Playtest 1 Unit 3

 

Play testers show-off their 45 second collaborative drawings from my group's Sketch Express!

For this unit, I play-tested Group 5, Group 4, Group 12, Group 11 and Group 10's games. 

Group 12's is a survival game pitting humans against zombies. The formal elements of this game really stood out to me. They are as follows:

Challenge

• The difficulty in this game lies in placing your components. 
• If you're a human, do you hide in a few rooms and bar off zombies, or do you throw yourself out as bait? 
• If you're a zombie, do you arrange your fleets with the weakest or strongest at the front? 
• This lays the foundation for the rest of the game. 

Play

• I found the use of a ruler to control the distance each component can travel really interesting. 
• It made the game feel like a war-simulation game without being nearly as strict or complicated.
• It was also the part of the game that required the most playtesting and tweaking, which also made it the most compelling part. 

Premise

• The overarching narrative of this game is the survival of the humans against the zombies (Or, conversely, the feasting on humans by zombies). 
• It's a good start and I think the game mimics a movie or video game really well, but it would be nice to have some more backstory for the human characters.  

Character

• The three different types of zombies made for very compelling gameplay. 
• It would be neat if there was some lore behind them, but it's not necessary for enjoyment of the mechanics themselves. 
• Regular zombies meander around very slowly, so it's nice to have a contrast and balance of two other types. 
• One type moves very quickly and one moves slower but has higher defense. 

Story

• The addition of a more fleshed out story would give the game a more polished feel. 
• Zombie stories are a dime a dozen and it's always fun to see an interesting spin on the genre. 
• I'm already creating a backstory in my head as I play, though, which I believe shows there's a good base to work off of.