Analyzing Pandemic
|
Board Game Analysis Introduction So we are currently on a course named advanced game design and our current assignment is to analyze any board game. I guess this is to make sure we don’t repeat old mistakes by grinding core systems until we see patterns designers use. Pandemic
So the first one we chose was Pandemic. Pandemic makes the players take a role in the institution of CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fighting different diseases all over the world while finding cures for all four diseases in order to win. Different to the majority of board game, Pandemic makes every player take a unique role and cooperate in order to beat the game before it kills you. The core components of the game are five pawns(players), a player card deck, epidemic cards, infection cards, 96 disease cubes, 6 research stations, 4 cure markers, an outbreak marker, an infection marker, five role cards and the world map you play on. There are five roles each player randomly gets at the start. Scientist which requires less player cards to research a cure, a medic which treat diseases at a quicker rate, the dispatcher who can use the four actions given to each player to either move his own pawn or others just the same. There are as well a researcher that can give its cards to any player in any city rather than using the ability everybody has which has the restriction that both pawns needs to be in the same city the player card applies to. The last role is the operation expert which has it easier to build a research station anywhere. The game start with placing epidemic cards evenly in the player stack, placing nine cities with different amount of disease cubes and starting all pawns in Atlanta with a research station. Each player has four actions which are to move the pawn, research a cure, build a research station or trade cards. Each turn ends with the player taking two player cards and being the infector which involves taking infection cards to further infect the world, making sure the players have to catch up to the disease each turn. The epidemic cards will eventually be picked in the player deck and will further infect a town with three disease cubes. If the cubes exceed three cubes of the same color an outbreak occurs and every connected city receives a cube of that color and if a connected city has already three cubes a chain reaction will start. When an individual player finally has five (or four if you are the scientist) she can research a cure which makes it both easier to treat the disease and now have the ability to obliterate the disease from the planet; by taking the rest of the cubes off the map. When all the diseases are cured before a specific colorized disease cube is gone, the player deck is emptied or more than eight outbreaks occurs the infector is defeated and the game is won. If any of the latter events happen the game is lost. The good I like to see systems as code because in the end they are only a set of rules correlating with other system and the designer just tries to shut down the bugs created by the exchange. A good system is already designed to correlate and fits perfectly with another system in place. The system I personally think has this connection between other is the disease cubes. They are designed to be placed at the start of the game to show where the players should focus and sets the tone of the game. You have places to go and diseases to cure depending on where these cubes land. With all these abilities they also trigger outbreaks which potentially can be the end of that game session. You are only allowed to have nine outbreaks which occur when more than three of the same cubes are in a city and if a specific color cube is depleted, the players’ have lost. So the disease cubes sets the tone of the game and decided which cities and color the players should focus on and which cure would be more suited to research first. The bad I cannot say if I dislike a system as the game is knit between the systems of player cards, disease cubes, cure markers and what the players’ actions, the system I like the least is the player cards. They are able to be traded if both players are in the city the player card shows unless you are a researcher and allows the player to discard it in order to travel to that city. The problem with the latter ability is that you usually want to go to that city to help clear it or use the color of the city to provide a cure. Curing a disease if you travel with the player card eliminates your chances so they are a bit redundant personally as they could have play tested a version where you can travel with that card as a role specific ability and the card does not disappear. The interesting The most well thought system I can think of is the pawns and all the including roles the players can choose from. The roles in a balancing perspective are very balanced but some discrepancies are present. The dispatcher is a complex role as you tend to think in a wider possibility range as he can control all players during his turn. It creates a problem of focus if the player is not a management genius. Another role that we mistakenly thought was irreplaceable is the researcher. The ability to give a player card to another pawn if they are in the same city is not cutting enough corners to be useful. The rest of the roles are very useful as co-operation shows, the medic does his own tango by moving from one city to another treating its citizens. The scientist only needs to stay on an area where a research station is to develop the cures, the operation expert is able to build a research station anywhere they stand to make sure there is one close enough to minimalize the number of actions the researcher of the cure need to make. The combination of all the roles fits perfectly for an effective team to treat each disease and cure the world but as you start the game, all roles are given randomly and this is where the tactics of each game change. Depending on the role you have lost you will have to think of the disability given each play through. The interesting part is that what if there are only three or even two players. The fewer roles you have the dynamics of the game changes and subsequently change the difficulty. The system challenges players and make sure each corner you look from requires a different way of thinking and where you stand is decided randomly. Who would play this? The co-operative nature of the game insists on communication between the players to kill a randomly generated enemy. I believe it is a great way to socialize and use your management skills. Anyone who enjoys puzzles and non-competitive games will enjoy this one. Pandemics core mechanics #1 Action points system Turns in pandemic are given in four different or similar actions the player can make. These action points are used to travel to another city from the sea, sky or plain adjacent cities from where you stand. Then there are special actions which are building a research station, treat diseases in the city the players are in, discover one of four different cures or trading player cards with other team members. The critical decisions made each turn will change the game space each turn. When each turn is done the viruses spreads randomly throughout the world by two infection cards each turn. Creating more panic and effectively making sure each player maximize their existing action points. #2 Hand Management and collecting cures Much of the tactics spoken before or after a turn is about the current player cards displayed on each hand. The decisions of using up a player card to travel, using it for one action, trading it with another player or even to save it will either ensure a win or a failure. Managing these cards is critical as you only receive two new player cards each turn you play. The key to success when using this mechanic in Pandemic is to use the share knowledge action. Communicating with your fellow scientists about what cards everyone has and who is discovering what cure is paramount for success. The share knowledge action involved both players to be in the same city to trade that player card unless you are a researcher which able you to hand any card to them as long as both are at the same place. Be wary though because each trade costs precious action points. Summary This board game has systems challenging you randomly and making sure you think of everything before making an action. Pandemic creates an atmosphere of communication and co-operation which in turn has some downsides. Some players might think they have the better tactics and would try to control the situation, even other players which decreases the amount of fun you would have contributing evenly. Another problem that could be people not communicating and dismissing other tactics said by other players. There are some times ideas that will work just as the turn changes because of the infector so never dismiss an idea but delay the thought. Avoiding these behaviors will maximize the games’ fun meter. |
