Before this class, I had only ever considered games through the lens of the player. They have played such an important role in my life that I even wrote one of my college essays about the value that board games have had throughout my youth and family life. I had never really taken time to think beyond is a game fun and can I figure out how to win. Until this class, I had never thought about the design process that goes into a game — which I now know is a lot of work.
One thing that I will be taking away from this class is allowing myself to run with crazier, dark-horse type ideas. Particularly in P2, my group had a lot of fun with brainstorming and seeing how far we could take our fun, random ideas. We would laugh at first and then pause and think, wait that could actually work and found ways to incorporate it into our game’s narrative, which I think made the game more fun to play if the players were coming into the game looking for a story. I have always been very resistant to brainstorming activities because I feel like anything that I think of has to be final product material rather than feeling free to throw out any idea that comes into my head. I am especially thankful to my groups throughout this quarter for creating a space in which I felt comfortable to share any idea that I had, knowing that even those that I may initially deem unworthy of sharing can turn into something great.
Another thing that this class really opened my eyes to are all of the different things that games can supply — fun, education, story, perspective changes, health, creativity, etc. Games can be so many things and its definition is whatever a person wants it to be. I have always felt that I am a person who really values fun and challenge, and it was really refreshing to recognize that there are endless ways in which these values can be applied in all areas of life.
My favorite reading this quarter was the “Gamer design patterns for building friendships” reading. It was really interesting to read about the ways in which friendships are built and the mechanics within games that facilitate that development. I liked the ability to draw parallels to how real world friendships are built that can be directly applied to games and their mechanics such as the idea that proximity plays a big role in who you become friends with and the ways in which things like preserving cohorts in games simulate that experience. One thing that I really hadn’t considered before the reading was the value that CPUs can play in a game beyond just narrative development for things like setting norms within the game and its world.
I was not sure whether or not I would like this class going in. I knew that I loved games, but did not know if I would enjoy designing them as much, but I am so glad that I took this class. I learned a lot of skills that I know will benefit me beyond game design and had such a fun time doing it. I will definitely be recommending this class to everyone I know that has to take a cs247 in the future.
