Future Game — Ransom.
Game Summary
Ransom is a fun yet fearful multiplayer game that becomes a free-for-all. The game begins as the personified game master holds players hostage and to escape, each player is trying to pay off their own ransom which starts off with a value of $25,000. To do this, all players will be given a secret and a situation card. Work together by guessing each other’s situation without revealing the secret and your ransom will be lowered. Beware, if you can’t manage to communicate your situation without using the secret, your ransom will be raised and you will not be set free.
Secret and Situation
- Secret: words and actions will be displayed on your secret card
- Situation: scenarios that you must be able to express will appear here
Each player will be given 2 options to communicate their situation:
- three-word sentence: you may use three words to communicate your situation, however, be sure that none of the words you use appear on your secret
- drawing: you will be granted 15 seconds each turn to draw parts or all of your situation and the same rule applies to any drawing, you may not draw any word on your secret
You may be wondering, “how will anyone know if I violate a secret?” Well, at the beginning of each game, you will be assigned a partner and this person will be held accountable each round and they may not guess during your turn.
How do Turns work?
On the bottom left corner of each situation card, there will be a certain amount of question marks that indicate how many turns you will be given to have your fellow players guess your card. This will not be proctored by your partner who monitors your secret cards.
note: the maximum number of turns a situation may require is five.
Money
On your situation card, the amount of money that will either be deducted or added to your ransom will be indicated in the bottom right corner.
note: the range of a situation card’s worth is $500-$8,000
Play as a Team, Win as One.
Although this game seems highly co-operative and team building, I did mention that it becomes a free-for-all. The game ends when 20-minutes is up, and those who have successfully paid off their ransom will be selected to participate in a little sun-or-death situation — only one person may leave…
The sun-or-death matches are an assortment of mini-games. These games are yet to be determined and I’m open to any suggestions. Some mini-game ideas I had were 5-question trivia, word search, what are the odds, etc.
Inspiration
During quarantine, the best way I found to spend time with friends was through online games such as Jackbox, Skribble.io, and Spyfall. Like all these games, Ransom is meant to be inclusive and played among a group of people, it’s objective was to incorporate the main components that drew me into each game — an interesting scenario, drawing, and guessing. Mushing everything together into one game is what became Ransom.
That’s a Wrap.
Once again, I am a first-year game development student who has yet to complete her first course that specializes in this stream. This game might sound ridiculous or whatnot and maybe it is, whatever it is, let me know what you think. I know what I like, but I certainly do not know about anyone else. That’s the end of ransom and I hope I kept you captivated!
