design document for the game of ur

Module: Critical games studies

Assignment 2: Design document

Module code: imdcgd101                       Date: 15/02.2014

Name: Greg Rutter                                  Student number: S158490

The following is the design document for the game of Ur as it was and how I modified it for more modern gameplay

·       Game scenario

The goal of the game is to get all 5 of your game pieces from the start to the finish. To do this the player must roll 4 d3s and make it to the end. There are three strategies within the game to allow the player to race the other player to the goal, one of which is rush the pieces to the end using the safe zones to stop the other player from taking their pieces. Another is taking the other players pieces until they get a big enough advantage on the board to go for the win. The third is to take the other players pieces as you go along and rush to the finish (this is basically a combination of the first 2 strategies). While playing the game I found the 3^rd strategy to be the most effective but you can win with either.

Please refer to the appendix for game rules.

·       Board design

The board design is the same as the original game of Ur.

·       Game-piece design

The game pieces are just counters. I thought about changing the pieces to star wars or knight figures but doing this didn’t affect the gameplay. If you were going to market it for a specific company then you would change the theme to sell it better but as a general design there was no need to do so.

The same would be done for all the components for the game like the game pieces, the board and maybe even the dice.

·       Asset list

The game board

4 d3s with tipex on one corner

And 10 counters (5 for each player)

·       Game design and gameplay

I saw no need to change the board or the pieces or even what was used for movement in the original game. The 4 d3s are designed to simulate the way the old game moved the pieces but for a more modern age.

The gameplay can be fast if one player gets lucky at the start but both players have the same odds of this happening and this could happen at any stage of the game which means that if one player gets lucky at the start the other player can still win the game if they get lucky later on or if the player that got lucky at the start has a run of bad luck. At any point in the game the player can have a lucky turn which could give them a lead over the other player or catch them up, but at the same time a player can get unlucky which may give the player in the lead an even bigger advantage or catch the other player up if they are ahead.

Appendix

Rule set for the player

The player rolls 4 d3s to decide how many spaces they can move a single piece. The tipex on the dice decides on how many spaces this is. The amount of tipex corners facing up decides this. As well for each tipex corner facing up the player can reroll that many dice during this turn. This continues until no tipex corners are facing up.

If the player takes another players piece they get one of the d3s back that they lost if they still have all 4 d3s they get none back. Also the piece they landed on goes back to the start.

When a player runs out of dice the next player takes his/her turn.

There are safe spots on the board which stops the other player from taking your pieces. 

Once the player gets all 5 of their pieces of the board they win the game. 

How to win

In order for a player to win they have to get all 5 of their pieces of the board before the other player by following the route shown above.