Making Pent Up Anger Part 1 of 5

Introduction to Board Game

Pent Up Anger is a rather large project so the making of this game will be broken down into 5 different parts (two in the ebook). The game can be found in the Spelchan.com archives at http://spelchan.com/games/y2018/PentUpAnger.php with the source code eventually planned to be posted as part of my https://github.com/BillySpelchan/BlazingPorts repository.

This part will be an overview of board games, why you would want to create a digital version of them, and what the game Pent Up Anger is. This will be followed by Part 2 where we put together the components that make up the game. In part 3 we assemble the parts to create a head to head version of the game. As we want to play the game without other people around, part 4 takes a look at AI and prepares a rudimentary AI opponent. Finally, part 5 builds the user interface components necessary to select the players and whether they are AI or Human players.

I will be releasing a part each month so those of you who are not patient may simply wish to come back after all the parts have been posted, but each part is fairly large so it may be best to follow along as the parts are posted.

Why Digitize Board Games?

Board games are games that are played on a board. There are a huge variety of board games. While card games could be placed in this category, I have placed them in the previous part of the book. In this part of the book we will be looking at games that have some type of playing board.

Some board games are strictly based on luck. These tend to be the track based board games where the goal is to reach an end point by following a track. Players move along the track by rolling a die or dice and moving the amount they rolled along the boards path. Sometimes points on the track will have actions associated with them, such as move back three places. Some may even have spots that require the player to pick up a card, with the card having instructions on it.

Another way luck based games try to make it look like there is more than luck involved in winning is by having points or cash determine the winner. Essentially these types of games are the same as the track game but add some type of points to the game. Points are awarded or lost by entering a specific location or by getting a certain card.

On the opposite end are games that are won strictly by skill. These games start the players off on an even playing field and through the rules of the game determine the winner. The best examples of this type of game is chess, with checkers and go being other good examples.

My favourite category of game is the game that fits in between the two. These are games that have some type of playing field and turn rules as with the skill game, but also deploy some type of random element. The best example of this type of game is backgammon.

Why is the middle ground my favourite? Simply put it allows two players of different skill levels to have fun while still allowing the less skilled player a chance at winning the game. Why is this important? Most people hate losing. What is the point of playing a game if I know I am always going to lose?

One question that a lot of people have is why even bother to create a computer version of a board game when you can just play the game using the board? There are five main reasons that I would do a computerized version of a board game.

The simple answer is ``Convenience''. Let's face it, when you want to play a board game you have to dig out the board, then sort out all the pieces and set up the board before you can even start playing. With the computer, all you have to do is run the software. All the setup work is done for you. For an online game, you have the additional task of going to the website that the game is on, but that is easily book marked.

No lost pieces. Losing a games piece is a fairly common occurrence. I am sure that most people have played a board game using coins or some other non-game object to represent missing pieces. In computer versions, all the pieces are created by the computer and therefore can never be lost.

Fair Referee. Cheating in board games is more common than it should be. Even if no one does cheat, arguments over the rules still happen. On the computer, the rules are coded into the game so there can be no arguments over fair play. Likewise, because the computer controls all the movement of the pieces and exchange of money, no one has to worry about someone ``miscounting'' or making ``adding mistakes''.

Solo Play. It is not always possible to find someone to play a game with. Computers have the ability to take the roll of missing people. While the computer may not be as fun as playing against a real human, it can still be an enjoyable time. More to the point, if you are not familiar with the rules to a particular game, playing a computer version of that game can teach you how to play that game without looking dumb in front of your friends.

Enhancements. In some ways, computers can do things that are not possible with normal board games. Animated sequences are one example. Handling complex rules with ease is another. Strategy board games in particular can benefit by being converted into computer games as most of those games have really complicated rules.

What is Pent Up Anger

Pent up Anger is an original board game that I designed which is loosely based on other board games that I have seen. The figure below shows the game in progress. This game is a traditional track based board game, but with a bit of a twist. First, the players each have five pieces, with the ability to move any piece in a given turn. Second, the game uses an eight sided die. The game's board is pentagon shaped. Each point of the pentagon is a player's starting location. Each player is assigned a different color and has five playing pieces numbered one through five. Their starting gate also has the numbers one through five on it. . The goal is to get all of your pieces from their starting location to their ending location. 

Turns revolve clockwise around the board. Players start their turn by rolling an eight sided dice. Before the player can move, they need to get one of their pieces out of the starting gate. This is done by rolling the number that is assigned to the piece. Players can only move or start once piece a turn. Any piece that is on the board can be moved as long as the move will not take the piece past the player's loading zone. By giving the player control over multiple pieces and adding the ability to send opponents back to the start a bit of skill is added to the game. If the player lands on an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece gets taken back to that player's starting gate.

The loading zone is a special four square line on the board that starts just before the players starting point. Once the player's piece has landed in the loading zone, the piece is able to leave the board. To leave the board, the number of the piece must be rolled.

Players win the game once all their pieces have been removed from the board.

Next month I will take al look at how to build the different pieces that make up the game.