ExPlay (6/12/2012)

For the first ExPlay I have been to it was a rather interesting event to say the least. Put into groups we had to create a board game using the three words given: Brandy, Snow and Laser.

The group I was in came up with numerous ideas including a race to the finish line type game and a defence game similar to 'Plants VS Zombies'. Finally we came up with the idea of traveling up a hill or mountain of some sort in which the player has to avoid being attacked by the evil snowmen. On their way up the player is able to pick up cards in order to get advantages and Brandy in order to power up the laser guns used by the neighborhood children who you play as.

The experience of making a board game in very little time was challenging and stressful at times, but overall a lot of fun and well worth the mad dash considering how good the finished product looked, despite my roughly drawn buildings.

I ended up taking the role of leader naturally as I am not one to say yes to things I don't like or disagree with. And whereas this can be a bad thing at times it helped to keep the game in production and stop it from becoming over complicated with new ideas being thrown in at the last minute. I felt by the end I had struck a good balance between being assertive and being a good team mate as I made sure to often check the others' work and tell them that they were doing well. Even throwing in things that they could do in order to make everyone feel as if they were doing their bit as it were. I also made sure to listen to their ideas and ask others for their own opinions. Having a break also proved useful as it allowed us to refresh our minds and continue.

Overall I feel that going to this event was a good thing as it allowed everyone experience in making a creative and fun board game with a limited amount of time and restricted the ideas they had. This event also gave me the opportunity to take on a kind of leadership role which is great as not only do I want to go into management within the industry, but I feel that my group communicated well and we were able to produce a finished product in the hour and a half/forty minutes we had.

In the end I couldn't have asked for a better team as everyone worked well together and came up with some wonderful ideas for the finished product.