Before this class, I thought a lot about play, but not the design of it. I love games so much: I am convinced that when I die I won’t go to heaven but a game night with all my friends. I thought of myself as an active participator in games, but not someone who could design one from scratch.
In this class, I made two games. My first game was sensory overload, a board game meant for bonding! It’s an adaptation on truth or dare but the an additional aspects of losing you senses.
My next game was dreamscape, a walking simulator with mysterious vibes! You are trapped in dream and must figure out who to trust in order to escape!
One concept from this class that really stuck with me was the idea of play testing. It is fascinating how much you can learn about pre-made assumptions. There were so many parts of our game that we assumed were obvious, and then would find out we needed a lot of scaffolding for them to work. I also learned how important theming is and how it can attract or repel users. For example, if we switched the themes of our two games, Sensory Overload would probably be rarely grabbed as a party game, and our walking simulator would feel very kitschy and childish.
Some challenges I faced in the class was 1) learning godot and 2) blending team member’s different wants for theming in games. Godot required watching a lot of tutorials and a good amount of time after class. I had a hard time transitioning from blender to this new platform, but at the end of the day, I am happy I learned it. Working with differing theming ideas was also challenging. This was a good exercise in compromise, and I was happy with the final themes my team came upon.
In terms of my game development future, I hope to make some 2D games on Godot and host them somewhere. I really like the creative process of creating something that my friends can experience. I think that a career in game creation would be really fun, and I am glad this class exposed me to that as a possibility.
To Christina and the teaching team: THIS CLASS WAS SO FUN! I am recommending it to all my friends for I think it is such a unique CS class and especially a unique 247. Christina, you are one of the best lecturers I have ever had and I am so grateful I have gotten two quarters of your expertise. Thank you for making a class that exposes people to such key concepts of game design!!
