Bad Fur Day: The Board Game

It's the final post, so I'm going to talk about turning Bad Fur Day into a board game.  For Bad Fur Day to be a board game, I would have to change the game considerably.  The rules of the game would be simple.

(2-6 players)

Objective:  To move your Conker token all the way to the end of the board where Berri is so that Conker can save her.

Set up/Board:  The Board being played on would have graphic depictions of many of the obstacles that Conker's faces.  There would be two separate dice for the players to roll.  One would be a standard number die, The other would have six different enemies on it.  Each different enemy would have specific spaces on the board that they have power over, so when their sign is rolled all those who are standing on their space would get punished.  This punishment may be to go back to the start, or lose a turn.  There would be other spaces on the board that would benefit Conker.  These spaces would be taking the place of the context sensitive buttons in the video game.  In the board game, these areas would allow Conker to roll again to get closer to his ultimate goal of saving Berri.

The Panther King:  This rule is designed to make the game even more difficult to win.  At the end of each cycle of rolling the dice, the dice is rolled as many times as there are players playing the game.  The Panther King piece is placed at the very end of the board, and travels the opposite direction as the player.  If the Panther King piece lands on the same space as any Conker, than that piece can either go back ten spaces or hide.  The player can hide if s/he rolls a a three or under, if not the player has to go back to the beginning of the board. 

Win Condition:  The player who reaches the end of the board first wins.  The winner of the game will officially have bragging rights over all others. 

Well, that's it for this blog

it's been fun

~Garrett

The Bad Things

The things that make Bad Fur Day not so great.  well...

1.  One of the things that makes the game less fun for me is trying to figure out where I am supposed to go.  This might not be a problem for many gamers, but for me it can be an issue.  I play my video games in streaks, so sometimes it can be a few days in between plays, which translates to a few days of forgetting where in the world I am.  For example, I have been drowning over and over again in a frustrating attempt to make my way through underwater tunnels.  I give up, and try again in a couple of days and I'm stuck in the same position.  I'm not sure if this particular example is a reflection of the level design's flow, but if not there have been other circumstances where I have to waste some time running all over the country side to figure out what to do.  This is only a minor hassle though.  For more serious gamers, if you were to play the story mode straight through, it probably wouldn't be much of an issue.

2.  Another problem, this one is only based on hearsay though, is that the frame rate slows way down in some parts of the game.  Bad Fur Day was compared to Jet Force Gemini in that its frame rates slowed down in some more complex levels of the game.  Perhaps if the game designers didn't put such an emphasis on the lights and audio this wouldn't be as much of an issue.  These are the only major flaws i see in the game.  As a developer, looking back on the game I would feel pretty content that I had utilized the Nintendo 64's potential to the fullest.

(NOTE:  I published this last night, but apparently my 'request could not be processed.")  

The Good Things

What makes Bad Fur Day great?  Well, just read the rest of this blog.  To cap things off, i'll give you the top three things that Nintendo and Rare did right when they made this game.

 (note:  these are not in order)

1.  They surprised me, and the rest of the world by coming out with a game that featured a cute squirrel that turned out to be a badass.  Going against the precedent that Nintendo had set for itself is a major contributing factor as to why this game is special.  Although I don't think the mature style of the game is enough to make it a good game, I believe that it was a very smart move on the part of the developers.  Doing something different like this definitely created a buzz for this game and got people talking about it.

2.  Maxing out the Nintendo 64 Console.  This game uses every bit of power the 64 has.  With almost two hours of cut scenes and very impressive lighting and textures the people at Rare should be commended for squeezing so much out of a console that was soon to be replaced.  One of the best part of the excellent graphics is the detail on Conker's face.  Each emotion he has, whether it be sad, terrified, angry, or happy, you will know.  His emotions are made very clear.

3. Audio.  What more can I say?  The audio is fantastic.  The voice actors do an excellent job of defining their characters.  The gamer can immerse in the game because of the detailed environmental sound effects.  The music is also top notch.  It sets the mood and changes with your environment.  From the death sounds to the sound of the Game Boy that Conker plays when he is bored from you neglecting to give him anything to do for a period of time, the sounds are masterful.

4.  Showing teddy bears getting sniped and having their heads blown off.

I know I said top three, but... 

Win Conditions

Winning in Bad Fur Day can sometimes be a long process with many obstacles, so achieving victory has to be satisfying otherwise I would have to stop playing.  What makes winning so awesome in Bad Fur Day is that you will usually be shown a sweet cut scene to reward you.  For example, after completing a long mission that is partly based on the film Saving Private Ryan, you escape to a boat that carries you away from the war zone.  You then get to listen to Conker and his Sergeant have a conversation about how terrible war is, and how the 'bigwigs' just send off the young to die.  The best part is when the Sergeant repeats "the horror, the horror." Winning in Bad Fur Day can be difficult but it is harder to lose  (unless that is your goal, in which case it is easy.  There are squirrel tails all over the game that give you either one more life, or ten more lives.  Also, if you fail a mission the first time, don't worry, you will always be able to just try it again.  

Throughout the game there different levels of satisfaction gained by completing tasks.  For a minor thing such as finding money, a cut scene will show conker saying something clever about money, or he will have his eyes turn into the spinning wheel with dollar signs on them like a slot machine.

When you beat the entire game, Conker becomes king.  I know this because the game starts by telling you this.  In my replaying of the game, I have been extremely unsuccessful at achieving the ultimate victory thus far.