Final Idea Breakdown

After a few weeks of research and brainstorming I have finally decided what I would like to achieve by the end of the project.
I will be designing a video game for the Xbox dashboard which will be based on the Ancient Romans. Specifically I am hoping of creating an environment for a game which will be inspired by a Roman city.

What is the Concept of the game?

Originally I wanted to create a party based game with an objective of getting your pawn or counter to the top of a mountain. At the bottom of the mountain was a Roman City, players would roll dice and at the end of all the players turns they would need to complete a task or minigame giving them the option of moving further away from each of the players. As they made their way up the mountain, players would come across obstacles such as trapdoors, bridges, cranes, catapults etc, which if landed on would either send them further down the game or advance them into a more dominant position, kind of like a Chutes and Ladders concept. At the top of the mountain would have been something iconic to the ancient Romans, either the Colosseum, the Pantheon or the Roman Forum. Once the player has made it to the top of the mountain in any way that abide to the rules then the game is over and that player wins.

My Final Idea?

As the project has progressed I have finally decided on how this game will be made. I have decided to slightly adjust my original concept, but will be keeping the idea of getting a players counter to the top of the mountain in order to win.

- Target Audience - The game will be aimed at a new target audience of 12+ Males.

- Objective of the Game - Like my original idea, the objective of this interactive board/video game will be to get your Roman politician from the bottom of the board to the top as quick as possible.

- Design Layout - The game will be designed for the purpose of the objective. With this in mind, there will be three platforms each representing a social class from the ancient Roman times(Patricians, Plebeians etc). At the bottom of the board will be the Start point of the game. The bottom of the board is the Plebeian class, this means that the houses will need to be looking a lot less grand than house that you may find if owned by someone classed as a Patrician. All over the bottom board will a mini city for the players to manoeuvre their pieces throughout. The Players will then make their way up the board using a column/pillar system which will act as steps for the players to make their way further up the 3D board.
As I said before, as the players move up the board and onto a different platforms the houses will appear to look more grand. The last platform will be of great signification to the politicians. At the very top of the platform I will be looking at creating a small group of buildings which are based around the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum was a very important part of Rome were many debates were made, making it an ideal end to the game.