Post by notexplosive on Nov 11, 2022 13:36:46 GMT -5
Hi there! I'm working on a "competitive hangman" game that's inspired by Wheel of Fortune, but I'm not trying to copy it. Namely because there's quite of WoF's design that I just... don't like.
Maybe this is a controversial opinion, but I'm not such a big fan of "The Wheel" itself. I think it works great in a gameshow context, it creates tension and payoff that makes for an exciting watch. But the uniform randomness feels frustrating for at-home play. Especially when I get my third "Lose a Turn / Bankrupt" in a row, completely shutting me out of the round. I also find the vacation getaways and half-car to be less exciting prizes in the at-home version because money is just "points" and it's unclear to me how many "points" the car is worth.
So as a thought experiment: How would you design Wheel of Fortune if you designed it from the ground up as a digital game to be played at home? Without needing to abide by any conventions of the original game, but still capturing that "competitive hangman" appeal.
Disclaimer: I am a casual Wheel of Fortune fan. I might get some details wrong about the original game-- these are just things I noticed mostly from playing the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
Here's the big one, how I'd change "The Wheel":
- Every player has their own Wheel, at the start, all of the wedges are "good" meaning they award points or bonuses (no bankrupts/lose a turns)
- Whenever you guess a consonant correctly, your wheel "heats up" this means all the lowest value wedges transform into Lose a Turn wedges.
- If you guess again correctly on the same turn, it "heats up" again, turning your Lose a Turns into Bankrupts, and your next lowest value wedges into Lose a Turns. This means the more you spin and guess correctly, the more dangerous spinning becomes.
- When your turn ends, your wheel "cools off" allowing you to spin safely again next turn.
- Players are now allowed to "pass" their turn if they are afraid to spin, don't want a vowel, and cannot solve.
The idea here is that if you're on a roll and keep getting consonants correctly, you're getting tons of money and revealing more of the puzzle (getting closer to the answer). This often leads to snowballing where the player who's already doing well is able to do even better. WoF attempts to mitigate this by adding a tiny bit of risk to every spin (Lose a Turn and Bankrupt). The problem is, this risk level is the same no matter how many spins you've done. The "heat up" mechanic means that your first spin has zero risk (no turn 1 bankrupt!) and every subsequent spin gets riskier and riskier as you guess correctly. This (hopefully) encourages players to pass their turns, even if it means giving the next player a chance to solve.
Some other changes to "bonus wedges":
- No more half-car, vacation getaway, or any of that. All wedges are worth either direct money, or gameplay-enhancing bonuses.
- Solve Amplifier: If you solve the puzzle you get 2X what you would have earned for solving the puzzle
- Half Bonus: Collecting 1 does nothing, collecting 2 awards some pre-set large sum of points. (Sort of like Half-Car but more explicitly points-centric)
- Free Vowel: The next vowel you buy is free.
Some other gameplay changes:
- If you won money during a round, you get to keep it. It feels a little strange to me that no matter how you performed in a round of WoF, you don't keep any of your money unless you win.
What do you all think? What would you change if you were given the chance to redesign Wheel of Fortune from the ground up? Do we even need a Wheel in the first place?
Maybe this is a controversial opinion, but I'm not such a big fan of "The Wheel" itself. I think it works great in a gameshow context, it creates tension and payoff that makes for an exciting watch. But the uniform randomness feels frustrating for at-home play. Especially when I get my third "Lose a Turn / Bankrupt" in a row, completely shutting me out of the round. I also find the vacation getaways and half-car to be less exciting prizes in the at-home version because money is just "points" and it's unclear to me how many "points" the car is worth.
So as a thought experiment: How would you design Wheel of Fortune if you designed it from the ground up as a digital game to be played at home? Without needing to abide by any conventions of the original game, but still capturing that "competitive hangman" appeal.
Disclaimer: I am a casual Wheel of Fortune fan. I might get some details wrong about the original game-- these are just things I noticed mostly from playing the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
Here's the big one, how I'd change "The Wheel":
- Every player has their own Wheel, at the start, all of the wedges are "good" meaning they award points or bonuses (no bankrupts/lose a turns)
- Whenever you guess a consonant correctly, your wheel "heats up" this means all the lowest value wedges transform into Lose a Turn wedges.
- If you guess again correctly on the same turn, it "heats up" again, turning your Lose a Turns into Bankrupts, and your next lowest value wedges into Lose a Turns. This means the more you spin and guess correctly, the more dangerous spinning becomes.
- When your turn ends, your wheel "cools off" allowing you to spin safely again next turn.
- Players are now allowed to "pass" their turn if they are afraid to spin, don't want a vowel, and cannot solve.
The idea here is that if you're on a roll and keep getting consonants correctly, you're getting tons of money and revealing more of the puzzle (getting closer to the answer). This often leads to snowballing where the player who's already doing well is able to do even better. WoF attempts to mitigate this by adding a tiny bit of risk to every spin (Lose a Turn and Bankrupt). The problem is, this risk level is the same no matter how many spins you've done. The "heat up" mechanic means that your first spin has zero risk (no turn 1 bankrupt!) and every subsequent spin gets riskier and riskier as you guess correctly. This (hopefully) encourages players to pass their turns, even if it means giving the next player a chance to solve.
Some other changes to "bonus wedges":
- No more half-car, vacation getaway, or any of that. All wedges are worth either direct money, or gameplay-enhancing bonuses.
- Solve Amplifier: If you solve the puzzle you get 2X what you would have earned for solving the puzzle
- Half Bonus: Collecting 1 does nothing, collecting 2 awards some pre-set large sum of points. (Sort of like Half-Car but more explicitly points-centric)
- Free Vowel: The next vowel you buy is free.
Some other gameplay changes:
- If you won money during a round, you get to keep it. It feels a little strange to me that no matter how you performed in a round of WoF, you don't keep any of your money unless you win.
What do you all think? What would you change if you were given the chance to redesign Wheel of Fortune from the ground up? Do we even need a Wheel in the first place?