The first assignment in Jesse Schell’s Game Design course allowed me to understand my design process better and learn clear, concise ways to format my design documentation. I am sharing this on my blog to remember one of my favorite course’s best (and first) assignments. Warning: Some minor profanities and legal-aged topics ahead…
Assigned: Tues. Jan. 15, 2019
Due: Tues. Jan. 22, 2019
PART I:
Jan. 16, 2019, 5:56 PM; Jan. 19, 2019, 2:11 AM; Jan. 21, 2019, 6:31 PM
-Hopscotch requires skill, endurance, and precision
-Hopscotch is great for those with shorter legs where jumping longer distances is a challenge.
-Hopscotch games tend to be pretty quick
-Hopscotch is simple to play
-Hopscotch has the thing you’ll be doing most in its name (scotching)
-Hopscotch has a little bit of chance and a little bit of luck depending on your thrower
-Hopscotch feels dated
-Hopscotch is seen as a “child’s game” by most
-No real sense of loss (apart from schoolyard shame)
-Hopscotch is really repetitive, how does it end?
-What do the other players do while the one person is playing? Just watch?
-Drawn square “board” is quite basic
-Maybe a mechanic where the standby people must do something to keep entertained? Or to get their turn back?
TLDR;
How can a broader age group enjoy and even reconsider the term “Hopscotch”?
How can Hopscotch become more competitive, with a stronger sense of urgency?
Can Hopscotch include everyone in the room rather than one player at a time?
Generate 50 one-phrase ideas (but I will shoot for 100!).
Jan. 16, 2019, 8:14 PM
HopSCOTCH drinking game
Hopscotch but you must yell out an embarrassing truth about yourself
CrabScotch walk backwards on hands and feet like a crab
Hopscotch but it’s a massive Christmas chocolate calendar
Hopscotch but the floor is LITERALLY lava
Hopscotch but the ground is covered in larvae
Hopscotch but instead of a rock or whatever the fuck you throw on the ground, you must eat a Fear Factor (rip) worthy gross bug or animal testicle or something lol
Hopscotch but there’s LEGOs on the ground
Hopscotch but there’s old gross gum on the ground and it’s really gross because your shoe gets caught on it every time you jump
1Hopscotch but an XR rhythm game
Hopscotch but the double pieces slide like those slide-puzzles and it’s fun because DANGER
12.Hopscotch but it’s in the year 3000 and it’s gone from children’s game to shipping dock worker game and it’s played on the side of shipping containers with magnetic boots (year 3000 remember?)
13.Hopscotch but as Frogger and you must also avoid cars (I just got scared by a car because I was looking down at my phone)
14.Hopscotch but Russian roulette style and one block per round is a vortex to another dimension (bye) and it would be process of elimination I guess?
15.Hopscotch Tetris? How you ask? Well, everyone has a GameBoy color while playing Tetris and just throws their GameBoys instead of rocks and whoever’s GameBoy lasts the longest wins
16.Hopscotch on ice?
17.Hopscotch but it’s a life sized Life board and you just play the game if life on it
18.Hopscotch but while dressed in clothes two sizes too small for you (ouch)
19.Hopscotch but as a giant frisbee golf course
20.Hopscotch but as a giant ski/snowboard mountain
21.Hopscotch but played off of a diving board into a pool (running start NOT recommended)
22.Hopscotch but played at JumpStreet off a trampoline into a foam pit (running start required)
23.Hopscotch where you play with shadows on a wall with your hand
24.Hopscotch but desk sized and played with fingers (so cute)
25.Hopscotch for smokers circle where you flick your cigarette butt into the blocks and hope for the best while lighting the next one up brooooooo
26.Hopscotch that teaches French recipes
27.Hopscotch scratch-n-sniff that makes up funny Mexican food combos (Taco Bell does it with like 4 ingredients sooooo)
28.Hopscotch Go: played on a global scale (Pokémon go) and the first winner gets a huge prize (Curiosity iPhone game)
29.Hopscotch but every square is an M. Night Shyamalan movie that you HAVE to watch when you land on it. Sometimes you’ll get The Sixth Sense, sometimes you’ll get Avatar.
