Summary
"Insomniac Shepherd" is a game designed for adults that depicts the rising phenomenon of worldwide insomnia. The game illustrates the struggles of four insomniac adults in a single room attempting to fall asleep through various activities, such as counting sheep and encountering events in their environment and in their own minds. Finally, the player falls into the deep sleep they deserve.
This card game features unique mechanics that interpret the concept of dormancy, with strategic and emergent gameplay.
Aesthetics, Emotional palette, and rationale
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The emotional palette for "Insomniac Shepherd" includes nervousness, struggle, and relief, rather than the tranquilized, peaceful, and relaxing emotions typically associated with dormancy. This decision was made because the game's dynamics and context better suit nervousness and struggle. While dormancy can be interpreted as a state of inactivity and stillness, these dynamics may feel punishing and passive rather than rewarding and proactive. Therefore, the game's mechanics provide the desired dynamics instead of remaining fixed in a constant state.
To create a relatable context for players, dormancy was interpreted in the context of sleep. The game's final goal and winning condition is achieving a state of peacefulness, which represents dormancy.
To achieve the aesthetic goal of challenge, the game includes mechanics with both negative and positive feedback, adding a strategic layer. The concept of emergent gameplay is also introduced through the design of cards, which create strategic depth and increase the challenge. Fellowship and Submission are conveyed through interactive, engaging, and simplistic dynamics derived from the interactions of the cards, mimicking the emotional flows of the game's circumstances.
In conclusion, "Insomniac Shepherd" is a card game that interprets the process of being awake but unable to sleep, with the ultimate goal of achieving a state of peace. The game's relatable context, mechanics, and aesthetics provide a challenging and engaging experience.
Components design and game draft
"Insomniac Shepherd" includes several components and mechanics to provide an engaging and challenging experience. These include:
One six-faced die with numbers from 4-9 instead of 1-6, which determines how long players can draw cards. The amount of time players can draw is equal to the number on the die multiplied by 2.
A scoreboard that shows the game's progress and the current scores of each player, represented by three types of sheep tokens (1, 5, and 10).
A countdown timer that reminds players how long they can draw cards each turn. Once the timer starts, players can no longer see how much time is left. The timer includes an audio clue that beeps faster as it gets closer to 0 and sets off an alarm when time is up. Players must set the timer after rolling the die. The timer also reminds players how long the effect of the "Bad Day" card lasts.
A turn pawn that determines which player rolls the die, draws cards, and plays them first. The turn pawn moves clockwise each turn until the game is finished.
A board that shows players where to draw and dispose of cards, as well as the slots for buff and debuff effects and the turn pawn.
A 100-card set that includes:
60 sheep cards (20 one sheep, 20 two sheep, and 20 three sheep) that represent scores.
20 prank cards (4 Sudden Sound, 4 Wolf?!, 4 Miscounted, 4 Night Coffee, 4 Bad Day) with different effects that keep other players from falling asleep.
20 sleepy cards (4 Earbud, 4 Shepherd!, 4 Fast Count, 4 Sleeping Pills, 4 Good Day) with various effects that protect players from being disturbed and help them fall asleep.
Gameplay
The gameplay in "Insomniac Shepherd" revolves around the keywords "deactivate" and "inoperative," as these are central to the definition of dormancy. There are three types of cards in the game. Sheep cards represent scores and can be used to add to a player's score or interact with prank and sleepy cards to create emergent gameplay.
Prank cards have mechanics with negative feedback and interpret dormancy by inactivating players' actions and halting their progress toward victory. Sleepy cards have mechanics with positive feedback and accelerate the relaxation necessary for entering dormancy, while also providing counterplay against prank cards.
The game's win condition is reaching 100 sheep, which signifies entering dormancy. The player's goal is to become the winner and sabotage other players along the way.
Game states
"Insomniac Shepherd" is divided into two phases that represent the brain's processing of information. The card drawing phase depicts how the brain takes in information from the world and the head, while the card playing phase represents how the unconscious and conscious minds work together to process this information.
Prank cards are designed to disrupt the processing procedure of the mind and prevent players from falling asleep. In contrast, sleepy cards are used to enhance the unconscious mind's ability to accumulate relaxation, making it easier for players to reach deep sleep and win the game.
Core game loop diagram
Game rules:
"Insomniac Shepherd" includes several rules to create a challenging and engaging gameplay experience. These include:
Each player can only have up to 10 hand cards maximum; if a player has more than 10 cards, they must drop cards until they meet the condition.
The game can be played with a maximum of 4 players and a minimum of 2 players.
The player with the turn pawn rolls the die first to determine the length of the drawing phase (die number * 2).
