\|/
.-*-
/ /|\
_L_
," ".
(\ / O O \ /)
\| _ |/
\ (_) /
_/.___,\_
(_/ alf \_)
(source: http://www.ascii-art.de/ascii/ab/bomb.txt)Werewolf, a game for the 'network game' assignment by Dmitry Portnoy and Jeff Carlson, with images from http://panelmonkey.org, http://tsgk.captainn.net, and http://www.kleider.net.
The primary goal was to create a turn-based, competitive game and to keep it as simple as possible, while still being fun.
The initial concept was fairly similar to the final game. We wanted players to walk around and gain energy by consuming certain items (referred to as food in development). We decided to keep the game turn-based to avoid the problems inherent in developing real-time networked games. To add some strategy and excitement to the game, we decided players should be able to place some items that would look like food, but would actually be detrimental if consumed (referred to as boms in development). We ended up actually making them (a type of) food and bombs in the final game, but we considered things like poisoned food as well. We also went through a couple iterations of balancing how and how much health players lose.
The nature of the competition between the two players is innovative. In most competitive multiplayer games, players are in direct competition, but, in this game, players have the choice of trying to avoid each other.
Overall, the game does achieve the goal. The controls are limited and easy to grasp and the goal is intuitive as well. The basic mechanics work well. However, the game could use more feedback and some of the bomb mechanics are not obvious for someone new to the game. When a player eats a bomb, there's no indication that it's a bomb besides the sudden drop in health. The mechanic of diffusing an opponent's bomb is also unclear since there is absolutely no feedback besides one's own bomb not appearing. The game could potentially be lengthy, but since the bombs deal massive amounts of damage, this probably doesn't break the game.