Tristan Newman
Barter
Barter is a 2 player turn-based strategy game where each player places and manipulates coins on either side of a scale with the goal of getting the "better deal" by ending the game with more coins on their side of the scale.
The Design Process
I created this game as a submission to the GameOff 2023 game jam. I took this game jam as an opportunity to learn how to create games using Unreal Engine, and to challenge myself to make a game with replay-ability. A lot of the design choices were made with these challenges in mind and with the intent of learning as much as I can over the month-long jam.
Before the jam started I had decided that I wanted to make a 2 player strategy game to create the replay-ability I wanted. I also knew I wanted to create a 3D game to learn the myriad of Unreal Engine's 3D design tools. After this year's theme of "Scale" was announced I landed on turn-based strategy using a physical scale as the game board and coins as game pieces.
As I wrote the rules and Game Design Document for the game, I was focused on making sure that the players would have choices that immediately impact the game and affect their opponent to heighten the importance of individual strategy and enforce the game as a competitive 1 versus 1 game.
After writing out the rules, my wife and I tested the game analog using notebook paper and poker chips. We had a blast and this pre-production testing emboldened me to get started. I created the models I would need in Blender and got to work creating the functionality I would need in Unreal Engines blueprint system.
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I discovered while learning how to use UE's blueprints how much easier it is to create games from a "functionality first" mindset. Rather than create the content first and then add the functionality like I had with Valiant Knight, I instead started by adding the functionality such as dragging and dropping coins, allowing the scale to move based on coin counts, and etc. Though I ran into my fair share of debugging headaches, this approach was a much more intuitive and ultimately robust way to create the game.
Finally, with the game finished I uploaded it for review at the jam's itch.io page. I gained a lot of new skills and tools for my game design tool belt to take with me to future projects.
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"Took me a second to round up my girlfriend to play with me, but it's a surprisingly complex game. After we both tried a few rounds we started getting into the swing of it. It feels like a board game, in a good way. Always good to see interesting new themes in a game jam!"
-Grizzly7
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"Awesome lighting effects and gameplay mechanics! wishing there's a PVE mode :-D"
-Pax_Romana