Cheque Your Privilege

Playtest 8 vid 2

Playtest 8 vid 1

Evet card backs finished. When opportunity card backs are doe will update card upload files

Updated and published. Waiting for artwork to get back to me for card backs. For now, mark the back of both different cards with an E for events or an O for opportunity. Everything below was supposed to be in the devlog section but I used it more as a blog anyway so whatever. Enjoy x

Playtest 7 v3 (I know, I skipped some of this devlog).. Major update to all card text and instructions as well as final statistic manipulations. All changes this patch have been made to improve understandability and playability. Sent off for proof reading. Card design being changed according to standard card printing conventions. Art for card backs currently being designed. Will upload current versions later today

A4 - I intend to ship this game. I have played around with various other mechanics (such as "fight" and "job center") but they are not necessary to maintain the message of the game.

A3 - Unfortunately this game was much ore design based than anything. I have a picture of my first paper prototype pasted below in the blog

A2 - Inspirations: I have a lot of content from my own experiences and didn't actually take any inspirations from anywhere. The concept of having a game with an underlying message came from the mcdonalds video game, and I've since heard that there is a similar game called "Train" by Brenda Romero

A1 - Project name: Cheque Your Privilege,
Contributors - playtesting: Frisby, Adam, Rodney, Diana, James, Contributors - printing: Störm

charity: this is not put down as a means of escape. It is referenced but only in terms of the way it works and not the way people understand it. If I were to include it as a means of escape it would be "if you are female, wait 6 months, then game over". Currently that is not one of the points I am trying to make and, even though I do feel strongly about it, it is not necessary at the moment

Survival: There is also very little explained about how the player obtains their food. There are a few primary methods, like stealing, scavenging, profiting from "good samaritans" or friends/ partners, or skipping (dumpster diving), OR if you are lucky at the time, job center money. These are rarely mentioned as a statement that small change is not helping survival. It might make life more manageable in terms of drugs but you aren't saving anyone from being homeless

Finished changes, also differentiated between types of card with background colour. Printing paper prototype version2. During this iteration I have modified some of the values which make the mechanics run more effectively, corrected a few errors and typos, added a margin for printing the cards on paper and more strongly differentiated between Event cards and Opportunity cards. Below is an image of my initial paper prototype

Playtested prototype several times. Super happy with results. Making minor changes  whilst trying to not gamify it too much, then will print on proper cards etc

Understandings: People tend to not understand how everything works very well (part of the reason I'm trying to communicate this in a game). Interactions often bring people not understanding, but occasionally bring people that do. The ONLY constant in this game is people misunderstanding, or treating you badly having the same effect on you no matter what. The inverse also has an inverse effect. This, unfortunately, is very much the case. The rest of the events impact you varying on the characters mood, or untold events during that day.

Game Over: There is no "win condition". The game is simply over when you aren't homeless, for whatever reason, for however long. Hopefully this can encourage the player to think about some of the things that happened to them, and where they are now.

Morale: is hard to build when it drops. With a low morale you spend most of the time bumming around the streets, though things may still happen, it is far rarer

Events: Good things are very rare, little things can really make your day, or ruin them. It's generally just random

choice: Job center option may introduce more choice, but at the moment this game is supposed to be a story more than a competition

Stats - loop: It is often that when you have a decent amount of a statistic, you may gain more of it. This often seems to be the case - if you spend a lot of time talking to people, fighting, or thinking, you will get better at those things. It also makes sense to do the thing that makes the most sense to you

Stats - individual: Wit, or adaptability is the most impactful statistic. It can keep you safe and reap great opportunities. Prowess, or physical ability can generally keep you safe while allowing you more options. Charisma, or charm can help you win: You cannot escape it on your own. You can only influence the opportunities you get

Stats - general: the range and averages are chosen specifically (originally they were out of 20). This is partially to make a change of 1 to a stat seem little, when really it is a very large impact to your character. Once again, the dice roll is because you are not playing yourself, you are playing a person who has recently become homeless.

Skills: When I became homeless I was 17 years old and had no qualifications from schools or other academies, despite having performed well in most of them. I received a few NVQs over the years but these proved worthless. No matter how good you are at anything, it is very difficult to turn this into something which makes enough money regularly enough that you can rent a room, with or without qualifications. This is why there are personality attributes but no skills, however, when I include the jobseekers option I may introduce these. The primary influence as to whether or not you can work in lower end customer service jobs will unfortunately still be based on whether the player is female or not, as it is in real life

No money: this is to communicate that money isn't going to help someone in a homeless situation. It might help you get a hostel for the night or hot food, but it is not a means to escape homelessness

Time: most of the game should be spent bumming around, and little events become seen as really good. Sometimes you will be stuck outside for the majority of the game

Bar path: more requirements must be met to have a good even come from it. Some risk still, but at random increments (alcohol does that). May reap great rewards, if you're ready for it. More events require the correct skills

Crime path: High risk high reward, makes future crimes easier/ safer to commit, Easiest option on average, Doesn't require high morale, is only viable choice at low morale, impacts charisma: ability to meet people and have good experiences. Also improves self security. Often when in bad situations, it is easier to build your ego doing bad things before being able to relax a little, as we can see with many less savoury people. It is very rarely the charismatic, happy, safe person waiting for you in an alley.

"Roll a double" is used often instead of "Roll a 6 on on dice". Even though the probabilities are the same, it tends to be perceived as more likely. This game is heavily based on chance, but perceived chance is also a vital part of it. People think it's easier to do things homeless than it really is. 

Completed base level of what game should be. Will consider adding additional "job search" option in future, although game is initially supposed to work without it. I will now list all the separate mechanics incorporated into my game (above)

Edited all event cards, removed the concept of "cred", hypothesised about job centre option, might add it. Found out that the 25th is the opening day for submissions, not the closing day so might put this on the back burner for the moment. Just writing up the rules and making modifications. Will most likely add job center option

trying to remove rep/ cred from my game but trying to still make this the easier, more desirable option. maybe will reduce difficulty and add more morale?

tested with 3 people. Similar out come. Both feedback loops are very strong, as they should for the message of the game. Need to make cards and then it's good

both the negative and positive feedback loops worked exactly as planned. Slightly shuffled stats modifications. Next step is to make event cards

performing test run with a friend

Decided on 2 different event card types to use, as well as 3 tiles for the game. Mayexpand more later but for now am making these relevant rules

Removed multiplication from stat calculations as it is too complicated

The game i'm making is supposed to show how difficult and how few options you have when you are homeless with no staability (family/ home/ country familiarity/ et)

After finishing several other projects, and planning this one also, I have started designing this concept as a board game. The game can be played alone or with others as a competition (or race, so to speak). I will be uploading pictures of my plans once I have completed them

- Researched around what language and platform I should use

- Decided to use Unity with Fungus

- Researching tutorials: Unity is complex and makes no sense to me

- Started the blog

Awesome, entering my paper notes

Writing what I think is a blog