Part III: Brainstorming Screen Layouts
I’ve had a few ideas about how I might arrange things to make the screens more interesting visually (and to accommodate some of the changes I want to make with the game.)
First up is the Player Selection screen. I’d like to get away from using Player One, Player Two, etc., so I’m considering use of characters. Each player could select a character they’d like to have representing them (not unlike Clue.) If only one character portrait was selected this would initiate a single player game vs. an AI. If two to four portraits were selected then it would initiate the multiplayer version of the game.
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The Player Ready screen would use the character portrait to indicate which player goes next.
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And the character portraits would appear on the bottom of the game screen along with their collected gems so you can tell how everyone is doing when it is your turn. (The active player’s character would be highlighted.) Another change to the game screen would be to eliminate the current pig counter – which is confusing at best – and replace it with a visual representation of the three members of the expedition team. One team member would be crossed off for each uncountered pig attack. If the third member is crossed off then the team and any gems they collect have been lost. I considered coming up with character portraits for the team members as well but I think I’m going to leave them as faceless NPCs. From the view of the narrative they are replaceable and only as important as any gems they might have. Also, this way I won’t end up getting too emotionally attached to them and decide to bring them safely home when the better play would be to send them out for another round of gem gathering.
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Finally, there’s the updated Help/Pause screen. The list of rules is going away because there will be an in-game tutorial to explain how to play. In its stead would be a cheat sheet of the likelihood of each result for each type of card... whatever they end up being.
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