So today in class, we had to turn a retro arcade game into a board game within around an hour, and we chose Frogger. Frogger is an arcade game where player has to direct the frogs to cross the map from one side to another, and we found it can be turn into an interesting board game with in the limited time we had.
To turn an digital arcade game into a board game is a challenge, because the control is going to be different. We also had to make it interesting as a board while inherit the game design from Frogger. The first thing I concern about is the mechanic of the game. In the digital version, player moves 1 frog at a time, but when it comes to board game, we have to consider multiple players taking moves on the map every turn. In this case, this board game could lead to 2 possibilities. It can be survival game or racing game. If we made it survival, players might be able to come up strategy and eliminate one and other to win the game. It might be interesting, but it will involve lots of design on the map and the rules. Since we only had less than an hour, it would be better to try making it a racing game.
Above image is what we came up with, it might not be exact same as the prototype but the idea is the same. After we understood what we are heading to for the board game, we moved to the game testing phrase. Since we had a team of 5 people, there are 5 players starting at the bottom. Each time a player roll a dice, he/ she can go all 8 directions, this includes diagonals. However, according to the number on the dice, different object moves on the map before player makes his/ her move. After a few changes, we decided if it is an even number, all red cars move to the right by one block and the very right block moves to the very left; if it is 1, the trunk moves 1 block right; if it is 3, the lily pads on the top row moves 1 block right; and if it is 5 the lily pads on the bottom move 1 block right. There are also a safe zone between the river and the traffic road just like the original one. At first, it might seem easy to move wherever you want to on the map, but as the game goes, it is hard to stay alive during other players' turns; it requires luck and prediction. Although you might think you find a safe spot to land on, other players' rolls can change the objects around and turn out you end up getting by them. Especially when there are 5 players, the amount of empty blocks reduces by 4 from each player. This is the part where it becomes interesting and fun as every player tries to win over each other and keeps him/ herself safe at the same time. Due to the limited time we had, we did not finish the game. However, the overall playing experience was fun. We got our prototype and rules done, and we were happy about it. Hopefully whoever has a chance to play it would feel the same way as we do too.
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