After setting the timer for the drawing phase, players take turns drawing cards clockwise, starting from the player with the turn pawn. Players can skip their turn by saying "skip." When the alarm beeps, all players must freeze for roughly 2 seconds. If any player has not finished their drawing movement (e.g., holding a card and trying to put it back in their hand) and is moving, they must drop all cards drawn. Rationale: This rule utilizes the keyword "inactivation" dynamics by ceasing player physical movements through die-rolling mechanics with a strategic and possibly emerging approach.
The player with the turn pawn initiates the card playing phase. During their turn, the player can play any cards in their hand. The turn ends when the player decides to or when their hand is empty.
Players can only have one buff/debuff effect in action during their turn.
Players can hoard their Sheep cards and use them later or play them to add scores directly during the card-playing phase.
When all cards have been drawn, shuffle the disposed cards and put them back in the drawing pile.
The turn pawn is passed to the next player clockwise when all players have finished their turn. Repeat from step 2 until the win condition is met.
Cards mechanics
The prank and sleepy cards in "Insomniac Shepherd" are designed to create negative and positive feedback dynamics, respectively. These cards help to lengthen the playtime, counterplay advanced players, and create a sense of relief in the gameplay.
Prank Cards:
Sudden Sound: Debuffs a player, preventing them from drawing any cards during their next turn. Rationale: Deactivates the player's ability to draw cards the following turn.
Wolf?!: Targets a player to roll the die first. Their total score will be decreased by the number on the die. The total score cannot go below 0. Rationale: Lengthens the playtime and counterplays advanced players.
Miscounted: Debuffs a player, halving their score income for the turn. Rationale: Lengthens the playtime and counterplays advanced players.
Night Coffee: Debuffs a player, exaggerating the effect of the next prank card played against them. Alternatively, it can erase a buff effect on a player. Rationale: Using positive feedback to enlarge the negative impact or using a negative feedback loop to erase a positive effect.
Nightmare: The user rolls a die, and all other players must keep their eyes open and remain still for a period of (die number * 2) seconds. The user can do anything to make other players do the opposite. Any player who fails must drop three of their hand cards. Rationale: This card represents dormancy by utilizing physical movement inactivation. It creates a sense of fellowship through interactive dynamics created by the card's effect.
Sleepy Cards:
All sleepy cards are designed to balance the gameplay and create emerging, strategic dynamics that utilize positive feedback to accelerate game progress and eliminate adverse effects.
Earbud: Defends against all prank card effects for the turn. Rationale: Breaks the upcoming punishment from another player.
Shepherd: The user rolls a die, and their score increases by the number on the die. Rationale: Implements positive feedback to accelerate the game progress.
Fast Count: Buffs the user, doubling their score income for the turn. Rationale: Implements a positive feedback loop to accelerate the game progress.
Sleeping Pills: Bounces back all ongoing prank card effects to the player who used them. Alternatively, it enhances the rewards of the user's sleepy cards by two times. Rationale: Counters the upcoming punishment and sends it back to the player who used the prank card or creates positive feedback for the user.
Sweet Dream: Buffs the user, allowing them to ignore the alarm and draw three more cards during their next turn. Rationale: Ignores the punishment mechanics of card drawing and creates positive feedback to accelerate the game progress.
Testing report
After playtesting, it became apparent that several issues were affecting the game experience. For example, the original card drawing mechanics were unclear, and some of the card effects were too challenging or uninspiring. Other significant issues included:
The absence of the turn pawn mechanic created imbalanced gameplay.
The initial card drawing mechanics were too rigid and lacked emergent gameplay.
Several cards had similar mechanics, making it challenging to build a conceptual model around them.
The original version of the nightmare card was too difficult to execute, requiring all players to close their eyes and remain still.
The card drawing time was too short when using a die with values from 1-6.
To address these design issues, the following changes were implemented:
The turn pawn mechanic was introduced to create a fair chance of starting to draw first.
A new mechanic was introduced that allowed players to skip drawing to avoid punishment, creating a risk-vs-reward dynamic.
The die was changed from 1-6 to 4-9, resulting in a more reasonable drawing time.
The design purpose of each prank card was clarified for better differentiation and a more apparent conceptual model.
The mechanics of some cards were adjusted to ensure more strategic and emergent interactions.
The effect of the nightmare card was changed to keep eyes open, creating more interesting dynamics and opportunities for players to sabotage each other through various funny methods.
These changes resulted in a more balanced and enjoyable gameplay experience that conveyed the aesthetics of challenge, fellowship, and submission.
Interesting gameplay situations
The mechanics of hoarding cards and the different card effects created a lot of interesting and emergent gameplay, and it was surprising to see how players interpreted and applied the rules in creative ways.
Some players tried to sabotage other players by intentionally drawing cards slowly, which was an unexpected but exciting dynamic.
A player combining the Fast Count and Shepherd cards had a significant advantage and made a massive leap in their progress.
