End narrative cards for Project 2, “Flight from the Gorgon”
I grew up reading a lot of fantasy and playing only single-player video games, so prior to this class, I largely engaged with games through their narrative. In fact, games are such a unique form of media because players are able to be involved with the story in a way that just isn’t possible with a movie, TV, or book. It’s escapism at it’s finest. But, looking back on things, it’s a little insane that I never actually took the time to consider game mechanics, especially since I play D&D and write my own home-brew campaign! It’s silly, but it wasn’t until I had to design my own game for this class that I realized just how closely narrative and mechanics are related. I learned that, often, there are elements of a story that work because of the mechanics — and I think that’s really cool. It inspires me to reconsider the ways in which I create. How can I leverage my chosen medium to involve the audience in the story? How can I innovate on existing mediums engage with my audience on a deeper level? How do I seamlessly make players feel like they’re an irreplaceable part of the story? These are all questions that can be tackled in many, many ways, not just through narrative.
Small concept doc I sketched for an escape box idea I had after Randy’s lecture
While every lecture was genuinely a joy to see, the guest lectures really stuck with me. Randy’s lecture of randomness has prompted a lot of thinking on how I can use those concepts in my D&D campaign and other games I create. For example, when we first started project 2, I spent the first few days of brainstorming trying to think of a way to make a type of analog puzzle that can be randomly generated and always has an answer. It’s tricky, but my gut tells me it can be done! If anyone thinks of an idea, please send it to elizfitz@stanford.edu — I would love to chat! I also took away some great thoughts on puzzle design and escape rooms from Laura Hall’s lecture. She made the point that puzzle difficulty is controlled not by the mechanics of the puzzle, but by the information you give players. That’s a really good insight, both from the perspective of a writer and a game designer. I think a similar mindset can be applied to mysteries.
Testing with drink mixes for our color puzzle in Project 2
Finally, I think I learned a lot about myself (and my interests). I’m very glad that I took this class with a few quarters left before I graduate. While I’m not sure I would want an explicit career in game design, it’s absolutely a skill I want to continue to foster. It’s funny, but I feel like I learned more about design principles through this class than I have through other design classes at Stanford. Playtesting (as well as user testing for other classes) really demonstrated that design iteration and user testing are both processes I really enjoy. While my CS experience lies mainly in backend engineering, I think I would really love to pivot to a more design-minded role in the future. But this class also forced me to take a good look at my own personal failings. I was really passionate about Project 2, so I kept assigning myself work to do for it. But ultimately, this led me to be a little too hands-on and controlling. While it was driven by a genuine passion for the game we were making, I think this is a very bad trait to bring to a team. Going forward, I want to be better at making sure every person in my project group feels heard and that the work distribution is more equal.
Cover art for Project 1, Survival Isle
Oh, and before I forget, let me add a small footnote on sketchnoting. For me, sketchnoting is life changing. For whatever reason, I find that I am significantly more engaged with the content I am listening to or working on if I sketchnote my process. I think it’s just because it’s fun, but it makes me drastically more creative. Since the start of CS 247G, my personal projects have been blossoming and improving faster than ever before, and it! is! awesome! Again, sketchnoting serves as a really good reminder for me to try new methods of doing and thinking about things, and has really been life-changing. Sketchnoting (and all the art I’ve made for this class) has also improved my digital art skills noticeably! But overall, I’m excited to carry my personal projects and ideas into the future with new perspectives on game design. Thanks to Christina and the rest of teaching staff for an unforgettable quarter and for my favorite class ever!
