Kaitlin's Research Report
From English 194 Wiki
Abstract Hasbro's Candyland presents a visually lush, relatively simple yet enjoyable gaming experience that transcends generations. The English 194 Goblin team was able to establish a variety of connections between this traditional board game and our initial concept for Escape From Goblin Market. Primarily, Candyland is appealing in that a player can navigate the board fairly easily, as well as follow rules that are not tremendously complicated. The color scheme of Escape From Gobin Market would obviously hold less of a child-like appeal, taking on a more sinister quality. However, the fantastical elements of fleshed-out characters and story lines heavily contributed to our realization that Rosetti's poem could be best represented in a similar format.
Description 'Hasbro. [1] [Boardgame/DVD]. Hasbro. From Wikipedia: Game play "The race is straightforward, woven around a simple story line about finding the lost king of Candyland. The board consists of a winding, linear track made of 134 spaces, most of which are one of the rainbow colors(aside from indigo). The remaining few spaces are named locations such as Candy Cane Forest and Gum Drop Mountain, or characters like Queen Frostine and Lord Licorice. Players take turns removing the top card from a randomized stack, most of which show one of six colors, and then moving their marker ahead to the next space of that color. Some cards have two marks of a clor, in which case the player moves his or her marker ahead to the second-next space of that color. The deck also contains one card for each named location, and drawing such a card moves a player directly to that location's space on the board. This move can be either forward or backward in the classic game; backward moves are ignored in the current game. Finally, there are three colored squares marked with a dot. A player that lands on such a square is stuck(all cards are ignored) until a card is drawn of the same color as the square. The game is won by landing on or passing the final square-the official rules explicitly specify that any card tht would cause the player to advance past the last square wins the game, but many people play that you must land exactly on the last square to win. The classic game takes longer to complete than one might expect, because the location cards can send players backwards". The idea of advancing along a board via landing on color-coordinated squares is especially appealing in that there are so many possibilities for venturing in differing directions. Applied to Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market", the topic of our team project, the squares as well as our concept of situation cards offer a propensity for the player to enjoy a truly interactive experience that transcends the level of pastime. Candyland was an appealing source to draw from in that the player is immersed in the various storylines. The pace of Candyland is effectively balanced in its ability to hold the attention span of a hyper-active child as well as maintain the sanity of a tired parent. Our target audience would obviously be slightly older than the traditional Candyland players. The themes of inherent sexuality, temptation and homoeroticism, while necessary in reinforcing social commentary in regards to the rather stiff nature of the Victorian period, could quite possibly overwhelm a younger target audience.
Evaluation of Opportunities/Limitations For Team Project I feel that the board game format will be tremendously instrumental in demonstrating yet another means of grasping Rossetti's work. However, there are several limitations that might detract from the overall project. With the limited tie frame that the quarter presents, it will be impossible to present a fully completed game devoid of flaws. Therefore, our team is prepared to develop several prototypes from which we can choose the ost acceptable for our group presentation.
Resources For Further Study 1. http://www.hasbro.com/candyland [Boardgame/DVD]. Hasbro. 2. http://www.mchenrycountybog.com/uploaded_images/Candyland-758665.jpeg 3. http://en.wikipedia.orgwiki/Candyland#Candyland_in_Popular_Culture
