a part is a board game based on long distance relationships, created as part of the values @ play curriculuum while a Masters
student at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University.
The game is a 2-player simulation of a long distance relationship played on two separate boards such that the players cannot
see or hear each other. The players must balance the pursuance of individual goals, avoiding temptations, and the maintance of
their relationship. Only once all individual goals have been met and the players have found enough common ground can the players
'win' the game and reestablish the intimacy of their relationship.
aaron vanderbeek
a part
description
design
a part was born out of an assignment to design a game around a value (peace), a verb (tempting), and a problem (displacement). I
analyzed the definitions of these words and tried different combinations of the defitions to come up with game concepts. After trying
several game concepts I found a combination of definitions that led me to concept a game about the difficulties of long distance relationships.
In conceptualization it was to be a game about the displacement of emotions in which
you avoid temptation in a struggle for inner peace.
Having never been in a long distance relationship myself, I had to research to fully understand how long distance relationships occurred and how they worked. I consulted my vast social network for their experiences in current and past long distance relationships and came to the final conclusion that long distance relationships occur when people place higher priority on personal development than on the intimacy of their relationship.
At the onset of each game players decide what their individual goals will be by selecting a set of goals from the following options: family, social, work, and personal projects. Players achieve their personal goals by traversing their own board and by spending their principle resource at the appropriate times. Players must achieve all of their personal goals before they can reunite.
Temptations are added to each players board as the game progresses, increasing each players' desire over time. This desire increases at different rates according to how often a player interacts with temptations on the board. The only way to mitigate this desire is to reconnect with your partner via game mechanics that allow communication to occur between players. If a player gives into temptation, it happens in secret and he/she must choose how to handle the situation. There is no explicit loss condition, the players must decide on their own if the game [relationship] is to end before a succesful completion of the game. It was a deliberate decision to allow players to dictate the limits and boundaries of their relationship when faced with handling extra-marital affairs during their separation.
The players play the majority of the game without seeing each other or speaking to each other. Players may only communicate through specific game mechanics: phone calls (where players can speak freely but not see each other) and visits (where players physically go to the other player's board and they take a turn together).
Players take turns simultaneously, keeping track of game state using a communal calendar. Turns simulate the passage of time.
The game ends when the players achieve all of the individual goals and place/collect a sufficient number of common ground tokens, as the players must be satisfied with their personal growth and find a common path on which they can converge to a fulfilling life together.
Having never been in a long distance relationship myself, I had to research to fully understand how long distance relationships occurred and how they worked. I consulted my vast social network for their experiences in current and past long distance relationships and came to the final conclusion that long distance relationships occur when people place higher priority on personal development than on the intimacy of their relationship.
At the onset of each game players decide what their individual goals will be by selecting a set of goals from the following options: family, social, work, and personal projects. Players achieve their personal goals by traversing their own board and by spending their principle resource at the appropriate times. Players must achieve all of their personal goals before they can reunite.
Temptations are added to each players board as the game progresses, increasing each players' desire over time. This desire increases at different rates according to how often a player interacts with temptations on the board. The only way to mitigate this desire is to reconnect with your partner via game mechanics that allow communication to occur between players. If a player gives into temptation, it happens in secret and he/she must choose how to handle the situation. There is no explicit loss condition, the players must decide on their own if the game [relationship] is to end before a succesful completion of the game. It was a deliberate decision to allow players to dictate the limits and boundaries of their relationship when faced with handling extra-marital affairs during their separation.
The players play the majority of the game without seeing each other or speaking to each other. Players may only communicate through specific game mechanics: phone calls (where players can speak freely but not see each other) and visits (where players physically go to the other player's board and they take a turn together).
Players take turns simultaneously, keeping track of game state using a communal calendar. Turns simulate the passage of time.
The game ends when the players achieve all of the individual goals and place/collect a sufficient number of common ground tokens, as the players must be satisfied with their personal growth and find a common path on which they can converge to a fulfilling life together.