Adding Features

Yolanda's idea for a child’s game that teaches basic counting and strategy was simple, but very promising. We went over a lot of different features to add onto the basic game mechanism (by rolling die be the first to bring all of your sheep across the bridge) and came to a halt in disagreement.

Some Features

Flash Cards - We decided to incorporate flashcards into the game to add a little bit more skill required to win rather than all guts and luck. This seemed to unanimously please the group, for we liked the trivia card aspect in Sibling Pains. Also because the children's game we were aiming for was supposed to be a 'learning journey,' it would make sense to add more math questions, or even trivia questions on flash cards. Debate came around on how to incorporate these flash cards... Some wanted to only have it required at the end of the bridge to get off. Others wanted it to be involved at the middle of the bridge for a face-off with the opposing sheep. Some thought that maybe it should be incorporated into the entire movement of the game, and just to drop the dice. While all of these things may have been a good idea, we had to come to agreement on only one. We compromised. Flash cards would be required to get off the bridge, and to get off of the platform at the middle of the bridge. No face-off would be required however; it would just be an individual effort with no competition to get the answer right.

Having four players - Because the game is centered on a board with diagonals going across and a platform in the middle, if we added two more lanes, there would be an uneven amount of steps that every player would have to take to get to the other side. To avoid confusion, we kept it simple with the two player diagonal aspect.

After going through the features and finally coming to agreement after playtesting and seeing what worked, we were ready to begin discussing the game design itself:
What animals would we use?
"Sheep seem too girly," say some.
"What about baby goats, for kids?"
..And so on...
It is going to be a challenge in the least to make a board with water inside of it...