Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Create / Consume: The Game!

So I'm designig a card game at the moment. It's called "Placebo," and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. As a lifelong gamer, I'm really excited to be making an fleshed out, fully realized and fully playable game. Sadly, I can't really share the concept or the gameplay with the world just yet. So instead, I figured I would come up with some new games based on Create / Consume that I'm happy to share with the world right here and now. Let me know what you guys think!

I know what you're thinking: if my game design skills are anything like my box art design skills, then obviously you're in for a crazy good time. Also, as a side note, there's something so vaguely inappropriate about the "ok" symbol, no?
Idea #1: "Kindergarten"

This is something of a party game that I think would work nicely with larger or smaller groups. The concept is that players are competing for the best creation that everyone works on just during the game. All kinds of artistic materials should be made available to allow for maximum options for the group. This includes pens, pencils, paper, paints, clay/Play Doh and maybe even musical instruments if possible. Everyone can be formed into random teams or can all fend for themselves if they're feeling ornery.

The suggestion for creation can come from a random passage chosen word(s) from a book or a magazine. Players should all be given the same time limit to come up with their creation - anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes seems the most practical, but feel free to play a 60 second or weekend long version of this game. Anything "creative" goes - write a poem, or a play to be acted out. Make a parody of "Call me maybe" called "Maul me Katie?" which sounds really awful. Anyway, once time is up, individual players or groups will present their creations and a secret vote is cast. The player(s) with the highest ranked creation wins! The game can be played in multiple rounds if people feel like extending the experience.

I called this one 'Kindergarten' because I feel like this is something that would be assigned to young children, but there's honestly no reason why adults shouldn't get a kick out of this. A lot of people don't feel necessarily "creative," so I suppose that could be a factor. If so, you can remove the competitive element entirely, making it more like show and tell, another childhood experience. Or you could find more competitive friends and consider idea #2...

Idea #2: "The Inevitable C/C Drinking Game"

FYI: Designing this game would win you my game.
This is basically 'Idea #1' with alcohol/prizes. In the drinking version of this game, once the first round is over (and in this version, rounds should be kept fairly short), and voting has occurred, the losers must drink (and/or eat their creation, if you want to be particularly punitive). The winner gets a time penalty on his/her creation next round to keep things interesting. The good news: as the rounds progress, creations will invariably grow more and more interesting! The bad news: it may be hard to keep people interested in playing this version of the game very long.

As an added incentive, the ultimate winner of the game gets first dibs on selection of movie/game/tv show or restaurant/food that night or the next time the group is together. Or else, the winner simply doesn't get forced to drink. This version of the game is much less like Kindergarten, but it very fulfills both the "Create" and "Consume" portion of the game's title.

Idea #3: "The Biggest Creator"

Yeah Bernie!!
This is more of a straight competition than a "game" per se, but I figure Create / Consume could easily be something similar to a weight loss competition people have with their co-workers, spouses or sometimes with strangers on national television. The idea would be that a group of people - as few as two, or as many as are interested - agree on a month that they will be participating in a local Create / Consume Challenge. The terms are set up - what counts as creations, what counts as consumptions - and the terms for victory can be either maintaining the best ratio of creations to consumptions, or simply a high enough creation time for the month, regardless of consumption. One of the tracking methods I've mentioned on this blog can be used, but obviously it rely on participants to be honest about their times. Showing off creations at the end of the month could ensure players don't simply avoid consumption for the entire month, though this can also be considered a valid strategy if all players agree to it. And the prize? Well, I figure each player can put in a set amount of money - say, $50 - $100 - ensuring a heated competition among everyone for pretty sweet payoff. Remember to find some honest people to play with - they haven't invented a scale for media consumption yet!

[The preceding came from a random thought I had and decided to flesh out during my lunch break at work yesterday, rather than simply playing with my phone or browsing the internet. Let's see how many more of these I can come up with this month!]

-Matt

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