Dragon Punch - Deconstruction

Playing Dragon Punch - by Koen Hendrix

   
     With the goal of deconstructing a short Print-N-Play game, I was able to scout out Dragon Punch, a quick card game that emulates fighting. Two players are given 6 basic cards plus a character card. Each card has an attack, block, or evasion maneuver as well as a white side and a red side and each player must attempt to drop their opponents health points (HP) down to 0.

     

HP Mechanic - No. of White Side Up = Remaining HP

   
• Goal of the game: Bring the opponent's HP down to 0 first in a game best 2 of 3.

     

• Core Mechanic: Read the different skills on 6 given cards and use the skills (flip them over so they are facing your opponent) to reduce their HP.

• Space of the game: The entire game can occur in each of the players hands. Within that space, there are two different spaces: The cards that haven't been used (cards still facing away from the opponent), and cards that have been used (cards facing the opponent). During each turn (both players go at the same time), the cards that are flipped are the cards that determine what skills are in play. 

• Objects, Attributes, States: The cards are the only object in the game. There is no necessary board or table. Each card has their own specific attributes: Their attack speed and attack damage, or some form of utility, whether it be blocking or evading. If a player takes damage, 2 for example, they must flip any 2 of their cards over from white to red. This effects that state of both the skills the cards have and the HP the player has. The number of cards with the white side up represent the amount of HP a player has.

Rules of Dragon Punch

• Operative Actions: Choose which cards to flip (turning towards the opponent) into play and which cards to switch (turn over to the red side of the card) upon taking damage. Nothing else aside from that.

• Resultant Actions: Both players start with the exact same type of cards. The order they play it in is what changes. If one I flip, for example, a very defensive card in anticipation for a very strong attack from my opponent, he/she is now aware that I no longer have a defensive card to play and can strategize off of the cards I have used. Much of the game is based upon reacting to the cards your opponents use in order to counter play your opponent. 

• Rules: Some parts of the rules are a bit counter intuitive. The attack cards have numbers on them which represent attack speed and the lower the number is, the quicker the attack is supposed to be. Quicker attacks overshadow slower attacks. Another note is one of the cards, specifically the Throw card states "attacks with an attack speed 1 beat this card." It is also the slowest card each player has, coming in at 5. This quote seems to imply that only attack speed 1 cards can beat it, although that would contradict the attack speed rule stated earlier. Those two points aside, the rules are pretty balanced; at no point during the game does either player gain an imbalanced advantage over the other.

• Skills Learned: Reading the opponent and utilizing gained information (opponent's flipped cards) to create a strategy to win efficiently. 

• The Role of Chance: Chance is not prevalent within the game. At any point in time, both players know at least what card they are going to flip into play. There are no results yielded from a source both players have no control over, like a dice. 

Print 'n' Play - Exploration

Playing Quick Joust by Joseph Propati

     This past weekend, I had the chance to gather with a couple friends and play a few Print-N-Play games: Quick Joust, a game that utilizes cards to simulate jousting, Coinage, a territorial game where you score points based on what kinds of coins you have on the board and where they are, and Allegiance, a game where you are to choose a side and play specific cards you are dealt to give one of two sides the most allegiance points after all dealing cards are used. All three of these games pit you up against one other person, with Allegiance being the only game capable of housing more than two players.

     Quick Joust is a nice mix of random chance and strategy. Random cards determine the players' initial movements and they can respond by playing other cards to veer them in the direction they wish to go. However, there are a finite amount of cards you get to choose from, increasing the risk of a given move. This makes the game quite exciting as another move can change the trajectory of a plan you had in place, making the game more difficult.

     Coin Age takes place on a card about the size of a playing card and each player gets a certain amount of each time of coin (penny, dime, nickel, quarter). These coins must be placed in areas on the card, but the enemy player has a chance of taking over that area by placing a smaller coin on top of the coin initially placed, which incorporates a good amount of strategy. The bigger the coin, the more points, but the easier your opponent can claim your area. High risk, high reward.

     Allegiance is a psychological journey. Each player mentally claims a side they wish to join: the Temple or the Thieves. 3 cards are dealt to each player and they must place 2 on either of the sides facedown to either increase or decrease the group's allegiance points. The players do not know how many of each card is placed in their respective groups, as this is revealed at the end of the game. In the meantime, players must use certain abilities labeled on the cards that remain in their hands in an attempt to increase their team's allegiance to a given group. Because a lot of these details are unknown from player to player, everyone must use their tools in an attempt to read their opponents to give them the win.

'Interview with the Vampire' by Anne Rice - Short Prompt

Interview with the Vampire is a more traditional view of how vampires are perceived by the general eye. The story unfolds through a character referred to as boy interviewing vampire Louis. During Louis' lengthy anecdote of his life story and how he came to become the vampire that he is, a lot is revealed about the original idea of the vampire. The contemporary idea of the vampire has been altered by stories like Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer; the vampire of present is no longer synonymous with the need of human blood to survive, but rather more focused on romantic relationships. Interview with the Vampire shows a truly dark side of what makes the vampire truly horrifying. Louis explains that he was not always the vampire he we read him to be, but rather that he was forced to become one. Louis was once a regular human, not unlike the boy interviewing him, but his jealousy leads to the death of his brother, revealing that envy can be fatal. This incident ultimately causes Louis to embark on his vampiric journey and having to choose between the murder of humans to survive or to find alternate sources of food. The horror within this novel exists in it's relativity to reality; Everyone is susceptible to strong emotions that can cause them to act rashly which can lead to dire consequences for not only you, but those around you as well. 

Self Portrait - Freshman Year GA - May 2016

Another assignment for figure class. Self portrait! Some features are a bit off, but overall it was pretty fun to do!

Charcoal on Newsprint - 19" x 24"

Academic Drawing - Freshman Year GA - May 2016

A fun project done during Figure Drawing class. I was given 3 class periods to complete the assignment and it was pretty challenging. Definitely learned a lot!

Charcoal on Newsprint - 19" x 24"

The Power of Sound Design!

I created a simple presentation based on Sound Design in the industry.

Had the luxury of interviewing Sound Designer Julian Samal of Riot Games. He gave some pretty awesome, yet insightful answers to the art of sound.

Link to the Presentation: https://docs.google.com/a/c.ringling.edu/presentation/d/13qZyGv_wFuyfWVPlBfpZNzVRuofV_G4Vm-FR-YG0Ywo/edit?usp=sharing

Link to the interview: https://docs.google.com/a/c.ringling.edu/document/d/1m2t1E_YgvguwW2JAjcOrxxV7brYKoXW27hR5raNoi_A/edit?usp=sharing