Before this class, I had a very limited understanding of play and game design despite my passion for gaming. I grew up with video games and I viewed it primarily as a casual hobby – a way to relax and escape from everyday life. Early on, my perception of game design was that it was an intimidating, highly technical field, accessible to those with extensive programming skills and artistic visions. I hadn’t appreciated the nuanced creativity behind each game mechanic, nor the collaborative effort needed to create an engaging game. Since coming to Stanford, I’ve found myself playing less games, but I appreciate this class for rekindling my passion for gaming by deeply examining what makes games so enjoyable.
Throughout the class, one of the initial experiences that helped me unravel the magic of games was the MDA framework. It allowed me to dissect games in a way that I hadn’t before and provided me with new perspectives to understand the underlying principles of games. Also, concepts like types of fun deeply resonated with me on how different game mechanics can evoke specific emotions and experiences. Through these concepts and class assignments, I realized that game design is as much about creating experiences as it is technical execution. While I tend to play games in solitude and immerse myself within worlds, I hadn’t appreciated the social aspects of gaming that create deep connections and shared experiences. I think these connections in particular make games so special, and I experienced this playing all types of games with my classmates.
One of the major challenges I faced was bridging the gap between creative ideas and their implementation. Despite having experience with programming, I had apprehensions about whether these skills would be applicable to game development. However, this class pushed me to step out of my comfort zone and approach game design in a way that was familiar yet new to me. I think our final project is a prime example of this, as it was built using python (which I was familiar with) but I utilized it in a way that I hadn’t before. It was challenging, but very rewarding and gave me a different perspective on programming and collaboration to create products.
Another key takeaway from the class was the iterative nature of game design. Our projects required us to prototype, needfind, gather feedback, and iterate. I wasn’t very accustomed to this process before, but it allowed me to appreciate the journey of game design as much as the product itself. I gained an appreciation for the complexity and creativity involved as well as the thought behind creating engaging, immersive experiences like the ones that captivated me before. Moving forward, I’m not sure if I’ll pursue game design directly but I will take many of the learnings with me since I really enjoyed crafting stories and integrating them within something larger. Moreover, I also want to improve my technical skills in relation to game design because I think it will be very useful in creating new perspectives and inspiring creativity.
