WHAT? -Basically, at AMFI we try to make intelligent strategic board games, that have no need of small gestures nor movements, so lots of people can play them.
Our first game is a labyrinth inspired one that features several 'obstacle' rings on top of each other. The goal is to take down your ball from upper to lower ring, by turning these obstacles away using handles outside of the game.
So far the idea is quite simple! Large moves from the outside are being translated into smaller moves on the inside of the game.
The point is to get your ball down in the centre first before your opponents do. By turning a ring, you might help yourself a step further, but at the same time you could be blocking a direct opponent for another round.
WHO? - With AMFI, we want to be succesful in making games for everyone. "Everyone? That's not possible!", we hear you say. Okay, we admit, but we'd like to!
Nowadays, many cool and innovative board games tend to have lots of cards, little pieces, pawns, dices and so on. Nothing wrong with that? Most of us don't have significant struggles when using them... But there are a lot of people out there that do. People who like to play games too!
The board games we want to produce with AMFI, focus on rough instead of fine motoric movements, like turning a handle, or simply pressing a large button. These 'simple' moves however have no effect on the intelligence of the gameplay, and in this way doesn't stigmatize any of the players involved.
This means people with spasms, with an overall lack of fine motoric skills or with pain in their wrists can easily enter the game too!
Instead of making help-tools for games, our goal is much more noble now: taking away the difference between people through playing the same board games.
1ST PROTOTYPE
The first prototype was done by laser-cutting and is made out of foam cardboard so changes could be easily made afterwards by hand.
2ND PROTOYPE
The second prototype was also done by laser-cutting and is made out of black plexi-glass.
Due to the re-design of the game mechanisms, the prototype has a material cost which is 15 times less then the first prototype and a production time which is almost 8 times less.
This is al done without losing any parts of the gameplay.
3RD PROTOYPE
The third prototype was again done by laser-cutting, but is now made out of combination of black ABS and triplex wood.
We made a few adaptations to perfect our game. The biggest change is that we made sure that now all the nine levers could be turned in the two directions, enhancing even more the gameplay.