hindu Gods and Rituals By A. Parthasarathy. Dr. A Parthasarathy has discussed in detail about all the symbols that a deity carries and why and what message does the symbol carry for the better living of mankind. Although he has discussed in detail, it sounds like it tries to preach a certain school of thought rather than solely explaining about the symbols and their meaning.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Books
7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar art By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik. Hindu Calendar Art may be gaudy and kitsch, but it is the most modern and democratic expression of a mythic imagery that once adorned temple walls and palm leaf manuscripts. They speak a language that is indifferent to rationality. It is the language of a people’s faith. In this book, Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, India’s renowned mythologist, translates this language and reveals an ancient Indian truth that will certainly impact your life.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Books
Why I am not a Hindu By Dr. Kancha Ilaiah A very different view about the Hindu thoughts, the gods and goddess therein have been presented by Dr. Kancha Ilaiah. Being forced by Hindu thoughts, he rebelled and started questioning the very religion. He has explored the depths of different Hindu deities and tried to explain his view of how Hinduism has a flaw from its very fundamentals. Although it sounds like a rebellious and repulsive idea, it's still a genuinely minted thought provoked within a rather everworshipped and revered realm of Hindu Godhood.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Game Concept - 1 Gods and Symbolism - Card game Target Age - 10yrs and above
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Entities of God
As we are not venturing deep into the meanings of the symbols, the first concept tries to just explain which deity carries what symbol and not the detail of its meaning. I am also trying to take into consideration the different entities of gods and create a game play to teach about them.
Ayudhas - Weapons Avataras - Incarnations Shakti - Special Abilities Shaapa - Curses Kartavya - Duty Consort - Spouse Leela
- Stories
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Game Play
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
The first concept - Symbol card game. • The pack of cards contains 8 different gods and 5 of the symbols they carry in separate cards. • First a person picks a God card which contains the complete detail about the God and the symbols he carries. • Then that card is set upside down and then the symbol cards are dealt amongst the players.
BRAHMA
• Each person will get 5 symbol cards, which are mixed and shuffled before dealing. • The game begins with the dealer and he puts down a card which he doesn't need.
KAMANDAL
SWAN
VEDA
MALA
• The next person picks it up, keeps it if he needs it, else he passes his turn to the next person, and it goes on further. • The game continues until everyone collects all 5 symbols of the gods they have selected.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Game Concept - 2 Hindu Thoughts - Board Game Age Limit - 18yrs and above
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Concept
The second game is a board game with a structure which includes concepts from Hindu thoughts like:
Tapas
Moksha
Vara
Shaapa Avatara Yuddha Vidhi
Karma
Bhakti
Yoga Maya
Guna
Atma Pooja
Sristi
Stithi Laya
Aashrama Amrutha
Jnyana
Visha
The idea is to integrate some of these concepts into a board game wherein the player gets a surface level understanding about them.
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Usage in the game
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
A brief idea about the meanings of these concepts and how these can be built into a game is explained below:
Tapas
- Meaning - Doing Penance - How it's used in the game - Do Tapas, lose 1 turn and gain 1 Vara
Vara
- Meaning - Boon - How it's used in the game - get a boon for the Tapas you did
Shaapa
- Meaning - Curse - How it's used in the game - Curse an opponent with your Curse card, but beware you gain bad karma
Karma
- Meaning - Deed - How it's used in the game - Get points for good and lose for bad karmas. Maya - Meaning - Disguise - How it's used in the game - Pick a disguise card, get a Boon or Curse
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Initial board structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
The initial board structure was built in a concentric circle format. The purpose of this was to build in it the concept of different Janmas (rebirths). The red spots are the places where it's decided whether you get to go to the inner circle or you go back to the outer circle if you are in the inner circle. Then there are other places for MAYA, TAPAS, VARA etc. There are also places of good deeds and bad deeds where you get to collect good or bad karma.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Game Concept 1 Testing & Detailing
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First cut of Card Designs
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Kamandal The divine water pot
God Cards
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
Symbol Cards
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Problems
?
Th w ed a ter ivine po t
al
nd
Ka ma
a KaK m lnadnadl l aam Kamandal al aamnadnaTd Km h T eeindeeivdin Ka Thehwdivine ive in iv n ate d eiw via Tehwater tetopot r opto e d p rtp t Thw aete r rpo t a w
The first cut card designs had basic design flaws. The names of the symbol are on the centre & all cards are not visible at a time. This makes it hard to browse through when the players are holding five cards together.
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
The orientation of the symbol cards were one sided, we could not see if he card was thrown in any other direction, it makes it hard to play as a card game.
