Dine Out

C.A.T.S. is an acronym that we learned in class. It stands for (c)oncept, (a)im, (t)one and (s)ubject matter. That being said, it is set as a guide for creators as they write stories for any kind of gaming. With these pointers in mind, it curates better clarity in the game for the audience and aids in building a strong frame.

I made this game because I wanted something quick and easy. Especially during our Wanderhome and Dread lessons, I learned I am simply not a long-format person. I enjoy short and guided games therefore, it made the most sense for me to make it only five rounds in total. I was inspired by Gods of Rock, in the sense that I loved the idea of a game that could be easily played at a bar or while waiting for food. It played a large driving force in how I went forward in this assignment. 

I noticed that in general, a lot of the themes I talked about in my Magpie book surrounded my time at work, in a cafe, my friends and many tv shows/movies that later get logged in Letterboxd. So, I plucked ideas of bustling restaurant culture from The Bear, mixed in with the concept of working front of house with a friend (who is turned into an enemy in the game for plot's sake) and even utilizing Letterboxd as a mechanic! 

I guess the ultimate theme I was serving was to pose the question: how far are you willing to hate someone else in order to get what you want? During the rounds/turns, I leave a lot of space for the players to create their back stories. With that, players are free to air out as much as they feel compelled to, fiction or not. Additionally, I relied on the visual cues of my page to create the environment of a restaurant. The handwritten fonts are meant to look like random staff notes, using the plates to describe each round, and even using blue as the main colour to further reflect The Bear asa little easter egg from my Magpie book (the aprons in the show are a dark blue). As mentioned above, Gods of Rock happened to be my favourite game we played in class due to its quick nature and heavily influence in creating this game. I enjoyed the somewhat deep questions utilized to jump into the next sequence, and hopefully in a somewhat more light-hearted way, tried to emulate that into my mechanics; a lot of "why" questions were used to help story-building for players.  Additionally, I was also inspired by Grant Howitt's Bird Crimes with the points system. I wanted an extra bit of play in my game, and adding more opportunity for the gain or loss of points in between rounds served some stakes for players. Letterboxd was my favourite addition to this game, as it is a bit of an uncommon mode for random resolution. 

I hope players walk away with a little giggle. As much as this is a competition-based game, I think it's always fun to create random background stories for various characters. With the assumption that most people will play this alongside a friend, it would be silly to create reasons to hate them.