Day One - Board Games Project

Day One of the board games project, we have been organised into our groups and we began brainstorming ideas. The initial idea was a card based game that was similar to 'Pokemon' but with a board and a different set of rules. We decided it had to be simple, and a game that children can play with their families.We decided to focus on 7+ age group, as we agreed that this is the typical age a child will play board games with their parents as a family on holidays such as Christmas, and we also wanted to try to make the game educational in some way. To research this type of market, we visited Toymaster toy store in the town. From this visit we ruled out the whole of our first idea due to the sheer amount of card based board games on the market already (such as Pokemon, top trumps, etc.), and because we felt, in comparison to the other family board games our idea was far too complex for our focus age group.
After this, the idea of a native American Indian based game arose, with the player having to build their camp, and the first to complete their camp was the winner. The game would be played on a board with players picking up chance cards as they go, each chance card having a different effect on their camp or others camps. We decided that we would try to aim the game at ages 7+, which meant giving the art a simplistic, cartoon look.

Rough Character concept

I also had the idea of instead of having four tribes, having two native Indian tribes and two european settlers. This would create a different look at the game, with a race to build up their camp first. However, after briefing this to the group we decided this would make it more of a team game, with the two of the same type would feel as if they are working together. 
We all decided that we would each design 2 chance cards, one positive and one negative to get ideas for the basic look of the cards, as well as carry out some research and do some general designing. Then on day two, we will all present our cards and ideas and each get our place and role within the group.