I have learned a lot in my time in 247G and will show my growth through comparing two anecdotes regarding similar, yet different video games: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, and The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the wild, being my first Zelda game, was my introduction to the puzzle dungeon genre of video games. I was always an avid gamer, viewing the medium as a way to connect with friends, but never got around to the Zelda series. I played many titles across many different platforms including Nintendo Games like Pokemon, Xbox games like Halo, and PC games like Counter Strike. Since I was familiar to video games, I treated each mission and dungeon as I would levels in similar games. The shiekah shrines would be similar to platforming obstacles in games like Mario. However, as I got more familiar with the open world style, I began to treat it as a nonlinear game where I could take on any level whenever I wanted.
Fast forward to the spring quarter where I enrolled in this course. Luckily enough, Tears of the Kingdom happened to have came out while I learned about playing games as a designer. The critical plays combined with the readings gave me practice with analyzing design choices in video games. For example, the subtle change from the main objective “Defeat Ganon” in Breath of the Wild to “Find Zelda” in Tears of the Kingdom delivered significantly play styles for two similar open world games. The former told the player to go out and get strong enough to defeat ganon, whereas the latter told the player to explore every corner of the map in attempts to find Zelda. I would not have noticed this subtle change had I not learned to play as a designer. Additionally, the main mechanics in the game delivered different dynamics as well. The change from bombs and cryostasis, to ascend and fuse removed the weapon augments and replaced them with building augments. The building supplemented the exploration aesthetic of Tears of the Kingdom especially well. Overall, learning about the MDA 8 kinds of fun, interaction loops and arcs, and narrative structure taught me a lot about evaluating games.
Designing games also gave me a new appreciation for the games that I play. The projects we did in this class provided a fun challenge that incorporated the content we learned. I found incorporating story elements to games especially difficult, yet rewarding once I got it right. From here on out, I want to continue to play games as a designer. I am now aware of and appreciate the small aspects of games that designers put in. This class has also taught me to branch out the kinds of games I play and I want to continue playing those kinds of games. Before, I would stick to mainline and triple-a games. After playing smaller, indie-led games like Firewatch, I wish to discover the enriching narratives that I missed.
