[GB] Act 3 Issues

[Eliahad]

So I've been reading articles on Game Design, and I was given a book on Game Design as a Christmas Gift. This book is full of essays and one is about an analysis too. Or, looking at your game in 3 acts. It's not about making a game this way, though I suppose it could be -- Betrayal at House on the Hill kind of does this -- rather, it's about looking at your game from the perspective of a dramatic arc. This works well for games that have a sort of narrative structure (not like RPGs and their stories, but the games themselves) and I think Godball falls into this category. The game will create stories.

So, ACT 1 - Drawing Battle Lines.

These are the first few turns of the game as Gods start placing barriers and terrain on the board, and the Heroes start jockeying for position.

Inciting Incident - [This wasn't in the article, but it's usually the transition between Act 1 and Act 2, and Godball actually has one.]

Picking up the Godball for the first time is the inciting incident.

Act 2 - Struggle for Victory (Or I guess, where the meat of the struggle for victory goes.)

Just trying to get the ball to go anywhere when everyone else is against you is a struggle. This is certainly where the bulk of the game takes place. And, honestly, it's kind of where the fun is.

Act 3 - Push for Success

I'm not sure Godball has this part. Heroes could get close to their shrines, but if they are unsuccessful, the game is thrown back into act 2. It never really stays in Act 3 for any appreciable length of time unless someone is ACTUALLY successful. And because there is no time limit on the game as it currently stands, you'll constantly be moving in and out of act 3. Which isn't really how an act structure works.

I don't know if this is a bad thing. It might not be. But I think about other sportsball events, and they DO have a push for success. They have the pressure of the team that is trailing to push to overcome the odds their opponent has placed in front of them. The team that's in the lead has to work to maintain that advantage. There are the stories of that last minute come from behind win to keep hope alive for their fans. Godball, the way it is currently structured, can't have that. If the ball is getting close to someone's shrine, that means it is as far away as possible from everyone else's shrine. And therefore the odds that have to be surmounted are huge.

It is, clearly, the weakest part of the game, and a puzzle that has to be solved.