Before this class, I only thought about game design through the lens of a player. I only thought about how I felt while playing, but I never thought about the thought that goes into each and every decision. From the sounds we hear to the colors we see, everything was chosen to make the player feel a certain way. Things may seem on accident, but most times they aren’t. It was really fun to learn about all of these elements and how they can be used to shape the player’s experience.
I learned how to create a board game from start to finish. I experimented with digital illustrating and story writing. I learned how to code a game using Godot, a game engine I had never seen or heard of before. It was fun to learn, but it was challenging because I had no idea how to go about it. I watched countless video tutorials on YouTube and spent many hours debugging. The best part was seeing how my code directly translated to a part of the game.
The class concept that stuck with me the most was the 8 types of fun. Now, every time that I see a game, even outside the classroom in my own life, I think, “Oh that’s [x] type of fun”. Sometimes, I see combinations of fun that lead to a unique blend of experiences for players. Additionally, I see how mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics, develop these types of fun. I implemented these concepts into both of my projects for this class, as they are fundamental to game design. A common way I applied these concepts to further learn them was through our critical plays. Critical plays are such unique assignments that would always make my friends jealous when I told them I had to play games for homework while they had math psets.
I also made close friends in this class because of the nature of working together in a team, which I think was my favorite part of the class. Working together, ideating and brainstorming, sometimes disagreeing then compromising, and then creating something that we all contributed to was fun. It was also fun seeing what everyone else was doing. I wish we could’ve had a showcase at the end of class or at the end of each project so that we could see what everyone else had accomplished.
Next time I work on my games, I’ll look at YouTube first before struggling by myself. There are so many resources available online that help so much. I’ll also think back to the concepts we learned in this class to create a solid game that has a lot of thought and meaning.
This has been my favorite class here at Stanford! Thank you for such a wonderful experience!
