“Camp Sajek” A Board Game

Game Design Document

Short Description

Camp Sajek is a 2-4 player board game that takes the players on an exhilarating expedition through

the magical land of Sajek Valley, otherwise known as “The Kingdom of Clouds“ located in Rangamati,

Bangladesh. Through their journey, they are met with a plethora of delightful events. However, even

an enjoyable task such as camping can call for different difficulties and therefore, the goal of the

players is to maximize their happiness levels and to make everyone’s experience as relaxing as

possible throughout the whole journey by tackling those difficulties working as a team while getting to

know about Bangladesh and its local culture and cuisine.

This board game requires players to survive their expedition through constant teamwork and

collaboration while participating in fun and adventurous tasks. Players can experience multiple

outcomes based on their decisions and overall score. The goal is to reach the destination by passing

different events which may either be random or definite where cooperation is a key element.

Target Audience

This experience is targeted toward casual adult players. But the gameplay is adequately

straightforward, hence, can be understood by children as well.

Art Style

Camp Sajek features a cozy, clean, and consistent art style resonating with the theme “relaxation”.

The focus was creating a minimalistic art style that clearly tells the players exactly what they need to

know. The color palette and typography are created keeping the relaxing environment of camping in

the mountains in mind and can easily be understood by players of all ages. The illustrations are

created by me using the software “Adobe illustrator” using free online resources and then printed and

cut into pieces.

Figure: Game Setup

Quick Game Rules

Camp Sajek consists of several minigames that offer a wide range of game mechanics and diverse

gameplay scenarios. There are 3 campsites, 1 cave, and 1 lake along the path each containing

different random events. The difficult mountain path itself contains many challenges that push the

players to collaborate and solve problems together.

Each player will be given an initial random deck of cards. On the game board, the players will be

traveling together from one checkpoint to the other as a team. When encountering a purple question

mark, they will roll a die twice to pick the event associated with the dice throwing. These events can

have both positive and negative outcomes depending on either a coin toss or the existing cards of the

players or both. For example, if there is an ant attack and anyone in the team has bug spray then

players gain 5 HP else they lose 6 HP.

Game Elements

The following elements are required to experience the game at full capacity:

1. Game Board 2. Cards 3. Energy Tokens 4. Mini Carrom Board 5. Dice Roll 6. Coin Toss

7. Rulebook

Here is a brief introduction to the game elements. They will be discussed in detail later on.

1. Game Board

The game board illustrates the whole map which contains various regions that the player will explore.

It shows the current position of the player and uses sequential numbering to indicate all the events

during the journey. All used symbols are explained using map legend. For example, a dice symbol

with x2 written next to it indicates that the player has to roll the dice twice and pick the event

associated with the summation of the values of each roll. If the sum of two rolls is 7 then the player

has to pick the "Support Stick" card which gives them 3 HP. All random event cards are numbered so

it is easier to access them from the deck.

Figure: Game Board initial sketches

Figure: Final Game Board

2. Cards

Cards are a central part of Camp Sajek. There are various classes of cards each having its unique

characteristics and design. Each player will get a certain number of random cards at the beginning of

the game (4 cards each for 2 players, 2 cards each for 4 players). They may earn or lose cards down

the road. Each card may define an item, an advantage, a disadvantage, or a random situation.

A card consists of various elements as illustrated below and consistent terminology is used

throughout the game to ensure user understandability.

Figure: Card Breakdown

Types of Cards

The game has 6 types of cards and each card type has its distinctive purpose. The card description

indicates what the card accomplishes. Here is a description of each type.

a. Recipe: Once in a new campsite, players have to cook food using recipe cards. Each recipe

card indicates the required ingredients (bottom) and the HP (top center) eating that meal

gives. Players cannot cook a meal without a recipe card even if they have all the necessary

ingredients. They can share ingredients to cook a meal together and share the meal with

everyone.

b. Ingredients: This card is used for cooking specific recipes. For example, to cook the recipe

hotdog, players need the ingredients sausage, bread, and fire. Notice that the “fire” ingredient

here can be found in the form of energy tokens which can be collected by playing the carrom

minigame.

c. Fish: Fish cards are used for the fishing minigame and for cooking meals. In the fishing game

upon reaching the pond or the lake, players take turns to play the minigame and catch fish in

the process.

d. Random Camp Event: The team is met with random events (both good and bad) while at a

camp, such as “Heavy Rain”, “Stunning Stargaze”, “Cold Breeze”, and “Mosquito Attack”, etc

in the form of cards. To alleviate sufferings from negative events, remedial item cards such as

the “Tent” card can be used, for instance in the case of heavy rain, on behalf of any member

of the team who possesses the card. Likewise, the team enjoys pleasurable experience cards

like “Stunning Stargaze” which gives them HP.

e. Random Path Event: During the path rounds, any event can take place from a total of 12

diverse path event cards. Similar to random camp events, some of them are positive and

some are negative. From a wild chicken attack to finding a treasure map anything can

happen. Typical cards such as drawing a card from the deck or losing one from the hand are

also present in this category.

f. Item: These cards can be used as solutions to problems that may arise from the random path

cards and random camp cards.

