Wednesday, April 30, 2014
#10 (My Favorite Board Game and Why)
I really fell in love with the game Prisoner's Quest.
First of all, the game receives a 5/5 for immersion. Ian Bogost, Author of "How to Do Things With Video Games," claims that "tactility can please the body" (82). I have experienced this with this particular game. There is something about being able to move you character piece through each room, conquering the board as you go. Although the "world" of Prisoner's Quest is confined to a board, the cards and characters are vibrantly rendered enough to immerse me in that world (82). The immersion I experience in the game allows me to invest emotionally while playing, giving me more incentive to play and win, and even try out different characters.
In Jonathon Degann's Game Theory 101, the most important component of a successful game is Story Arc. That is, a beginning, middle and end which turns the game into an "adventure in which the players and the pieces are characters."
This is exactly what Prisoner's Quest is all about! The story arc is simple: You and four other players are in castle, and you must discover rooms to escape, attacking and defeating the other players throughout. The characters are wonderfully created in that they each have their own appearance, statistics, and one can imagine, personality. Players of the game can project their ideas of who their character is, what they would say/do, etc. into gameplay. The story arc and the game design allow for maximum creativity allowed in a structured board game. These work together to keep the player engaged throughout game play.
Because Prisoner's Quest immerses the player and has an engaging story arc, the game is very successful. I want to play it again and again!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Josie,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that this game immerses the player! This is what makes it so successful. I talked about this game in my post as well, and talked about how the theme is so good (because it immerses the player making the complex mechanics easier to learn). It is also a good point that the game is tactilely rich. The textures of the pieces, foam block, sturdy smooth cards, and handfuls of rattling dice are very pleasing!
I played prisoner’s quest and it was a cool game but it was not as cool as the dungeons and dragons game. The game you are talking about had a good theme to it because imagining yourself trapped in a prison would be absolutely horrifying.
ReplyDeleteThe dungeons and dragons game was a lot more detailed and kept you on your toes because you constantly are looking out for new nooks and crannies that others an attack you from.
All in all, they were both very creative games but Everyone has their personal preferences.