Catapult Capers Postmoterm

1. Catapult Capers
Ryan Horbal
Game Design 1
April-May 2014
Sunday, May 4, 14

2. Launching
Recently I have been playing a lot of the game
Clash of Clans by Supercell. When I saw
launching as a theme this month my mind
immediately went to medieval launching devices.
I started doing my research and I slowly started
to come up with my game.
Sunday, May 4, 14

3. Catapults
I have always known that catapults were used to
hurl objects long distances but I never knew that
the word “Catapult” was just a word to group
these like devices. There are many different
types of catapults like the Ballista, the Trebuchet
and the Mangonel.
Sunday, May 4, 14

4. From Catapults to Capers
I originally wanted to make a game where you actually
use small catapults to launch different objects into cups
but there was no meaningful decision involved. I then
started to create a turn based card game like Magic: The
Gathering but I was informed that that was not really the
assignment. All the games I came up with were to
complicated so I started from the beginning again and
thought simple. Attack, Defend, Misfire, and Collapse.
That was where I started. After I had the main idea down
the rest started to flow.
Sunday, May 4, 14

5. Rules
You have 10 cards in your hand. 4 Catapults, 4 Walls, 1 Misfire, and 1 Collapse.
Each players castle starts with hit points.
Each player chooses a card to use against the other player.
Each player places their card in the battlefield face down. Once both card are placed the players flip the cards
over.
Catapult cards take points away from their opponents castle.
Wall cards add points to their owners castle.
Misfire cards stop a Catapult card.
Collapse cards stop a Wall card.
The winner is the first player to destroy their opponents castle.
Sunday, May 4, 14

6. The Beginning of Catapult
Capers
As previously mentioned Catapult Capers started out as
a turn based card game with resources and different
structure cards and troops cards and more. It was very
complex. I finally simplified the game and went form
there. It started out as each castle having 10 hit points
instead of 20 and the Catapult cards and Wall cards had
the same numbers, meaning I had +1 +2 +5 and +10 for
attack and defense. The game looked good on paper
but after making a prototype and trying it out it needed
changing.
Sunday, May 4, 14

7. The Middle
I did 5 play tests to help me with the creation of my game. They all went great. I
enjoyed having an outsiders view on my game. The people that helped me with the
play tests helped be create a functioning game that is quite fun. I had 5 different
people help with the tests. I did 3 of the play tests at work with 3 people playing each
other once. I now look back and realize that having the same 3 people play more then
once was not a great idea but in this instance it helped me iron out the details and
issues with the game. During the first 3 play tests I had new ideas and changes to
make to the game before the next test. Changing the games as I went made it easier
to test what worked and what didn’t. The ability to test the game while I was still in
the creation process made it easier for me to submit my final result instead of having
to re-submit any changes I made afterwards. I am very pleased with the way the
helped me make the game better. The last 2 play tests were mainly to see what
others thought of the game. At this point the game was functioning smoothly and
there were no issues. You could pick up the directions and just start playing without
any help.
Sunday, May 4, 14

8. The End
The completed game of Catapult Capers is fun,
exciting, and fast paced. The game itself is
simple and easy to just pick up and play, but the
real fun is in the strategy. Seeing as this was my
first game creation, the game came out
wonderful. The people that played the game
enjoyed it and they wanted to play it again. I
wish I had a little more time and experience to
make the game better but in the end, I am very
pleased with how it came out.
Sunday, May 4, 14