Figure: Card Types

3. Tokens

Tokens are used for keeping count of the happiness point (HP) and energy (water, fire) that players

currently have and current position on the board. HP can either be gained or lost depending on the

circumstances. Water energy tokens are used for hydration in the camp and fire tokens can be used

primarily for cooking food.

Figure: Tokens

4. Mini Carrom Board

During gameplay players may come to a location on the path with a carrom board symbol. All players

will participate in a game of mini carrom at this point of the game. The objective is to take turns and

score the previously mentioned energy tokens into the pockets. Each player will get 2 turns each

round. Carrom is a widely popular relaxing game and in this version of the game, all players will play

as a team and try to gain as many energy tokens as possible. For example, if player 1 hits a token

with the striker (the large round token that needs to be flicked across the board) and fails to score a

token but puts it in a favorable position then player 2 can easily score it for him and they both earn the

token. Again, cooperative gameplay here will ensure socialization and relaxation for the players.

5. Dice Roll

Rolling dice in this game does not focus on moving around the board. Instead, it enables the player to

pick a random camp or path event. A player has to roll the dice 1 time after reaching camp and 2

times after reaching a random path event. They then have to pick the card with the same number on

the dice facing up. Fish catching minigame also depends on dice rolls which tell the player the

number of fish to catch, which fish to catch, and how to catch the targeted fish.

6. Coin Toss

Players need to occasionally toss a coin to determine heads or tails which may lead to different

outcomes. For example, upon reaching the lake players need to toss a coin to decide whether they

would be proceeding by the bridge or paddling the kayak instead. Each path comes with its unique

challenges and coin toss in this instance adds randomness to the game.

7. Rulebook

The rulebook can be used to quickly look up what the next move or current task should be in any

specific step of the game. It is clear and concise to ensure maximum user-friendliness.

Before Game Starts

Players need to set up the game board, tokens, cards, etc in place. Additionally 1. An initial HP of 5

will be given to the team. 2. In case of 2 players, each will receive 4 cards. In case of 4 players, each

will receive 2 cards (From the deck consisting of items, recipes, and ingredients). They'll also place

their location token at the point marked as "Start" and advance from there.

Ideal Gameplay Rounds

From start to finish, Camp Sajek has a well-organized collection of different gameplay rounds. At

each round of the game, the players will take turns completing the task at hand and then move to the

next round. Meaning, except carrom minigame and fishing minigame only 1 player would actively

participate in the game. The next player would then lead the team in the next round. It should be

noticed that in Camp Sajek, all the players always move concurrently since it is a collaborative team

game. So there would never be a situation where one player is ahead in the game and others are

falling behind. Here’s how to play each round:

1. Path Round Rules: These are the most common rounds during the game. There are a total

of 14 path rounds among which some of the rounds are carrom rounds and some are fishing

game rounds. The game ends when players complete the 15th round and reaches the

destination which is the native village on top of Konglak Hill.

Some of the random events(indicated with a ? sign) take place in the path rounds. Players

have to roll two dice simultaneously and pick the path event card associated with the sum of

the dice. If the happiness point (HP) of the team becomes zero or negative, then players need

to go back to the last campsite (or start point if no campsites have been reached). Camp

round rules will be followed again in that case. The other two types of path rounds are the

cave round and the lake round.

In the cave round, the player will toss a coin, if it is a heads, player will get a rare gem that

gives +3 HP. If tails, player will be affected by a bat attack and lose -2 HP.

In the lake round, the player will toss a coin, if it is a heads, player will take the bridge and not

gain any additional HP. If tails, player will get to cross using a kayak and gain + 3HP since the

experience will relax them and bring much more happiness.

2. Camp Round Rules: In between the paths, there are 3 campsites in the game as indicated

on the board. Upon entering a campsite, there are 4 tasks to complete in this particular

sequence: 1. Draw a card 2. Cook food 3. Hydrate 4. Roll a die to pick the camp event card

associated with that number.

Cooking requires a recipe card. Upon cooking, players will gain HP specified in the recipe

card and if players fail to cook, they will lose 3 HP. Similarly, hydration gives 1 HP, and failing

to do so loses 2 HP. Players have to return the recipe, ingredient, and water token to the deck

after cooking and hydration respectively.

