I came into this class very familiar with video games. I was/am a console player who mostly stuck to AAA games. I enrolled in this class fresh off of finishing God of War: Ragnarok and was completely stunned at how amazing the game was, and how much time/effort must have been put into it. “How did they make that animation? How does this combat technique affect this style of gameplay? How did they make such an immersive environment?” Questions like this rattled around in my head all during spring break. To me, however, what stuck out most was the story in GoW. I wanted to learn how to create emotional, strong narratives through video games. So, I came in eager to hopefully get some answers.
In P1, I had the chance to dive into storytelling. Through my group’s game, The Hippodrome, we created an entire ancient greek card challenge game. It was amazing to tackle something more analog than digital at first, as it prepared me with the skills needed to embrace P2. Creating a narrative architecture and finding the best way to insert it into a game really stuck with me as I was moving throughout the class. Narratives are applicable to so many mediums (not just video games), and I’m excited to use them outside of this class. One challenge that kept reappearing for me was that the projects both moved so fast, and sometimes I felt like I wanted to spend more time developing the story/improving certain elements, but time didn’t allow for it. I look forward to working on my P2 project more over the summer and fleshing it out even more. I grew most in regards to P2. I had never made game puzzles before or had experience with pixel art, and by the end, I created our game’s map, lobby, puzzles, and several animal interactables. I look back and am super proud of our game: Spiritwood. It’s actually awesome to play your own game and see how it’s really fun and also challenging (especially as the person working on the puzzle design). Again, I look forward to expanding Spiritwood, adding more levels, animals, and narrative elements. I’d love to have several new puzzle mechanics and maybe an additional map area by the end of the summer!!!
