Paper prototype game - Crossfire

Prototype

Crossfire was created with the process of paper prototyping. The idea is to design a game, play test, analyze, and prototype again. Doing this should leave with a better game than when you started.

The first play session I helped play test a four person board game. It started out very basic but ended up being well refined at the end. We figured out what the best way to move the pieces around. Also what the spots on the board should do. We also helped eliminate complicated features that did not add much benifit.

The second play session I worked with one other person. We both did not have very concrete games of our own so we helped come up with game ideas together.

Crossfire initially started out as a chess puzzle. However, through play testing it was found to be rather dull and provided no game play for two players.

 I then radically changed the game to include only a board like chess, and player pieces that behaved like kings. The goal this time was to attack the other persons king. To aid in the kings movement you could use movement tiles that were reconfigured in the board. This made the game much more interesting but was still lacking in strategy. Using preconfigured boards provided a challenge to me as a designer to make them interesting and balanced.

The last prototype I allowed players place the movement tiles where ever they like. They could use this as a strategy to help them win. The game became much more fun because now winning was no longer about how well you know the board but how well can you place tokens to allow you to have an advantage over your opponent. To keep it balanced, alternating placing movement tiles in setup was implemented. Each player could decide where they think the piece would be most beneficial.

Simulated Game Play

Setup:
1. Players alternate placing once movement token on the board until no tokens remain.
- Movement tokens must be placed so that no pieces are touching with at least one space in between.
2. Players place their player token anywhere within their start box except on top of movement tokens.


Rules:
- A player may move his token onto a movement piece and move in the direction of any arrow and move piece all the way to the edge of the board or stop if movement piece is in way. If another player is in the way, they lose.
- A player wins when they land on or cross over their opponent.
- Players may replace movement tiles or continue using the ones already place.


Printable Materials:
Pieces
Board