Alchemical Antics
Description
Alchemical Antics is a party game where players brew different potions and use them on other players to test out their various effects. Players move around the board to gather different resources and need to trade with other alchemists to gather the materials needed to brew potions.
Rules
Design Process
Alchemical Antics was created for the mechanics project for CTIN 488 at USC. For our group we were tasked with designing a game with these core mechanics: competitive (1v1v1v1), trading, roll to move, and fantasy. For this project we were given two weeks to design and build the game with in-class playtests each week.
Brainstorming
Initially we were given just four different mechanics that we needed to include in the game. So we started with a brainstorming session to come up with possible ideas of how to combine these various mechanics. One of the main problems we found with the trading mechanic is that our game is meant to be playable within a 12 minute playtest. Normally trading games tend to be games that have longer playtimes as each player makes trades to get incremental advantages. Because of this time limit we decided to focus more on a party game style. This would allow players to think less about how to make the best decision at every point and instead focus more on having fun.
Initial group brainstorming
Iteration 1
In this first iteration all players were placed on the same board and as they move around they can collect the ingredient listed on the tiles the land on. On the side we have different piles of index cards that correspond to potion types consisting of an effect and difficulty. These potions were meant to be used by the player brewing them and had various negative effects like “can’t speak”, “stand on one leg”, and many more. By following the potions effect for its duration, the player can gain victory points based on the difficulty of the potion’s effect.
In group playtest of the first iteration
Iteration 2
Through playtesting of the first iteration, we found that there was little incentive for players to trade resources as they could just collect it themselves. So for the second iteration we separated the board into individual boards for every player. Each player would only be able to gather one ingredient corresponding to their board and to get other types of ingredients they must trade with other players. Also we changed the potions from being used on yourself to being used on other players. In the playtests of the first iteration, many players found it confusing that they were using these negative effects on themselves instead of on other players.
Playtest of the second iteration
Final Iteration
Through playtesting of the second iteration, we found that many players did not like the idea of having the different difficulty levels of potions as the main difference was the number of ingredients to brew. Also in general, players just wanted to brew more potions to use on other players as the fun part of the game is making other players do funny things. So we changed the cost of all potions to be just three different ingredients to allow players to brew potions more frequently. Also to make the game more interesting, we added special event cards that are triggered when a player lands on the special event tile. These have a variety of effects such as “give ingredients to the player on the left”, “randomly draw a potion and apply it to yourself”, and many more. We also finalized our game materials to better fit the fantasy theme of the players being warlocks and witches that brew potions to use on one another.
Final iteration of our game with finalized game materials