This class has completely changed the way I interact with games. I have always loved games and have grown into playing different ones over time. I have always played lots of video games and have over time gotten more into role playing games in which a narrative story holds a large part of the game’s enjoyment. I have also gotten into games of chance, becoming an avid poker player over the years both online and live. I have always enjoyed playing these games, but I have never really take the opportunity to think of why these games draw me. Taking this class taught me how to dissect such games and find the elements that make me so hooked to them. And in doing so, I’ve been able to find other similar games that I also love to play. For instance, I have realized that part of why poker draws me is the combination of strategy, probability, and deception. It is these elements together that make me want to play the game so much and truly enjoy the nuances of the game. From there, I knew that I might be able to find other games with similar elements that I would also enjoy, which is how I stumbled across Coup. Coup went on to be one of my favorite games and is one that my friends and I play almost daily. Digging into my love for poker also taught me a bit about what I want to design, and led us to creating a social deduction game for P1.
Needless to say, the class definitely came with challenges as well. For one, thinking as a designer instead of a player can be difficult when you’ve spent you’re entire life as a player. Where I saw this most prove difficult was during P2. We were so excited about our game and the different puzzles that were intertwined in it that we sometimes forgot to take a step back and think about why this might be necessary or how it will fit into the overarching story. Thankfully, we had lots of opportunities in class to playtest and were consistently told that certain puzzles felt forced in or were there without much reasoning. I now know how important it is to plan out the story ahead of time and not to jump too far off of script. Sure, some flexibility can help to make a game more interesting, but keeping every element of a game consistent with the narrative can be extremely valuable.
I could very well see myself continuing to make games in the future. Games allow people to connect in different ways and create a sense of excitement and challenge in their days that they might not see otherwise. This class showed me the number of different genres and emotions that a designer can build for, and 10 weeks was definitely not enough time to explore it all. I’m extremely thankful for the teaching team for being such great resources throughout the quarter and for being so helpful and thoughtful. I had missed some time during the quarter with an injury and am thankful that the team was able to accommodate me and make sure that I could take the necessary steps to make sure that I could get the most out of 247g like everyone else.
