top of page
Perils of the sea
A 2 to 4 player strategic competitive board game where players take on the roles of pirates, hunting for treasure, fending off sea monsters and storms and battling other crews until they are the last crew standing.
Design process
This project was the final group assignment for my Fundamentals of Game Design module in the first semester of my Game Development degree.
​
The assignment was to develop our very own boardgame.
Conceptualization
We arrived at the concept because everyone in our group are competitive players, so we wanted to create a fun player vs player game.
We had chosen a pirate theme because it has always been a rich and fruitful inspiration for creative work. And all the potential assets are already established within this theme, i.e. ships, swords, sea monsters, etc.
Development
We wanted to create a competitive strategy game with some unique twists.
I came up with the idea that the pirates could form alliances and stack their damage to be imposed on a targeted player, and by extension this alliance could be broken with betrayal. Another game mechanic I generated was the Maelstrom event, a random PvE mechanic that would pit a player against a sea monster, a way of keeping players on their toes and to force them to adapt to the situation.
We started with creating game loops for certain core mechanics.
Core game loop
Treasure roll loop
Maelstrom loop
Attacking and defending loop
Implementation
Game mechanics and rules
Players
Each player starts with 20 health tokens and 1 ship token
Game start
Roll dice to decide the first turn (highest roll goes first)
Actions per turn
- Each turn provides 5 action points(AP)
- Move 1 circle = 1AP
- Attack another player = 3AP
- Roll dice for Cursed Island treasure = 2AP
- Players may end their turn early, but unused AP doesn't carry over
Maelstrom Events
- Land on a Maelstrom indicator to start an event
- Draw an event card to determine the challenge
- Sea monsters: Players roll dice to deal damage and must defeat the monster to escape.
- Cthulhu: 12 health, 3 damage per turn
- Kraken: 9 health, 2 damage per turn
- Megalodon: 6 health, 2 damage per turn
- Leviathan: 6 health, 2 damage per turn
- Defeating monsters grants rewards
Attacking players
- Attack if within 1 circle distance of another player
- Attacker and defender roll dice:
- Higher roll wins
- Attacker's win = Defender takes 1 damage
- Defender's win = No damage for either
Cursed Island
- Reach the Treasure Cave to roll for treasures:
- 4 = Common Treasure card
- 5 = Rare Treasure card
- 6 = Legendary Treasure card
Treasure cards
- Unlimited holding capacity
- Sell at the Harbor for coins:
- Common = 20 coins
- Rare = 40 coins
- Legendary 60 coins
Cursed cards
- Drawn by failing dice rolls at the Treasure Cave
- Take immediate effect and discard after
Power cards
- Purchased at the Harbor (20 coins each)
- Three types: Attack, Movement, Dice Augment
- Cannot be sold; discard after use
Buying and selling at the Harbor
- Buying:
- Power card = 20 coins
- Health token = 20 coins per 1 health
- Selling:
- Common = 20 coins
- Rare = 40 coins
- Legendary = 60 coins
Winning the game
- Be the last player standing!
- Players lose if their health drops to zero
Our first prototype
Final product
Game tokens
bottom of page