Up the River Modification
(University Project)
My team and I were tasked with taking the existing board game Up the River and modifying it to create an entirely new game.
The original Up the River sees players roll the dice to move their boat up the river towards the dock. Players must navigate their way up the moving river, avoiding sandbanks and currents that push them back down the river.
Challenges
During the COVID 19 pandemic all classes were held remotely and our game needed to be built virtually using TableTop Simulator. All team interaction, brainstorming, play testing and game development also needed to be completed remotely which brought challenges in terms of finding enough players to test out our game dynamics and rules.
Goals
1. Change the formal, dramatic and dynamic elements to create a new game.
2. Change the premise of the original game.
3. The new game must create more interesting player choices and resolve within ~12 minutes.
Final game board design
My Role
- Concept development and iteration.
- Illustration and animation of game board and kraken piece.
- Assistance with playtest reports and design progress journal.
Final Game Design
My team and I decided go with a nautical, pirate theme naming our new game Release the Kraken. Players now played as pirate ships sailing across the ocean to reach a buried treasure. Players would roll a dice to move across the board landing on a variety of spaces triggering the collection of coins and events that would propel or move them back across the board.
An additional element aded to the game was the kraken piece. Players would roll a separate dice for the kraken that would move across the board, forcing them to move backwards if they ever found themselves on the same space as the ocean monster. The winner of the game is determined by the player with the most coins, collected either by reaching the goal earlier than the other players or by landing on coin spaces on the board.
Illustrations for board spaces
Small section of a playtest report
Animation for Kraken game piece
First brainstorming session, experimenting with pieces from Up the River.
Early iteration of Release the Kraken. Developing board pieces and card dynamics.
Please feel free to check out and play the full game on steam here.
Special thanks to Evlyn, Natalie and Zuriel for being a fantastic team!