3. Carrom Round Rules: These rounds are a unique addition to the game that offers players a

chance to collect water and fire energy tokens in a fun, interactive manner. The rules are

similar to that of regular carrom. Initially, the tokens will be placed in the center of the board.

Players have to take turns to strike the tokens and try to get as many as they can. All the

players combined will get 4 turns to play in each round. That means if there are 2 players,

each of them can avail a maximum of 2 turns. There will be a maximum 12 tokens on the

board in the beginning. The next iterations of the game will have tokens minus the amount

that players have.

4. Fishing Round Rules: The player will roll a die and will bring that amount of fish cards

(upside down) to the board from the deck. If the die number is higher than fish in the deck,

then the player gets to roll again (They will get 3 chances maximum each, then the next player

would get to play).

Rolling a 2nd die will determine which fish to catch (if the dice number is higher than number

of fish on board, the fish will escape and the next player would get a chance). The player flips

that card to reveal the fish's information.

3rd dice roll will decide whether they can catch the fish or if it escapes. To illustrate, if the 1st

dice value is 3, the player will shuffle the deck and pick the last 3 cards. If the 2nd dice value

is 1, the player will choose the 1st card from the left. After flipping the 1st card, it is revealed

that the fish requires either a 1, 3, or 5 on the dice to be caught. So if the 3rd dice roll value is

5 it means the player has successfully caught the fish. If the value on the dice was either 2,4

or 6 the fish would have slipped away and the player in clockwise rotation would get a chance

next.

How the theme “Relaxation” is Used

The theme “Relaxation” is woven into the game design as the sole purpose is to enjoy a stimulating

exploration of the Sajek Valley. This includes not only enjoying all the intrinsically relaxing elements of

the game such as “Stargazing”, “Kayaking” etc and this really helps de-stress all the negativities of life

as a team but also to ward off all the tribulations of the game such as “mosquito attack” together to

make the experience as relaxing as possible, while fostering teambuilding and by boosting creativity

and learning. Cooperation limits individual responsibilities and promotes balance and harmony. All in

all, the ultimate goal is to combinedly maximize the happiness or relaxation levels of the team. In

order to make sure a game is relaxing, players must be engaged in the game mechanics while not

being heavily invested and challenged. The overall game flow of Camp Sajek strives to accomplish

that.

Playtesting Report

Testing the game enabled constant iterative development which opened doors for game balancing

and game designing. The game has gone through several major and minor changes which originated

from questions that rose while testing the game. Unit tests, A/B tests, and integration tests were

performed to identify both common gameplay issues and edge cases.

Test Case 1: After conducting some 2 player playtesting sessions I quickly found a flaw in the game

design. In the initial stage of the game players have to pass 3 steps to reach the 1st campsite. 2 of

those steps are random path events. The issue was that players were losing too many HP very early

into the game due to random negative events. Since these events cost very high HP (-6,-7), players

were not being able to reach the 1st campsite. Even if they did reach it, they were losing points again

due to a negative random camp event.

Solution: To resolve this issue, I changed both the game balance and level design. Firstly, I

readjusted card values to redistribute the weight towards a more positive side. This way players were

not losing as much HP as earlier. Secondly, I resequenced the events that take place in the campsite

by adding a hydration event as an opportunity to gain extra HP. I also put picking a random camp

event as the last step so that players can get more HP from drawing cards, cooking, and hydrating

before unwanted point loss due to chance of a negative event.

Test Case 2: In the earlier iterations of the game, I added a health system for the fish-catching

minigame. If the fish had x amount of health, players had to roll the dice for y amount of times and

tried getting the required values (1 or 3 for example). I also considered adding different fishing rods

and bait cards. Even though this idea gave the minigame more depth, after playtesting I quickly found

out that it was getting too time-consuming and frustrating for the players. There were too many dice

rolls and the main board game was deviating from its purpose.

Solution: I decided to simplify the game by removing distracting and confusing bits of the minigame.

Now, players get only one chance at catching the fish instead of a complex system consisting of

multiple turns and other item cards.

Figure: Fish Game Mechanics Simplification

An Interesting Gameplay Situation

During playtest, at one point a player found the “Leech Attack” card while on the path. This caused

the possibility of HP to become zero which would cause a major penalty to the team. At that moment,

another player found that they have a “Medicine” card in their hand, which is the remedial card for

leech attack. After being introduced to a challenging scenario, this discovery caused the team to

avoid a huge setback. Thus, this gameplay situation evoked relief among the players.

Here is a download link to a “Print and Play” version of the game:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UO-PRF3GNyel6PGPoFH9aSu-lbnQL03G/view?usp=sharing

Thank you!