The nightmare of parking at UOW is still a reality, and my board game is coming along! I’ve started drawing out maps of my game board, I am trying my hardest to incorporate the university map into the game! I want to print it out on a proper large scale board. The first link I cam across has cheap options for boards to be built in the similar size to what I want to make. it could cost about $20 for the board from this site however I plan on looking at more local based board game printer’s etc. I have looked into Makeplayingcards.com for potential playing cards to go along with the board. As I plan on using photoshop to design all cards and the board I am going to have to figure out sizing, layout etc which isn’t something I’m overly confident in when it comes to printing. I have tried to do a very basic draft of the layout on photoshop, it looks like it was made in Microsoft paint, but I will begin to design a second draft soon with potentially a different layout. As much as I think it would be awesome to incorporate the map of university I feel for a better layout and longer board game I might need to make a custom map with various “road” options.
The idea behind this map is to have 4 potential finishing options. The members will all start at the same position and go along the same road and eventually each can choose which car park they want to target as their finishing positions. The idea is that each player can make their own strategy of what car park they want to target, and also the risk that they will take in order to get to that desired car park. For example the carpool option will have game places that allow them to pick up random people along the way, however unless they land on them then they can’t pickup the person. The Permit holder option will be a road that has potential pieces to pick up a permit somewhere along the way. I am still undecided on whether I will be writing these options on the game pieces or have game pieces that correlate with certain cards to pickup. I will definitely be changing the above map and make it more interacted.
In terms of marketing, i don’t actually know how far this game will go outside this subject. I would love it to be played by other university students across campus, the jokes will be very tailored and targeted to people that go to UOW so it won’t be something I can promote our market outside of the university. If the game is successful, fun and easy to play I could approach the uni if they wanted to buy a few for maybe first year classes as like an Ice breaker game for new students. I think it would be a funny game for the new students at uni to play and learn about the horrors they will face every week parking at UOW.
The game overall is still on track, I plan to continue to draft board game layouts and ask others for more opinions on what will work and what wont work before I decide on whether I will print onto the actual game pieces or make cards.
Game Cultures 
Hi again,
I was looking forward to seeing the progress of your game! In terms of giving it to the University, I doubt they will be very acceptable of a board game about the limited car space availability (making them look bad). However, your game has the potential to make the Uni think about further changes to transport and space.
After listening to the content on machinima this week, I began imagining your game filmed with real players (students of the university) trying to find a park. This would definitely catch the attention of the higher ups! The great opportunity of participatory culture in gaming never ceases to amaze…Your game has the potential to create a strong fan community, if you want to read more about participatory cultures, our reading in week one was very helpful, Computer Games as Participatory Media Culture by Joost Raessens. Good luck.
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I think this is a great idea for a game but I’m not sure why it’s tailored to UOW specifically. If it had a less specific map, one marginally based on UOW but not directly referenced, it would see a larger appeal as this is something many people have had to deal with in their lives. You can add a lot of observational humor to it through the addition of cards that either benefit or hinder the player. Also, I think a cartoony feel to the boards illustrations would be helpful as it would add to the humorous tone as well.
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I think a custom game map, as opposed to a one-to-one road map of the university, is a great idea – it’ll be a lot more flexible, so you could use it for more interesting gameplay.
A big part of how well this game plays will lie in how many spaces a player can potentially move in one turn. If they roll a 6-sided die, for example, but the map is only 12 squares across, they’ll have the opportunity to clear a lot of space at once and landing on a specific piece – like a passenger, for carpooling – would get frustrating. You don’t want the players to REALLY experience the same frustration as they do when they’re trying to find a parking spot! Unless… you do? Because that would be pretty meta. (Sorry if you’ve covered this already in your previous post; I haven’t seen it yet!)
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I like how you’ve gone more in depth with your game and, overall, how it plays out. I think an interesting idea, but maybe it could get too complex, would be to expand it to maybe parking outside and around the uni. Just an idea that might add an extra layer of intrigue to the game. Keen to play it, keep it up!
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I like this idea, I think it is really entertaining and clever way to patronise the parking scenario at the university, as well as get marks for doing the assignment. Perhaps if you added a time aspect, so it got harder to park at certain hours, it would create a rush to get their at a certain time and find certain spots. Like, if you got to free parking at 12 oclock, you would need to roll 3 6’s in a row to get a park.
Or alternatively, you must get the most of your colour cars on the board, and when you park a car, you start again, and player with the most wins. So over time it gets harder.
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