Hey everyone,
Im currently designing a hybrid pen and paper/board game for me and my friends to play. I wanted to ask has anybody used Microsoft Excel as an effective game tool?
My game will involve changing market prices for commodities, simple population movements and growth for "provinces" (determined by a formula I am working out) and things like that. I thought to myself that I could use several Excel spreadsheets as an integral part of the game to work out everything mathematical. For example I could make one sheet called "World Market" and program it to simulate price flucuations for commodities when there is in increase in demand and lack of supply or whatever. (A2 (commodity) = B2 (commodity base price) - 10 units to be sold) or something similar...please note that equation probably makes no sense, just wanted to give an example :-p
Basically I want to know who has used Excel as a "computer" for working out things in a game and how feasible/user friendly can it be?
Cheers
Thanks Nestalawe :D
I havnt decided how the game is going to be played yet, perhaps through email or my friends and I could just play it in person. I plan to have a board and limited "tokens" on it to express certain critical aspects of the game but the behind the scenes stuff, such as provincial development, population, tax rates, commodities etc... will all be handled by Excel and any other program I can use, not to mention the good old pen and paper :D
I am purposely creating a complex game, but one that will be interesting and easy to run. My friends and I love these sorts of games, very imperialistic and into severe micromanagement so I'll see how it goes :p
I want to create a real world game, perhaps beginning in 1800, focusing on the American colonies to build the basis of the game. The rest of the world will be included but I will use the whole American experience to build the initial game and then spread it to the rest of the world. I want to include such things as:
State level divisions of the nation and some sub-state entities such as division of states into three chief counties and cities.
National governments with the ability to create and enact all sorts of laws that will be regulated by all the other players.
State and national level development of militaries, infrastructure, resource harvesting etc...
Business... create a card system that allows the creation of and dissolution of businesses based on certain economic factors. Businesses will run factories and what not and can be taxed.
These are just a few ideas...it will be a complex "game"...more of a social experiment than anything, something that will never be marketable but almost like a Paradox Entertainment computer game, but pen and paper. I'll post more details and continue fleshing out the game in my journal.
Cheers :D