Kingdoms

A Boardgame-like Sound

Similar to my other project, Tanks in Advance, I knew that Kingdoms would be played over a number of rounds that would have to be changed over the course of the design process. The music system implemented in FMOD works similarly as a result, with multiple layers that are faded in under the control of a variable controlled in Unity scripts.

For the other sound effects, I knew that we were going with a kind of medieval-fantasy aesthetic, playing with catapults and caravans on a paper drawn map. I decided to go with realistic sounds for that, layering together some sword clashing and crowd screaming sounds for fighting, cheering for peace, and some concrete being smashed mixed together with a rock I recorded being thrown on the ground for the walls breaking.

The other thing I knew I would have to consider was the fact that the resolution of each turn would probably have the same sounds being played simultaneously. I considered doing what I had done in previous projects and slightly randomizing pitch, but while testing I found that I felt it fit the almost boardgame-like aesthetic of the game more to have the sounds feel like they were repeating. So all I did was limit the max number of instances of each sound so it wouldn’t get too loud.

Getting People to Talk

The idea for this game started out with the platform. The “Jam-o-Drum” is a circular table that an image is projected onto, and four players stand around it, controlling the game with a wheel surrounding a big drum button. It had recently been upgraded with a 240 hz projector, so it could use these glasses that turned black at 60 hz to only show a fourth of the frames to player. By doing this, each player, wearing a different pair of glasses, could see something entirely different on the same table. Sort of like split-screen multiplayer, but without the ability to screen-peak.

We wanted to use this new feature of the platform, and our idea was to make a hidden information game. The feeling of using the Jam-o-Drum is very interactive between players, since unlike console multiplayer, the players are standing around a table, facing each other. The feeling of standing over a table seemed almost like a counsel discussing war plans, which is where the idea for the game first came from.

We paper prototyped the game extensively, using post it notes as makeshift cards to test the actions of the game. The game is essentially repeated rounds of the prisoners dilemma, with the ability to make peace or war, and with the additional abilities to build defensive walls that score no points, but prevent the loss of points, and spies, which fake making peace in order to see an opponent’s actions in future rounds. Our main struggle in designing this system was the balance of points. When caravans gave too many points, the game became boring, since no one was incentivized to attack. But when armies became to powerful, it was nearly impossible to convince anyone to make peace. Although there were technically optimal ways to play both options, players didn’t really find either of them satisfying, since they weren’t encouraged to engage in one of our core mechanics, players actually talking to each other in the real world. Players would end up settling into strategies without considering them too hard, and would just lock in their choices without discussion.

The problem ended up being that at the start of the game, since all players started identically, it was difficult for many of them to know what they were “supposed” to do, which ended up with them not knowing what to form their strategies around for the rest of the game. Our solution was to slightly unbalance the different players, giving them each of their “factions” a name, aesthetic, backstory, and small ability, described in a decorative scroll at their station. By doing this, players who for instance, played the “Liar’s Throne” felt like they had a goal, win through trickery, and players of the “Battleborn” felt like they should be crushing everyone in their way. Just this slight unbalancing was enough to give each player a push into a strategy that actually caused them to start talking to each other, in order to achieve something.