Game Design: Homework 5 Part 2- Super Tic Tac Toe

Creation of Super Tic Tac Toe 

In the second part of our homework assignment we were to create a modification of tic tac toe to change the gameplay from completion choice based, to much more luck based. I am sure we ALL know the rules of tic tac toe but for completeness sake I will list the rules.

Tic Tac Toe original Rules

•  Players : 2
• Materials needed: Any piece of paper
• Setup: Make a 3 x 3 Grid

Super Tic Tac Toe - New Rules changes

For materials required, the difference between the old tic tac toe is that while the other one used a 3 x 3 grid, this one uses a 5 x 5 grid. Also a deck of “Tic Tac Toe” cards are provided, more on those later. This deck of cards is the key to making Super Tic Tac Toe into a much more chance based game.

Objective

Instead of winning by filling up a line of 3 in a row, you must fill up a line of 4 in a row. This means that you don’t have to fill up a line, edge to edge on the grid to gain a line.  The game also doesn’t end when this happens, instead you will keep a tally of how many line’s you’ve filled up by the end of the game. The winner is declared with however has the most when the board is filled up. A tie is also possible but is settled by rock paper scissors.

Player Turns

You start the turn by picking from a deck of cards. This deck contains cards with a variety of effects, which will change how you handle your turn. The list card effects are as follows…

• Place your token (X or O) as normal
• Remove one enemy token 
• Remove your own token
• Replace enemy token with your own token
• Place two tokens
• Clear the edges of the board
• Cannot place your token next to any of your other tokens
• Place token only on Edge
• Place token not on edge

You must play the card you have picked up right away and do whatever it says. From this list of cards you still have some choice in where you can place your token depending on the card in particular. Others are very luck based, giving you a significant advantage or disadvantage such as removing an enemy token for an advantage of removing your own token as a disadvantage.

This adds a lot more luck but a lot more dynamic play in the game as the game can change very quickly with the various cards that can be used. You will never be certain on how the next turn can progress and it can either make the game go much quicker or last longer depending on which cards are picked up by whom.

For example, you could have a line connecting four tokens together, however  your opponent could pick up a card that removes one of your tokens from the board, taking down that line. In your turn though, you get a card that replaces your enemy’s token with your own, so you’re able to get it back. This shows how dynamic the game play with this luck based factor.

Play Testing

With the added randomness and expanded grid, it made the game a lot more varied and interesting. Though you still had control, the randomness of the cards that could change the game made it feel a bit out of hand, but that was the point of the rule change. There was an earlier version where there was a card to clear the board entirely but this was removed because it wasn’t balanced, it just reset the game as though nothing ever happened. Since you can’t hold the cards in your hand and play them at any time, it made it worthless so it was replaced with the card that removes only edge spaces. It delayed the end of the game but it was a lot more balanced and it would only ever be drawn once. The other cards to remove other player’s cards, replace them, etc, also made the game much more interesting.