Rob Davis performs at Bright Club comedy night using audience as a drunken human computer to play "Cat On Yer Head" game. Discusses game design, characters, win scenarios, scoring, balancing, extending and Morrisey. Video of live event here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9jmewoxJLo Blog post here: http://www.playniac.com/2010/09/23/cat-on-yer-head-game-for-bright-club/

2. The game about having a cat on your head
#catonyerhead

4. Rules for cat:
• IF someone taps your shoulder
and says “cat” THEN the cat has
jumped on your head
• WHILE the cat is on your head,
REPEAT the word “cat”
• To make the cat jump onto
someone else’s head, tap their
shoulder and say “cat”

6. Rules for mouse:
• IF someone taps your shoulder
and says “mouse” THEN the
mouse has jumped on your head
• WHILE the mouse is on your
head, REPEAT the word “mouse”
• To make the mouse jump onto
someone else’s head, tap their
shoulder and say “mouse”

8. Win condition I
• IF you have the mouse on your head
AND someone taps you on the
shoulder and says “cat” THEN stand
up and shout “game over”

9. Win condition II
Cat win
• IF the cat catches the mouse before
time up THEN the cat wins
Mouse win
• IF the mouse is not caught before
time up THEN the mouse wins

10. Scoring
• The mouse gets a point for every
second they remain uncaught
• The cat starts with ?? points and
gets a point deducted for every
second the mouse survives

11. Extending
• Two mice
• Dog
• Mouse hole
• Cheese
• Super mouse, secret agents,
minefield, etc.

12. Balancing
• To be fair the game must be equally
difficult for the cat and the mouse

13. Game design
• Concept / narrative / characters
• User experience
• Rules
• Win conditions / scoring
• Extending
• Balancing

14. Further reading

16. Rob Davis
Director
Playniac
@playniac
facebook.com/playniac
rob@playniac.com
#catonyerhead