In the God card, the symbols are on the right and the god image is on the left it makes it hard for the person to connect the symbols with that of the god on the left. Hence I decided to do somehting which is viewable right on the god card which make it much clear.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Second cut Card Designs
Trishool
Trishool
The second cut had all the mistakes corrected and was ready for testing.
Trinetra
Sarpa Damaru
Nandi
Trishool
God Cards
Symbol Highlighting Cards
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
Symbol Cards
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Second cut Card Designs
Now the symbol cards could be seen from
overlapped with the god card, highlighted the
both the sides and the name of the symbol on
symbols of the god and at the same time did
top left and bottom right facilitated a quick
not hinder the visual appeal of the god card.
view of all the cards.
Trishool
Trishool
I made a window cut card which once
Trinetra
Sarpa Damaru
Nandi
Trishool
God Cards
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
Symbol Cards
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Testing and Results
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
The game play had certain limitations, • Even if the god had more than 5 symbols it was limited to 5 to fit into the game play • Some gods had less than 5 symbols, these could not be included in the game play. • The game got a bit monotonous and did not induce the player play again. • The visual appeal of the cards was also not that impressive.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Game Concept 1 Illustration exploration
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Ganesha
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Ganesha's Symbols
Gajaanana
Lambodara
Mooshika
The elephant headed
One who has a big fat belly.
Rat, his vehicle
Ankusha
Pasha
Danta
Modaka
The axe
The rope
The tusk
Sweet eatable
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Shiva
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Shiva's Symbols
Trinetra
Gangadhara
Nandi
The one with 3 eyes
The one holding the river Ganga
Bull, his vehicle
Trishoola
Sarpa
Damaru
The Trident
The Snake
The Drum
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Vishnu
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Vishnu's Symbols
Shanka
Chakra
Gada
Padma
The Conch
The Disc
The Mace
The Lotus
Kaustuba
Garuda
The divine necklace
Eagle, his vehicle
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Brahma
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Brahma's Symbols
Chaturmukha
Shwethambara
Hamsa
Four headed
One who wares white clothes
The Swan, his vehicle
Shruk
Kamandala
Pustaka
Akshamala
The ladle
The water pot
The book of Veda or knowledge
The rosary
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Saraswati
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Saraswati's Symbols
Pustaka
Akshamala
Hamsa
The book of Veda or knowledge
The Rosary
Swan, her vehicle
Veena
Padmasana
The String instrument
The Lotus throne
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Amalgamated Game Concept
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Combining concepts
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
At this stage since the card game was still sounding very boring, I decided to club concept 1 with concept 2 i.e., The card game of symbols with the board game of Hindu thoughts.
Vishnu
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Game elements
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
I first shortlisted the final elements I'll be using in the game.
Gods Symbol Good karma Bad Karma Tapas Vara Shaapa Maya
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Board game
The primary aim of the game is to travel through the cycle of life doing good and bad karmas collecting fruits good and bad accordingly. To integrate the Symbol card game into this, I divided the board into good karmas, bad karmas, symbols, Tapas, Vara and Maya. Half of the game board consists of the symbols and the other half good and bad karmas, the rest were allocated to the rare elements like Tapas, Vara and Maya.
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
Symbols
Karmas
Tapas
Vara
Maya
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Dice or a wheel?
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Choosing the hardware for the game i.e., whether to go with a dice or a spinning wheel etc. was a tricky part. At first, since it was an Indian game and about gods I thought of using an...
Old Traditional Indian Dice.
Finally settled for a Spinning wheel as it offered more flexibility in the moves. Meaning, It had an option of 1 and could go until 10 with equal chances of luck, unlike the traditional or the normal dice where you don't get a 10 when using one dice and you don't get a 1 when using 2 dice. The permutation and combination of the dice to result in a number was not uniformly fair. Tried a Regular Dice too
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
God and Symbol cards As we go ahead with the other element of the game, the first one to talk about would be the god card. Every player picks a God card (Fig 1.2) and appropriately tries to collect the symbols (Fig 1.1) of the god they have picked which will remain unknown to others until the last.
Fig 1.0 - Spots on the board
The spots where you get to collect the symbol cards are placed strategically on the game board with relevant tasks to do appropriately (Fig 1.0).
Vishnu
Fig 1.1 - Relevant symbol cards
Project - 3 | Shravan Muralidhar | Roll. No.10625004
Fig 1.2 - Vishnu - God card
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Karma - Deeds The Primary aim of the game is to collect good karmas by doing good deeds and to exhaust all the bad karmas. The Karmas are in the form of coins in the game. The number of good or bad karmas to be collected is mentioned in each of the place you land.
