Nice Games Jam: “Blob Ball”

This week on the program is another Nice Games Jam, where we are given a prompt from Martha’s boyfriend (and Evil Games Club co-host) Dylan, which we have to use to create a playable game prototype by the end of the episode.

The prompt was to create a paper prototype of a game that combines "hilarious movement" like in games like Gang Beasts or Octodad with a card game.

You can play the prototype of our creation "Blob Ball" at home using the rules below. Maybe we'll actually make the video game version sometime!
Rules for "Blob Ball!"

Number of players:

3 players- 2 as game opponents and 1 as AI physics

Materials for Paper Prototype

3 Decks of cards

2 decks for the two players

Separate out the face cards
Place on the starting line for each player
Put all other cards aside

1 deck for AI physics

Sort into suits
Pull out Ace-4 and the face cards from the Hearts suit to make the blob movement Heart deck and set all other hearts aside
Give one suite deck other than hearts to each player and keep one for physics. These suit decks will be used to play war to determine who has control of the ball.

1 Joker to be the blob ball placed in the center of the field

Goal

Move blob past opponent’s starting line

Characters

Jack, moves 3 spaces without the ball, 1 space with the ball
Queen, moves 2 spaces with or without ball (ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it)
King, moves 1 space with or without the ball

Each player has three actions to do things on their turn

Move a character (only can move an individual character once per turn)
Lift blob (auto chance to lift blob if the player ends turn with three cards on it)
Move blob (only once per turn- ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it)

When picking up blob:

Need at least 3 cards on blob to pick it up.
Play “war” with AI physics player using the physics suit decks- higher card (plus any player bonus points) wins

Numbers worth their number (Ace is worth 1)
Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13

Bonus for each card on blob: King +2, Queen +1, Jack +0
If opponent is also on the blob, they get to play in the war hand as well to defend with their bonuses and prevent blob movement

If blob falls out by Physics winning in “war”:

Throw ace of hearts to determine direction. The end point of the heart is the direction it moves
Draw from the Heart deck of Jack (worth 1), Queen (worth 1), King (worth 1), Ace (worth 1), 2, 3, and 4 to determine amount of movement.

This week on the program is another Nice Games Jam, where we are given a prompt from Martha’s boyfriend (and Evil Games Club co-host) Dylan, which we have to use to create a playable game prototype by the end of the episode.

The prompt was to create a paper prototype of a game that combines “hilarious movement” like in games like Gang Beasts or Octodad with a card game.

You can play the prototype of our creation “Blob Ball” at home using the rules below. Maybe we’ll actually make the video game version sometime!

Rules for “Blob Ball!”

Number of players:

3 players- 2 as game opponents and 1 as AI physics

Materials for Paper Prototype

3 Decks of cards

2 decks for the two players

Separate out the face cards
Place on the starting line for each player
Put all other cards aside

1 deck for AI physics

Sort into suits
Pull out Ace-4 and the face cards from the Hearts suit to make the blob movement Heart deck and set all other hearts aside
Give one suite deck other than hearts to each player and keep one for physics. These suit decks will be used to play war to determine who has control of the ball.

1 Joker to be the blob ball placed in the center of the field

Goal

Move blob past opponent’s starting line

Characters

Jack, moves 3 spaces without the ball, 1 space with the ball
Queen, moves 2 spaces with or without ball (ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it)
King, moves 1 space with or without the ball

Each player has three actions to do things on their turn

Move a character (only can move an individual character once per turn)
Lift blob (auto chance to lift blob if the player ends turn with three cards on it)
Move blob (only once per turn- ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it)

When picking up blob:

Need at least 3 cards on blob to pick it up.
Play “war” with AI physics player using the physics suit decks- higher card (plus any player bonus points) wins

Numbers worth their number (Ace is worth 1)
Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13

Bonus for each card on blob: King +2, Queen +1, Jack +0
If opponent is also on the blob, they get to play in the war hand as well to defend with their bonuses and prevent blob movement

If blob falls out by Physics winning in “war”:

Throw ace of hearts to determine direction. The end point of the heart is the direction it moves
Draw from the Heart deck of Jack (worth 1), Queen (worth 1), King (worth 1), Ace (worth 1), 2, 3, and 4 to determine amount of movement.