It was enjoyable to watch a player use the Sleeping Pill card to bounce back and forth, avoiding the punishment from other players using prank cards. The group found it very amusing.
The Coffee and Sleeping Pills cards added an unexpected layer of emergent gameplay that was not foreseen during the design process.
In early versions of playtesting, some players were able to stack Fast Count cards three times, increasing their score income by eight times, which was broken. This situation unintentionally highlighted the need for card restrictions.
Reflection
Insomniac Shepherd is a card game that represents the experience of insomnia, focusing on the emotions of struggle, nervousness, and relief. The game is designed with the aesthetics of Challenge, Fellowship, and Submission in mind, using mechanics that create emergent gameplay through positive and negative feedback. While the game leans more towards a ludologist approach than an emotional one, future iterations should focus on refining the emotional triggers to make it more appealing.
While the mechanics and dynamics of Insomniac Shepherd have been designed to evoke the target emotions, the game still falls short in delivering a deeply emotional experience. The theme of dormancy, while initially suggesting a peaceful tone, does not lend itself well to a card game that seeks to be strategic, social, and memorable in terms of Challenge, Fellowship, and Submission aesthetics. To address this issue, the game designers have reinterpreted the concept of dormancy and highlighted the process and dynamics involved, with the original meaning serving as the winning condition. To convey the feelings of struggling to sleep, the game aims to evoke emotions of nervousness, struggle, and relief through mechanics that create intense time pressure, negative feedback, and positive feedback. However, the emotional triggers are not properly designed, resulting in a shallow emotional experience that relies too heavily on mechanics and dynamics. To improve the game, the designers should iterate on the artistic design, context setting, and incorporate more audio and visual stimuli. As a card game, Insomniac Shepherd should focus on interactions between players, and introducing mechanics that simulate dormancy characteristics could be one way to achieve this.
To create emergent gameplay, the card effects in Insomniac Shepherd were designed to interact with each other. While these interactions achieved the intended design goals, some were too repetitive and focused too much on strategic play, neglecting other aesthetics. For instance, the Sleeping pill effect amplified Sleepy cards or bounced back Prank card effects, encouraging players to hoard cards strategically and fulfilling the Challenge aesthetic. Prank cards, on the other hand, slowed down opponents through strategic combos, and some players even teamed up against the player with the highest score, promoting Fellowship. The mechanics of Nightmare, inspired by 123 wooden boy, added more interaction and emergent dynamics to the game. Players could use Sleeping pills to bounce Nightmare back to the user, who would then be frozen for double the time and forced to drop six cards when failing the minigame. These dynamics created a sense of Fellowship, Submission, and Challenge when players were serious about winning. However, the design of Sleeping pill and Earbud had too many similarities conceptually, creating confusion that harmed the overall gameplay experience.
In comparison to video games, physical card games have limitations in creating emotional triggers since they are mainly reliant on group interactions. While the emergent mechanics in Insomniac Shepherd create strategic gameplay, they lack meaningful interactions that afford emotional depth and a sense of fellowship. Cards such as Shepherd, Wolf, Fast Count, and Miscount lack the emphasis on interactions that generate a sense of camaraderie. Introducing meaningful interactions that raise dramatic tension within the group may be the solution to add emotional depth and connection to the game. This not only adds more emotional richness to the game but also differentiates it from regular poker. The game currently seems to lean towards a ludologist approach that focuses more on fun and gameplay rather than emotional richness.
To sum up, Insomniac Shepherd is a card game that aims to provide a social and strategic experience. While the game's mechanics are designed to be emergent and interact with each other, they tend to focus more on the game's internal components rather than on interactions between players. The game's dynamics still require further development to generate more meaningful and emotional interactions between players. Although the game succeeds in delivering the aesthetic goal of challenge, more mechanics that foster fellowship and submission should be designed to create a more well-rounded gameplay experience.
To improve the emotional richness and social interaction in Insomniac Shepherd, some possible design directions could include:
Adding more cooperative or competitive mechanics that encourage player interaction and negotiation. For example, a card that allows players to trade cards or a mini-game where players work together to accomplish a task.
Incorporating more role-playing elements, such as giving players specific character roles or objectives that they must fulfill during the game. This could increase the sense of immersion and emotional investment in the game.
Introducing audio and visual stimuli that enhance the theme and emotions of the game. For example, playing atmospheric music or using dim lighting to create a more immersive experience.
Creating more unique and varied card effects that provide more opportunities for emergent gameplay and emotional triggers.
Introducing mechanics that make use of physical movement or touch to create a more interactive and engaging experience. For example, a card that requires players to physically touch a certain object or move around the game space in a specific way.
Overall, by focusing on creating more meaningful interactions and emotional triggers between players, Insomniac Shepherd has the potential to become a more engaging and memorable game experience.
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