Before this class, I would have never considered myself a gamer. Though when I was younger I was obsessed with all the Mario games on Nintendo, and love puzzle games like Cube Escape on mobile, I never played consistently, especially when starting college. However, this class completely shifted my perspective on what games are, what gamers look like, and how to design games. I’ve played more games this quarter than I have in the past five years, and cannot wait to continue!
I really enjoyed connecting feminism to games, reading about the importance of feminist stories and women playing games. It allowed me to truly reflect on the games I’ve played, and made it apparent how few leading women characters there are, and how differently female characters are portrayed in games like GTA vs Gone Home. After reading this paper, I was more intentional in my writing for Critical Plays and when working on the second project, questioning what narrative I was relaying to the audience playing my game.
The concept of the formal elements of game design also stuck with me. Focusing on these elements allowed me to truly understand how games work. For example, it was interesting to compare the element of players in two multilateral competition games like Monopoly and Uno, or contrast them to a unilateral competition game like tag. Understanding the objective of the game, whether it was to outwit or find a solution, changed how the game was played. For the first project, when brainstorming possible ideas I went through each formal element and classified the game accordingly. I also focused on the procedures and rules, as having a clear set of rules proved essential in users playing our games independently.
One challenge I faced was learning the format of the critical plays and sketchnotes. I have never sketchnoted before, and was not used to drawing to convey my understanding. However, I significantly improved not only in drawing (my first sketchnote had more words than images), but in thinking creatively. This method allowed me to better retain information. The second challenge was with playtesting, specifically in the second project. In the first few playtests where we were playtesting puzzles without the fleshed-out narrative, players had difficulty understanding the context and giving feedback on whether the puzzles were effective. In addition, incorporating feedback was challenging. We had to balance deciding whether to stick with a design choice or implementing suggestions.
I grew in my ability to analyze games as a designer, delving into how game developers use elements like colors, narrative, sound, and player dynamics to evoke specific emotions. I am now aware of the intentional choices that game designers make. Additionally, being able to design, develop, test, and iterate on a game within just a month was a new experience. I also grew in my ability to work with a team, learning to compromise on different solutions and ideas, and incorporating feedback to quickly improve the game.
Next time, I will focus on the narrative of the game, and building puzzles around it. Ensuring that the mechanics and formal elements of our game are clear will help in improving clarity and defining the goals of the game. I will also focus on playtesting more, and with a diverse group of people, as that is the best way to improve the game. Finally, when brainstorming I will continue to have each team member come up with ideas on their own that are both realistic and unrealistic, and then share with the group as that results in a greater number of diverse ideas.
