Paper Prototyping : "Has Anyone Seen My Car?"

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Has Anyone Seen My Car?

Game Concept: One player secretly chooses where they "parked" on a parking lot grid. Other players move around trying to find it by getting "beep" clues when they're close.

Prompt

The prompt was to design a game around the theme of “Lost and Found”
and to undergo a paper prototyping process wherein feedback on the game was garnered via playtesting

Level Design

I worked independently on this assignment rather than in a team, taking on all aspects of the game design process myself, from initial brainstorming and concept development through prototype creation and testing. Though in a team initially, my teammates excluded me from the paper prototyping process onwards despite my initial efforts to contribute, so I opted not to force it.

Challenges and Constraints

- Coming up with ideas again after starting from scratch
- Limited time to complete the entire process, especially after starting again. 
- Rules had to be simple enough to teach and learn within 2-3 minutes
- Game mechanics couldn't require overly complex motor skills or dexterity challenges
- Finding playtesters outside of class

Idea Selection Process

A divergent brainstorming exercise was the basis of this process, followed by a convergent brainstorming exercise wherein i combined and refined elements from the initial exercise into ideas for games. Out of these ideas I chose the most feasible one via a risk assessment chart. On this chart, each idea was ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 on ease of making, marketability and personal excitement. The sum of these individual scores was then used to determine the best idea, with the highest score winning.

Background

My journey in game design, including education, cultural influences, and professional experience.

Resume

A summary of my skills, roles, and achievements in game design and production.

Contact

Get in touch via email or LinkedIn for collaboration, feedback, or networking opportunities.

Media & Links

Find my work on GitHub, itch.io, and other platforms for more projects and code samples.

Initial Ideas

I underwent a quickfire, divergent brainstorming exercise to generate ideas after which I dialed in actual game concepts via divergent brainstorming.

Divergent Brainstorming Ideas

- Looking for your car in a huge parking lot
- A game of hide and seek 
- Losing your phone in couch cushions 
- Restaurant mix-up of orders
- Socks disappearing in the laundry 
- Losing your glasses while wearing them
- Dog running away at the park

Convergent Brainstorming ideas

Parking Lot Hide & Seek - One person "hides" their car, others race to find it by beeping for it.
‍Couch Treasure Hunt - Multiple people searching the same piece of furniture for different lost items.
‍Restaurant Chaos - Everyone got wrong orders, so they’re trying to trade/find the right meals.
‍Laundry Mix-up - Sorting through piles of clothes to find matching outfits before time runs out.
‍Glasses Hunt - Items are hidden in plain sight, players search for "obvious" things they can't see
‍House Dog Chase - One player is a "lost dog" that others have to try to corner/catch them on a small board.
‍Key Fob Beeping - Players take turns making "beep" sounds, others guess distance and direction to find the source
‍Furniture hide and seek - One player hides item in "furniture" (drawn spaces), others search systematically
‍Order Swap Game - Players have wrong items, must trade to get their correct ones
‍Sock Matching Race - Pile of mixed socks in center, race to grab matching pairs

Has Anyone Seen my Car? Rules

Game components:

  1. 5x5 grid (parking lot)
  2. 2 player pieces
  3. 1 die
  4. 1 small paper (for secret car location)

How to Play:

  1. Win: First to land on the correct space wins and becomes the car owner next game.
  2. Move: Roll die, move that many spaces orthogonally (no diagonal movement)
    1. Search: When you end a turn, you may ask to “beep”. If the players are within 2 spaces of each other (orthogonally) then the car owner gives both players their beep clues out loud. If the players are not within this distance of each other, any player who chooses to beep at the end of the round will have their beep clue whispered to them privately by the car owner outside of the earshot of the other player.
    2. Clues: When a player “beeps” the car owner counts the player’s orthogonal distance from the car and gives one of the following beep clues:
      • "No beep" (5+ spaces away)
      • "Faint beep" (4 spaces away)
      • "Beep" (3 spaces away)
      • "Loud beep" (2 spaces away)
      • "Loudest beep" (1 space away)

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Playtest Insights

Standout responses to FFWWDD questions:

  • The most frustrating aspect of what they just played - “Forgetting I could not move diagonally”
  • Your favourite moment or aspect of the playtest - “When I got two "very close" readings from adjacent spaces and knew where the car was but couldn’t win until the next turn. That was exciting.”
  • Was there anything you wanted to do but couldn’t? - “Move diagonally”
  • If you had a magic wand to change, add or remove anything what would it be? - “Add some kind of penalty or obstacle spaces to make the grid more interesting”
  • How would you describe this game to your friends and family? - “Battleship meets marco polo”

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Changes from the playtest:

  1. I would add some random hazards or penalties - The grid felt too predictable after many games
  2. Adding an option to skip turn - Having to move every turn makes it so there was rarely ever a situation where the players were not within 2 spaces of each other so they could almost always “hear” the other players “beep”.
  3. I would add a mechanic to move diagonally - Though i would have to balance this out, many players did not like that you could only move diagonally.