CAGD 170 - Unit 3
Group 4 - Frigid Ascent
Game Summary
Frigid Ascent pits a courageous mountain climber against a territorial yeti in a thrilling showdown. The climber aims to reach the top of Mount Yeren while navigating hazardous obstacles, while the yeti throws boulders and employs strategic cards to impede their progress and knock them down the mountain. With limited information sharing, strategic maneuvering, and tactical card play, players must outwit their opponent to claim victory in this intense mountain climbing expedition.
Player Board & Ice Walls
Target Audience
Frigid Ascent appeals to players like the competitor and players who enjoy trying to outwit their opponent through strategic decision making. The tense, competitive experience provided by giving each player their own character specific goals that directly oppose each other makes it so players have to outwit their opponent. As far as age demographics go, the game can appeal to older teenagers and adults since the mechanics can be a bit more complicated at times.
Iterative Process
The game originally started out as an idea I came up with during the brainstorming session in class. The concept was simply that one player was a climber while the other was a yeti. The game started out as a blank grid where the player moved up row by row without anything to impede their path. It was fundamentally a guessing game in which the yeti had a one in nine chance of hitting the player. The only yeti cards that were in the game involved placing obstacles and hitting an area of effect. This version was very basic and didn’t have any proper graphics to use.
Once I found a partner, we created a rule sheet and fleshed out the yeti cards a bit more. This rule sheet was very barebones, but was suitable enough for playtesting. Our original rule sheet was very basic and utilized rudimentary graphics to demonstrate the base mechanics of the game. From this rule sheet we learned that having the climber start with nothing to stop them made for a very stale game where the climber would most likely always win. From there we decided the yeti should have to set up two ice walls in each row before the start of the game. This decision monumentally upgraded the state of the game as it now allowed the yeti to be able to customize the board and made the climber have to pick a route that they would use to get up the board.
From then on we mostly had to keep correcting the rule sheet to properly convey how movement for the climber worked and had to keep specifying what happens during certain edge cases. Much of the work I did was in writing as I was constantly updating the text in our rule sheet. One thing I learned from this project is how important organization is to a rule sheet. Rule sheets that have clear labels and functions make for a much easier time than those that are just walls of text.
Problems Encountered
As I stated previously, the wording in the rule sheet was a massive issue since a lot of times it did not explain things clearly or omitted certain information. One such instance was not saying what happened when the climber is pushed down two rows onto an ice wall. We had to correct the rule sheet to say that the ice walls get destroyed when the climber falls on it. Movement was also a tricky thing to explain since our initial versions left a lot to the players imagination. Adding an illustration that shows how players are supposed to move around obstacles like ledges was an immense help in clarifying this process.
Task Completion
For the most part, tasks were completed in a timely manner and any group work we had got done well before it was due. All of our rule sheets contained substantial updates that made the game better for it. I believe the final rule sheet is a good reflection of all the work that went into this game. Given our schedules, I believe we had good time management. Efficiency could always be improved, but I think we did a good job at getting things done on time. In this regard, I can’t say that there are any task specific improvements that we could make other than being more focused and on-task.
Going Forward
Moving forward, I believe I could benefit from learning how to compartmentalize blocks of text better. Proper organization is key to having a legible rule sheet that allows players quick access into your game. I will clearly outline sections in a logical order that the player will approach the game at.
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