Internet game session

My partner and I played Dys4ia, This Is the Only Level,  a stripped down version of Oregon Trail, Don't Shit Your Pants, and Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars.

Dys4ia: I like collections of micro-games. A variety of somewhat simple tasks in a short time frame is surprisingly engaging and interesting to watch. Repetition can make the viewing of a game dull, but Dys4ia is always telling a story. The viewer is pulling more of the story than the player, who is also partly concentrating on finishing challenges, but I found that associating some tasks to bits of the story imprinted them on my memory.

This Is the Only Level: Really fun, but confusing to watch. This is pure game play, there is no story or really detailed aesthetic. You're watching someone complete a puzzle, which can be an interesting experience, but to truly get it, you need to play. However, the viewer can notice some things that the player won't. The game gives the illusion that it is entirely repetitive, which the viewer can often see through faster than the player can. The viewer sees when the green door is open or closed or not, which spot you landed on killed out, how you died as soon as you spawned, etc. The player can get too disoriented on occasion to notice little change ups to give away how to complete the current challenge.

Weak Oregon Trail: This was an MS Paint remake of the classic Oregon Trail. It's missing some of the features of the normal version. The the rabbits in the hunting for food mini-game ran in a straight line across the screen in the same spot. No constant updates as to who got malaria or bitten by a snake (it takes forever for "Nothing fun happened today." to appear. No kidding.). You must float across all rivers written with the barest amount of code you can get away with. The choice, freedom, and excitement of crossing the American frontier with death never too far behind your wagon party is gone in this version. It gets tedious fast.

Don't Shit Your Pants: I love this game. Short, simple, text based adventures are fun and have lots of potential to engage you. This one is hilarious and has replay value. The automatic thoughts that go through your head are hard to recount when you need to transcribe them through a game. You think it would be easy to not shit your pants in a game because you do pretty well on a daily basis in real life but you'd be surprised.

Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars: A classic arcade-type game. It reminds me of Joust. Imagine Pac Man with a tractor beam. You roam around a maze shooting a web-laser to weaken your slaves (or something) enough so that you may pull them into your web. It's fun to play and to look at. Enemies and the maze change up to keep things from getting stale, but it feels a little weird to control and it never feels terribly exciting.

My Prototype: Zombie Run

OBJECTIVE: Stay human, find the gasoline and the car to win.

RULES:
1. Cards are shuffled and placed face down in a 6 x 4 grid.
2.  Survivor cards are used to distract zombies. Supply cards only save humans from traps. Gun cards protect from zombie players. When a card is activated, it must be placed face-up on the field.
3. You must pick the card you land on until 4 cards are collected in your inventory. Then, they may be swapped when landed if the player chooses.
4. Inventory is kept private from players unless both are located next to each other horizontally or vertically on the game board. Then, they must trade. Players with the zombie card are zombies, and must trade their zombie card. Zombies cannot win the game unless all players are turned or dead.
5. Zombie cards must be collected or swapped for. Trap cards must be overturned.
6. A traded gun will kill zombie and human alike.
7. Players start with 1 survivor and 1 supply card in their inventory.
8. Only 1 space horizontal or vertical can be made per turn.
9. Rock paper scissors to find who goes first.
10. You can not spend more than 2 seconds to decide which way to go.
11. Manhole cards can teleport you to any spot on the field and are exposed and available to other players when landed on.
12. All trades are private and silent.
13. A player with both gas and car in inventory wins, or players with either item trade and win together.

First playtest:
Went by fast because the zombie announced herself as a zombie when she collected the zombie cards. We knew to stay away from her since we knew we would be turned if next to each other. Added privacy rule and expanded the field from 4 x 4 cards to 6 x 4 cards. More supplies, zombies, and survivors now.

3 players played

Second playtest:
Movement is monotonous. The time it takes for players to move and then take a card discreetly is too long. Enacting 2 second movement rule. If 2 seconds pass before player moves pass, the player forfeits turn.

2 players played. More dull than 3 players.

Third playtest:
Two second rule makes things a tad too frantic, is not strictly followed but does make things more interesting.Now tinkering with balance between cards. 1 less survivor, then 1 less zombie, 1 more trap, etc.

2 players played. More exciting. Still recommend 3 to 4 players.