30.Hopscotch but it’s a giant mad libs board and every square you land on is a secret
31.Hopscotch but your “shooter” is a football
32.Hopscotch but it’s made of scrambled LEGO floor
33.Hopscotch but you just play to the beat of Keep on Lying by Tame Impala
34.Train track hopscotch
35.Hopscotch but as a flick-ball desktop game
36.Musical chairs hopscotch
37.Beer pong hopscotch
38.Butterscotch-lined HopButterscotch
39.Play testing for toddlers
40.Agescotch every cube has an age you must become (wizards play this) and transform into for a week and who ever is most successful after the week wins (success is voted on)
41.Improv scotch
Jan. 17 2019, 12:03 AM
42.Hopscotch but you must play in a swimming pool
43.Hopscotch but you must play with pool floaties on. No pool? Sorry.
44.Hopscotch, on horses.
45.Hopscotch played with tazers...?
46.Hopscotch but cliff diving form? Super dangerous...
47.Hopscotch but you must build the Hopscotch board as you go using tape.
48.Hopscotch but you must rip off the board as you go.
49.Hopscotch CAPTURE THE FLAG?
50.Hopscotch tug-o-war
Jan. 19, 2019, 5:45 PM
51.Hopscotch slay the spire (digital version)
Brainstormed with Alison via FaceTime on Jan. 19, 2019, 11:13:
52.Truth or Dare Hopscotch (Newlyweds game?)
53.Spin the bottle hopscotch
54.Mini-trampoline hopscotch
55.Texture changing hopscotch
56.Multitasking hopscotch
57.Shoot something at the same time
58.Slingshot hopscotch
59.BB gun hopscotch
60.Paintball hopscotch
61.Try not to get hit by paintball hopscotch
62.RTS Hopscotch
63.Hopscotch blindfolded
64.Hopscotch but reversed and upside down (glasses on Grand Illusions)
65.Hopscotch on rollerblades
66.Hopscotch roller derby
67.Ice skating hopscotch
68.Hot potato hopscotch
69.Baked potato hopscotch where you choose your own potato ingredients
70.It’s how you order food at a restaurant Hopscotch (like chipotle but for people who can’t make up their minds).
71.Random food generator.
72.Hopscotch to open a secret entrance.
73.It’s an AR Oculus AR kit where you choose your movement with a wrist-attached bean bag essentially. Bungee corded design that simulates actual throw’s angle. Return back to sender and reset.
74.Hopscotch while zombies chase you. Survival mini game?
75.Dancing Zombie mini game
76.Nail painting hopscotch to help you choose nail paint color.
77.Drinking water while hopping hopscotch
78.Balancing egg on a spoon hopscotch
79.Juggling hopscotch
80.While throwing axes
81.Hopscotch underwater
82.Lake hopscotch where you have to jump into it with a rope.
83.Lake hopscotch where it’s a project semester trip and you use it in Jesse’s Game Design as an adventure module type trip!
84.Glow in the dark hopscotch
85.Galaxy hopscotch in VR (Roll a planet instead of a rock, or a meteor)
86.Hopscotch in hell
87.Hopscotch videogame trivia (Must answer trivia question to move on?)
88.Hopscotch Jeopardy version?
89.Hopscotch wheel of fortune
90.Hopscotch price is right
91.Hopscotch family feud
92.Hopscotch during an earth quake
93.Hopscotch as an 85+ year old person?
94.Hopscotch Jackass
95.Hopscotch Bandersnatch episode choice
96.Hopscotch while doing your makeup
97.Melted chocolate is coming at you from all directions hopscotch
98.Hopscotch while lucid dreaming
99.Hopscotch AI
Jan. 19, 2019, 11:22 PM
100.Gravy hopscotch
101.Foot squeezed wine hopscotch
102.Hopscotch bowling
Jan. 21, 2019, 6:07 PM
103.Hopscotch with bouncy ball passing
104.Hopscotch with a whiteboard involved somehow
105.Hopscotch slip-n-slide
Part II:
Jan. 21, 2019
Digital:
10. Hopscotch but an XR rhythm game
Each hopscotch square is either a horn, a drum type, or a sound effect
Beats could either be schoolyard friendly or just some sick-nasty beats worthy of DJ Hero (RIP)
Wires would be a problem, so google glass type futuristic AR headset necessary…
28. Hopscotch Go: played on a global scale (Pokémon go) and the first winner gets a huge prize (Curiosity iPhone game)
Square shaped global landmarks and states (like Colorado or Central Park, but with further research to make it as “fair” a globe-trotting game as possible)
To play, one must hopscotch once per landmark across the globe (10 total landmarks)
The winner gets to hopscotch against the Harlem Globe Trotters (get it?) and a full reimbursement of travel. Sorry losers.
