Game name: "Rock n' Roll"
Inspiration: I love to play guitar and to share music knowledge with other people, so I came up with the idea of an educational board game designed to teach basic guitar chords. I wanted a game that was both "rockin" and "educational".
Visual Strategy: I quickly came up with the idea of using the actual guitar shape for my game board because I noticed how the fretboard resembled spaces in a board game. I chose the shape of the Gibson Les Paul because its round body would accommodate a spinner. For the rest of the visuals, I tried to mimic the look of classic hard rock. While this isn't really my favorite genre of music, I thought it would make my game the most visually appealing and eye-catching. The use of flames is a similar visual language to that of games like Guitar Hero. The lettering on the spinner is based on the band ACDC. I also liked using the flaming dice as a way of linking the qualities of a board game to those of rock music.
Execution: I used a thick foam board to make the game sturdy and acrylic paints to give the shiny quality found on actual electric guitars. The spinner was somewhat difficult to create--after initially using a Lazy Susan, I settled instead on cabinet hardware because it spun a little better. It was also difficult to mimic the wood grain pattern on the neck; I did so by using multiple shades of brown. The pick used as a pointer was a bit of an afterthought, but I like what it adds to the visuals. I used very simple pieces made of pencil covers because: 1) they mimic actual guitar chord charts and 2) They need to fit easily on the fretboard
Rules and Gameplay:
The rules are simple: Players begin by spinning the spinner to select a chord (Lightning is free choice). Next, players alternate rolling the die and moving the pieces up the fretboard, starting from the pickup. The first player to get his pieces in the correct chord position wins that round and gameplay starts over.
No comments:
Post a Comment