The filled blue circle shows the number of Good karmas you collect. The filled Gray circle shows the number of Bad karmas you collect. The Outline Gray circle shows the number of Bad karmas you give away.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Tapas - Penance The green spots on the board are Tapas spots. As we all have heard in the stories of mythology, people gained great powers by doing penance. Nevertheless they had to spend years together doing penance to achieve the same. I have tried to put these concepts of gaining powers and losing time for the same in a very subtle manner. If you landed on a Tapas spot, you have to lose a turn, but you also qualify for Vara. You also get to collect a Shaapa card (curse card) which you can use on any opponent anytime.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Vara - Boon The purple spots are the spots where you can gain Vara. Doing Tapas was always for a purpose, to gain a boon, to gain extraordinary powers. This has been put in the game with the same idea. To gain a Vara when you stand on the Vara spot you should have landed on a Tapas spot previously, else you gain nothing. One Tapas can gain you one Vara only. Later you should land on another Tapas to gain eligibility for another Vara. A player gets to pick a Vara card from the deck and act accordingly to the instruction written on the card.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Maya The concept of Maya can be nearly understood as disguise. One can fall trap to a Maya or a Maya can help you out of a problem, etc. But one doesn't get to know what will be happening.
Maya
In the game the player who lands on Maya is out for the opponents to curse or to give a boon. The opponent presents the Curse card or the Boon card to the player and the player on the Maya spot will act accordingly as instructed on the card. If there are two or more opponents wanting to put the card, then they are all supposed to spin the wheel again and the one who spins the highest number gets to present the card. However the player can present an Escape Shaapa card to escape from the curse card of the opponent. This I shall discuss later with the 'Special Cards'.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Judgement day As the player moves through the game there are these 3 spots where if the player lands on them he should have the prescribed good karmas to jump to the inner circle or if he is in the inner circle he should have lesser bad karmas than the displayed number. This adds a suspense and a twist to the game and also gives a connect to the concept of Punarjanma or rebirth where a person gets to be reborn if has done lot of bad deeds or gets to attain moksha if he has been good.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
The End At the end of such a game most of the time the player gets stuck with a number and he has to spin that number only to win. I have tried to add a fun and anxiety to this through a concept. If the player enters the final circle and lands on a colour he jumps to the other spot with the same colour. He keeps repeating until he spins the exact number to reach the final spot of winning.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Vara/Boon Card The Vara cards should be collected when you land on a Vara spot, and act accordingly to the instructions written on it. Vara or Shaapa cards are also collected each time you land on or pass through a Tapas spot. This you can't use on yourself it is to use it only on the opponents. Decision whether you pick a Vara or a shaapa card is taken by spinning the wheel. If you spin Even numbers get you Vara cards and odd gets you shaapa cards.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Shaapa/Curse Card Curse cards are also collected each time you land on or pass through a Tapas spot. To use a Curse card on your opponent you should be on a Tapas, Vara or a Maya spot. If the opponent presents a 'Escape Shaapa' Card then both the cards return to the deck and the opponent escapes the curse you put on him.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Special cards Share Karma This card can be presented at any point of the game. The opponent has to share half the good karmas he is getting or if the opponent has landed on a bad karma and he presents this card then he has to share half of the opponents bad karma. You can escape this by presenting a burn card. Burn Card This card can be used to burn any of the special cards. These can't be used on a Vara or a shaapa card. Once used, the special card becomes useless and both the cards get back to the deck. You cannot use a burn card over a burn card. Escape Shaapa With this card you can burn the Curse card your opponent has put on you. Nevertheless if your opponent presents a burn card over this, then your 'Escape Shaapa' card becomes useless.
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Game structure
Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Winning At the end each player will receive a certain amount of good karmas depending on the place they hold. The player who reaches 1st gets 20 good karmas, 2nd gets 15 good karmas, 3rd gets 10 good karmas & 4th gets 5 good karmas. The player also gets 20 good karmas for each symbol card of the appropriate god card he had picked. He also gets 10 bad karmas for each symbol card which is inappropriate to his god card. Good karmas equivalent to the number of bad karmas you have collected are then deducted. After all these the Good karmas of each player is counted and the player with the highest wins 1st and then the others consecutively 2nd, 3rd and last.
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Designing a game on Hindu thoughts, Mythology, Gods & Symbolism.
Testing
The game is being tested and improved and the final version will be available once the flaws in the game are completely corrected. Each time it is being tested there are new feedback I am getting and I shall discuss and argue upon it in detail in my final report. Final game board attached herewith for reference.
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