86. Hopscotch VR played on a universal scale.
Surrounded by stars and empty Space
Squares are galaxies
Your thrower is a planet, and every galaxy can change color and variation changes based on your step
Aforementioned problems with Hopscotch (I added a few while working on Part II):
-Hopscotch feels dated
-Hopscotch is seen as a “child’s game” by most
-No real sense of loss (apart from schoolyard shame)
-Hopscotch is really repetitive, and how does it end?
-What do the other players do while the one person is playing? Just watch?
-Drawn square “board” is quite basic
-Maybe a mechanic where the standby people must do something to keep entertained? Or to get their turn back?
-How can I create urgency in Hopscotch?
-How can I add spontaneity into Hopscotch?
Physical:
30. Hopscotch but it’s a giant mad libs board and every square you land on is a secret (mixed with improvisational acting)
Start with 3 strips of paper per player.
On the first strip, write down a famous person that every player would know (this is called an “A” Block). On the second, write down a strange personality quirk (only speaks in high-pitched voice, or must maintain eye contact with player X, for example). On the third, write down an embarrassing thing someone would say (“I can’t read,” or, “My left hand is smaller than my right.”).
Using tape, attach each strip to a Jenga block or domino piece
Players randomly throw their blocks onto the board, and as they play they acquire a persona that they must imitate while hopping or not, a quirky personality trait, and a reason for their actions.
79. Balancing egg on a spoon hopscotch (or a ball)
Hopper is balancing an egg/ball while hopping
Other players are trying to knock the ball away with playing cards or other SOFT object that wouldn’t hurt too much if it hit the hopper
Process of elimination until someone makes it across
I’d like to stress how tempting it may be to hit someone with a Jenga block so both the honor system and underhand throwing are implied
102. Hopscotch Bowling
Hopper bowls small bouncy ball towards 6 diamond shaped setup of Jenga blocks
While hopping through blocks, other players must race to reorganize 6 of these blocks before hopper returns.
Whenever others finish reorganizing, they yell, “STOP”. Hopper MUST stop in tracks and jump back to start point from where they are.
If they cannot make it, they are eliminated from the game, but can still compete in Jenga reorganization.
ii.If they CAN make it, reshuffled into line and others try again to eliminate
Asking players to be on their celebrity impression A-game was going to be a lot to ask of tired ETCers, so I decided to run with both Egg-Balancing (now repurposed to a ball for clean-up sake) and Hopscotch Bowling.
Egg-Balancing Hopscotch was an instant “shoot your babies” moment. After just the first pass I got the sense that my players were not excited, and I failed to quickly invigorate it in any way, so I moved on with Hopscotch Bowling.
Part III:
Hopscotch Bowling
Players: 4-6
Time: 5-15 minutes
-The person who ate most recently goes first as the Hopper. |
-All other players take 6 Jenga blocks and place them in the shape | |
of bowling pins (see diagram to the right) in the final space of
a Hopscotch board.
-Make sure all blocks are standing upright but won’t fall over too easily!
-When all other players have their Jenga “pins” standing, they kneel behind their respective formation of blocks, becoming Kneelers.
-When all players are ready, the Hopper bowls a bouncy ball towards the pins, in hopes of knocking as many as possible over.
-If the Hopper misses every single pin, they get a strike.
-Three strikes, you’re out, and will never be a Hopper again.
-If you knock over some pins, you must Hopscotch with only your dominant foot on single blocks, both feet on double blocks, then back to only your dominant foot on single blocks.
-While the Hopper hops, the Kneelers must help each other out to rebuild the broken formations back into the aforementioned diagram.
-When all formations are replaced on the board, the Kneelers yell, “STOP!”
-The Hopper must stop dead in their tracks and can now use both feet to jump the remaining distance to the starting bowl point.
-If the Hopper makes it to the beginning with both feet firmly planted, they become a Kneeler and switch out in hopes of knocking out the next Hopper.
-Repeat until all but one Hopper has been eliminated.