Exercise 1 Core, Supportive, Extraneous:
In my opinion, the two core elements of the game are: (1) the ability to select between the “Cheese” and “Font” Categories, and (2) displaying the currently selected cheese and font names. Obviously, many other elements help in making the game more interesting/understandable. I would say that the supportive elements of the game are (1) Labels (such as “Enter C or F”), (2) Showing the player their score, and (3) including the timer. Other, more extraneous elements are (1) the second column of repeated labels, and (2) the funny hints.
Exercise 2 Sketch out the core elements:
Exercise 3 Six other small designs:
Exercise 4 one HUGE element:
Exercise 5: One color:
Exercise 6: Using type:
Exercise 7 Proximity:
I find that the most useful use of proximity within designing Cheese and Font comes with grouping of similar functionalities. For example, after labelling both the score and the timer as supportive elements (that help the player get a sense of their position within the game), I find that these two elements should be grouped together. Also, since they are not part of the actual gameplay, they could be separated into one of the corners of the screen. Both options (C or F), also have to be very centralized, and grouped in an equal footing compared to each other.
When it comes to beautiful games, I can’t help but think about Journey. Not only is this game beautiful from a graphic standpoint, but also contains beautiful game dynamics and narrative. But, let’s leave that analysis for another post… In terms of its graphic design, I feel like there are many principles that they used to make the game great. One that comes to mind is the contrast between the desert and the red outfit used by the player. The monotone nature of the desert has a great contrast with the player’s presence, making the player truly stand out. Furthermore, I’d argue that proximity in Journey is used in a very interesting way. The game emphasizes the fact that it is set within a desert by spacing out everything. The vastness/lack of proximity from structure to structure, makes encountering anything within the nothingness of the desert, a marvelous occurrence. It increases the sense of importance towards anything that isn’t endless grains of sand.
